The In Between Decades – American Popular Music In The 1940s And 50s

The course will largely focus on the immediate postwar years and the decline of the Great American Song. We will trace some of the changes that overtook popular entertainment during and after WW2 including the Andrews Sisters and Glenn Miller. 

Postwar we will look at the rise of the solo crooner and pop vocalists such as Crosby, Como and Sinatra. We can then explore the rise of Rhythm and Blues which evolved into Rock ‘n Roll in the 1950s. We will also consider the record label bosses and how their economic model of mass production often came into conflict with the songwriters and performers of the music. The most egregious example of such conflict was that between Columbia records boss, Mitch Miller, and Frank Sinatra.  Finally, we will look at how “quality” songs survived and were re-born in the work of, for example, the Brill Building composers and some gifted performer/writers in the early 1960s.

We welcome friends old and new.