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Faber Faber Lets Do It The Birth of Pop.
The prequel to Bob Stanley's universally acclaimed Yeah Yeah Yeah , Let's Do It is the only book that brings together all genres to tell the definitive story of the birth of Pop, from 1900 to the mid-fifties.'An absolute landmark/joy/gossip-fest/door to the history of pop music before rock'n'roll. Fascinating. I can't recommend it enough.'CAITLIN MORAN'An encyclopaedic introduction to the fascinating and often forgotten creators of Anglo-American hit music in the first half of the Twentieth Century.'NEIL TENNANT'A perfect guidebook, filled with smart thinking and the kind of communicable enthusiasm that sends you rushing to the nearest streaming service, eager to hear what all the fuss was about.'ALEXIS PETRIDIS, GUARDIANPop music didn't begin with the Beatles in 1963, or with Elvis in 1956, or even with the first seven-inch singles in 1949. There was a pre-history that went back to the first recorded music, right back to the turn of the century . . .Who were the earliest record stars, and were they in any meaningful way 'pop stars'? Who were the likes of George Gershwin writing songs for? Why did swing, the hit sound for a decade or more, become almost invisible after the Second World War?The prequel to Bob Stanley's Yeah Yeah Yeah , Let's Do It is the first book to tell the definitive story of the birth of pop, from the invention of the 78 rpm record at the end of the nineteenth century to the beginnings of rock and the modern pop age. Taking in superstars such as Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra alongside the unheralded songwriters and arrangers behind some of our most enduring songs, Stanley paints an aural portrait of pop music's formative years in stunning clarity, uncovering the silver threads and golden needles that bind the form together.Bringing the eclectic, evolving world of early pop to life - from ragtime, blues and jazz to Broadway, country, crooning and beyond - Let's Do It is essential reading for all music lovers.'Stanley has provided something invaluable to the growing numbers who get their music via streaming a guide to pop's back pages, where artists mostly remembered in sepia tones are brought into vivid colour by the author's enthusiastic sense of discovery.'BILLY BRAGG, NEW STATESMAN'Inspired.' THE TIMES'Remarkable.' CLASSIC ROCK'Exhilarating.' CAUGHT BY THE RIVER'Essential.' DAILY TELEGRAPH'A joyous read.' THE ECONOMIST'Wholly entertaining.' MOJO'Enthralling.' DAILY MAIL'Great fun.' LITERARY REVIEW' Colossal .' UNCUT'A joy.' RECORD COLLECTOR'A triumph.' LOUD & QUIET
672 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2022
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May 26, 2022
Here we have a paradox : this is obviously a 5 star book, but I’m not sure who is going to love it. I thought I would be Bob Stanley’s perfect reader, as I was for his brilliant book Yeah Yeah Yeah. But it turned out to be more complicated.
Well, I really am the perfect reader for this huge 600-large-pages beast, I don’t know anyone more obsessed with old music than me and this book is all about old music. What is old music? Before Elvis. But here’s the thing. To vast numbers of people now, old music is anything from the last century. In my mind Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby is old music but for increasing numbers of people the Beatles, Stones, Jimi Hendrix, rock music as a whole, that’s old music.
Recently Rolling Stone Magazine updated its 500 Best Albums list, it does so every ten years or so. This one looked very different to the previous one. I stumbled over the musings of a guy on youtube who does vids under the name Classic Album Reviews. He said that for the 300 people who were polled for this new list, it seems that the music he loves (classic rock)
no longer resonates in the contemporary vernacular. We have to accept that classic rock no longer beavers away in the collective unconscious of those who have been brought up on more urban music, shall we say. I used to think that the music I was listening to was timeless. It’s quite a bitter pill to swallow to accept that maybe I’m wrong, that perhaps one day this music will cease to have any cultural relevance to a new generation of music listeners. And I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t sadden me deeply.
Same sentiments would have been expressed, more bitterly, more angrily, when obnoxious nasty screaming vulgar cretinously simpleminded rock and roll burst forth in the mid 50s – here’s Frank Sinatra himself on the subject:
My only deep sorrow is the unrelenting insistence of recording and motion picture companies upon purveying the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear—naturally I refer to the bulk of rock ‘n’ roll.
