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Cover

American Popular Music

From Minstrelsy to MP3

Sixth Edition

Larry Starr, Christopher Waterman, and Contributions by Brad Osborn

Publication Date - 21 October 2021

ISBN: 9780197543313

688 pages
Paperback
7 1/2 x 9 1/4 inches

In Stock

The most complete and richly supported introduction to American popular music

Description

Explore the rich terrain of American popular music with the most complete introduction of its kind. With the sixth edition of the bestselling text American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3, Starr and Waterman help students hear more in the music around them with a cultural and social history of popular music.

New to this Edition

  • New, detailed discussions of significant female artists, such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Chapter 7), Bikini Kill (and the riot grrrl movement, Chapter 14), and Missy Elliott (Chapter 15)
  • Assignable and regularly updated online Popular Music Activities help students place current popular music into historical context
  • A new enhanced e-Book includes easy access to streaming recordings of the music discussed in the text, as well as in-text review questions, flashcards, historical performance videos, and more
  • Chapter 15 has been completely reworked to accurately reflect the current landscape of American popular music, including new material on technology and the music business; contemporary rock stars; Emo music; and hip-hop

Features

  • The only text that introduces students to the broad sweep of American music, from minstrel shows in the nineteenth century to the present
  • Attentive to the role of race and gender in the American popular repertory from its inception

About the Author(s)

Larry Starr is Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Washington

Christopher Waterman, former dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, is an anthropologist and musician who specializes in the study of music and culture in Africa and the Americas.

Brad Osborn (contributing author) is Associate Professor of Music Theory and affiliated faculty in American Studies at the University of Kansas

Reviews

"This text is excellent for students taking popular music courses at this time in history and culture. The emphasis on music marketing, business, and technology and their effects on popular music is enlightening." -- Mary Wischusen, Wayne State University

"A deep and wide look at American music with emphasis on the importance of the transatlantic slave trade in the creation of all that we listen to and on the importance of technological changes in recording and listening." -- Norman Bergeron, Temple College

Table of Contents

    Listening
    Preface

    TIMELINE: 1760s-1899

    1 THEMES AND STREAMS OF AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC
    Theme One: Listening
    Theme Two: Music and Identity (Individuality, Gender, and Race)
    Theme Three: Music and Technology
    Theme Four: The Music Business
    Theme Five: Centers and Peripheries
    Streams of Tradition: The Sources of Popular Music

    2 "AFTER THE BALL": POPULAR MUSIC OF THE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES
    The Minstrel Show
    An Early Pop Songwriter: Stephen Foster
    Dance Music and Brass Bands
    The Birth of Tin Pan Alley
    The Ragtime Craze, 1896-1918
    The Rise of the Phonograph

    TIMELINE: 1900-1945

    3 "CATCHING AS THE SMALL-POX": SOCIAL DANCE AND JAZZ, 1917-1935
    Technology and the Music Business
    "Freak Dances": Turkey Trot and Tango
    James Reese Europe and the Castles
    Jazz as Popular Music: The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, the Creole Jazz Band, and Louis Armstrong
    Dance Music in the "Jazz Age"
    The Rise of Latin Dance Music: "El Manicero"

    4 " I GOT RHYTHM": THE GOLDEN AGE OF TIN PAN ALLEY SONG, 1920s AND 1930s
    Tin Pan Alley Song Form
    What Were Tin Pan Alley Songs About?
    What Makes a Song a "Standard"?
    Tin Pan Alley and Broadway

    5 "ST. LOUIS BLUES": RACE RECORDS AND HILLBILLY MUSIC, 1920s AND 1930s
    Race Records
    Classic Blues
    Understanding Twelve-Bar Blues
    The Country Blues
    Blind Lemon Jefferson: The First Country Blues Star
    Robert Johnson: Standing at the Crossroad
    Early Country Music: Hillbilly Records?
    Pioneers of Country Music: The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers
    Popular Music and the Great Depression

    6 "IN THE MOOD": THE SWING ERA, 1935-1945
    Swing Music and American Culture
    Benny Goodman: "The King of Swing"
    Duke Ellington in the Swing Era
    Kansas City Swing: Count Basie
    Superstar of Swing: Glenn Miller
    Jazz Singers: The Boswell Sisters, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald
    Vocal Harmony Groups
    Country Music in the Swing Era: Roy Acuff, Singing Cowboys, and Western Swing
    Latin Music in the Swing Era
    ASCAP, the AFM, and the Decline of the Big Bands

