Billboard Breakdown: 1959

All errors that appear are my own, and I apologize if any come up, though I appreciate corrections in the comments section.

1958 was over, and turned into 1959. Music was also evolving, though maybe not instantly or very quickly at all. However, 1959 starts to leak in some genres considered products of the 60’s.

1959 was a real interesting time for music, as several of the songs on this year-end appear to be outliers, but the outliers are incredibly interesting, managing to scrape their way onto the bottom of the list.

Rock and Roll was starting to become old hat at this point, and the music industry started selling R&B and R&B-influenced music more than Rock and Roll, which left the Hot 100 in a transition period between Rock and Roll and R&B, a period which is felt by listening to the charts.

What exactly does that entail? Let’s take it apart.

Overall Notes

My first note about the 1959 charts is that they’re really eclectic, while having an approximately similar amount of genres to the 1958 charts, the outliers are far more prominent and ‘out there’ than the 1958 ones.

That being said, I noticed a collection of super-genres. While similar to the 1958 super-genres, I will discuss them anyways.

R&B (Rhythm and Blues): I have discussed what R&B is, and you can consult Billboard Breakdown 1958 for more information on that. However, 1959 was R&B’s year. While R&B was no longer an exclusively black genre (as it hadn’t been for a while), Doo-Wop crushed it in 1959. That, along with a not-insignificant amount of other R&B genres, propelled it to stardom status in 1959.

Pop: I have also explained Pop in the last Billboard Breakdown, but in 1959, Adult Contemporary Pop was on the downturn. However, Pop had instead taken on characteristics of Rock and Roll and R&B to make Pop more of an uptempo genre. However, in 1959, Pop was sort of stuck between the two worlds, often with a combination of the two sounds the ‘Pop’ sound of 1959.

Rock and Roll: I have also mentioned what Rock and Roll is. You can consult the 1958 post for that. Rock and Roll was on the downturn in 1959, with R&B becoming the genre of choice. However, Rock and Roll was still popular, just not as popular.

Folk: Folk, on the other hand, was more popular than it was in 1958. Folk was still Folk, again, consult my last post, but Folk saw a gap in the market in 1959. What followed was the softening of some Folk edges to give Folk more of a contemplative sound. While no longer directly derived from American white Folk music, Folk was starting to become its own thing.

Country: Also discussed in the last one, Country hadn’t really changed much in 1958. Country, as a genre, is always somewhat resistant to change, however, Country was starting to become slower in 1959, with Nashville becoming the dominant force in Country music, where it remains today. That had its own effects, but I’ll get to that.

Gospel: Gospel didn’t change much either. However, one thing I forgot to note is present in Gospel music last time is the appearance of heavy harmony vocals. This caused it to influence Vocal R&B, and may also help you understand what better constitutes a Gospel song, which I will get into later.

Jazz: Not a particularly big genre in 1959, but one that does exist. Jazz is a wide genre, but it was in popular stasis in 1959 as with 1958, so all the Jazz that does exist is based around older sounds. Well, all except for one genre, but that’s not important now. Interestingly, despite Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue coming out this year, Jazz still wasn’t hitting the popular charts.

Utility: Yes, this is here again. Still only has one song to its name, but in the spirit of completion, I’m including it. I will explain this one again because it’s simple. It’s just music borne out of necessity.

World: These are the really minor genres, and World is simple so I will explain it again. It’s music outside of the US, generally folk music.

Downtempo/Ambient: This is the only new genre here. Downtempo music is a type of music that is, well, downtempo. Shocking name I know. However, unlike Pop, which was also downtempo in the 50’s, Downtempo music is called Downtempo because its lack of speed comes from the fact that it’s very artsy music. Downtempo is all about finding new ways to bring you to another world, or think about what music is. It’s never been a music that sells, but Dowmtempo music is still being made today, being the choice of music for video games like Journey, Minecraft, or Fallout.

The Popular Genres

As with last time, I have assigned each song on the Billboard Hot 100 one genre and will be discussing them from most popular to least popular. Music genre names I invented will be followed by an asterisk.