And this is very understandable, the violent blare of Little Richard sounded ghastly to a generation marinated in the exquisite wordplay of the great American songbook. Roll over Beethoven, and roll over Cole Porter too. And now roll over Paul McCartney and tell Bob Dylan the news. And soon Michael Jackson can roll over too.
Bob Stanley’s previous book Yeah Yeah Yeah (the only thing I don’t like about it was the title) told the story of pop music from 1950 to around 2000 and all its readers were going to have a pretty good memory of most of what he was talking about. This was the history of the soundtrack to our lives. But Let’s Do It is the soundtrack to our great-grandparents’ and our grandparents’ lives.
You might optimistically think that pop before rock and roll would be all Great American Songbook plus jazz and blues. But there was a lot more. There was so much dreck! Irving Berlin wrote White Christmas, Cheek to Cheek, Let’s Face the Music and Dance and Steppin’ Out with my Baby but he also wrote Run Home and Tell Your Mother, Pick Pick Pick on the Mandolin Antonio, Oh How that German Could Love and Look Out for that Bolsheviki Man. Which have mercifully been forgotten.
So much of the music Bob Stanley lovingly details here is gone, baby, gone like snow on the water. We do have one hundred years of recorded music now, and this is a very great thing, but not too many people are gonna be asking Spotify to play Rudy Vallee, the Boswell Sisters, Sophie Tucker, Ma Rainey, Whispering Jack Smith, Spade Cooley, Jeanette McDonald, Ivor Novello, Noel Coward, Dick Haymes, Jo Stafford or Fats Waller. Maybe they should, but I don't think they will.
A good example of what I mean is the still vaguely famous (I think) Bing Crosby. He was the biggest star from the 30s to the 50s, hundreds of hits, millions of records sold. Now he means nearly nothing. We know White Christmas. What else? Well, didn’t he do a weird duet with David Bowie? Oh yes – The Little Drummer Boy, pa ruppa pum pum. His name used to be routinely used to indicate the opposite of that which was cool, the opposite of rock. Now he isn’t even an insult, as distant as a 14th century pope.
I found 75% of this book really fascinating. There are some problems. One problem is that jazz pretty much took over pop music for decades and jazz is a whole gigantic subject other writers can do better than Bob. But he wrangles his unruly herd of genres very well. Another little problem was that because he was already very familiar with pop since Elvis, his previous book is so much funnier and full of delicious sharp digs. This one, not so much, he’s much more respectful, because he didn’t grow up with it. And he tries so hard to appreciate the stuff he clearly doesn't like.
In a book this size, there are plenty of eye-goggling items I discovered. Here’s my favourite.
THE MARITAL HISTORY OF BOB WILLS, THE KING OF WESTERN SWING
At the age of 30 this very successful bandleader seems to have gone a little crazy. He divorced his first wife after nine years, then married number 2 in 1936. He divorced her later that same year. In 1938 he married number 3, and later that same year he divorced her. But even later that same year he remarried her! But then the next year he divorced her for the second time. He married wife number 4 that same year, 1939 and later that busy year divorced her. Finally in 1942 he married wife number 5 and, completely exhausted, gave up divorcing and marrying and had 4 children instead.
