Music
A look at popular music, from the 1950s ~present day.
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Rock and roll emerged from the several streams of post-war popular music, including "jump band" rhythm and blues, the recordings of blues "shouters", gospel based vocal styles, boogie woogie, and honky tonk music. Rock and roll was an unexpected success among a newly affluent audience. The pioneers of rock and roll came from various backgrounds. Bill Hayley's song rock around the clock was the first rock and roll song to gain widespread popularity, he was a country and western band leader from Pennsylvania; Fats Domino had already been playing rhythm and blues for a decade; Chuck Berry was a hairdresser in St Louis;Elvis Presley was a Memphis truck driver.
1960s
By the early 1960s, most of what the music industry promoted was an imitation
of the original rock and roll. Some of the techniques of Tin Pan Alley-
particularly the idea of teaming lyricists with professional melody writers-
were utilized in the 1960s by New York songwriters such as Carole King and
by the young entrepreneur Berry Gordy, whose motown songs brought a string
of hits for artists such as Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye. The early 1960s also
brought distinctive regional styles in the U.S. such as the Southern Californian
band, The Beach Boys; the Greenwich village urban folk movement that included
Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul & Mary. In the
1960s British Bands playing a mixture of rhythm and blues and rock and roll,
came to prominence for the first time. Foremost amongst them was the
Beatles,
whose
sound incorporated brass bands, orchestras and British ballads as well as
American influences.The Beatles combined Chuck Berry'y guitar based rock
and roll with the work of the Tin Pan Alley composers; The Animals worked
with blues and Rhythm & Blues and produced a hit with an Anglo American
ballad "House of the Rising Sun"; and the Rolling Stones incorporated aspects
of Chicago urban blues into their distinctive , driving sound.
1970s 
In the 1970s the music industry in the west combined its power, to once again control the state of play, mass producing music styles which had once been individualistic. Corporate rock, the singer-songwriter genre, and the slick varieties of soul and Country & Western music featuring glamorous superstars playing to massive crowds in sports arenas, defined a new mainstream. Although a number of distinctive styles-disco, glam rock, punk rock, new wave, reggae, and funk were pioneered by independent labels and marginalized musicians, the music of the 70s is viewed as less individualized, largely owing to a climate of corporate caution at the end of the decade in a period of depression in the industry.
1980s
A number of factors contributed to an economic revival of the music industry during the mid 80s. The introduction of the music video-marked by the debut of MTV, and the introduction of the Compact Disc in 1983 stimulated the demand for popular music. The album Thriller by Michael Jackson, became the biggest-selling record in history up to that time. Popular musicians of the 80s were Bruce Springsteen, the working class bar band hero; Prince, whose 1984 single "when doves cry" was the first song in 20 years to top the main-stream pop charts and the R&B charts ; and Madonna, the ambitious performer from a working class background who remade herself as a pop icon.
1990s~ 
The 1990s has seen pop re-visiting the songs of the last century and before. It seems that when there are no more tunes to be invented, pop will eat itself and regurgitate, forcing us to listen to deformed classics. Dance music, reggae music, new country, indie, etc.etc.and the list goes on, the many different types of music that have been unleashed upon us in the 90s. We have seen the boy bands competing for supremacy- Take That (please), Boyzone, Westlife etc. Girlbands with their girlpower from the ever popular Spicegirls.
Links to Fan Clubs
Elvis Presley
(1935~1977)
(picture courtesy of elvis-presley.com)
Elvis had his first number one in 1956, with "Heartbreak Hotel".Even though he was in the army for two years, he was the most successful recording artist in history.Visit this site for his official fan page, a broad colourful site including all the up-to-date info on Elvis, Annual events, biography etc...
The Beatles
The Beatles became known as the most popular music act of the 60s. "Love me do" was released in October 1962, which heralded the start of Beatlemania. Rare Beatles.com is a site which allows fans to obtain beatles memorabilia and rare collectables including links to other great Beatles' sites.
Punk
Rock
(picture courtesy of sexpistols fan page)
Punk rock was mostly popular between the years 1975 and 1978. The most famous punk rock group had to be The Sex Pistols, who's debut single was released in 1976 titled "Anarchy in the U.K." . Visit this site, a fans personal look at the Sexpistols, which includes lyrics, pictures, tour dates and much, much more.
Madonna
The most popular female artist ever, Madonna is as famous for her outrageous image, as she is for her music. Visit Madonnas official fan club site which the pop icon herself is personally involved in. Includes the opportunity to subscribe to "Icon" magazine (a quarterly publication documenting the life and times of Madonna).
(Picture courtesy of Madonna fan club)
The Spice Girls
First there were five and now there are four, the record breaking girls who like to zig-a-zig-a. Visit Virgin official home for the Spice girls on the Web. Get the latest Spice news, Interviews, competitions and so much more.
(picture courtesy of Spicegirls fan site)
Tina Turner
Visit this site by Robin Bold which is dedicated to Tina Turner. Contains information on her life and her career.
The Everly Brothers
A devoted site by a devoted fan, get pictures and facts of the Everly Brothers and follow the links to other great sites associated with them.
BCA Homepage
An assignment for the Open University by Alison Britton.
Acknowledgments to Encarta 99 for General information .