It's funny how music and America are connected. Music has been present throughout America's history in the 19th, 20th, and 21st century. Whether it be in peacetime, wartime, high times, or hard, music has always represented the "mood" or state of being of America.
Songs have a special power to express what words alone cannot: hopes, fears, dreams, love, hate, anger, pride, aspirations, and disappointments. And because songs span the breadth of human experience, they are able to better communicate across time and space (than any other form of record or media) the beliefs and ideas held by their composers, performers, listeners and society in general.
The Star Spangled Banner, for instance, was inspired by the sight of the American flag flying over Fort McHenry the night and morning after the bombardment of the said fort. The music and lyrics were written by Francis Scott Key and distributed through several Baltimore newspapers, and eventually ended up being our national anthem in 1931 (although there are several newer alternates such as James Brown's funk hit I Got You (I Feel Good) with it's brass heavy arrangement and solo by Maceo Parker. "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins because it was featured in "Top Gun", one of the most American movies ever made, and because it's iconic. "Anyway You Want It," by Journey, "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor, and "Take on Me" by ah-ha. All of these songs are uniquely American through their expression of our values/other quirks).
The 19th century was filled with Civil War and military marches composed namely by John Philip Sousa, Henry Fillmore, and Karl King. Soul and gospel music, or Spirituals, inspired by the 2nd Awakening, arose from the work songs of enslaved African-Americans, some of which were coded messages to signal resistance or escape. The end of this era also included the popularization of other forms of African-American music, e.g. ragtime, jazz, blues, gospel, and barbershop quartets(US barbershops were social gathering places and quartets developed from African-American men harmonizing while waiting their turn, vocalizing in spirituals, folk songs and popular songs). This continued and expanded from the end of the Civil War and the release of all slaves, who filtered into society and brought their culture with them. By the 1890's their musical traditions (which had their roots in slavery) had proliferated into several forms of music, including blues and jazz. At the end of the 19th century, African American music was mainstream, despite the lack of acceptance from the classical crowd. By this time, this type of music had become rooted in America's identity. Heck, this was and still is America's music.
In the 20th century, outgrowths such as swing and gospel became very popular. During WWI, there were many war-related songs written and produced, at first to drum up support and to make people want to join, and then, after several months and an increasing death toll, songs such as "When the Boys Come Home" and "Keep the Home Fires Burning" expressed a want for the soldiers to return. After the war, during the "roaring 20's", jazz became popular, especially among younger white Americans. As with many new forms of music and culture, jazz was blamed for the "moral degeneracy" of these young people who listened to the music. During the 30's and the Great Depression, gospel music became popular, but its popularity didn't come close to the popularity of big band and swing music. Between 1935 and 1946 was when big band swing music reached its peak and was the most popular music in America. The off-beat rhythm and danceable style of big band swing, developed by bandleaders such as Benny Goodman, helped it become the most popular music during the end of the Depression and through World War II. Many famous musicans came out of this period, including but not limited to Louis Armstrong ,Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman, and several others. However, this era was, unfortunately, temporary. Due to the war and economic conditions, big band groups were hard to put together or even maintain. In addition to this, a recording ban in the mid-to-late 40's (1942 and 1948 due to musicians' union strikes) prevented any legal records from being made. By the time these bans had been lifted, swing had already phased into traditional pop music or (d)evolved into new jazz styles such as jump blues and bebop. This was much to the disappointment of artists such as Benny Goodman: "(Be)Bop. To me it's a circus. For all I know those guys might think they're playing soulful music. Basically, it's all wrong. Not even knowing the scales." The music of the swing era is often regarded as one of the most influential precursors to traditional pop music, as it helped popularize many American "standards."
During the 50's, classic pop music dominated the charts for the first part of the decade. This type of music was vocal-driven, although bands usually backed vocalists; plus it focused on the song's story and emotion rather than the focus on orchestration of the big band and swing era. During the latter half of the 50's, a swing revival occurred, along with the rise of rock and roll. Pop music influenced both of them. The swing revival brought back swing bands, but with a major change; vocalists were more center-stage than in the 40s. Singers like Frank Sinatra became very popular and well known during this revival. However, rock and roll dominated the music scene through the latter half of the 50's and continued to dominate the music scene through the 80's albeit numerous style branch offs such as hard rock, metal(regular, heavy, death), etc and transplantation to countries like England and Australia. It had its roots in African-American music, primarilly blues, boogie woogie, jump blues, jazz, and gospel music which combined with Western swing and country music to create rock music. Noteworthy rock and roll(rock music) musicians and groups during this long time period include Elvis, Chuck Berry, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, ELO, Boston, Foreigner, Kansas, Journey, Styx, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Queen, Aerosmith, and many others.
References:
http://voices.pitt.edu/
http://www.balladofamerica.com/ushistorythroughmusic/index.htm
http://library.umkc.edu/spec-col/ww1/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role_of_music_in_World_War_II
http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jul/05/local/me-47919
http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_26072993/6-songs-replace-star-spangled-banner-national-anthem
http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=265024
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_history_of_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_music
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_music
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