Billboard Breakdown: 1958

I’m awfully serious on this blog. I’m tired of it, have something completely inconsequential I’ve been working on for the last couple days. If you read my blog posts for half-baked discussions of “art” as it relates to fanfiction… this isn’t that. You can head on your way if you are.

No, no, no. Instead, this is going to be something different.

I am obsessed with music genealogies (or the history of music and where certain genres came from)… probably to an unhealthy degree. I have a tab open to Musicmap.info on my phone constantly. I love that website, and it claims to discuss the genealogy of popular music genres.

Now, how many of you have heard of Glitches, Clicks, and Cuts, that super-popular Ambient genre? I sure as hell hadn’t. It’s a precursor to Vocal Chops, but you probably didn’t know that. It is important for music history, yes, but certainly not popular.

So, I thought, what was a ‘popular’ music genre? Well, I figured that could be solved pretty easily. Enter: the Billboard Hot 100.

For those unaware, Billboard is an American music publication most known for its “Hot 100” chart. The Hot 100 chart is a chart that uses a variety of factors, but mostly radio play and streaming counts, to theoretically determine what the top 100 most popular pieces of music are at any given week. In December, Billboard takes the stats from a 12-month period (it’s on an October cycle), and groups them into the “year-end” chart. That should, theoretically, determine what the most popular songs of that 12-month cycle are.

So, I decided that starting at 1958, the first year of the Hot 100, I could listen to every song on the chart, and group them into music genres, and those music genres would theoretically be the ‘most popular’ music genres at that point. That way, I’m covering strictly popular music genres as I watch the public taste shift and change with the years.

There are flaws to this. Marylin Manson, for example, has never had a song hit the Billboard Hot 100, Industrial Metal is obviously a popular genre, people know what that genre is. However, I feel like this would give insight into what most people are listening to.

Another issue is that it might be very contemporary of the time. If you don’t know what the hell “Taratella” is, well, it seems it was popular at some point, it just didn’t stick.

And the final issue is that this is restricted to American tastes. Sorry Britain, Skiffle isn’t very popular in the US. The Billboard Hot 100 is, after all, an American publication.

That being said, I feel like this will give a pretty good overview of how American tastes have evolved over time.

Also, this isn’t a serious music genealogy, I just thought it would be fun.

Let me know if you want to see more of these types of blogs. This was fun to put together. Note that I will be doing this by year, so that might affect your decision.

Now, we can actually get into this thing. Hope you enjoy… whatever the fuck this is.

Overall Notes

From listening to the 1958 year-end Hot 100, I determined that there were a few “super-genres” present here. A “super-genre” is a term coined by Musicmap.info, and it basically describes an umbrella term for a collection of differing music styles. For example, the super genre of Jazz contains Dixieland Jazz, Swing, and everything in between. The super genre of R&B contains Doo-Wop, New Jack Swing, and everything in between.

The 1958 charts seemed to all fall under a few categories I’d consider super-genres.

Rock and Roll: We all know what Rock and Roll is. Uptempo music meant for dancing, cut-time Blues. Generally influenced by a melting pot of genres including R&B, Country, and Blues, Rock and Roll just took all that and kicked it up a notch. Rock and Roll is also the name of a genre within this super-genre but I’ll get there.

R&B (Rhythm and Blues): R&B is music generally made by black people all around the US. Inspired by Blues and Jazz, R&B is generally more suited for slower tempos. This is evident by the sheer amount of Doo-Wop songs on the charts this year, but I’ll get there as well. R&B is considered one of the biggest influences on Rock and Roll, and it shows. Despite Rock and Roll’s tremendous popularity, R&B isn’t far behind in terms of songs that fit in it.

Pop: Despite the connotations Pop has today, much like R&B, the genre has changed tremendously in the years since its first inception. Pop in the 50’s, sometimes known as “Easy Listening”, is a type of slow, mellow, happy genre that, for lack of a better term, sounds like it’s marketing to as many people as possible. Pop, is indeed, shorthand for “popular”. It’s heavily influenced by Jazz, and occasionally, Rock and Roll as well. Pop is malleable, it can mesh with any number of genres, and that shows. Worth noting is that Pop was pretty much an exclusively white genre in the US, there were exceptions, but generally not very many.

