Lisa's Nostalgia Cafe--1950s Music


more 1950s topics Nostalgia Cafe main page Nostalgia Cafe site map	1950s Music ====================================================================== ====================================================================== ======================================================================


hit parade In the early 1950s, the big bands and crooners of the previous decade were still popular. Towards the end of the decade, calypso and lounge music went hand-in-hand with the exotic new Tiki lifestyle. Vocal groups enjoyed gathering on street corners to perform upbeat doo-wop music. jazz & blues These African-American musical styles originated in the 1890s. In the 1920s, they gained a small measure of popularity with white folks. By the 1950s, whites embraced the music wholeheartedly. During this decade, classic jazz evolved into progressive and cool jazz. The sounds of classic blues were sanitized for white audiences and eventually became the basis for rock & roll music.		Songs For Young Lovers --Frank Sinatra, 1954 While the kids were digging rock & roll, daddy-o, their parents were enjoying the old standards. Frank Sinatra released this classic concept album in 1954, containing songs arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle.
		country & folk music Country music entered the mainstream during the 1950s. What was once dismissed as "hillbilly" music was now thoroughly modern, thanks to the use of electric guitars and a blurring of the lines between country, rock and blues. Folk music enjoyed a brief period of popularity during the 1930s. In the early 1950s, a folk revival was ready to begin, but was suppressed when folk singers were harrassed and blacklisted during the McCarthy anti-communist "witch hunts." In 1958, the folk movement enjoyed a rebirth.
rock & roll In 1951, Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed began to play black rhythm & blues records for his white teenage listeners. In his search for a phrase that white audiences would find acceptable, he coined the term rock & roll. He also hosted record hops and teen dances under the nickname Moondog. Rock's upbeat, sensual and rebellious nature made it wildly popular among young people. In 1954, it began to make an impact on the music charts. That same year, Freed left Cleveland to become a DJ at WINS in New York City. His career really took off after that, and his teen dances and stage shows became legendary. In 1956, rock music gained a wider audience when Bill Haley's "Rock Around The Clock" was featured in the movie The Blackboard Jungle.		Elvis Presley in the recording studio Most adults hated rock music. One particular 1959 newspaper article compared rock & roll singers to backwoods farmers doing hog calls. Elvis Presley, with his sensual sneer and swiveling hips, was one of the most controversial rock performers of the era.
general sites 50s Rock & Roll Reviews Cash Box Top 100 Of The 50s The Grammy Awards Year-By-Year Oldies Music Doo Wop Nation online audio Take A Musical Trip To The 50s The Bachelor Pad Stuck In The 50s dancing Popular dances in the 1950s included the Bop, Stroll, Hand Jive and Jitterbug.		other musical styles Advances in recording technology were especially beneficial for Broadway musical soundtracks. The long-playing record format finally made it possible for an entire soundtrack to fit on one disc. This innovation, along with stereo technology, made original Broadway cast and movie soundtrack albums increasingly popular. In 1958, Ross Bagdasarian created the Chipmunks and made a Christmas record using his stage name, David Seville. Speeding up the audio tape gave Simon, Alvin and Theodore their unique voices. "The Chipmunk Song" was one of the top songs of the year, and the furry little trio would go on to record many "cover versions" of popular tunes.


