Explore the rich terrain of American popular music with the most complete introduction of its kind. With the sixth edition of the bestselling text American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3, Starr and Waterman help students hear more in the music around them with a cultural and social
history of popular music.

Larry Starr is Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Washington

Christopher Waterman, former dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, is an anthropologist and musician who specializes in the study of music and culture in Africa and the Americas.

Brad Osborn (contributing author) is Associate Professor of Music Theory and affiliated faculty in American Studies at the University of Kansas

Listening
Preface

TIMELINE: 1760s-1899

1 THEMES AND STREAMS OF AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC
Theme One: Listening
Theme Two: Music and Identity (Individuality, Gender, and Race)
Theme Three: Music and Technology
Theme Four: The Music Business
Theme Five: Centers and Peripheries
Streams of Tradition: The Sources of Popular Music

2 "AFTER THE BALL": POPULAR MUSIC OF THE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES
The Minstrel Show
An Early Pop Songwriter: Stephen Foster
Dance Music and Brass Bands
The Birth of Tin Pan Alley
The Ragtime Craze, 1896-1918
The Rise of the Phonograph

TIMELINE: 1900-1945

3 "CATCHING AS THE SMALL-POX": SOCIAL DANCE AND JAZZ, 1917-1935
Technology and the Music Business
"Freak Dances": Turkey Trot and Tango
James Reese Europe and the Castles
Jazz as Popular Music: The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, the Creole Jazz Band, and Louis Armstrong
Dance Music in the "Jazz Age"
The Rise of Latin Dance Music: "El Manicero"

4 " I GOT RHYTHM": THE GOLDEN AGE OF TIN PAN ALLEY SONG, 1920s AND 1930s
Tin Pan Alley Song Form
What Were Tin Pan Alley Songs About?
What Makes a Song a "Standard"?
Tin Pan Alley and Broadway

5 "ST. LOUIS BLUES": RACE RECORDS AND HILLBILLY MUSIC, 1920s AND 1930s
Race Records
Classic Blues
Understanding Twelve-Bar Blues
The Country Blues
Blind Lemon Jefferson: The First Country Blues Star
Robert Johnson: Standing at the Crossroad
Early Country Music: Hillbilly Records?
Pioneers of Country Music: The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers
Popular Music and the Great Depression

6 "IN THE MOOD": THE SWING ERA, 1935-1945
Swing Music and American Culture
Benny Goodman: "The King of Swing"
Duke Ellington in the Swing Era
Kansas City Swing: Count Basie
Superstar of Swing: Glenn Miller
Jazz Singers: The Boswell Sisters, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald
Vocal Harmony Groups
Country Music in the Swing Era: Roy Acuff, Singing Cowboys, and Western Swing
Latin Music in the Swing Era
ASCAP, the AFM, and the Decline of the Big Bands

TIMELINE: 1946-1979

7 "CHOO CHOO CH' BOOGIE": THE POSTWAR ERA, 1946-1954
Popular Music and Technology in the Postwar Era
The Rise of the Star Singers
Urban Folk Music: The Weavers
The Mambo Craze (1949-1955)
Southern Music in the Postwar Era
Rhythm & Blues
Vocal Harmony Groups
R&B Women: Ruth Brown and Big Mama Thornton
Country and Western Music

8 "ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK": ROCK 'N' ROLL, 1954-1959
The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll
Cover Versions and Early Rock 'n' Roll
The Rock 'n' Roll Business
Early Rock 'n' Roll Stars on the R&B Side
Early Rock 'n' Roll Stars on the Country Side
Wild, Wild Young Women: Female Rock 'n' Roll Pioneers
The Latin Side of Rock 'n' Roll
Songwriters and Producers of Early Rock 'n' Roll
Other Currents: The Standard and Folk Music in the Rock 'n' Roll Era

9 "GOOD VIBRATIONS": AMERICAN POP AND THE BRITISH INVASION, 1960s
The Early 1960s: Dance Music and "Teenage Symphonies"
Berry Gordy and Motown
Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys
The Beatles, the British Invasion, and the American Response
Meanwhile, Back in California . . .
Latin Sounds in 1960s Pop: A Tall Man, a Tanned Girl, and a Taste of Honey

10 "BLOWIN' IN THE WIND": COUNTRY, SOUL, URBAN FOLK, AND THE RISE OF ROCK, 1960s
Patsy Cline and the Nashville Sound
Ray Charles and Soul Music
Sam Cooke, the "King of Soul"
James Brown and Aretha Franklin
The Broadway Musical in the Age of Rock
Urban Folk Music in the 1960s: Bob Dylan
The Counterculture and Psychedelic Rock
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Their Satanic Majesties: The Rolling Stones After Sgt. Pepper
San Francisco Rock: Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead
The Doors and "Light My Fire"
Guitar Heroes: Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton

11 THE 1970s: ROCK MUSIC, DISCO, AND THE POPULAR MAINSTREAM
Singer-Songwriters: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor
Country Music and the Pop Mainstream
Rock Comes of Age
"Night Fever": The Rise of Disco

12 OUTSIDERS' MUSIC: PROGRESSIVE COUNTRY, REGGAE, SALSA, PUNK, FUNK, AND RAP, 1970s
The Outlaws: Progressive Country Music
"I Shot the Sheriff": The Rise of Reggae
The Rise of Salsa Music
"Psycho Killer": 1970s Punk and New Wave
"Tear the Roof off the Sucker": Funk Music
"Rapper's Delight": The Origins of Hip-Hop

TIMELINE: 1980-TODAY

13 THE 1980s: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY, MTV, AND THE POPULAR MAINSTREAM
Digital Technology and Popular Music
The Pop Mainstream of the 1980s: Some Representative Hits
A Tale of Three Albums
"Baby I'm a Star": Prince, Madonna, and the Production of Celebrity

14 "SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT": HIP-HOP, ALTERNATIVE MUSIC, AND THE ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS
Hip-Hop Breaks Out (1980s-1990s)
Commercialization, Diversification, and the Rise of Gangsta Rap (1990s)
EDM: Dance Music in the Digital Age
Alternate Currents
Women's Voices: Alternative Folk, Hip-Hop, and Country
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music: Approaches to Tradition
Latinx Superstars of the 1990s
Globalization and the Rise of "World Music"

15 THE INTERNET AGE, 2000-
The Impact of Digital Recording
Music and the Internet: The Revolution Will Be Streamed
"On the Road Again": The New Popular Music Economy
Rock Music in the 2000s
Hip-Hop in the New Millennium
Hip-Hop Stars of the 2010s
Twenty-First Century Divas: We Never Go Out of Style
Conclusion: American Popular Music in the Age of Globalization

Appendix: Understanding Rhythm and Form
Glossary
Bibliography
Credits
Index