Popular Music: From Placid to Acid

The arrival of rock and roll blew the lush orchestrations of the early 1950s popular music off the stage.  Elvis Presley gyrated on stage to give millions of teenage girls a shot of rhythm and blues mixed with good-ole-boy delivery. Groups like Bill Haley and the Comets, the Beach Boys and the Supremes soon followed, becoming household names. Guitar sales climbed.

Then came the Beatles in 1964. Their creativity, wit and charm generated often-hysterical enthusiasm. Guitars, amps and drums flew out the doors of music stores to outfit thousands of garage bands started by teenagers wanting to create their own piece of British sound. At the same time, the folk movement pushed acoustic guitar and harmonica sales to new heights.

By the late 1960s, the psychedelic sounds that originated in San Francisco climaxed with Jimi Hendrix’s blistering electric guitar rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner,” played to thousands of flower children in the muddy fields of Woodstock, New York. Rock and roll was here to stay, providing the music products industry with a lucrative roll of its own.

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Early Rock & Roll

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Country & Western

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Cool Jazz

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Classic Rock & Roll

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Television Stars

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Vocal Group

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Rhythm & Blues

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The Motown Sound

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The British Invasion

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Folk Music

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The Blues