radio Before the 1950s, radio content was programmed in blocks: a Jack Benny episode, some phonograph records, an hour of live dance music, and so on. When the radio comedies and dramas moved to TV in the early 1950s, radio stations needed to find something else to fill the time and attract advertisers. Two men, Todd Storz and Gordon McLendon, are credited with inventing the Top 40 radio format at this time. Their stations played only the top hits of the day, based on record store surveys. This new format gave us the first radio contests, the first snappy DJ patter between songs, the first catchy station jingles and the first top 40 countdowns. On the FM side, programming generally consisted of classical music and educational content. Rock Radio Scrapbook Alan Freed History Of Rock: Alan Freed Alan Freed In 1954 History Of Top 40 Radio stereo The recording industry had been experimenting with stereo technology since the 1930s. In the 1950s, the first stereo recordings were made commercially available. Reel-to-reel tapes were the first to feature stereo in 1954. The first stereo LP was sold in 1958.	-----	records & tapes In the early 1950s, three record formats competed for the public's attention. The oldest format was the 78 RPM record, which had been around since the 1900s. Each 10-inch shellac record contained two songs. Albums came in sets of five records each, and were so named because the record sleeves folded out like the pages of a book. Long playing records (LPs) were introduced in 1948. These 12-inch vinyl discs were played at 33 1/3 RPM and contained 23 minutes of music per side. Originally, they were intended for symphony recordings. Pop and country music labels didn't use the format for their albums until later in the decade. The first Sun Records LP was Johnny Cash With His Hot & Blue Guitar in 1957. 45 RPM records were introduced in 1949. These 7-inch discs were perfect for short popular tunes. By the late 1950s, the old 78 RPM format had been phased out. Columbia stopped making 78s in 1955, and RCA Victor stopped making them in 1958. Reel-to-reel tape recorders came on the market in the late 1940s. Prerecorded albums on tape were first offered for sale in 1954. Generally, only classical, jazz and big band recordings were sold on tape. Rock and country music wouldn't be widely offered on tape until the 1960s.
put another nickel in... Jukeboxes were first produced in the 1930s and reached the height of their popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. About The Jukebox Jukeboxes & Manufacturers Record Labels Established In The 50s Sun Studio Sun Records		record labels & the music biz popular record labels in the 1950s Columbia RCA Victor Essex Chess Vanguard Sun Vee-Jay Audio Fidelity In 1958, The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences gave out the first Grammy Awards. In 1959, the payola scandal revealed that many radio DJs were taking bribes to play records. In 1959, Berry Gordy founded Tamla Records, which would eventually become Motown Records.


1950 All My Love (Patti Page) Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy (Red Foley) The Cry Of The Wild Goose (Frankie Laine) Goodnight Irene (The Weavers) Harbor Lights (Sammy Kaye & His Orchestra) I Can Dream, Can't I (The Andrews Sisters) If I Knew You Were Comin' (Eileen Barton) Mona Lisa (Nat "King" Cole) Music! Music! Music! (Teresa Brewer) Peter Cottontail (Mervin Shiner) Rag Mop/Sentimental Me (The Ames Brothers) Tennessee Waltz (Patti Page) The Thing (Phil Harris) Third Man Theme (Anton Karas) Third Man Theme (Guy Lombardo & The Royal Canadians) Tennessee Waltz Patti Page (midi)	-----	1951 Aba Daba Honeymoon (Carleton Carpenter & Debbie Reynolds) Because Of You (Tony Bennett) Be My Love (Mario Lanza) Charmaine (Montovani & His Orchestra) Cold, Cold Heart (Tony Bennett) Come On-A My House (Rosemary Clooney) Cry (Johnny Ray) How High The Moon (Les Paul & Mary Ford) If (Perry Como) Mockin' Bird Hill (Patti Page) My Truly, Truly Fair (Guy Mitchell) On Top Of Old Smoky (The Weavers) Sin (The Four Aces) Sin (Eddie Howard & His Orchestra) Too Young (Nat "King" Cole)