    TIMELINE: 1946-1979

    7 "CHOO CHOO CH' BOOGIE": THE POSTWAR ERA, 1946-1954
    Popular Music and Technology in the Postwar Era
    The Rise of the Star Singers
    Urban Folk Music: The Weavers
    The Mambo Craze (1949-1955)
    Southern Music in the Postwar Era
    Rhythm & Blues
    Vocal Harmony Groups
    R&B Women: Ruth Brown and Big Mama Thornton
    Country and Western Music

    8 "ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK": ROCK 'N' ROLL, 1954-1959
    The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll
    Cover Versions and Early Rock 'n' Roll
    The Rock 'n' Roll Business
    Early Rock 'n' Roll Stars on the R&B Side
    Early Rock 'n' Roll Stars on the Country Side
    Wild, Wild Young Women: Female Rock 'n' Roll Pioneers
    The Latin Side of Rock 'n' Roll
    Songwriters and Producers of Early Rock 'n' Roll
    Other Currents: The Standard and Folk Music in the Rock 'n' Roll Era

    9 "GOOD VIBRATIONS": AMERICAN POP AND THE BRITISH INVASION, 1960s
    The Early 1960s: Dance Music and "Teenage Symphonies"
    Berry Gordy and Motown
    Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys
    The Beatles, the British Invasion, and the American Response
    Meanwhile, Back in California . . .
    Latin Sounds in 1960s Pop: A Tall Man, a Tanned Girl, and a Taste of Honey

    10 "BLOWIN' IN THE WIND": COUNTRY, SOUL, URBAN FOLK, AND THE RISE OF ROCK, 1960s
    Patsy Cline and the Nashville Sound
    Ray Charles and Soul Music
    Sam Cooke, the "King of Soul"
    James Brown and Aretha Franklin
    The Broadway Musical in the Age of Rock
    Urban Folk Music in the 1960s: Bob Dylan
    The Counterculture and Psychedelic Rock
    Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
    Their Satanic Majesties: The Rolling Stones After Sgt. Pepper
    San Francisco Rock: Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead
    The Doors and "Light My Fire"
    Guitar Heroes: Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton

    11 THE 1970s: ROCK MUSIC, DISCO, AND THE POPULAR MAINSTREAM
    Singer-Songwriters: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor
    Country Music and the Pop Mainstream
    Rock Comes of Age
    "Night Fever": The Rise of Disco

    12 OUTSIDERS' MUSIC: PROGRESSIVE COUNTRY, REGGAE, SALSA, PUNK, FUNK, AND RAP, 1970s
    The Outlaws: Progressive Country Music
    "I Shot the Sheriff": The Rise of Reggae
    The Rise of Salsa Music
    "Psycho Killer": 1970s Punk and New Wave
    "Tear the Roof off the Sucker": Funk Music
    "Rapper's Delight": The Origins of Hip-Hop

    TIMELINE: 1980-TODAY

    13 THE 1980s: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY, MTV, AND THE POPULAR MAINSTREAM
    Digital Technology and Popular Music
    The Pop Mainstream of the 1980s: Some Representative Hits
    A Tale of Three Albums
    "Baby I'm a Star": Prince, Madonna, and the Production of Celebrity

    14 "SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT": HIP-HOP, ALTERNATIVE MUSIC, AND THE ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS
    Hip-Hop Breaks Out (1980s-1990s)
    Commercialization, Diversification, and the Rise of Gangsta Rap (1990s)
    EDM: Dance Music in the Digital Age
    Alternate Currents
    Women's Voices: Alternative Folk, Hip-Hop, and Country
    Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music: Approaches to Tradition
    Latinx Superstars of the 1990s
    Globalization and the Rise of "World Music"

    15 THE INTERNET AGE, 2000-
    The Impact of Digital Recording
    Music and the Internet: The Revolution Will Be Streamed
    "On the Road Again": The New Popular Music Economy
    Rock Music in the 2000s
    Hip-Hop in the New Millennium
    Hip-Hop Stars of the 2010s
    Twenty-First Century Divas: We Never Go Out of Style
    Conclusion: American Popular Music in the Age of Globalization

    Appendix: Understanding Rhythm and Form
    Glossary
    Bibliography
    Credits
    Index