American Music culture, through the XX century has been setting the pace to the Europe and created several significant trends in music all over the world. In this work we will track some of the most influential American currents which have changed the cultural life all over the world. We will see how the Jazz and American folk proceeded to modern rock, indie rock and rap music. We will touch upon the historical events which were milestones in American pop-culture.
The second music style which has originally developed from Rhythm and Blues and country music was Rock. It started with the rock’n’roll music of Bill Haley, Goree Carter, Chubby Checker and others. But the most significant figure of that time was Elvis. His music and acting influenced culture and cinematography all over the world. At the same time at late 40s – early 50s American folk music was on. Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash and the dozens of bands who Dylan was wrote songs for were creating the basis for further changes. But the most important historical factor of XX century was the hippie antiwar movement which changed the attitude to music. It was the time of free love, drug addiction and psychedelic music at the Woodstock festivals. Even the British invasion of the Beatles which defined music trends of that time couldn't resist that influence. Music history remembers last psychedelic albums of the Beatles (“Magic Bus”). Historical and cultural events in America created the new movement. The most popular musicians of that time: Jefferson Airplane, Jimmie Hendrix, etc. This period had started the countercultural tendency in music. After 1960s there have been founded different music styles at Europe and America.
Actually, what has happening after the psychedelic period was a great twist in understanding of the music. It was the time when lyrics and music became the mean of expressing of deep concepts. Music became more progressive. It was the time of conceptual albums, time of glam rock, alternative rock and afterwards the birth of hard rock. Everything that appeared on the scene after 1960s was a negation of something that was before. Rolling Stones, for example was created on contrary to smart Beatles. Mick Jagger was sexy bad boy unlike cute Liverpool Four. In Britain appeared David Bowie, who rejected the common understanding of masculinity. British and American scene was invaded by “glitter rock” singers like Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. All these historical changes lead the Americans, who were not tolerant to black people 30 years before, to appreciation of feminine and epatage Kiss and Queen in 1970s. It is also important to mention the division into hard and soft rock. And through the years what was called hard rock became even harder and harder. For Americans of previous decades Beatles were considered as hard as ACDC is for folks from 1980s.
It is also important to add that there was a great role of technical progress in creating the musical pop culture. Before there television created, there was a radio. After there were invented some local stations it became possible to transmit information and music over some territory. But with the development of the radio signal it became possible to listen to the same programs all over the world. It made a great contribution into popularization of country and early rock music. And with invention of television it became even easier. Saturday Night Live was one of the most popular American music shows which helped the popularization of pop culture. After that in early 80s MTV television appeared. Music charts and music shows became an undivided part of music culture.
REFERENCES
Scaruffi, Piero. "A History of Jazz Music." A History of Jazz Music. Piero Scaruffi, Jan. 2007. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.
Covach, John Rudolph. What's That Sound?: An Introduction to Rock and Its History. 1st ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. Print.
