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2.6.2A Music History Timeline—Actually, a Music Genre Timeline
Figure 4 below shows the major genres of Western popular music (at least in the main English-speaking countries) from approximate breakout dates to the present. The GSSL only applies to the right half of Figure 4.
FIGURE 4: Genre Breakouts In Historical Perspective
A FEW SIGNIFICANT DATES IN THE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC
- A 1850s Stephen Foster’s greatest hits
- B 1886 Berne Int’l Copyright Convention
- C 1890 Commercial recording begins
- D 1914 ASCAP established
- E 1920 Commercial radio begins
- F 1926 First movies with sound
- G 1939 BMI established
- H 1948 Regular network TV begins
- I 1950-54 Fender Tele & Strat; Gibson Les Paul
- J 1964 Moog synthesizer
- K 1981 MTV begins
- L 1994 Internet becomes mainstream
Occasionally, a major genre, after flourishing for a time, becomes extinct, such as ragtime and American minstrelsy. Usually the reason is that another genre comes along with similar, but not identical characteristics, and absorbs the first one. For example, vaudeville took over from minstrelsy. Later, the Broadway-style musical succeeded vaudeville. That does not mean the Broadway musical represented artistic progress over vaudeville. Many Broadway style revues use elements pioneered in vaudeville, but presented with technologically updated stagecraft
Following are brief sketches of each of the genres represented in Figure 4 above.