Do you count 1945 through 1963 as part of the Golden Era?

[FedoraFan112390]

For American board users, do you count the Post War period between 1945 and 1963 (ending with the JFK assassination) as part of the Golden Era? What about simply 1945 to 1959, basically the '50s?

 

[Edward]

I'm not American, so the term doesn't have any real resonance for me, (which is, of course, why you qualified that by asking for views of American forumites), but weren't the years 1960-63 really just a continuation of the 50s anyhow?

 

[jamespowers]

It ends at 1960. The wheels were coming off by then.....

 

[1mach1]

It ends at 1960. The wheels were coming off by then.....

Agreed......if not 1959. By '61, as James stated, "the wheels were coming off by then".

 

[LizzieMaine]

For me, the Era is a mindset, not an aesthetic -- and it ended in 1945. Postwar is when it all started to go wrong: suburbanization, "white flight," awful music, gimmicky movies, U Auto Buy Now, and the rise of Scientific Marketing. In a fundamental way, "The Fifties" were the birth of the modern empty, disposable consumeristic mindset.

 

[1mach1]

Awful music? Come on, hon....

 

[LizzieMaine]

Just awful. Americans completely forgot how to write a decent song around the middle of the war, and never regained the knack. And once that rock-n-roll stuff got started, everything went straight down the pipe.

American popular music -- and for that matter, American culture in general -- reached its peak in 1937. It's been downhill ever since.

 

[FedoraFan112390]

D

Just awful. Americans completely forgot how to write a decent song around the middle of the war, and never regained the knack. And once that rock-n-roll stuff got started, everything went straight down the pipe.

American popular music -- and for that matter, American culture in general -- reached its peak in 1937. It's been downhill ever since.

Lizzie, if I may ask a couple of questions, can you firstly recommend some pre 1945 music artists you consider great and great representations of the Golden Era musically?

Secondly, what do you mean by the Golden Era was a mindset, can you describe it?

Lastly, may I ask why 1937 is the cut-off year for you in terms of America's cultural and musical apex?

 

[jamespowers]

Awful music? Come on, hon....

Consider this: if music in the late 40s-50s was awful then what was the hippie claptrap that came after that?! :rofl:

 

[LizzieMaine]

Consider this: if music in the late 40s-50s was awful then what was the hippie claptrap that came after that?! :rofl:

The weed that grew from the rotten seed.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

So nobody liked the Beetles?

 

[LizzieMaine]

1. Gershwin, Kern, Porter, Arlen, Berlin, Carmichael, Harburg, Green, Rodgers and Hart, Razaf and Waller, Warren and Dubin, Robin and Rainger, Revel and Gordon, Fields and McHugh, Fain and Kahal, DeSylva Brown and Henderson, and that's just for starters.

2. The Era marked the time when Americans were most conscious of their role as members of a community rather than focusing on themselves as isolated individuals.

3. George Gershwin died in 1937. No era that doesn't have George Gershwin alive in it could ever be the apex of anything.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

1. Gershwin, Kern, Porter, Arlen, Berlin, Carmichael, Harburg, Green, Rodgers and Hart, Razaf and Waller, Warren and Dubin, Robin and Rainger, Revel and Gordon, Fields and McHugh, Fain and Kahal, DeSylva Brown and Henderson, and that's just for starters.

2. The Era marked the time when Americans were most conscious of their role as members of a community rather than focusing on themselves as isolated individuals.

3. George Gershwin died in 1937. No era that doesn't have George Gershwin alive in it could ever be the apex of anything.

Besides Gershwin and Porter, I have no idea who the rest of those folks are! LOL!

 

[jamespowers]

So nobody liked the Beetles?

Not me.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Then I envy you your journey of discovery -- the Great American Songbook awaits!

 

[jamespowers]

The weed that grew from the rotten seed.

That would explain why they smoked dope.

 

[jamespowers]

1. Gershwin, Kern, Porter, Arlen, Berlin, Carmichael, Harburg, Green, Rodgers and Hart, Razaf and Waller, Warren and Dubin, Robin and Rainger, Revel and Gordon, Fields and McHugh, Fain and Kahal, DeSylva Brown and Henderson, and that's just for starters.

2. The Era marked the time when Americans were most conscious of their role as members of a community rather than focusing on themselves as isolated individuals.

3. George Gershwin died in 1937. No era that doesn't have George Gershwin alive in it could ever be the apex of anything.

I see too many musical makers in there. Gee, at last give me some Ink Spots and Al Jolson.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, who do you think wrote their songs? In the Era, music was less about any specific performance than it was about the song itself -- there was none of this "cover version" nonsense you have today. Any performer could do any song and give it their particular treatment, but the song itself remained the dominant thing. The songwriters were the great artists in the music of the Era.

To take an example, there were many, many recordings of "The Way You Look Tonight," possibly the single greatest song of the 1930s, and even though Fred Astaire introduced it on film, it could still be performed by anyone -- and it still is, to this day. It's become immortal, due to the artistry of Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields in creating it.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

not me.

lol!

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

So nobody liked the Beetles?

I don't know why they called them the Fab Four.
btw, which one is Ringo?