The Role Of Girl Groups In The Late 1950s And Early 60s

Women of the 1950’s through the 1960’s are ridden with male oppression and self-esteem issues. The book Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates and an episode of Mad Men titled The Shoot have a lot in common. The differences and similarities between the leading women in both of these stories from the 1950’s show that times are different today. The women of the 1950’s had a dream for the future and their dream has finally become a reality for American women. From Mad Men, Betty Draper’s dream of becoming a model and in Revolutionary Road, April Wheeler’s dream of traveling the world are actual realities for women today. Their dreams show similarities, differences and the “American Dream” that every woman has.

Music as a whole blends together. One style leads to another, the music becomes more progressive. It evolves to fit the new generation, leaving the old generation behind. From the spritual songs of the late 1800s to the gospel of the early 1900s. Then it changed into rhythm and blues, and when the 1950s rolled around it became Rock’ n’ Roll. With the invention of new iconic instruments like the Fender Precision Bass and then the Fender Stratocaster, the sound of the music changed. The sound that was soft and low was now crunchy and loud. While it did not sit well with the adults, it was a hit among the new generation. Even the African American roots of the music didn’t deter the youth listening

The social and political context of the 1950’s is crucial to any understanding of the birth of rock n roll.

The 1940’s was recognized as the era of the common household names such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Perry Como. Jazz was the strongest music genre in the 40’s era with Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong taking the lead. Radio was the most common way to listen to music back then, but phonograph players were just starting to get affordable for the average wage.

The 19th century was an era of change. There were lots of progression in technology, science, and philosophy that gradually turned European society away from the past centuries. Women’s status in the 19th century Europe also changed. Many of the 19th century women were able to have a profession as they received higher and wider education, and also allowed to have more participation in society. In the musical life of 19th century Europe, numbers of women were able to perform and compose as good and men.

Women’s music came from radical, grassroots origins in the 1970s thanks to contributions by brave women, mostly lesbians (Mosbacher, 2002). These women used non-violent, peaceful force to forge their own way into the music industry. It was a peaceful yet political revolution of togetherness and liberation. It brought together women of different backgrounds who produced easy-listening, mellow harmonies played with lyrics filled with tumultuous

the house becoming the homemaker once the war was over. The 1950s has also been

The idea of television began since the 1820s but it was until 1927 when the 21- year old Philo T. Farnsworth produce the first electronic television picture. Experimental broadcast began, featuring music, wrestling, and dance; however, it was until the 1950s that TV really became the new form of mass entertainment. Nevertheless, in all the shows that were produced women was denigrated and producers focused mainly on their physical appearance and not their intellect capacity. Ward and Harrison stated, “TV has depicted females by focusing on their physical characteristics, sexual appeal, and romantic success, whether they are housewives, mothers, or objects of desire.” Women did not have a choice, they were placed on TV shows with a certain stereotype needed to be fulfilled by them, and because they wanted to work they did not deny the job, therefore, they encouraged the stereotype.

The 1950s is considered to be the model decade of America. Families were close, children respected their elders, workers worked hard to provide for their families who grew up in nice neighborhoods, and the economy was booming. The forced conformity, neglect of the poor, and segregation are often overlooked when talking about the decade as they were during the time period. The 1950s were a prodigious time period for family life but not for the individual or societal ethics.

In the 1920’s, blues was a very popular and dominating genre in the music industry. Generally, the blues was sung by African American women because according to the book entitled, “Blues Legacies and Black Feminism” by Angela Davis, “…The most widely heard individual purveyors of the blues—were women.” (Davis 4) The blues delivers certain emotions such as sadness, loneliness, love, sex, and feelings about the certain circumstances the artist may be going through at the time. Two women who dominate this style of music are Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Bessie Smith. As stated by “Gay & Lesbian Biography”, “The careers of Rainey and Smith are closely interwoven.” Ma Rainey is a woman who is admired for both her amazing vocals and her ability to entertain. Bessie Smith is a woman who started off as a background dancer for her peer Ma Rainey, but then went on to emulate her by outdoing her success. Both women are very talented musicians who can not only sing and entertain, but they also create an impact as two of the most influential feminists during the 1920’s who helped shape the blues into what it is today.

The change tearing through America in the 1950’s persists to this day. 2010 has brought a busier, more materialistic, culture than ever before. The trends of women working outside of the home and increasing teenage autonomy persists. American teenagers are given more discretionary time than ever before in history. Reed Larson studied this continuing trend and explains, “If we look back over the past 200 years, the most striking historic change in young people’s use of time is that youths spend much less time on labor activities today than they did in America’s agrarian past” (160). Some teenagers use

The girl groups became a popular phenomenon and dominated the United States musical industry from 1958 to 1966. During this tme period, many girl groups was created and became popular, such as The Crystals, The Shirelles, The Supremes, etc. Motown was the name of the record company that was owned by Berry Gordan. During the 1960s, Motown records signed with many girl groups, which lead to the name of Motown Girl Group. In addition to the popularizing the girl groups in 1960s, Motown record also played a large role in influence the style of music that was performed by the girl groups. The music style that was performed by the Motown Girl Groups is that of a soul music, but also contains influence from pop music, this became known as the Motown

How we view gender images today come from many different factors. They comes from family beliefs, cultural norms, society, and last media. Although women have made great progress for acceptance, equality, and respect. I wonder with the process made, if women are being portrayed more positivity or are they portrayed still negativity. Music is taking a big role in how construct images of gender in todays society. In popular music like pop and rap, are sending information, messages, and content to listener that shape their view on an aspect on things. Women in song are still being portrayed negatively by male artist. Many pop and rap songs are about men having control over women, women being seen

Throughout history, music have defined or depicted the culture and social events in America. Music has constantly played an important role in constituting American culture, where people have expressed themselves through music during flourishing and turbulent times. In the 1930’s, Swing music created a platform for audiences to vent their emotions in the midst of Great Depression and political unrest. Such strong relationship between music and culture can be seen throughout history, especially in the sixties.

Prior to the 1990s, there were not any female Rock ‘N’ Roll musicians, however, there was one, Cobra, the first female Rock ‘N’ Roll band. Many female artists came out in the 1990s and “many famous female singers of that time… became rather famous because of their powerful and uninhibited (benfang) voices. With their powerful voices, these female singers conformed to the orthodox communist, masculine females image” (Baranovitch, 145). One of the songs I enjoyed was Do As You Wish, translated as Follow One’s Heart’s Desire, by Luo Qui. This song was from when she was in her band Compass, which she became the lead singer of in 1991. I liked the overall musicality of the song and that it was upbeat, following with a positive message about being