Doo-Wop (16 songs)
R&B

Doo-Wop was an absolute juggernaut in 1959. While there aren’t more Doo-Wop songs than there was in 1958, its fingerprints are all over.

I explained what Doo-Wop is in the last one, but the long and short of it is that Doo-Wop is a more professional evolution of Vocal R&B which is noted for its prominent use of harmonies and focus on ballads.

As with 1958, Doo-Wop presumably gets most of its popularity from its ease of crossover with Pop, allowing white and black artists alike to record Doo-Wop and get popular with it. There isn’t really much more to add in the saga of Doo-Wop at this point.

Hard Pop (16 songs)*
Pop

Hard Pop was also touched on briefly in the last one. It’s Pop that’s taken influence from Rock and Roll. However, in 1959, there was another big development.

Something I neglected to mention in the last Billboard Breakdown was the genre of ‘Crooner’, which I felt wasn’t worth mentioning because Brill Building Pop (which is what Hard Pop is) is grouped with it on Musicmap.info. However, I have realized that I’m mistaken.

There are two very clear types of Hard Pop in 1959, there’s Hard Pop, which is the Rock and Roll/Pop hybrid that was prominent in 1958. Then, there’s Crooner. Crooner is an evolution of Adult Contemporary Pop that trims the fat of the strings to bring it to a more sultry sound. This takes influence from Doo-Wop to create a new sort of Pop ballad.

Crooner is undoubtedly the more popular version of Hard Pop in 1959, but by the time I realized that, I’d already completed the list, so I couldn’t really fix it. However, rest assured that Crooner is very popular among artists like Frankie Avalon and David Seville & The Chipmunks (better known as Alvin & The Chipmunks, no I will not explain).

Early R&B (11 songs)
R&B

It’s quite telling that even long after Early R&B was first a thing, it was still kicking in 1959. At this point, it had taken on characteristics from Rock and Roll, and was now dancing music as well.

Generally, Early R&B is music influenced by Jump Blues, pushing the pace a little more. Saxophones are common, and that’s what the genre still was in 1959. However, The Coasters were immensely popular this year, retroactively bringing Doo-Wop elements into Early R&B. Keep that in mind for later.

Rock and Roll (11 songs)
Rock and Roll

Rock and Roll, music that took influence from Early R&B and Country to make its own thing. It was starting to lose steam in 1959, with people wanting something shiny and new.

Rock and Roll is a lot older than a lot of people give it credit for, it goes back to the early 50’s, Rocket 88, widely considered the first Rock and Roll song, came around in 1951. It had been 8 years, and people were starting to get bored.

That’s why I presume Rock and Roll was on the downturn. It wouldn’t quite go away, as there were a few notable Rock and Roll songs that came out after this, but people, white Pop listeners especially, were drawn into the more contemplative sounds of Doo-Wop and the next genre I’m going to discuss.

Folk Pop (8 songs)*
Folk, Pop

The interesting thing is that Folk Pop seems to be undersold as a genre a bit. I didn’t technically name this genre, but the two paragraph Wikipedia page on Folk Pop leaves a lot to be desired and I came up with this genre before I saw that page.

Folk Pop is an pedal back from the grandeur of Adult Contemporary Pop, in most cases, the strings have been cut, and the song takes more influence from Classic Folk rather than Ballroom Jazz. The interesting thing is just how big Folk Pop got so quickly.

The genre pretty much didn’t exist in 1958, but it seems that the Fleetwoods released a few records, and the big record companies got dollar signs in their eyes from realizing that the Folk-influenced Pop they were doing was a massive gap in the market (note: speculation). This, along with the concurrent rise of Nashville Country, a similar but distinct genre, seemed poised to give Folk Pop a sudden breakthrough, and it happened.

