History of Music

Jess Loader

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The 1950 witnessed creation of the RocknRoll genre, a genre still popular today. One of the
first groups to portray this was Bill Haley & His Comets.
Founded in 1952, this group introduced the world to RocknRoll; as white musicians. The
band proved themselves successful achieving nine hits in the top 20, including one top of the
chart and three more in the top ten.
The band was considered revolutionary in this era, with their
matching plaid dinner jackets and energetic behaviour, even
used by present day bands.

The arguably most iconic music figure of the 50s was of course Elvis Presley.
Renowned as The King of RocknRoll, he launched his career in 1954
showing to the world his rockabilly subgenre (portmanteau of rock and

hillbilly). He was adored by the young for his handsome looks and
fantastic music and brought RocknRoll squarely into the households
of the 50s. Producing over 32 number one hit singles and 18 number
one albums.

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With the swinging-sixties came Motown Record Corporation, with this arrived the important
advance of racial integration into music, as this was the first record label to be owned by and
primarily feature African American artists.
Motowns first ever top 10 hit was in 1960 with Shop Around by
the Mircales, which peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100
and was also Motowns first million-selling record.

It was in this century that Bob Dylan lead us from the days of audio and
brought us the music video. His single Subterranean Homesick Blues
brought with it one of the first ever music videos, a simple one-shot short
but a revelation in the 60s.
Pop group the Supremes released their album The Supremes
A Go-Go in 1966 and were the first all-female group to reach
the top spot in the Billboard 200 Album Charts.
This album was also produced by Motown
Records.

The 70s were famous for its leap into the rock genre. This century brought us
many of the most famous rock bands of all time, for example Aerosmith
(officially formed in 1971) a worldly famous American hard-rock band, so
much so they are often referred to as "America's Greatest Rock and Roll
Band". The band signed a record deal with Columbia records in 1972 after
which they released some of their most memorable songs such as Sweet
Emotion (1975) which became the bands first single within the top 40.
The hard-rock was a subgenre of rock taken to a whole new level by 70s
band KISS (formed 1973) were famous for their overly-creative outfits and
highly distinctive face paints. KISSs fame arose mostly with their crazed life
performances which mostly consisted of, blood spitting, fire breathing and
even levitating instruments. This helped KISS to remain a well-known group
today, their unique style even appearing in the 2008 comedy Role Models.
The rock genre began to become more associated with the younger
generations as they could relate their angst to the aggression shown by
these bands in performances etc
It was during this century (1974/76) that Punk
Rock, the worldly-known subgenre was formed.

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With the 80s came one of the biggest revelations in music to date, MTV
(1981). Standing for Music Television, this channel was created to show
music videos, guided by a Video Jockey (an on-air host). MTV proved most
popular within society at this time with popular slogans like MTV is here
spoken throughout the public.
The Buggles were a new wave band who are most remembered for their
1979 single Video Killed the Radio Star which was also MTVs first video
premier, ironically with the lyrics pictures came and broke your heart. The
single was number 1 on the singles chart in 16 different countries.
The New Wave genre incorporated aspects like electronica and experimental
music. It was also often associated with the Mod subculture.
The 80s also saw to Blondies biggest hit Call Me. It peaked at number 1 for 6 weeks, and was
certified Gold (for one million copies sold). Blondie was another creator of the New Wave genre
however also became noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles incorporating elements of disco,
pop, rap, and reggae.

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Hard rock, heavy metal, and glam metal experienced extreme popularity
in 1980s, becoming one of the most dominant music genres of the
decade, peaking with the arrival of such bands as Guns n' Roses and
Bon Jovi.

The hip hop scene developed massively in the 80s, exhibiting a much stronger influence on the
music industry
Run-D.M.C. were one of the most influential groups of this
genre during the 80s. They were the first group in their genre
to have a Gold record and be nominated for a Grammy and
they were among the first to show how important the MC/DJ
relationship was.
They were even named the Greatest Hip Hop Group of All
Time by our old 70s friend MTV.com

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By this point in time the 90s saw to several diverse genres of music on the scene...
Grunge music alongside similar subgenres peaked in
popularity during 1990/91 with the success of bands such as
Nirvana. This style today is still strongly associated with this
decade.
U2's groundbreaking Zoo TV and PopMart tours were the top
selling tours of 1992 and 1997.
Britpop, a subgenre of alternative rock created in the UK was formed in
this decade. This subgenre developed as a reaction against various
musical and cultural trends from the early 1990s, especially the US made
Grunge. Blur was one of the several groups to launch this movement by
referencing British guitar music of the past and writing about uniquely
British topics and concerns. This caught on and other bands still famous to
date, such as Oasis joined this trend.
Their impact brings about a
Female pop icons such as the Spice
widespread invasion of teen
Girls" manage to break America, taking
pop acts around the world
the world by storm and becoming the
such as Britney
most commercially successful British
Spears,Christina Aguilera, 'N
Group since The Beatles.
Sync and Backstreet Boys.

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While 'N Sync, Britney Spears, and Sisqo battled Eminem, Nelly, and Limp
Bizkit for chart superiority, some of the year's most significant noise was being
made far from studios and concert stages. The controversy over music sharing
program Napster began here. The creator Shawn Fanning was only 18 when
he wrote the source codes that shook the music world. His free, Internet songswapping service was the hype of downloaders everywhere. Napster came
under heavy legal fire during this year from the five giants of the recording
industry - Warner Brothers, EMI, Sony, BMG, and Universal, who sued to shut
down the service, citing alleged copyright infringement.
Eminem has often been described as vile, violent, insensitive, misogynistic,
and offensive, but Eminem's ability to throw down rhymes that outraged
nearly everyone helped The Marshall Mathers LP rack up massive sales
throughout 2000.

Britney Spears became a prominent figure in mainstream popular

music and popular culture during the 2000s. Her first two albums
established her as a pop icon and broke sales records, while title
tracks "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops!... I Did It Again" became
international number-one hits.

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During this year we see a complete change in the way music is brought.
There is now a heavier outside influence on the songs that we purchase, an
example of this being the Facebook influence in which outraged X-factor
haters (sick of christmas number 1s always being the X-factor winners)
created a group called Rage Against the Machine Killing in the name of
for chirtsmas number 1. This saw to the single reaching number 1 in
Christmas 2009.
Another example of this is with many of the most popular songs of 2009 reentering the top 40 in early 2010 due to the iTunes gift card effect,
including Lady Gaga's "Poker Face", the biggest seller of 2009, which reentered at No. 32.
Tinie Tempah is an English rapper
from Plumstead, South London. His debut
album, Disc-Overy, debuted at number-one on 10
October 2010 and was preceded by the number-one
singles "Pass Out" and "Written in the Stars. He even
brought forward Timothy McKenzie better known by
his stage name Labrinth, who helped co-write some
of Tempahs hits and then released a top 3 single of
his own. The genre they portray was popular
worldwide and even carried forward by American
arstists such as Bruno Mars.

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