Country: Much like Rock and Roll, we all know what Country is. Country consists of songs influenced by Folk music which put heavy emphasis on telling stories. Songs are about everyday life, and try to get to the core of the American experience. In the early days of Country, the focus was always more on the story.

Folk: First super-genre not technically on Musicmap.info. It’s actually off the grid, grouped by itself in a little bubble. However, Folk music has never really not been popular, so I’d say it deserves its own little super-genre, at least considering this is approaching from an American standpoint. Folk music is a type of music directly derived from… well… Folk music. Specifically, American Folk music. Songs are about telling stories, they’re about the lyrics, and most of all, they’re about sounding like you’re listening to the singer tell a story as they play a little music on their guitar. It’s a simple little genre characterized by its lack of instrumentation, rather than what the instrumentation is.

Jazz: This is definitely a rarer genre here, but Jazz was a thing in 1958. Aside from the influence it had given to Pop, it was still kicking. Jazz is generally characterized by songs based on instrumentation including instruments like trumpets and being one of the first super-genres to adapt drum kits. There’s a wide variety of Jazz sounds, and I will discuss them as I continue.

Blues: While exceptionally rare, Blues was also still around. Created by black people tending to be in the Southern US area, Blues is also about telling stories. However, Blues were more about the daily woes of life. While Blues songs could be humorous, they generally tended to be about being lonely, poor, and wandering. It’s no surprise that the wandering bluesman is such a trope in media, because that is how the Blues likely got spread, probably because some of these performers couldn’t even afford a house. Blues had pretty much up and left by this point, but its influences were handprinted all over the music here.

Gospel: Gospel is a genre characterized by God. A lot of Gospel is built around the idea that God watches over us all. Most Gospel songs are meant to be uplifting, happy, and joyous. Gospel is one of the earliest forms of popular music, dating back to the Spiritual, a type of American Folk music generally practiced by slaves. The Spiritual resulted in Work Songs, and indirectly the Blues, as well. Like the Blues, Gospel had had its day in the limelight, but it was still hanging around, and is also all over the music here.

Utility: I’ll explain what this is doing here much later, but Utility music is really just a catch-all term for music borne out of necessity. Things like creating rousing music for troops in the army with limited resources, or entertaining some high-class folks for a pay. It’s nothing too complicated, and shouldn’t be treated as such.

World: Also just a general catch-all term for music styles (generally Folk music) originating outside of the US. There’s a few of these, but they’re among the last entries on this list.

Aside from the super-genres, other general notes I took involved the difference, or lack thereof, between R&B, Country, and Rock and Roll. I’ve tried my best to separate them out, but those super-genres took influences from very different places and all reached the same endpoint where they all kinda sounded like Rock and Roll but not really.

Other general notes included how weighted the list was to a select few genres, out of the 20+ genres I have on my list, only 7 have over 5 songs to their name, only 4 have more than 10. This seems to imply that this vast scope of genres is mainly comprised of outliers, but enough people like the music to put it on the year end list, so I feel it warrants discussion. An argument could be made that all the genres with only 1 song shouldn’t be counted, and that’d be fair. However, I feel like it should, because, if for a brief moment, it was popular.

Finally, I have invented a couple of these genre names myself. These will be followed by an asterisk.

The Popular Genres

Now we get to the bulk of this blog post. I have listened to every single song on the 1958 year-end list, and I have assigned every single song a single genre. Songs could have more, but I have assigned one. Now it’s time to dissect these genres, their influences, and sometimes what songs they applied to, from most songs with that genre to least.

Rock and Roll (19 songs)
Rock and Roll

It should not come as a surprise that Rock and Roll is far and away the most popular music genre of 1958. It may come as a shock that there’s only 19 songs (of 114, because of the way singles were counted in ‘58) that fit the bill. That’s because a lot of Rock and Roll-adjacent genres have gotten separated. I’ll get to those.

Rock and Roll is music for dancing. It’s guitar-driven music, the drums are generally swinging, and piano may sometimes get added. It’s a melting pot of genres from all over the place. Generally influenced by the Blues, R&B, and Jazz, Rock and Roll is here to give you a good time.