Folk Pop suddenly crashed through, and it wasn’t all that uncommon to hear songs about ‘Pop’ topics done up in an introspective Folk style similar to Classic Folk. While Classic Folk is simple because of the story it’s trying to tell, Folk Pop is simple due to being steeped in emotion. It tries not to overuse old Pop clichés, trusting that the message they’re pedaling will speak for itself.

Overall, a breath of fresh air after several years of Adult Contemporary Pop, and Folk Pop and Hard Pop were prepared to keep Pop evolving.

Early Soul (5 songs)
R&B

A while ago, I mentioned that you should keep in mind the seemingly arbitrary fact that The Coasters were adding Doo-Wop harmony to Early R&B and having great success with it. Well, let me introduce you to the genre of Early Soul.

Soul, in its earliest stage, is technically Gospel music that isn’t about God, it’s R&B music with Gospel influences. Harmonies are prevalent, among the faster pace of Early R&B. In practice, this sounds remarkably like… a crossover between Early R&B and Doo-Wop harmony, just like The Coasters were doing so much of in 1959.

1959 is notable for being the year that Jackie Wilson had his hit with Lonely Teardrops, which sounds pretty much exactly like the transition period between Doo-Wop and Early Soul.

Doo-Wop was certainly popular, but let’s admit it, it can be a little slow, and Early Soul is the response to that, pushing up the tempo to create something new entirely.

Nashville (Country) (5 songs)
Country

While a lot of Country had assimilated just fine with Rock and Roll, with Rockabilly and Bakersfield, both genres were on the downturn in 1959, which caused the state of Country music to be questioned immensely.

As those genres were left in the dust, all it left was a collection of Country artists who were worried that Country was becoming too much of a party genre. In their eyes, there was Western Swing, but Country since then hadn’t slowed down at all, and was now failing to resemble the ideals Country stood for.

In response, the birthplace of Rockabilly, Nashville, slammed on the brakes, and took these wary artists in to create a mixture of Adult Contemporary Pop and Honky-Tonk, known colloquially as The Nashville Sound, or just simply “Nashville”.

Nashville is a slower form of Country, generally priding itself on ballads. Songs are clean, none of that Bakersfield “party” stuff, and tend to utilize strings and other instruments, most notably slide guitar, one of Country’s most famous instruments.

I’d argue that Nashville hasn’t ever died. It’s just evolved. Country is still influenced by Pop today, and if I get there, I’ll discuss it. However, Nashville was the first instance of Country taking on Pop characteristics to find its own identity separate from Folk and Rock and Roll.

Surf Rock (4 songs)
Rock and Roll

Another interesting genre became popular in 1959. That genre was Surf Rock. Surf Rock tends to be what it sounds like. It’s music for surfing. Songs are often at a frantic tempo with unique scales and beats.

Surf Rock is an interesting genre, because while almost certainly derived from Rock and Roll, it sounds unique, almost like a predecessor to what would soon be Garage Rock.

This seems to be explained by Surf Rock’s appropriation of World genres, mostly Salsa, as Musicmap.info notes. This caused the already dizzying pace of Rock and Roll to be kicked up yet another notch. Surf Rock is easily the fastest out of all the original Rock and Roll genres.

In 1959, Surf Rock had found something of a small break. A select few Surf Rock songs got popular, often distinguished by their reverberated guitars and frantic pace, with Bongo Rock being arguably the most pure Surf Rock song on the list.

Surf Rock wouldn’t exactly make it far in its unmodified form, but its poppier offshoots would become rather popular shortly.

Adult Contemporary Pop (4 songs)
Pop

Adult Contemporary Pop was starting to become old hat in 1959. People wanted shiny, new Pop genres, and Folk Pop and Hard Pop provided an outlet for that. Adult Contemporary Pop just wasn’t doing as well as it was in 1958.

Adult Contemporary Pop, as a genre, had been around for a long time. The Ballroom Jazz that had influenced it had been a dormant genre for years, with Adult Contemporary Pop carrying the torch as much as it could.

Despite this, old genres become old news, and Adult Contemporary Pop was a very old genre at this point. It had likely sustained its sound as an indicator of what Pop should be, but now that mentality was starting to be questioned.

