George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" premiered in All of the famous bands toured through Nebraska. Accordion player Lawrence Welk, who was born in Strasburg, North Dakota, performed on radio and toured the Midwest in the s. Millie Opitz was one woman who loved to dance and recalls Lawrence Welk, Guy Lombardo, and other bands that performed in Nebraska.
The flip side of swing and jazz was folk and country music. The implementation of the Production Code in , establishing stricter standards for the content of films, seemed to stifle creativity in the business and could have been a factor in many of these creators deciding to return their focus to Broadway later in the decade. The musicals in the Thirties were also known for their elaborately choreographed dance numbers and some of the most iconic choreography came from Busby Berkeley.
His films featured intricate and geometric placement of dancers and showgirls in what was called a kaleidoscopic shot, sometimes shown from an over-head angle. Some of the biggest names in music either emerged from or dabbled in film musicals during the decade, many forging careers that would last several decades.
The most popular and emblematic of the decade were Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers who sang and danced together on screen as as two of the most famous stars in Hollywood.
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers epitomized the multi-talented entertainers that took the decade by storm and they starred in 10 musical comedy films together all were released in the s except one.
The Swing Era An offshoot of the previously popular Jazz genre, Swing music hand in hand with Big Band music was developed near the end of the s and it reached the height of its popularity from the mids to the early s. Benny Goodman was often cited as introducing the style to the masses with his performances at the Palomar Ballroom beginning in Swing differed from traditional jazz in that the songs would often have a stronger driving force.
They focused on the rhythm sections and allowed some improvisation while often featuring a soloist or vocalist prominently. The style was also adaptable with other genres as fusions with country and blues were also popular.
Bandleaders like Chick Webb, Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway, Gene Krupa, Artie Shaw, and the Dorsey Brothers among many others were also important in the early establishment of swing and the popularization of the genre.
Many bands created different arrangements of the same songs, leading to slightly different versions vying for popularity on the charts. As with traditional jazz and many other popular music genres throughout the 20th Century, there was a racial component to swing with very little integration between black and white band leaders, band members, and vocalists. The radio introduced more music genres than the people had ever heard before.
The music industry began expanding by keeping track of and measuring the popularity of records through sales. In , Billboard magazine started publishing Hit Parade as a list of the most popular songs of the time. Skip to main content. Subscribe to Music Tales. Top stories. The History of Popular Music Discover stories from each decade. Listen to gems from the s , s , and more. Musical Modes Explore Phrygian , Lydian , Dorian , and other modes through the harmonic analysis of popular songs.
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