PLAYLIST - SOME FAVOURITES FROM PREHISTORY
1925 : Poor Little Rich Girl - Noel Coward
1926 : White House Blues – Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers
1927 : The Black Bottom – Johnny Hamp and his Kentucky Serenaders
1928 : There Ain’t No Man worth the Salt of my Tears – Paul Whiteman Orchestra
1929 : Tuck Away my Lonesome Blues – Jimmie Rodgers
1930 : Church I’m Fully Saved Today – Blind Willie Johnson
1931 : Flambee Montalbanaise – Gus Viseur
1932 : The Clouds will Soon Roll By – Ambrose and his Orchestra
1933: These Foolish Things – Leslie (Hutch) Hutchinson
1934 : Goodbye Old Paint – Jess Morris
1935 : Love is the Sweetest Thing – Al Bowlly
1936 : Let Yourself Go – Ginger Rogers
1937 : Rockin’ Chair – Paul Robeson
1938 : Sleep my Baby Sleep – Judy Garland
1939 : My Prayer – The Ink Spots
1940 : Along the Navajo Trail – Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters
1941 : Gloomy Sunday – Billie Holiday
1942 : It Started All Over Again – Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers
1943 : Boscastle Breakdown : Tintagel & Boscastle Players
1944 : Angelina/Zooma Zooma – Louis Prima
1945 : Tell Me Why you Like Roosevelt – Otis Jackson
1946 : La Mer – Charles Trenet
1947 : Wealth Won’t Save your Soul – Hank Williams
1948 : Rock the Joint Boogie – Big Joe Turner
1949 : Riders in the Sky – Vaughan Monroe
1950 : The Fat Man – Fats Domino
1951 : There Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold my Body Down – Brother Claude Ely
1952 : Vaya Con Dios – Les Paul and Mary Ford
1953 : Crying in the Chapel – Sonny Till and the Orioles
1954 : Sh-Boom (Life Could be a Dream) – The Chords
1955 : Pledging my Love – Johnny Ace
Well, I really am the perfect reader for this huge 600-large-pages beast, I don’t know anyone more obsessed with old music than me and this book is all about old music. What is old music? Before Elvis. But here’s the thing. To vast numbers of people now, old music is anything from the last century. In my mind Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby is old music but for increasing numbers of people the Beatles, Stones, Jimi Hendrix, rock music as a whole, that’s old music.
Recently Rolling Stone Magazine updated its 500 Best Albums list, it does so every ten years or so. This one looked very different to the previous one. I stumbled over the musings of a guy on youtube who does vids under the name Classic Album Reviews. He said that for the 300 people who were polled for this new list, it seems that the music he loves (classic rock)
no longer resonates in the contemporary vernacular. We have to accept that classic rock no longer beavers away in the collective unconscious of those who have been brought up on more urban music, shall we say. I used to think that the music I was listening to was timeless. It’s quite a bitter pill to swallow to accept that maybe I’m wrong, that perhaps one day this music will cease to have any cultural relevance to a new generation of music listeners. And I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t sadden me deeply.
Same sentiments would have been expressed, more bitterly, more angrily, when obnoxious nasty screaming vulgar cretinously simpleminded rock and roll burst forth in the mid 50s – here’s Frank Sinatra himself on the subject:
My only deep sorrow is the unrelenting insistence of recording and motion picture companies upon purveying the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear—naturally I refer to the bulk of rock ‘n’ roll.
And this is very understandable, the violent blare of Little Richard sounded ghastly to a generation marinated in the exquisite wordplay of the great American songbook. Roll over Beethoven, and roll over Cole Porter too. And now roll over Paul McCartney and tell Bob Dylan the news. And soon Michael Jackson can roll over too.
Bob Stanley’s previous book Yeah Yeah Yeah (the only thing I don’t like about it was the title) told the story of pop music from 1950 to around 2000 and all its readers were going to have a pretty good memory of most of what he was talking about. This was the history of the soundtrack to our lives. But Let’s Do It is the soundtrack to our great-grandparents’ and our grandparents’ lives.
You might optimistically think that pop before rock and roll would be all Great American Songbook plus jazz and blues. But there was a lot more. There was so much dreck! Irving Berlin wrote White Christmas, Cheek to Cheek, Let’s Face the Music and Dance and Steppin’ Out with my Baby but he also wrote Run Home and Tell Your Mother, Pick Pick Pick on the Mandolin Antonio, Oh How that German Could Love and Look Out for that Bolsheviki Man. Which have mercifully been forgotten.
So much of the music Bob Stanley lovingly details here is gone, baby, gone like snow on the water. We do have one hundred years of recorded music now, and this is a very great thing, but not too many people are gonna be asking Spotify to play Rudy Vallee, the Boswell Sisters, Sophie Tucker, Ma Rainey, Whispering Jack Smith, Spade Cooley, Jeanette McDonald, Ivor Novello, Noel Coward, Dick Haymes, Jo Stafford or Fats Waller. Maybe they should, but I don't think they will.
A good example of what I mean is the still vaguely famous (I think) Bing Crosby. He was the biggest star from the 30s to the 50s, hundreds of hits, millions of records sold. Now he means nearly nothing. We know White Christmas. What else? Well, didn’t he do a weird duet with David Bowie? Oh yes – The Little Drummer Boy, pa ruppa pum pum. His name used to be routinely used to indicate the opposite of that which was cool, the opposite of rock. Now he isn’t even an insult, as distant as a 14th century pope.