1952 Blue Tango (Leroy Anderson) Delicado (Percy Faith) Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes (Perry Como) The Glow Worm (The Mills Brothers) A Guy Is A Guy (Doris Day) Half As Much (Rosemary Clooney) I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (Jimmy Boyd) I Went To Your Wedding (Patti Page) Kiss Of Fire (Georgia Gibbs) Slow Poke (Pee Wee King & His Golden West Cowboys) Till I Waltz Again With You (Teresa Brewer) Wheel Of Fortune (Kay Starr) Why Don't You Believe Me (Joni James) Wish You Were Here (Eddie Fisher) You Belong To Me (Jo Stafford)		1953 Doggie In The Window (Patti Page) Ebb Tide (Frank Chacksfield & His Orchestra) Eh Cumpari (Julius LaRosa) Have You Heard (Joni James) I'm Walking Behind You (Eddie Fisher) Kaw Liga/Your Cheatin' Heart (Hank Williams & His Drifting Cowboys) No Other Love (Perry Como) Pretend (Nat "King" Cole) P.S. I Love You (The Hilltoppers) Rags To Riches (Tony Bennett) Song From 'Moulin Rouge' (Percy Faith) St. George & The Dragonet (Stan Freberg) That's Amore (Dean Martin) Vaya Con Dios (Les Paul & Mary Ford) You, You, You (The Ames Brothers) Satin Doll Duke Ellington (midi)
1954 Hey There (Rosemary Clooney) I Need You Now (Eddie Fisher) Little Things Mean A Lot (Kitty Kallen) Make Love To Me! (Jo Stafford) Mr. Sandman (The Chordettes) Oh! My Pa-Pa (Eddie Fisher) Secret Love (Doris Day) Sh-Boom (The Crew Cuts) This Ole House (Rosemary Clooney) Wanted (Perry Como) Sh-Boom The Crew Cuts (midi) Mr. Sandman The Chordettes (midi)		1955 Ballad Of Davy Crockett (Bill Hayes) Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White (Perez Prado) Hearts Of Stone (The Fontane Sisters) Let Me Go, Lover (Joan Weber) Love Is A Many Splendored Thing (The Four Aces) Sincerely (The McGuire Sisters) Sixteen Tons (Tennessee Ernie Ford) Unchained Melody (Les Baxter) Rock Around The Clock (Bill Haley & His Comets) Yellow Rose Of Texas (Mitch Miller) Only You The Platters (midi) Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White Perez Prado (midi) Rock Around The Clock Bill Haley & His Comets (midi)
1956 Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog (Elvis Presley) Heartbreak Hotel (Elvis Presley) I Want You, I Need You, I Love You (Elvis Presley) Lisbon Antigua (Nelson Riddle) Love Me Tender (Elvis Presley) Memories Are Made Of This (Dean Martin) My Prayer (The Platters) The Poor People Of Paris (Les Baxter) Singing The Blues (Guy Mitchell) The Wayward Wind (Gogi Grant) In The Still Of The Night The Five Satins (midi) Que Sera Sera Doris Day (midi)		1957 All Shook Up (Elvis Presley) April Love (Pat Boone) Jailhouse Rock (Elvis Presley) (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear (Elvis Presley) Love Letters In The Sand (Pat Boone) Tammy (Debbie Reynolds) Too Much (Elvis Presley) Wake Up Little Suzy (The Everly Brothers) Young Love (Tab Hunter) You Send Me (Sam Cooke) Little Darlin' The Diamonds (midi) Tammy Debbie Reynolds (midi) Wake Up Little Suzy Everly Brothers (midi)
1958 All I Have To Do Is Dream/Claudette (The Everly Brothers) At The Hop (Danny & The Juniors) Don't/I Beg Of You (Elvis Presley) Hard Headed Woman/Don't Ask Me Why (Elvis Presley) It's All In The Game (Tommy Edwards) Poor Little Fool (Ricky Nelson) Purple People Eater (Sheb Wooley) Tequila (The Champs) To Know Him Is To Love Him (The Teddy Bears) Volare (Domenico Modugno) Rockin' Robin Bobby Day (midi) At The Hop Danny & The Juniors (midi) The Chipmunk Song David Seville & The Chipmunks (.wav)		1959 The Battle Of New Orleans (Johnny Horton) Come Softly To Me (The Fleetwoods) Heartaches By The Number (Guy Mitchell) Kansas City (Wilbert Harrison) Lonely Boy (Paul Anka) Mack The Knife (Bobby Darin) Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (The Platters) Stagger Lee (Lloyd Price) The Three Bells (The Browns) Venus (Frankie Avalon) Teenager In Love Dion & The Belmonts (midi) The Three Bells The Browns (midi) Venus Frankie Avalon (midi) Since I Don't Have You The Skyliners (midi) Sleepwalk Santo & Johnny (midi)