I discussed this all in the super-genres portion, so what gives? Well, the super genre is uptempo music influenced by what I mentioned, and Rock and Roll happens to influences a lot of the things within its own genre. It’s also distinct enough a music to warrant its own little sub-genre. It’s one of the most important genres in Rock history, it is one of the first, and was at its peak in the late 50’s, specifically 1957 and 1958, though it was around long before.

Doo-Wop (16 songs)
R&B

Now this one might be a bit interesting. Doo-Wop is a very popular genre, certainly, but I didn’t expect it to be this popular in ‘58. I do have a hypothesis, but that’s all it is, really. There’s a possibility that by 1958, Doo-Wop had been taken on by white vocal groups (most notably, Elvis and the Jordanaires) in addition to black ones. This caused a general softening of the already Pop-friendly genre to make it even more so, thus causing it to be more popular.

What makes this genre so Pop-friendly? Despite the rough early years of Vocal R&B, often resulting in black vocal groups being so poor they had to use their voices instead of instruments, Doo-Wop, the evolution, was a little more clean-cut. Instrumentation started getting added, and it resulted in a form of R&B that was generally meant for ballads. Doo-Wop gets its name from the harmony singers of these songs, often singing nonsense to compliment the melody (with ‘Doo-Wop’ being a common bass cadence). Songs are bright and slow, making it very compatible with Pop, and that was ran with later on.

Adult Contemporary Pop (13 songs)
Pop

Adult Contemporary Pop is the “Pop sound” of the 40’s and 50’s. Sometimes known as “Easy Listening”, strings are applied to the song like a thick coat of butter, melodies are soft and dulcet, and songs are generally clean and about topics such as love.

Adult Contemporary Pop can be traced back to Ballroom Jazz, which is an exceptionally light form of Jazz. Songs are smooth and simple, and improvisation is discarded in favor of simple melodies. Most people may be familiar with Ballroom Jazz through The Caretaker’s notorious album Everywhere at the End of Time, which uses various Ballroom Jazz samples throughout (most famously, Heartaches by Al Bowily).

Adult Contemporary takes that Ballroom Jazz feel and applies it to vocals instead of instruments, creating a slower form of Pop that managed to persist for a good long while.

Early R&B (11 songs)
R&B

Early R&B is arguably the biggest influence on Rock and Roll as a music genre. Early R&B actually sounds very similar to what eventually became Rock and Roll. Despite being a big influence, Early R&B didn’t disappear when Rock and Roll became big.

Generally speaking, Early R&B took the idea of Jump Blues, consisting of bands who added drums and bass to old Blues songs, added guitar and pushed the speed a little more. Rock and Roll merely dropped the saxophone and pushed the speed a little more. That being the only difference makes Early R&B pretty hard to distinguish from Rock and Roll.

That being said, Early R&B generally has a looser feel to it and is less likely to take itself seriously than Rock and Roll or Rockabilly. It just wants to have a good time, and it doesn’t need to call itself cool to do that.

Rockabilly (10 songs)
Rock and Roll

Rockabilly is an offshoot of the more popular Rock and Roll movement. It was a sound generally created by Sam Phillips and Sun Records in the 50’s, which stayed fairly popular throughout it.
The technical description of Rockabilly is that it’s Rock and Roll that sounds more influenced by Country. Now, Rock and Roll is already influenced by Country, so what gives? Well, Rockabilly lessens the instrumentation, and is more focused on guitar, as if an offshoot of Country. Originally given the name as a way to describe it as a ‘white’ form of Rock and Roll, Rockabilly embraced the difference and grew into its own thing.

The driving force of Rockabilly tends to be a ‘chicka-chicka’ rhythm, generally in the drums. Generally played on the rims, it isn’t uncommon to hear rhythms that sound like they were created by a train. Given the birth place of Rockabilly, Sun Records, it isn’t uncommon to hear slapback echo on the vocals, either. Overall, Rockabilly is an even more simplistic form of Rock and Roll, and is often grouped with it.

Hard Pop (9 songs)*
Pop

Here we come to the first genre name I invented. However, I invented it to better describe this style of very popular Pop. Generally, it’s known as Brill Building Pop.

However, I felt that related Hard Pop too closely to the building where most of it came from rather than properly describing the genre, and while that’s commonplace in Country music, it’s not as common in Pop.