Unfortunately, I don’t know the fate of Adult Contemporary Pop, so I suppose I’ll have to learn.

Bakersfield (3 songs)
Country

Bakersfield was still around. Bakersfield is Country that sounds influenced by Rock and Roll. It had something of an interesting year in 1958, though not an exceptionally popular one. It was even less popular in 1959, with more artists opting for Nashville.

Despite all this, Bakersfield is a real interesting genre. While not necessarily the most popular of the Country genres, it’s certainly important in its own right, and would go on to influence a lot of the Country in the future.

Rockabilly (2 songs)
Rock and Roll

Talk about a popularity hit. What was one of the most popular genres in 1958, with 10 songs, now only had a measly 2 to its name.

Rockabilly is Rock and Roll music influenced by Country. Despite it being newer than Rock and Roll, it seems that the two genres were simply sounding too similar.

Another thing that probably didn’t help was the fact that the birthplace of Rockabilly, Nashville, was now putting out standard radio hits, not caring about Rockabilly in the slightest. Despite this, Rockabilly’s influence was starting to become noticeable, and the dying genre left itself with a legacy that future Rock and Roll genres could take influence from.

Rural Folk (2 songs)*
Country, Folk

Rural Folk is another interesting genre. I came up with this name myself, because I really don’t know how else to describe Waterloo by Stonewall Jackson.

Country music was already a music rooted in a deep American Folk tradition. It would seem that a crossover with it and Folk would be a tad counterintuitive, or at least not sound any different than your usual Honky-Tonk song. However, one notable thing about Folk is that it hadn’t evolved while Country had. Therefore, Rural Country sounds like Country crossed with itself to a point.

The melodies were looser, and in the case of Waterloo, because I think calling it ‘Novelty’ is a bit disingenuous, there was a heavy Bluegrass influence taken into consideration. However, despite this, the speeds were more akin to Folk, and Southern accents could still tell engaging stories.

Rural Folk is more of a natural sound that I named retroactively rather than an attempt at emulating a certain sound. In a way, it’s just another evolution of Country, but that evolution happens to be rooted deeply in Folk, even if Folk was what influenced Country in the first place.

Vocal R&B (1 song)*
R&B

I always find the genres that had a singular song most interesting, but we’re starting off here pretty not groundbreaking.

Vocal R&B is simply the predecessor of Doo-Wop, comprised of black people who were too poor to afford anything but an acoustic guitar performing songs with strong harmony.

It’s essentially Classic Folk, which I will discuss shortly, but came from a different place, arguably a starting point from which most of R&B eventually grew from.

Wasn’t very popular this year, but unlike Early R&B, Vocal
R&B didn’t really have much means to get popular after the record labels took the bands and ironed them into Doo-Wop ones.

Honky-Tonk (1 song)
Country

Honky-Tonk is an old Country genre that didn’t really have much purpose in 1959. A lot of the genres it had lended influence to were all popular and influencing their own stuff.

In the meantime, Country was changing, and Bakersfield, Nashville, and Rockabilly were all popular and overshadowing what Honky-Tonk used to be. Honky-Tonk didn’t really have much of a purpose, and that purpose wouldn’t ever be realized.

The genre itself was generally a faster form of Country turning its ‘country-ness’ up to 11. It wasn’t quite as heavy as Western Swing, but was faster than Classic Country. Though one note about the 1958 list is that Country wasn’t actually a stranger to ballads, they were a pretty common occurrence in Honky-Tonk.

Despite all this, Honky-Tonk was losing steam, and was about to go dormant, only to resurface relatively rarely and on the licensed soundtrack to Fallout 76.

Classic Folk (1 song)
Folk

Since I discussed this in the last post, I’ll keep it brief.

Classic Folk is exactly what it sounds like. It’s American white Folk music. It’s usually backed with just an acoustic guitar and sometimes slight harmony.

