2. Early Days
A phonograph is the first machine to record sound in the late
1800’s by Thomas Edison. The machine worked by using
vibrations to make small notches in rotating cylinders that
passed a needle. It was then amplified and it would be allowed
to be listened to by people. 1878 was the year that the first
music was put on record. These phonographs were expensive
and bulky and also popular.
Thomas
Edison
The 1940’s marked the beginning of the music industry. This is
because you can make music to sell rather than to be just played.
Vinyl’s has been invented as it was easier to transport music in this
way to entertain troops during World War II.
3. The popularity of jazz began in America
as a way to lift people’s spirit during the
war. Jazz had soon spread to the UK. Jazz
offered a rhythm and a beat and was the
first and foremost music for dancing.
4. 1950s
World War II has ended with the world a very
different place. With new optimism emerging
and people wanted pleasure and release.
Traditional values has been broken from the
war such as women’s roles and ethnic
minorities in society. Music which has been
previously played by African American artists
are now being played by white artists. It was
aired in radio stations which has widened its
appeal, first in America then in Britain. Black
and white artists have started to work
together which is unheard of at the time.
5. Rock n Roll was born by the spirit of coming together and
expressing themselves. This developed through the merging of
black and white music styles. With this, youth culture has
come out. The idea that time of life between childhood and
adulthood had it own characteristics, tastes an d interests.
Denim jeans were a fashion statement. This marked teenagers
out as being different from their parents. This has benefitted
both teenagers who felt a part of something new and unique
and also the organisation benefitted from youth culture. The
music industry thrived on its newly found teenage market as
young people went out to buy records.
6. 1956
The year of Elvis Presley who exploded onto the music scene and
the generation gap widened. Elvis Presley’s music was
defiant, sexual, anti-authority and celebrated freedom. Older
generations felt threatened by it and worried about the effect it
might have on the morality of children.
Radio was an extremely popular way of listening to music at the
time. The portable radio was invented in 1957. This enabled
people to move the radio around their homes.
7. 1960s
Rock n roll thrived in 1962. The Beatles signed with EMI Records
and released ‘Love Me Do’. This was an instant hit. Later on they
released ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ which sold 1 million copies
before the initial release. Paul McCartney had quit the band in
1970. They were greeted with screaming fans of mostly females
wherever they went.
Until this point people brought their music on vinyl records.
However, in 1963 audio cassettes were put on the market for the
first time. This was originally intended as a way of playing music
in cars to American car owners. Cassettes were quickly
developed into a popular format for listening to music.
8. BBC resisted giving rock and roll airtime until 1967. Mainly
because it served middle-class, middle-aged audiences. It was
known as a ‘respectable’ and ‘responsible’ broadcaster that
would alienate its audiences by introducing the new dangerous
style of youth music onto its airwaves.
It was during this time that music piracy began to threaten the
music industry as people regularly recorded their favourite music
from the radio onto cassette tapes
9. In 1967 the Monterey International Music Festival became the
first music festival. Two years later, in 1969 a momentous event
in music history was held near New York. It was called
Woodstock. This has sparkled a movie, two soundtrack albums
and has since become the stuff of legend. This is because apart
from showcasing some most famous musical acts of all time such
as Jimi Hendrix and The Who, it captured the cultural feeling of
the time of peaceful protest love and happiness.
10. 1970s
This was the decade of happy, optimistic disco
music. There was progressive rock from Pink
Floyd and Led Zeppelin. There was also the
rebellious angry punk movement with bands
such as The Ramones, The Clash, The Sex Pistols
and Blondie. The feeling of disconnect from the
1960s spilled into the 1970s and punk bands
sang about crime, girls and sniffing glue. Fast
and frantic music, tough and gritty.
The Sex Pistols were described as being ‘the
definitive English punk rock band’ by the BBC.
Their anger at the world was shown through the
lyrics and they attacked the government and
the establishment. They were singing about
anarchy.
11. The punk genre had influenced
fashion. There were torn Tshirts, leather jackets customised
with patches, metal studs, chains
and artwork, tight jeans and
outlandish hairstyle dyed in a
variety of colours. These things
were worn by many young people
in the 1970s. The music was used
as a way to rebel against the older
generations and to make their own
mark on the world.
12. 1980s
This decade hugely influential for the music industry. In
1981, MTV was launched as the first ever non-stop music video
channel. This marked the new era in promotion, consumption
and power of pop music. Young people grew to expect their
favourite music to come to moving images. Their thirst for
favourite bands ruined with MTV’s schedule, which was a
constant flow of music videos.
Due to the popularity of music videos. It became necessary for
record companies to increase their market budgets for music
artists. This is to produce a video to accompany every new
release. From this gained a dramatic increase sales of records
and MTV became instrumental in promoting Madonna, Michael
Jackson, Duran Duran and Adam and the Ants.
13. Since the launch of MTV, music videos has become a necessary element
to create a band’s success. This gives the music a personality and it
makes the artists instantly popular and recognisable. It also raises the
importance of the artists image and ‘look’ as music is by now it is a
package which combines fashion, sound, attitude and style to form a
musician or artists. Music videos are the showcases that allows the
audience to have access to not just the music, but the artists ideology as
well.
