History of Popular Music from 1950

Early 1950s: the most poplar music in the 1950s was the rhythm and blues, and also rock and roll, it was a revolutionary hybrid of the music which pre existed this genre. Most people in todays society would have heard of Elvis Presley who is one of the most famous and influential musicians in todays music market. During the 1950s Elvis was one of the most famous musicians out there, During this time there was a difference between the white and black youths, with the black youths dancing to jazz and the white community restricted to more reserved music. Elvis changed this and his music was not stereotypical to his time.

The invention of television made a huge impact in the way music is consumed by people, this is when Bill Haley and the comets introduced rock n roll to the american population by performing 'rock around the clock' on the television. Elvis also made a television appearance but received mixed reviews with rivals disrespecting his music. 'Mr Presly has no discernible singing ability... for the ear, he is an unutterable bore.'

in todays society music stands for a lot less and it is also not segregated in ethinicity as it did in the 1950s, music has also changed and developed since Elvis, and now music has many genres and sub-genres. Genres still have a typical image such as rap/hip hop is mainly a black ethnic background but many more music genres has integrated to an even separation of ethnicity. Different music genres are now also accept easily, compared to Elvis causing an uproar with his television appearance.

A Background to the Music Industry and Some Basic Theory

There are many different genres in the music industry ranging from pop to rock to new age. each genre has difference to each other such as instruments, melodies and image. There are also some-genres to every genre, each sub-genre has a slight difference to to its main genre, for example indie rock (bombay  bicycle club and two door cinema club) are different to the typical rock genre (motorhead). Each genre is also separated by an artists image, since punk has a very specific style with leather jackets, piercings, doc martins, skinny jeans. An artists image helps segregate them into the genre to which they fit into easier. Genres also help customers choose music that they like, iTunes genius for example chooses past music choices and recommends similar music artists who fit into the same genre bracket. It is also like this at stores such as HMV since the artists are separated by the genre so that it becomes easier for customers to choose new artists and music which they are interested in and enjoy.