I found 75% of this book really fascinating. There are some problems. One problem is that jazz pretty much took over pop music for decades and jazz is a whole gigantic subject other writers can do better than Bob. But he wrangles his unruly herd of genres very well. Another little problem was that because he was already very familiar with pop since Elvis, his previous book is so much funnier and full of delicious sharp digs. This one, not so much, he’s much more respectful, because he didn’t grow up with it. And he tries so hard to appreciate the stuff he clearly doesn't like.
In a book this size, there are plenty of eye-goggling items I discovered. Here’s my favourite.
THE MARITAL HISTORY OF BOB WILLS, THE KING OF WESTERN SWING
At the age of 30 this very successful bandleader seems to have gone a little crazy. He divorced his first wife after nine years, then married number 2 in 1936. He divorced her later that same year. In 1938 he married number 3, and later that same year he divorced her. But even later that same year he remarried her! But then the next year he divorced her for the second time. He married wife number 4 that same year, 1939 and later that busy year divorced her. Finally in 1942 he married wife number 5 and, completely exhausted, gave up divorcing and marrying and had 4 children instead.
PLAYLIST - SOME FAVOURITES FROM PREHISTORY
1925 : Poor Little Rich Girl - Noel Coward
1926 : White House Blues – Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers
1927 : The Black Bottom – Johnny Hamp and his Kentucky Serenaders
1928 : There Ain’t No Man worth the Salt of my Tears – Paul Whiteman Orchestra
1929 : Tuck Away my Lonesome Blues – Jimmie Rodgers
1930 : Church I’m Fully Saved Today – Blind Willie Johnson
1931 : Flambee Montalbanaise – Gus Viseur
1932 : The Clouds will Soon Roll By – Ambrose and his Orchestra
1933: These Foolish Things – Leslie (Hutch) Hutchinson
1934 : Goodbye Old Paint – Jess Morris
1935 : Love is the Sweetest Thing – Al Bowlly
1936 : Let Yourself Go – Ginger Rogers
1937 : Rockin’ Chair – Paul Robeson
1938 : Sleep my Baby Sleep – Judy Garland
1939 : My Prayer – The Ink Spots
1940 : Along the Navajo Trail – Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters
1941 : Gloomy Sunday – Billie Holiday
1942 : It Started All Over Again – Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers
1943 : Boscastle Breakdown : Tintagel & Boscastle Players
1944 : Angelina/Zooma Zooma – Louis Prima
1945 : Tell Me Why you Like Roosevelt – Otis Jackson
1946 : La Mer – Charles Trenet
1947 : Wealth Won’t Save your Soul – Hank Williams
1948 : Rock the Joint Boogie – Big Joe Turner
1949 : Riders in the Sky – Vaughan Monroe
1950 : The Fat Man – Fats Domino
1951 : There Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold my Body Down – Brother Claude Ely
1952 : Vaya Con Dios – Les Paul and Mary Ford
1953 : Crying in the Chapel – Sonny Till and the Orioles
1954 : Sh-Boom (Life Could be a Dream) – The Chords
1955 : Pledging my Love – Johnny Ace
Read
April 30, 2023Stanley's mammoth history of pop, Yeah Yeah Yeah, was the sort of book most people would only feel the need to do once in a lifetime, even if they didn't already have a band to keep them occupied. And besides, wasn't the point that it was the whole story?
Well, here's the prequel, right back to 1901 and the first recorded reference to pop, or specifically "All the latest Pop. Music". Which in turn needs a bit of backstory, establishing the status quo of music halls and such, before the story can start its forward progress. Not that it's strictly chronological, because that would be a baffling soup; each chapter covers a genre, an individual, a scene or even a medium, because of course that was part of the story long before people started panicking about Napster and then streaming; I had no idea quite how drastically radio had affected US record sales, let alone of Bing Crosby's crucial role in the history of recording technology.