14. In 1981, the must-have gadget was the Walkman by Sony. Music
has become portable, and the Walkman changed the way people
used music. Suddenly it was possible to have music playing
wherever you went, in the train, bus or car. This ensured that the
music sales on cassette continue to rise. However, this had a
negative impact on the industry. This is because recordable
cassettes made it possible to record vinyl records onto
tape, which made it possible for people to copy music on their
Walkman’s rather than buying a cassette version.
15. In 1982, the CD (Compact Disk) was first released to the public
by Sony and Phillips. It was considered as indestructible and
produces crystal clear sound. At first, people was no sure about
this new technology, but gradually as CD players became more
affordable and the CD overtook vinyl and cassette as being the
recording medium of choice.
In 1983, Live Aid was broadcast to the world on MTV and
became one of the biggest television events in history.
16. In 1985, Madonna was storming the world with her postpunk, sexualised image and her poppy, optimistic sound.
Madonna was the first artist to succeed at selling the ideas of
‘girl power’. She was shot to fame through her music videos
which was shown on MTV. She subverted stereotypes of women
by taking elements of female iconography of the 1940s, 50s and
the 60s. Elements such as bright red lipstick, high heels and lace
corsets. She turned the in something rebellious and raunchy.
Male backing singers were used for her music which was
unheard of with female artist.
17. During this time, Michael Jackson was leading the way as the top
male solo artist of the decade. He also used music videos to
increase his popularity. This included the 14-minute ‘Thriller’
video to accompany the song and the album of the same name.
This became a global phenomenon. Sales of the album ‘Thriller’
had declined before the release of the video. However, since the
release of the video on MTV, the single went straight to number
1, along with the album. This still remains the best selling album
of all time. Also it increased MTV’s viewer ratings a thousandfold.
18. 1990s
In this decade, techno and hip-hop genres were a popular surge
at the start. However, the general music of the 90s was
extremely diverse. UK music industry was booming. The British
interpreted the dance music coming from the USA, from ‘house’
music to ‘drum and bass. This continued to rise in popularity.
This became more mainstream, along with Bhangra, a mixture of
Bollywood music and techno or house beats. Originally came
from the Midlands and the North of England.
19. Nirvana was reaching fame in America along with Pearl
Jam, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses. However, in the UK, was the
rise of Britpop which was British-produced rock created by bands
such as Blur, Pulp, Oasis and Suede. Britpop was perhaps the
biggest phenomenon of the 90s. This began as a backlash against
the slightly ‘cheesy’ rock from the USA. Mainly guitar-led rock
which was influenced by earlier British bands such as The Beatles
and The Who. Britpop put the UK firmly back on the global music
map. The lyrics were everyday, very British experiences. Young
people identified the songs with their own lives.
20. There were many advances of technology during the 1990s.
Since 1988, the Discman was the portable music machine up
until the release of the first MP3 in 1998. most homes had
home-computers by mid-90s. For the music industry it meant
that music could be copied from CD onto the hard drive. This
meant that royalties that might have come from the legal sale of
copyrighted music wasn’t going to the artists or the record
companies.
21. 2000s
In 2001, iTunes was introduced by Apple. This meant that the
world of music changed forever. iPod was released in the same
year. In 2003, it was the introduction of iTunes store.
However, this was originally for Apple Mac computers only. PC
users were able to access music downloads.
The record industry faced a crisis. CD sales fell and illegal
downloads meant that people who might have brought the
music on CD were able to get it free on illegal download
websites. The record industry was threatened as there was less
money available to invest in new and existing artists.
22. Record labels profited from the TV reality talent shows such as
Pop Idol and The X Factor. This is where ‘safe’ music artists were
showcased and groomed to becoming the next big thing. The
rating for ITV’s 2009 The X Factor final topped 19 million viewers
meaning that there was a ready-made audience of potential
buyers fighting to part with their download fees in order to make
their favourite the winner. The careers of these winners intended
to be short-lived.
23. Blogs, websites, forums, Facebook an Twitter on the Internet
allowed fans to get closer to their favourite bands and artists
than before. The creation of MySpace as a forum for showcasing
and accessing musical acts offered artists yet to be signed by
record companies the opportunity to have their music heard and
to create a fan base without actually releasing a record.
Musical tastes were still diverse. Hip-hop and rap dominated UK
and USA popular music. With artists such as 50
Cent, Eminem, Kanye West, Dizzee Rascal and Lil Wayne. This
genre still remained as very male-dominated, performed mainly
by male artists. It also featured very male-oriented lyrics and
videos which often undermined and exploited women. ‘Indie’
rock remained popular with bands such as Muse, Kings of Leon
and the Artic Monkeys.
24. Hard rock or metal punk rock also had popularity with bands such as:
Green Day
Paramore
My Chemical Romance
Panic at the Disco
In the UK, popular bands were:
Girls Aloud
JLS
Sugababes
25. Pop was less clean-cut as a result of a more pessimistic post 9/11 era
than the previous decade. Artists in this genre include:
Britney Spears
Christina Aguilera
Pop-rock hybrid artists include:
Miley Cyrus
Avril Lavigne
Singer-songwriters which gained much success include:
Amy Winehouse
Kate Nash
James Morrison
Lilly Allen
