Music Industry Changes

Although people my age and older know about this,
I believe I should back up and explain to everybody
who did not experience the change from the 50s
(which lasted until about 1964) through the 70s
(which began about 1974), just how dramatically
things HAVE changed.

Even those of us who did go through those times
have to be reminded of the drastic changes. You
younguns have no clue as to what a dramatic culture
shock you would experience if you could be
transported back to 1958 in a time machine.

Those of you with green hair, tattoos and piercings
. . . it's hard to say how 1958 would view you.
You'd be such a freak, maybe you'd just be taken
for some strange kind of foreigner.

But let's start with just the music industry itself.

First, it was MUCH smaller. If there were Grammy
Awards, who cared? People bought and listened to
records, and there was lots of live music in clubs
etc but it was a much smaller industry than today.

The main pop music was the stuff the World War 2
generation enjoyed. From Frank Sinatra on down to
the boring "easy listening" stuff.

That's what was in TV shows and all major
entertainment.

Black music was mostly listened to by black
people, except the stuff that qualified as rock
and roll, which was listened to by white kids
but not black people. Only ordinary blacks
knew about the blues. Jazz was mostly for urban
blacks and elitist whites.


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