Simply stated, American pop culture is the popular culture of the American people. Pop culture comprises the tastes, preferences, customs, and behaviors embraced by the broad mass of the American public at any given point in time. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society. Therefore, popular culture has a way of influencing an individual’s attitudes towards certain topics American pop culture, like the popular culture of any society, functions to bind together large masses of diverse individuals into a unified cultural identity. An incredibly large part of that culture is its music. Music can be seen in all forms of culture and media. A significant part of that large corner of American pop culture is black music.
The origins of “American-black” music can be traced back decades beginning in colonial times with the forceful travel of Africans to the Americas. Along with slaves they had brought their cultural influences. The earliest forms of African-American music were imported with the slaves themselves. Slaves brought learning of West African melodic instruments like drums, zithers, xylophones, and the banjo. Traditional moves from West Africa transformed into ‘step’ moves, and inborn tunes progressed toward becoming tune styles like the ‘yell’ and the ‘echo’.
During the dark period of American history of the subjection of slavery. Slaves settled into their new lifestyle in the South, slaves utilized music to facilitate the slow, depressing circumstances of their lives, and now and then to send messages. Christianization brought the beginning of Spirituals and Gospel music which is still very crucial to the African-American community. Spirituals enabled captives to think about another world free from work and hardship. ‘Message songs’ were also common tunes intended to make an impression on different slaves without their owner catching on. Examples include ‘The Blue Tail Fly’ and ‘Pursue the Drinking Gourd’.
After decades of these folk songs created by the slaves and after reform came the blues era. The end of the Civil War freed the slaves, lack of support from the American government after Reconstruction left most of the South desperately poor. Another type of music, conceived in depression and poverty, took hold of America, The Blues. The earliest reported Blues show was in 1916, on Ashley Road in Jacksonville. The entertainer was Ma Rainey. She and Bessie Smith were the trailblazers of this new style. The Blues was then followed up by Minstrel Shows and spread all over the Mississippi River. St. Louis was particularly known for their shows. Male Blues vocalists next made their mark with simple tunes and mournful melodies, like Muddy Waters.
After the age of oppression and subjugation, a new sound arose from the ashes of depression and anger amongst the African American communities. At the turn of the century, a more upbeat sound was heard from, believe it or not, barbershops. James Weldon Johnson believed that the Barbershop Quartet had its beginnings in Jacksonville, and noticed that almost every shop had its own group of singers. Barbershop Groups of four had beautiful music done in four-part harmony and acapella. Barbershop Quartets were almost exclusively black due to the fact that at the turn of the century, most barbers were black. It was an occupation that was available to African-Americans who would not like to work in the fields. Though in the modern ages the image of barbershop quartets they have been stereotyped as white musicians. This is because Minstrel Shows picked up the popularized music, and Norman Rockwell popularized the image of white barbershop quartets.
In the depths and hardships of World War I, new music started clearing the world. Beginning in New Orleans, jazz had a likeness similar the barbershop quartet. Using their up tune instruments they created a sound almost mimicking the style of the barbershop quartet. Smooth harmonies and cooperation still are the point of focus of New Orleans Jazz, as embodied in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. A very famous Jazz group known for their innovation of the style. Jazz was played across the nation and sent out to Europe with American soldiers during the Great War, where it rapidly turned into the hit of the century in Paris. This was merely the beginning for the now legendary style of music still used in Jazz specific clubs and bars till this very day.
As any wonder as well known as jazz would it produced new varieties and themes. In Kansas City, Charlie Parker brought brass to jazz. Bringing swing rhythms and saxophones and trumpets into the popular style. In Chicago, one of the very first jazz soloists appeared seemingly from nowhere. Many, similar to Louis Armstrong, would move toward becoming well known in their own right. In New York, the jazz swing rhythms were enhanced into full-scale ensembles, introducing in the Swing Era. Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, and Count Basie all had groups, and the Cotton Club in Harlem turned into an activity of the common man to that of a lucrative and high-end pleasure. This is referred to as the ‘Golden Era’ of Jazz as this time is what is commonly remembered and the atypical style of jazz used today.
Amidst the war, up until the 1930s, the Great Migration found numerous African-Americans moving to northern urban areas. Tragically, the North was not the Promised Land to many. They still faced poverty, unemployment, and prejudice. Starting in Detroit, another sound arose. The Swing Era sound got a quicker beat, more bass, fewer instruments, and burst onto the music world as ‘Rhythm and Blues’ or R&B for short. This was spearheaded by a little record company in Detroit called ‘Motown Records’. Motown signed groups like the Supremes and the Chi-Lites and solo stars like Ray Charles and the wonderfully talented Ella Fitzgerald.