Vocal R&B sounds very similar to Classic Folk, but there sometimes is a difference. Generally, Classic Folk exists to tell stories, and that stays true with the Classic Folk song here. In fact, it’s quite a long spoken word song, but that’s besides the point. It’s keeping Folk music intact.

Hymn (1 song)
Gospel, Utility

Let it be known that 1959 was one year in which Hymns actually held a spot on the Billboard year-end list. The Hymn in question? Battle Hymn of the Republic as performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and yes that actually hit the year-end, though at the very bottom.

A Hymn is a type of music that was specifically devised to worship God. Arguably one of the oldest forms of Gospel music, at least hundreds of years old, because Gospel music at its core is generally inspired by Hymns. Traditional Gospel is the merging of Hymns with (black) Spirituals, for instance. However, Hymns rarely serve much of a purpose outside church.

Your usual Hymn is often comprised of an organ (oftentimes a pipe organ) playing a melody which is meant to be sung to in complete unison. Occasionally, Hymns will mix up the formula a bit and be performed in such a fashion where the bass, baritone, tenor, alto, mezzo-soprano, and sopranos all get a different part, similar to how a choir functions. However, your average Hymn doesn’t get all those frills. It’s a simple form of music meant for giving glory to God.

I have no idea why exactly a Hymn made it onto this list, but if I had to wager a guess, this is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It seems to me that a Mormon establishment would indeed release a Hymn as a single as to give more glory to God and the Mormon religion, and since Mormonism is a very interconnected religion, a lot of Mormons bought the single and managed to squeak it onto the charts.

But regardless, Hymns are simple music, and I suppose can officially be considered a Pop genre now.

Modern Gospel (1 song)
Gospel

This one may be a bit different than Gospel because the one Modern Gospel song (which is by Elvis) is technically a secular song. However, it’s very much Gospel-influenced.

So, I discussed Post-Gospel in the last Billboard Breakdown, but haven’t actually stated what Modern Gospel is.

Contrary to the name, Modern Gospel is not modern. It’s actually a very old type of music dating back to basically directly after WWII. It places a heavy emphasis on harmony and feel-good lyrics.

Generally, those lyrics are about God, but secular Gospel, or secular music that has the trappings of Gospel, which would later be modified a little later to be known as Soul, was a thing. While not what Gospel music is about necessarily, Gospel did take on its own identity, so it was inevitable.

Swing (1 song)
Jazz

Yes, a Swing song is on the 1959 year end, could that song be Mack the Knife? Yes. Specifically, the version by Bobby Darrin.

Swing is a famous Jazz genre that originally became a thing in the 30’s. It was primarily an escapist genre comprised of sometimes dozens of musicians all playing in an orchestra. Common instruments in Swing include drums, trumpet, trombones, and several other instruments all contributing towards keeping the music driving.

Tempos are oftentimes ridiculously fast in this genre, with Sing, Sing, Sing, one of the most famous Swing songs, clocking in at 234 BPM for example.

However, it turns out that paying for sometimes dozens of musicians (and often over 10 at least) gets pretty expensive, so several instruments were removed and Swing became Bebop. However, Swing has retained its fame as a Jazz genre for quite a long time. This fame was not any less in 1959, with Bobby Darrin putting on a spot-on performance of what a Swing song would’ve sounded like.

Swing is a genre that has never really lost its fame. Swing would continue being a popular Jazz genre to replicate for years after 1959.

Surf Pop (1 song)
Rock and Roll, Pop

Surf Rock was starting to show its prowess as a legitimate music genre in 1959, and of course, with success comes the imitators.

That being said, Surf Pop wasn’t necessarily all Surf Rock knock-offs. If anything, it got named retroactively. In practice, Surf Pop doesn’t sound very similar to Surf Rock much at all. It takes cues from Hard Pop and infuses them with Surf Rock energy to create something new.

Surf Pop tends to have prominent harmonies, interesting instruments, and overall an air of fun. This differs from Surf Rock in that it wasn’t the heaviest music of its time, and wasn’t trying to be. Surf Pop just saw Surf Rock as fun and went from there.

