Music was rapidly changing during the 1930s. There was such a
tremendous variety available that it is hard to narrow down on a
particular genre. Historians and cultural anthropologists do agree that
Big Band music was probably the most popular, along with sweet popular
music. This was the time when movies were also having a large impact on
American society. Talking movies were not even a decade old in 1936 - the
first talking movie to be released was in 1927, entitled The Jazz
Singer. (Kinkle, xxxiv) An appropriate title considering that Jazz was
starting to make a foothold in American culture.
Although most people tend to think that only
Jazz music was enjoying success, this belief could not be more removed
from the truth. In fact, music from musicals was also very popular.
Musicals seemed to have become an important part of the industry during
the early 1930s. (Kinkle, xxxv) Musicals like Porgy and Bess, and
Babes in Toyland were very popular. Their songs even more so. The
leaders in this field were night club or stage performers - most actors
from silent movies were not good singers and performers and so these
people were hired for the positions. Other newcomers also took part in
these musicals so that they could make a name for themselves. Included in
these people were Jack Oakie, John Boles, Nancy Carroll and Jeanette
MacDonald. (Kinkle, xxxv)
Songs written for musicals during this time
became really popular and often the lyrics were satirical. Song writers
tried out new material in small scale musicals to test and see the
response to their work. Work on small musicals enabled song writers and
writers, like George and Ira Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, to prepare
themselves for bigger production numbers. Some of the landmark musicals
that followed were Oklahoma! and South Pacific. Another
great song writer who re-emerged during this time was Irving Berlin. He
had been composing music since 1911 and got famous again for his work on
many a different musicals. (Encarta, 1997) As mentioned earlier, pop music
was also very popular. Radio shows playing the top hits would generally
have a mixture of all three types of the music described above - jazz,
music from musicals, and general pop songs. The top hits of 1938, for
example, were as follows:
This has been just a brief introduction so that the reader may have
an idea of what was popular during the 1930s and 1940s. Since the country
was in the throes of a depression, people needed diversion and that is
exactly what they got. This was the beginning of Hollywood, the music
industry and the beginning of broadcast companies, namely the National
Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).
Songs that went onto become very popular during this era were those that
reflected the struggle of the average American - songs that were written
as protests to the social conditions surrounding the songs author (Time
Life, 235).
