Popular Song Since 1960

1960’s: During this time Britain became famous for its Rock musicians with distinctive styles formed by the
Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Who. The Stones and The Who used aspects of Rhythm and Blues
in their songs with loud amplified frantic guitars and wilder vocals. The Bealtes were a mix of Rock ‘n’
Roll, skiffle and occasionally English Folk music. Their music also fused ideas from classical music and
music from other world cultures.

New techniques of multi tracking, distortion and other effects were becoming available in the 1960s.

Gospel: Associated with African – American Church. Spirituals such as ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ combined
harmonies and structure of European people with Call and Response patterns, syncopated rhythms and
blue notes of West African people. Singing style would use techniques for extending notes by melisma,
breaking a single syllable into many repetitions separated by rests or breaths (e.g. oh – oh – oh – my lord)
and using extreme changes between sobbing and shouting. Improvisation is also a major part of Gospel.
By the 1960s large choirs accompanied by a rock beat on the drums and bass and keyboards became
popular.

Listen to the Gospel extract. Intro has guitar melody using bends and hammer ons creating quite a Bluesy
style. Other instruments in the intro are piano, bass guitar and drums. Later an organ can be heard filling
out the harmonies. Piano and guitar both provide fills. The piece is in 3/4 time. In the chorus a choir is
singing harmonies behind sometimes singing harmonies and other times emphasising main words of
chorus. Listen for melisma too in vocal part.

Soul: Comes from fusion of rhythm ‘n’ blues with vocal techniques of gospel. Brass sections, electric instruments,
Blue notes, riffs and rhythms of soul come from rhythm ‘n’ blues. Combined with call and response singing
of gospel.

Progressive Rock: Pink Floyd were one of most successful bands of this type. Most pop songs are 3 minutes to
allow them to be produced as singles. Pink Floyd’s songs were too long for this often featuring
long instrumental solos and electronic effects.

Punk Rock: A reactionary move back to the simple chords structure and rebellious attitudes of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Bands such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash were most prominent. Punk Rock was characterised
by slogans in place of lyrics, a limited number of chords, repetitive rhythms hit out on the drums
and shouting in place of singing.

Folk Influenced: Folk means belonging to the song and dance tradition of a country or region. Performers of such
music are Linisfarne, Enya and The Pogues. Folk influenced music is largely original than
traditional, often accompanied with just guitar. Often the singing can sound nasal with the voice
oscillating quickly between two notes at the ends of words. Listen out for this in the folk extract.
The use of electric instruments lead to folk rock. Now listen to the extract ‘Who Will Sing Me
Lullabies’? This starts with acoustic guitar accompaniment creating a steady beat and outlining
the chords which are simple I IV V chords. Piece is in a major key and sung by a female voice
in an alto range.

Jamaican Music: Two forms of music emerged from Jamaica and Kinston in the Caribbean. These were Ska and
Rock Steady. Both lead to Reggae.

Ska: This is derived from a combination of mento, jazz and rhythm ‘n’ blues. The rhythms of rhythm ‘n’ blues
were swung and beats 2 and 4 were emphasised rather than 1 and 3 creating off beat syncopated feel.
Rock Steady: Slower beat to Ska with more complex song melodies. Built around bass and drum repeated patterns
called riffs. Limited number of chords but still emphasisng beats 2 and 4.

Reggae: Made use of swung rhythms and stronger beats 2 and 4. Role of bass became even more important and
very melodic riffs were now used on this instrument which often missed out the first beat of the bar
completely. Songs were topical about poverty or Rastafarianism.

Listen to ‘Africa’. Starts typically with a drum fill. The piece is in 4/4 with beats 2 and 4 emphasised on
the bass drum reinforced by rim shots on the snare. The bass plays similar riff pattern throughout based
on root and 5th of the chord. The guitar plays off beat quavers. Also use of brass section. Backing vocals
behind main vocals. Brass section consists of trombone and saxophone. Melody is also very syncopated.
Other prominent percussion instrument is a guiro. At beginning sax and trombone are in unison, later on
they play in harmony an interval of a 6th apart. Backing vocals start each line of the main vocal then
harmonise underneath.

World Music and Western Popular Song

Fusion: Term which describes blending of western pop and other cultures.

Africa: Styles such as African – American and Caribbean e.g. Blues, Rhythm ‘n’ Blues, Reggae, Calypso and
Salsa. Paul Simon’s ’Graceland’ is a good example of Rock being fused with South African music.

Indian Sub – Continent: Indian instruments such as sitar and tabla used in pop songs and Indian Rags.
Beatles were particularly influenced by Indian music. Bhangra composed and
performed by Asian musicians originate from North-Indian traditional music.
Bhangra is a combination of western rock and indian instruments.
Listen to the example.
The piece starts with saxophone and strings playing continuous figure based around a
broken chord. Other western instruments are guitar, bass guitar. Percussion instruments
are Indian – tabla, dholak and dhol. Lead instrument is an indian harmonium.
The voice part is decorated with ornaments. The piece is based around traditional
western chords.

Latin American: Rhythms and latin percussion fused with western popular songs. E.g. Gloria Estefan and
Ricky Martin.

1990 Brit Rock: Oasis good example strongly influenced by the Beatles. Used Beatles style chord sequences,
solo-and-chorus vocals strong beat related percussion and melodic lead guitar playing. Listen
to ‘Wonderwall’. Starts with strummed acoustic guitar intro which is quite syncopated. Cello
countermelody and drums strart at beginning of verse 2.

Effects: Often used on the guitar. Popular ones were distortion, wah-wah, flange and chorus. Synthesisers
were used such as Moog and ARP types these used analogue sounds. In the 1980s synths with
digital sounds were popular.
 Popular Song Since 1960 Key Words

Keyword Meaning
Skiffle Type of popular music played on home made instruments.
Multi track recorder Equipment like 4 track recorder capable of recording numerous instrument parts
on top of one another.
Distortion Guitar effect used in heavy metal and rock music creates ‘dirty’ sound.
Spiritual Religious folk song of Afro-Americans.
Call and Response Soloist sings phrase to which larger group responds with answering phrase.
Melisma Many notes are sung to one syllable.
Blue notes Melody or riff using notes from the Blues scale e.g. C Eb F F# G Bb (basic blues
scale).
Bends Bending string on guitar to move from one note to next – blues type playing.
Hammer-ons Hammering fretting finger down on next note without picking in between. On
guitar.
Fill Melodic or rhythmical idea to ‘fill out’ gaps in between sections of melody.
Mento Popular in Jamaica. Lively music with beats 2 and 4 emphasised.
Rim shot Sharply striking both rim and skin of snare at same time with one stick.
Guiro Cuban percussion instrument. Wooden with notches to scrape a stick. Creates
quite a dry, penetrating sound.
Unison Sounding of same pitches by 2 or more instruments or voices.
Interval Distance between 2 pitches or notes
Rags Indian scales or modes on which whole piece is composed. There are lots of
different Indian scales.
Tabla Pair of single headed Indian drums played using fingers and hands.
Dholak Double headed hand drum
Dhol Larger double headed barrel drum hung around head and played with sticks.
Harmonium Similar to an accordion.
Counter Melody Second melody that fits under the main melody. Will compliment the main
melody.
Flange Electronic effect which delays part of the signal. Creates a bulging sweeping
sound.
Chorus Effects unit which slightly delays copies of the original sound and slightly
sharpens and flattens their pitch. Effect is of several guitar playing at same time.
Delay Short echo effect.