Jan & Dean were the ones who got Surf Pop on the map. Not with their most famous song (Surf City), but rather Baby Talk, which outlines Surf Pop really well.

Surf Pop may not have their biggest performer yet, but it definitely showed that it had legs to stand on, and would supersede Surf Rock in popularity not long after.

Cool Jazz (1 song)
Jazz

Cool Jazz was touched on in the last one. Basically, it’s Jazz that emphasizes a smooth melody and a slower tempo to sound ‘cool’. Not to be confused with Nordic Jazz or Smooth Jazz, which would come much later.

Cool Jazz is all about being along for the ride, and that is what it managed to do. There’s not much to say that hasn’t already been said.

Soul Jazz (1 song)
Jazz, R&B

Despite the name, Soul Jazz is not actually influenced by Soul. However, Soul Jazz is heavily influenced by R&B.

Bebop eventually got too expensive, too, so the bands were cut down even more. Given Jazz’s waning popularity, they wouldn’t really have the money to afford keeping up a Jazz band unless they acted fast.

The result was Soul Jazz.

Technically speaking, the Soul Jazz song on the 1959 year-end is a TV theme. The theme from Peter Gunn, more specifically. However, ‘Spy Music’ is kind of a stupid name for a genre and the song shares enough similarities with Soul Jazz that I think creating the new category isn’t quite warranted yet.

So, what is Soul Jazz? Well, Soul Jazz is, as mentioned, a crossover with R&B. Jazz was losing money and it needed to take characteristics from the most popular super genre at the moment, which happens to be R&B. The songs bear some similarities with Cool Jazz, they’re slower, the melody is at the front, and they just have a different sound environment than regular Jazz, being much darker than their predecessors such as Swing and Dixie.

Soul Jazz takes the Cool Jazz aesthetic and spruces it up a bit, though. Instrumentation more common in R&B such as saxophone and organ is frequent, sometimes even soloing. After all, they needed to make every instrument count now that there wasn’t 10 instruments to just have willy-nilly.

Soul Jazz would later find a future in Funk, but the experiment didn’t work, and is now relegated to a footnote in popular music history.

Dixieland Revival (1 song)
Jazz

This one was also explained in the last one, it’s just a revival of Dixieland Jazz. However, I neglected to explain where Dixieland Jazz came from.

Dixieland Jazz (or just Dixie), is one of the oldest Jazz genres, this was also mentioned. In fact, the agreed upon first Jazz recording is by The Dixieland Jass Band, in 1917, which is really early in the recording timeline.

Dixie is generally a traditional Jazz music. Its main influences come from Ragtime, but they simply complicated the band setup a little bit. There were now brass instruments in addition to piano. They’d then play bars and pubs and spread their music that way.

That’s generally how Dixie started, and the Dixieland Revival is merely a revival of the sound.

March (1 song)
Utility

I mentioned in my 1958 thing that March has its history as a popular genre, and as if proving me right, the number 1 song on the 1959 year-end is Battle of New Orleans in 1812, a March song.

I did give a brief history on how I assumed March became that way in my 1958 one as well, if you’re interested.

March as a genre is generally comprised of driving drums, a driving melody, and a militaristic pace, often in cut-time. After all, this was made to keep soldiers pumped on the battlefield.

It’s certainly interesting to see how popular March is in the late 50’s. I would’ve never expected this, but that’s kinda the point of doing these.

Neo-Ballroom (1 song)*
Jazz

Ballroom Jazz was dead.

That much was abundantly clear. It was gasping for life in 1958, but in 1959, it was unequivocally dead. The days of happy, uplifting Jazz were over. Adult Contemporary Pop had taken on that mantle, leaving Ballroom Jazz without a real purpose.

It’s not like Ballroom Jazz was too expensive, like several other varieties of Jazz were, the instrumentation was simpler than your usual Swing song (as they came about around the same time), and Adult Contemporary Pop was still doing numbers, people just didn’t see much of a use for it anymore.

