American Popular Music

American

Popular Music

Larry Starr & Christopher Waterman

Copyright ? 2003, 2007 by Oxford University Press, Inc.

This condensation of AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC: FROM MINSTRELSY TO MP3 is a condensation of the book originally published in English in 2006 and is offered in this condensation by arrangement with Oxford University Press, Inc.

Larry Starr is Professor of Music at the University of Washington. His previous publications include The Dickinson Songs of Aaron Copland (2002), A Union of Diversities: Style in the Music of Charles Ives (1992), and articles in American Music, Perspectives of New Music, Musical Quarterly, and Journal of Popular Music Studies. Christopher Waterman is Dean of the School of Arts and Architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles. His previous publications include J?j?: A Social History and Ethnography of an African Popular Music (1990) and articles in Ethnomusicology and Music Educator's Journal.

Clockwise from top: Bob Dylan and Joan Baez on the road; Diana Ross sings to thousands; Louis Armstrong and his trumpet; DJ Jazzy Jeff spins records; `NSync in concert; Elvis Presley sings and acts.

American

Popular Music

Larry Starr & Christopher Waterman

CONTENTS

Introduction.............................................................................................. 3

CHAPTER 1: Streams of Tradition: The Sources of Popular Music......................... 6

CHAPTER 2: Popular Music: Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries ............. 12

An Early Pop Songwriter: Stephen Foster ........................................... 19 CHAPTER 3: Popular Jazz and Swing: America's Original Art Form...................... 20 CHAPTER 4: Tin Pan Alley: Creating "Musical Standards" ..................................... 26 CHAPTER 5: Early Music of the American South: "Race Records" and

"Hillbilly Music" ....................................................................................... 30

CHAPTER 6: Rhythm & Blues: From Jump Blues to Doo-Wop................................. 34

Big Mama Thornton ................................................................................ 39

James Brown and Aretha Franklin........................................................ 40

Jazz Gallery ............................................................................................. 44

CHAPTER 7: Country Music: Songs of Tradition and Change ................................ 56

Hank Williams ......................................................................................... 61

CHAPTER 8: Rock 'n' roll : A Generation's Identity .................................................. 62

Bob Dylan ................................................................................................. 70

CHAPTER 9: Music: The Business ................................................................................ 72

Bill Haley and "Rock Around the Clock".............................................. 65

CHAPTER 10: Music Technology: Innovations and Controversies............................ 76

The Electric Guitar.................................................................................. 80

CHAPTER 11: Hip-Hop: The "Rapper's Delight" ......................................................... 82

Prince ........................................................................................................ 88

The Message ........................................................................................... 89

CHAPTER 12: World Music Collaborations: Crossing Cultural Boundaries............ 90

Glossary .................................................................................................... 94

Introduction

Popular music, like so much of American culture, reflects a kaleidoscope of contribu tions, a cross-fertilization of styles, and a blending of dreams. It could hardly be otherwise in this nation of immigrants. Arguably the United States is a perfect musical laborato ry: take people from every corner of the globe, give them freedom to cre ate. Distribute their effort: by sheet music, phonograph, radio -- or, for the younger reader: by Blu-ray Disc, mp3, Internet stream.

And what results! European ballads recast with African poly rhythmic textures or blended with a Cuban-flavored habanera (bold faced terms are defined in the glos sary) or a more "refined" rumba. "Cold" bop. "Hot" jazz. "Acid" rock. "Gangsta" rap. We might speak less of a singular American popular mu sic than of a constellation of mutu ally-enriching American popular "musics." Elvis Presley borrows from African-American blues, and black Motown stars recast "white" pop. Ask Khmer-American rapper Prach Ly, also known as "praCh," about American popular music and he'll speak of growing up with Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, Run DMC, and Public Enemy on the radio and of cutting his first album in his parents' garage.

Lacking a mixing board, Prach used a karaoke machine and sampled old Khmer Rouge propaganda speeches for his powerful musical condemna tion of the Cambodian genocide.

We hope the pages that follow convey a sense of creative ferment, of artistic drive, and of how Ameri cans, borrowing from diverse musi cal traditions, have made their own original contributions to humanity's truly universal language. The reader

will encounter here crooners and rappers, folkies and rockers, the "King," a Prince, and the "Queen of Soul." Explained here is the latest in musical technology, from the solidbody electric guitar to the lossless compression digital file. And read ers will learn about the people who make the music, truly American in their stunning diversity. Theirs are perhaps the most wonderful stories of all.

Musicians gather around the great Louis Armstrong, seated at the piano. Armstrong grew up in New Orleans in the early part of the 20th century and gave the world a lasting legacy -- jazz.

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