Hard Pop is, however, a style of music closely related to the Brill Building. Hard Pop is a specific subgenre of Pop music that pulls its influence from Rock and Roll more than the Adult Contemporary Pop of the past. Hard Pop is generally Rock and Roll with a few of the sharper edges cut off. It makes the Rock and Roll sound more platable for the older public by loosening the tempo, implementing Doo-Wop influences, and making it sound happier and more carefree.

This style of Pop generally came from the Brill Building, hence its other name, sometimes under the guidance of Phil Spector. That being said, Hard Pop as a genre goes beyond the Brill Building, and happily lives alongside the Rock and Roll it was influenced by.

Bakersfield (6 songs)
Country

Rockabilly is Rock and Roll more influenced by Country. Bakersfield is Country that sounds influenced by Rock and Roll.

An argument could be made that Rockabilly and Bakersfield are not separate genres, but I feel that they are. Generally, one of the characteristics of Rockabilly is how minimalist the sound is, but Bakersfield is not like that. In fact, I’d argue that Bakersfield has more instruments than your average Rockabilly song.

While still maintaining the ‘chicka-chicka’ rhythm, Bakersfield is not afraid to add in steel guitars and other stereotypical ‘Country’ things. Songs will generally be about telling stories, and sometimes dip into the Rock and Roll ‘party’ matter, befitting of its Western Swing influence. Bakersfield is one of the most popular Country sounds of this time period, and would lend its influence to future Country genres as well.

Honky-Tonk (3 songs)
Country

Honky-Tonk, as a Country genre, should probably be dead by this point. It was created in the 30’s and lended its influence to Rock and Roll and Bakersfield, both of which were well-performed at the time. However, Honky-Tonk is generally heavier Country, and thus, fit in nicely with the 50’s.

Most Honky-Tonk songs make use of a familiar ‘chicka-chicka’ rhythm. However, unlike Rockabilly or Bakersfield, the rhythm isn’t necessarily the focal point. The drums may be doing it in the background, but Honky-Tonk is about the speed and guitar. Honky-Tonk songs are more likely to have riffs or guitar breaks.

In the 50’s, Honky-Tonk did have to strike is own sound, and thus became a more straight version of Rock and Roll. However, the genre was far from dead, and continued being played up to 1958.

Adult Country (3 songs)*
Country, Pop

Adult Country is another genre name I made up, describing a sound that was around at the time.

Country ballads are nothing new. However, in the 50’s, Country started adding strings to its music, akin to Pop, and Country ballads evolved into their own life form. Country is a minimalist genre. The only instruments playing are usually all the song needs. However, the addition of strings added in instruments that didn’t need to be there.

Thus, Adult Country. Adult Country is Country that adds in strings and is more focused on melody. Songs aren’t about telling stories, but now about love. The pace is slowed, and everything is about the singer’s voice.

Adult Contemporary Pop is the leading influence here, and it shows. Even after most of the Country genres died, Adult Country stuck around, and influence can be heard today.

Classic Folk (2 songs)
Folk

This is a genre not listed on Musicmap.info, however, I would be shocked if the existence of this name wasn’t commonplace.

Classic Folk is exactly what it sounds like. It’s Folk music that still has almost every single element of American white Folk music intact. Songs are stories told to you by a single singer, sometimes backed by a simple harmony, where the only accompaniment is acoustic guitar and sometimes simple drums. Classic Folk is meant to be as pure as possible, and sound like you’re in the room with the singer.

While not a big genre in 1958, it certainly was there, and Folk music has never really died, just evolved.

Vocal R&B (2 songs)*
R&B

Vocal R&B is the precursor to Doo-Wop music. Early Vocal R&B was generally created by bands so poor they couldn’t afford very many instruments, if instruments at all.

Most practioners of Vocal R&B are grouped under Doo-Wop, and I see it. However, Vocal R&B is generally less sleek. Generally, expect Vocal R&B to just to be a single singer, sometimes backed by simple harmony (or Doo-Wop harmony), occasionally with the addition of acoustic guitar or simple drums.

“But, Dashie, isn’t that just Classic Folk”? Yes, it is just Classic Folk. Such is the nature of genre categories, when a white person sings music like this it’s Classic Folk, but when a black person does, it’s Vocal R&B. They aren’t that far removed. I include them to prove that music genres aren’t perfect paragons of categorization, I like grouping them, but it isn’t an end all be all. I also include them separately because they came from different places. Classic Folk comes from a bygone era and is meant to tell stories, but Vocal R&B is simple out of necessity. A lot of these bands literally couldn’t afford anything more than an acoustic guitar.

