// American Music Timeline // Scott Wong // CSE 143 Section JH // Prepared by copying and editing from web site. // Johnson, David. "American Music Timeline." Infoplease.com. // © 2002 Family Education Network. // 27 Oct. 2002 . 1640 The Bay Psalm Book, Cambridge, Massachusetts, first book printed in British Colonial America, entire Book of Psalms translated into English meter; indicates dominance of religious music. 1700 Black slaves include songs based on Old Testament stories in their worship services; beginnings of Negro Spirituals. 1775 British soldiers sing "Yankee Doodle" to mock colonists; Americans adopt it as their own tune. 1776 "Johnny's Gone for a Soldier," adaptation of Irish folk tune, popular during American Revolutionary War. 1814 Francis Scott Key writes poem The Defense of Fort McHenry, which appears in The Baltimore Patriot newspaper. 1815 Key puts The Defense of Fort McHenry to music of popular British song, To Anacreon in Heaven, and publishes "The Star-Spangled Banner". 1842 Philharmonic Society of New York founded, nation's oldest symphony orchestra. 1850 Col. Sandford C. Faulkner believed to write music and words to The Arkansas Traveler, song (and also a play) about a country fiddler, popular in Ohio River Valley. 1851 Stephen Foster writes "Old Folks at Home" for a minstrel show. 1861 Julia Ward Howe writes poem for Atlantic Monthly, "Battle Hymn of the Republic," based on hymn, "John Brown's Body"; William Steffe (probably) writes music to create popular Civil War song. 1866 Musical play, The Black Crook, forerunner of musical comedy of 1920s. 1878 New York Symphony Orchestra founded. 1900 "Country" music of southeastern U.S. features guitar, fiddle banjo, harmonica - direct descendant of English, Scottish, Irish ballads, folk songs. 1904 George M. Cohan's musical play, Little Johnny Jones, followed by Forty-five Minutes from Broadway, 1906, help create indigenous American musical theater. 1907 Florenz Ziegfeld launches Ziegfeld Follies, elaborate musical stage shows, through 1931, starring such performers as Billie Burke, Fannie Brice, W. C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, Will Rogers. 1911 Popular songwriter Irving Berlin completes "Alexander's Ragtime Band," his first hit; culmination of ragtime craze. 1912 Composer, band leader, "father of the blues," William Christopher Handy publishes Memphis Blues, helps inaugurate new style based on rural black folk music. 1916 President Woodrow Wilson issues executive order making "The Star-Spangled Banner" the national anthem. Congress confirms it, 1931. 1920 West 28th St. in New York City becomes center of popular music industry, through 1950s, known as "Tin Pan Alley," also style of sentimental popular songs. 1920 Chicago becomes jazz capital, trumpeter Louis Armstrong, pianist Jelly Roll Morton perform. 1922 Jazz musician Duke Ellington moves to New York, forms band that ultimately becomes Duke Ellington Orchestra. 1924 Juilliard School for performing arts opens in New York. 1925 Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, Tennessee, begins Saturday night radio broadcasts featuring regional music, helps fuse Southeastern and Western styles, creating country and western genre. 1927 Show Boat, music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, based on Edna Ferber's novel, becomes first hugely popular musical comedy. 1928 N.Y. Symphony Orchestra merges with Philharmonic Society of N.Y. to form New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra. 1932 Blues pianist Thomas A. Dorsey, "father of gospel music," writes song "Take My Hand Precious Lord". 1935 Clarinetist Benny Goodman named "King of Swing"; Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw lead popular dance bands. 1936 Electric guitar debuts. 1938 Roy Acuff brings nationwide popularity to Grand Ole Opry radio show, helps standardize style with its nasal "high-country" twang. 1944 Versatile composer, conductor, pianist, Leonard Bernstein composes musical On the Town, followed by string of others, including West Side Story, 1957. 1946 Irving Berlin musical Annie Get Your Gun is huge hit; Call Me Madam, 1950. 1947 Tenor Mario Lanza performs at Hollywood Bowl, draws accolades, launches career of "the voice of the century". 1948 Columbia Records introduces "long playing" vinyl record. 1951 Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed uses term "rock 'n' roll" to promote rhythm and blues to white audiences. 1954 Bill Haley and the Comets become first major white band to use black rock 'n' roll forms, featuring heavy, danceable beat and repetitive patterns, "Rock Around the Clock" becomes huge hit. 1955 Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" is first of series of hits for "Mr. Rock' n' Roll". 1955 Elvis Presley becomes first "rock star". 1958 Country Music Association, established in Nashville. 1959 National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presents first Grammy Award for music recorded in previous year. 1961 Country singer Patsy Cline becomes mainstream popular (pop) music hit. 1963 Folk singer Bob Dylan popularizes protest songs; Peter, Paul and Mary sing Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" at the 1963 March on Washington. 1964 The Beatles' song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a sensation, igniting the immense popularity of British groups, known as the "British invasion"; Other popular British groups are the Rolling Stones, the Who, and Herman's Hermits. 1965 The Byrds version of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" creates new form, "folk-rock". 1968 The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix celebrate counterculture with psychedelic rock. 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, featuring Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Joan Baez, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, attended by hundreds of thousands of fans; culmination of rock 'n' roll and counterculture movement. 1970 The Moody Blues, Electric Light Orchestra, and Pink Floyd create "art rock", combining classical styles with rock; synthesizer becomes important instrument. 1975 CBGB (Country Bluegrass & Blues) club in New York showcases "punk rock" which blends various psychedelic and mainstream rock influences. 1976 Philip Glass completes Einstein on the Beach, first widely performed minimalist piece. 1977 Movie Saturday Night Fever popularizes "disco" music. 1978 Sony introduces the Walkman. Hip hop, a blend of rock, jazz, soul with African drumming, born in the South Bronx. 1979 Sugarhill Gang releases "Rapper's Delight", popularizes rap, combines elements of disco and rock with urban street music. 1981 MTV, music television, debuts with nonstop music videos, presentation becomes as important as the sound. 1983 Compact discs begin to replace vinyl records. 1984 Madonna's album "Like a Virgin" makes her a major star. 1985 Michael Jackson releases album "Thriller", ties with Eagles' "Their Greatest Hits," as best selling album in history; "Thriller" music video becomes a classic. 1990 Grunge rock, a combination of various rock styles, rises in Seattle; features such bands as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Metallica. 1995 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum opens in Cleveland. 2000 Internet transforms music scene; music industry angry about companies offering free music over the Internet, without paying copyright fees; Court action prompts Napster to stop distributing copyrighted music free, and team up with industry giant Bertelsmann to provide material for a fee.