MUSIC140 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Mamie Smith, Crazy Blues, Ralph Peer
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Commercial Radio : 1920 - Jan 1922-28 Stations/December 1922 - 570 Stations - Controlled by only a few
"Networks" (CBS, NBC, Mutual) - First radio network; NBC in 1928 - Very few independent radio stations exist -
Network radio begins to changes patterns of consumption from regional to national - 1922 Radio became really
popular - became organized into different networks Success of Radio: - Expensive one-time purchase, unlimited
content - Why buy records? - Music was always done live b/c could not been put on radio The Rise of the Record
Industry - Ralph Peer - Okeh Records - Went out to look for people to record songs - Record industry concerned -
needs to find new markets - Mamie Smith: "Crazy Blues" Concerning b/c she was black - institutionalized racism - ○
Market Research in Popular Music - "Crazy Blues" is not a blues song, more associated with Jazz - Jazz - African
American found in Urban centres - Absorbed rapidly by white musicians - Introduction of "Hillbilly" Carve that
Possum: 1927 - Two new main threads of recording: Southern whites - Hillbilly Race - refers to Blacks § ○ ○
Significant recordings to African Americans and Blues § Blues developed in 1890s - Introduction of "race" How Long
Blues 1928 - Black culture being exposed to more audiences
Television: - First demonstrated in 1927 - Experimental and low-resolution broadcasts through the 1930s - Network
broadcasts begin in 1939 - By 1945 - 6 stations - 1955 - 411 stations Major Networks move to Television - Much
easier to show lifestyle on television - Dropped radio licenses to move into TV - WDIA - pharmacists bought this as
they thought it was fun to have a radio station - First "Black Appeal" radio station - WDIA Memphis, 1948 - By 1954 -
200 BA radio stations are on air Who is listening? Extended Adolescence Transistor Radio Gospel: Ray Charles
(Robinson) 1930 - 2004 - Born Albany, Georgia - Blind at age 7 - Learns music in a school for the blind - 1952
Atlantic Records - Success with white audiences - heightened level of intensity Chicago Electric Blues: Maddy Waters
1913-1983 - Born in Mississipppi - Played guitar and harmonica - Emulated Robert Johnson - Moves to Chicago,
early 1940s - Switches to electric guitar, 1945 - 1946, records for Aristocrat Records (would later become Chess
Records) Hoochie Coochie Man (1954, Willie Dixon) - Verse chorus (modified 12-bar blues) - Stop Time - Verse -
same music, different words - Chorus - same music, same words, may include the title of the song, may have a
higher LVL intensity Popularity with white teenagers leads to moral panic with parents becoming concerned that their
child was finding black culture interesting Cover Versions: 1954 - 1956 - "White" versions of "Black" records - Rhythm
& Blues - intended for black artists instead of saying "race" One of the most famous of the "Cover Versions" was:
Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman) - Born 1932, Macon Georgia - First big hit was "tutti frutti" - Released late
1955 on Specialty Records (lyrics revised by Dorothy) "Moral Panic" 3 listening examples Listing tracks Reading
sections to read
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