In 1958, Vocal R&B was more of a stylistic choice instead of a necessity. Doo-Wop was what it had evolved into. However, there are a couple songs emulating this sound in 1958.

Bebop (2 songs)
Jazz

Bebop is a weird case. Technically speaking, Bebop is present in 2 songs on the 1958 year-end, but also technically speaking, they’re the same song, Topsy. It’s split into 2 parts.

Jazz’s popularity in 1958 was generally comprised of outliers, with Bebop being one. It had its day in the limelight, and now was quietly providing influence. Bebop is a genre influenced by Swing, which is meant to sound busy yet be running slower. Bebop achieves this by complicating the drums quite a bit. Drum beats drive Bebop, and occasionally scatting as well.

Bebop as a whole was beyond its prime in 1958, but as mentioned, there are outliers.

Coffee Shop Rock (2 songs)*
Rock and Roll, Pop

Coffee Shop Rock is not seen as a large genre by any means. In fact, it might not even be a real genre.

Much like Country, Rock and Roll didn’t really do ballads. So, there had to be some way to do a Rock and Roll ballad “properly”. The answer was Coffee Shop Rock.

Coffee Shop Rock is a laid-back, poppy Rock and Roll. Songs are slower and about generally ‘Pop’ topics. Instrumentation is sparse, and occasionally uses unusual instruments that you wouldn’t hear in a lot of American Rock and Roll. It’s the background music of the stereotypical, cool coffee shop.

This is another genre that would never really die, just continue until it gradually came to an end.

Chicago Blues (1 song)
Blues

If Jazz was past its prime in 1958, Blues was dead. R&B had taken over, and Blues had become a passive influence. In fact, this is the only Blues song on the 1958 year-end at all. The song in question, Trouble by Elvis.

Chicago Blues are the stereotypical Blues music. It employs liberal use of the stop time rhythm, popularized by Muddy Waters on Mannish Boy. Songs are meant to give a sense of swagger, as if this singer is the coolest thing since sliced bread. Chicago Blues comes in to make you think it’s cool.

Most blues depictions take after Chicago Blues in some way, shape, or form. Despite how little Chicago Blues appears on the 1958 year end, its influence is still felt to this day.

Modal Jazz (1 song)
Jazz

Unlike most genres on this bottom end of the list, Modal Jazz wasn’t old hat by 1958, it simply had yet to have its time in the sun. Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue would go on to be the bestselling Jazz album of all time, after its release in 1959. Kind of Blue is the definitive Modal Jazz album, but it had yet to be released.

Modal Jazz is different from other forms of Jazz. Most other forms of Jazz improvise based around chords, but Modal Jazz improvises based on scales. Songs are often long and have many different sections, most of those sections being based around an improvisation.

While Jazz may have been out, Modal Jazz was preparing to come in, with the short teaser in 1958 merely being a part of its rise.

Post-Gospel (1 song)*
Gospel

Post-Gospel is what followed Modern Gospel. Modern Gospel is, despite its name, not particularly modern. It came around in the 40’s as an offshoot of Vocal R&B, but that didn’t last. It evolved into Doo-Wop, and it left Gospel a dormant genre.

In the 50’s, some white people decided to pick up the genre and create a new sound of Gospel. This is what I call Post-Gospel. Songs are sickeningly happy, even more about God than they were in the past, and started to take on Pop characteristics. The songs aren’t necessarily experimental, instead just being even happier than they were.

The success of He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands clearly showed that this new Post-Gospel had legs to stand on. While Gospel didn’t really ever become a massive genre in popular music, Post-Gospel shows that it did still exist.

Lounge (1 song)
Jazz

Musicmap.info also considers Lounge a part of “Downtempo” music, or Ambient music, and while that does make sense, Lounge isn’t exactly as experimental as some Downtempo genres are. Besides, the Lounge song on the year-end 1958 is a mixture of R&B and Jazz, and I wouldn’t consider it Downtempo music at all.