That’s when some artists (specifically Santo & Johnny in the 1959 year-end context) got a little adventurous. Benny Goodman had great success when he made electric guitar a Jazz instrument, so why not do it again?

What resulted was Neo-Ballroom. Neo-Ballroom is a type of Ballroom Jazz where the melody is replaced by the guitar. Despite certainly sounding Rock-influenced, it really wasn’t. Electric guitar as a lead instrument had been done before, just not quite to this caliber. There had been solos, sure, but not an entire melody based around it. If anything, Neo-Ballroom is more influenced by Adult Contemporary Pop because that’s an offshoot from Ballroom Jazz in the first place.

Neo-Ballroom was certainly an interesting experiment. The possible echos of it may still be felt today, but we’re far beyond Jazz revivals now. However, Neo-Ballroom did have the same issue of its predecessor. That being said, I’ll be eagerly waiting to see if this genre goes anywhere.

Schlager (1 song)
Pop, World

These last two are the wacky outliers, as with the last three from my 1958 list.

Schlager is one of those wacky outliers. After all, I don’t know if anybody here really knows what Schlager is. However, the short version is that Schlager is the German form of Adult Contemporary Pop. However, Schlager is not influenced by Adult Contemporary Pop.

Schlager is German for ‘hit song’. That’s what these songs were. They were songs created for the sole purpose of entertaining people, generally based around old European Folk music (according to Musicmap.info). Enough people liked the song that it became a hit genre led by violins, acoustic guitars, and other Folk instruments.

However, Schlager tends to be even lighter than most Adult Contemporary Pop, opting for minimal use of drums, and few instruments.

You may be asking what became of Schlager, according to Musicmap.info it influenced no music (not even the (also) German conception of Industrial), so make of that what you will. That’s probably untrue, but for the purposes of this project as well, American music looked at the single Schlager hit in 1959, turned its head, and pretended like it didn’t exist. But I suppose I’ll just have to see.

Exotica (1 song)
Downtempo/Ambient, “World”

You may be asking what this genre is as well. Trust me, I still am and I listened to the thing. I think I’m more shocked that Quiet Village (the single Exotica hit) managed to get within the top 20 on the year-end. This was an immensely popular genre in 1959, apparently.

Exotica is a vague mashup of Lounge and “World” music to create the atmosphere of a vaguely Southeast Asian sound. Now mind you, the inventor of this genre (and also the creator of Quiet Village), Martin Denny, stated that he’s never been to Southeast Asia. This genre is just a vague conception of what ‘Southeast Asia’ “sounds” like. Confused? Yeah. That’s why “World” is in quotations.

As mentioned, songs are generally comprised of Lounge influences, and also samples ambient jungle noises really heavily. How can Ambient music be influenced by actual music, it’s because the actual music plays over the jungle noises.

Exotica is just an absolutely bonkers genre. Ambient music has almost always been underground, but the fact that Ambient music like this wasn’t in 1959 is pretty interesting within itself actually.

Also, the kicker? Can’t even say this genre isn’t around, because Van Halen clearly took influence from it for Everybody Wants Some, which means there’s probably still Exotica around somewhere. Though nowadays, you might find it under an “Ambient Jungle Noises” playlist.

Conclusion

While listening to the 1959 year-end, I realized that it was a lot better than the 1958 one. I personally think that Folk Pop is one of the best things to happen to this early stage of popular music, and I’m excited to see how it’ll evolve.

Also helped is the downturn of Adult Contemporary Pop, which I don’t like, but that’s my opinion.

But you’re not here to hear my opinions (though you might not even be here for anything). You’re here to hear the evolution of popular music.

In 1959, Doo-Wop was setting itself up as the premiere genre. What had ruled in 1958 was starting to fall down and transition into the 60’s. Country music and Folk music was finding new ways of going about their genres and starting to find their legs. R&B and Rock were dominating and would continue to be for years to come.

Anyways, 1959 was great, and I’m prepared to listen to the 1960 year-end soon.

And until next time; be awesome!
-Dashie