Lounge music is as it sounds. It’s the music of kicking back in a waiting lounge, waiting for your airplane or bus. It’s easy to listen to, not complicated, and serves to fill up space. Rhythms are inspired by Bossa-Nova and Modal Jazz, and the songs are fluffy and light.

Lounge music has always been a buzzing bee, never ever dying, but never really being the forefront of popular music, 1958 was one year where that wasn’t the case.

Cool Jazz (1 song)
Jazz

Cool Jazz is similar to the energy Chicago Blues, and like Chicago Blues, was a bit of rarity in ‘58.

Cool Jazz is in a perpetual state of lowkey, smooth Jazz. Similar to Lounge, it’s not meant to be complicated, but it isn’t meant to be background music. The melodies are dulcet, and the lyrics (if there are any) are easy to understand. Cool Jazz has one mission, in the name, be cool, in every definition of the word.

Where Cool Jazz differs from Chicago Blues’ energy is that it isn’t the stereotypical Jazz people think of when they think Jazz, that’s Swing, however, Cool Jazz left a certain legacy that certain forms of Jazz have tried to keep to this day.

Gospel Roll (1 song)*
Gospel

Gospel Roll is pretty much the simplest genre there is. Given that Gospel is a genre primarily based on lyrics, any crossover is going to have its own genre.

Gospel Roll is no different, it’s a Rock and Roll song about God. That’s the long and short of it. While Gospel Roll does have the harmonies inherent in some Gospel, it’s mainly about the crossover.

Despite this being the last appearance of Gospel in this list, it still proves that there was at least some interest in Gospel in the late 50’s.

Ballroom Jazz (1 song)
Jazz

You may be asking to yourself “Dashie, what the hell is Ballroom Jazz doing on this list?” To that I say, good question.

Ballroom Jazz is a primarily 30’s Jazz genre and the biggest influence on Adult Contemporary Pop, songs are slow and more based around melody than improvisation. Nowadays, Ballroom Jazz is most known as the genre Leyland Kirby primarily sampled from when making his art project Everywhere at the End of Time. Particularly, the Al Bowily sample of Heartaches used throughout.

Ballroom Jazz was pretty much dead by the 50’s, replaced by further forms of Jazz and Adult Contemporary Pop, but one singular song, Sail Along Silvery Moon, was desperately holding onto the grandiosity of Ballroom Jazz. The melody is prominent, and it’s laid back, you can almost hear the Disney string swells.

This was Ballroom Jazz trying to cling onto the relevancy it once had, a move that wouldn’t prove incredibly fruitful, at least until 2019, when old Ballroom Jazz records got dug up and listened to again.

Dixieland Revival (1 song)
Jazz

Dixieland Revival is another genre that may be interesting to see on here. Dixieland Jazz, or just Dixie, was one of the earliest forms of Jazz, dating back to the 1910’s. In the 40’s, there was some interest in Dixie again, and several artists brought it back in what is known as the Dixieland Revival, likely as a reprieve from the Great Depression.

The songs promote happiness and clarity, generally using a pretty minor instrumental pallet. Generally, Dixieland Revival songs are led by a minor brass section, and if they’re feeling adventurous, simple drums and vocals. Dixieland Revival, while not incredibly popular, was well-known among the musicians of the 50’s, some trying to aim for that sound.

Frank Sinatra was the only one who managed to do so in 1958. Nowadays, Dixieland Revival isn’t a widely-practiced subgenre, but a well-known one, and some video games even use it in their soundtracks (such as Mario Kart Tour).

Stop & Go (1 song)*
Folk

Interesting genre here, and one I don’t think I’ve ever heard beyond the single song that has it on the 1958 year-end.

Stop & Go is the term I came up with for Beep Beep by the Playmates. It’s a Novelty record that gradually picks up in speed, or performing acts of stopping then going faster. It sounds vaguely influenced by Polka, but the instrumentation is too minimalist to really slot in that genre. Therefore, I decided that Stop & Go was an offshoot of Folk music, given its prominent acoustic guitar.

Stop & Go is pretty much inconsequential, but Beep Beep is very unique as far as 1958 records go, so I figured I had to come up with something for it. There may be more records that sound like this, vaguely influenced by Polka, but they probably aren’t very prominent.

March (1 song)
Utility

Shockingly, March actually has its history as a popular genre. The song from 1958, March From the River Kwai and Colonel Bogey, is a spitting image of a militaristic March.

This is what I was referring to when I mentioned that Utility was a thing in 1958. March From the River Kwai is the only Utility song on the year-end 1958 list, but March has an interesting history.

Utility music is music created out of a necessity, generally, most music nowadays can be traced back to music for entertainment. However, March is an interesting case. I don’t know about the genealogy of March or what have you, but I have a suspicion that it arose from the need to keep morale high on the battlefield with limited resources. So, it was created from small bands giving their skills as musicians to the military, often with easily-transportable instruments. In fact, traditional grip comes from the way the snare drum was played in these bands, the snare was on your side, so to get your right arm involved, the sticks had to be held at an angle.

March likely arose from those simple bands, driven by a rolling snare, a crashing brass section, and a frenzied pace, March is meant to keep morale high and fires burning.

Now, after the World Wars, and again, I don’t know exactly what happened, I presume a few of these marching bands were left with a particular skill they couldn’t really use, so the military likely put them to use doing concerts for people already in the military. It turns out that a lot of people actually liked how March sounded, and thus, it became a popular genre of music. March may not be a sales darling, but it wasn’t not popular in the 50’s and 60’s, and the fact that there’s a song on the 1958 year-end list seems to prove that.

Tarantella (1 song)
World

Now we’re getting into the real obscure stuff, and stuff I can’t really trace the lineage of. So take these last three with a grain of salt. You might not know Tarantella’s name, but you’ve probably heard it.

From what I’ve gathered, Tarantella is a type of Italian folk music. Tarantella is generally comprised of swung rhythms, acoustic guitars, and liberal usage of the tambourine. It’s an old form of Italian dance, and is characterized by its signature happy swing sound and Tarantella rhythm.

It’s a recognizable form of Italian music, and you can likely hear this music in an Italian restaurant you have nearby.

I presume it still exists today, though I am clearly not Italian. Just like American Folk is still a thing, I’d presume Tarantella is still a thing as well.

Cha-cha-chá (1 song)
World

Unlike Tarantella, you probably know the dance and the name that goes with Cha-cha-chá, but might not know the inherent qualities of what makes a Cha-cha-chá song a Cha-cha-chá song.

Cha-cha-chá is a Cuban form of music, and is a type of Latin dance music. It’s know for its signature “cha-cha” rhythm (1 2+ 3+ 4, 1 2+ 3). This rhythm is tied to the inherent qualities of a Cha-cha-chá song, it’s supposed to be danceable, as even its name is derived from the sounds the dancers made with their feet. I’m not entirely sure about the instrumentation or what have you, but it’s generally about the rhythm and the dance.

Polka (1 song)
World

Polka is a very well-known style of World music. It’s most closely related to Germany, but actually came around in the Bohemia, now the Czech Republic.

Polka is noted for its usage of cut time and a “boom-chik” rhythm in the drums. Instrumentation generally includes upright bass, flute, and most famously, accordion, among other brass instruments.

Polka is also dancing music, meant to be jumped to. It seems like Folk music was really only not meant for dancing in the US.

Unlike the other two World genres here, Polka is very famous in the US. It’s still a practiced genre, and is regarded almost as American Folk music of its own. Polka was never a sales darling, but it managed to break through in 1958, and is still well-known today.

Conclusion

That was that. That concludes a list of genres that were popular on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958, with little explanations for each of them.

While Rock and Roll and Rock and Roll adjacent genres hold the perception of being popular in 1958, and that perception is not wrong by any stretch of the imagination, there were still several fringe genres. I feel like those fringe genres are a reminder of what could have been, what was, and holdover. It was fun finally tackling this piece of history with an idea in mind. I would probably compile this into a website if I had the money, knowledge, and resources for that, but this’ll have to do for now.

As mentioned, if you’d like me to do this again with subsequent years of the Billboard Hot 100, let me know! I’ll gladly oblige (I probably still will if people don’t request, but whatever). If you have any corrections or clarifications, send them my way, too. I’m very passionate about this stuff, and I’d love to see if other people are as well.

That pretty much sums up this experiment, I hope you enjoyed.

And until next time; be awesome!
-Dashie

Comments

[Super Trampoline]

wow gonna have to read this in detail later