Doubtless many readers will be more au fait than I was with the story of Irving Berlin, ragtime, or how vocalists stole the headline from bandleaders. But I suspect precious few will have Stanley's grasp of the whole equation, his ability to draw unexpected connections or pithily sum up the relationship between his many spinning plates. He's always aware, too, that things aren't as separate as histories can make them seem, which includes laying trails from this period back to Yeah Yeah Yeah; Quincy Jones and George Martin are both in play well before the eras with which they're usually associated, and it blows my mind that the theremin on Good Vibrations was played by a former member of Glenn Miller's band, or that Hutch, Lulu and Annie Nightingale all appeared on the same 1965 TV show. And of course, because it's never just about the music, this is also a light shone on the history of the 20th century as a whole, race and war and short-sighted business decisions with outsized consequences. Nor is it merely restating the obvious names like Mojo covers minus a few decades; canonical figures like Louis Armstrong get chapters, but so do those Stanley reckons deserve to be better known (the Boswell Sisters) and those he'd clearly rather weren't in the story but can't in all honesty omit (Al Jolson). Obviously I don't agree with him about everything - his indifference to Sondheim is baffling -but I'd much rather read someone's personal account with which I differ than a dreary attempt at a canonical version. And while the final chapters can get a bit awkward as Stanley does his best to manage the overlap with Yeah Yeah Yeah, possibly I'm just grumpy at being reminded of the existence of Tom Jones. Authoritative yet not pretending to impartiality, entertaining yet substantial, it would be a rare reader who won't learn something - and end up with a list of music to check out - after this.
Well, here's the prequel, right back to 1901 and the first recorded reference to pop, or specifically "All the latest Pop. Music". Which in turn needs a bit of backstory, establishing the status quo of music halls and such, before the story can start its forward progress. Not that it's strictly chronological, because that would be a baffling soup; each chapter covers a genre, an individual, a scene or even a medium, because of course that was part of the story long before people started panicking about Napster and then streaming; I had no idea quite how drastically radio had affected US record sales, let alone of Bing Crosby's crucial role in the history of recording technology.
Doubtless many readers will be more au fait than I was with the story of Irving Berlin, ragtime, or how vocalists stole the headline from bandleaders. But I suspect precious few will have Stanley's grasp of the whole equation, his ability to draw unexpected connections or pithily sum up the relationship between his many spinning plates. He's always aware, too, that things aren't as separate as histories can make them seem, which includes laying trails from this period back to Yeah Yeah Yeah; Quincy Jones and George Martin are both in play well before the eras with which they're usually associated, and it blows my mind that the theremin on Good Vibrations was played by a former member of Glenn Miller's band, or that Hutch, Lulu and Annie Nightingale all appeared on the same 1965 TV show. And of course, because it's never just about the music, this is also a light shone on the history of the 20th century as a whole, race and war and short-sighted business decisions with outsized consequences. Nor is it merely restating the obvious names like Mojo covers minus a few decades; canonical figures like Louis Armstrong get chapters, but so do those Stanley reckons deserve to be better known (the Boswell Sisters) and those he'd clearly rather weren't in the story but can't in all honesty omit (Al Jolson). Obviously I don't agree with him about everything - his indifference to Sondheim is baffling -but I'd much rather read someone's personal account with which I differ than a dreary attempt at a canonical version. And while the final chapters can get a bit awkward as Stanley does his best to manage the overlap with Yeah Yeah Yeah, possibly I'm just grumpy at being reminded of the existence of Tom Jones. Authoritative yet not pretending to impartiality, entertaining yet substantial, it would be a rare reader who won't learn something - and end up with a list of music to check out - after this.
July 17, 2023
Fascinating review of popular music from 1900 to 1950's . The book passes all the basic tests of a good music book, namely being readable and secondly to send you heading to your music collection streaming service to listen to the recommended recordings . This book condenses many careers into a few pages and identifies albums or sings worthy of further investigation . I thought I new this period reasonably well , but this book identifies many artist I had not heard of and outstanding albums by artists I thought I knew .
The only complaint is that some of the career summaries are too short and leave you wanting more .Recommended for anyone with an interest in the period of music and it's impact on music from the 1950's and beyond .
The only complaint is that some of the career summaries are too short and leave you wanting more .Recommended for anyone with an interest in the period of music and it's impact on music from the 1950's and beyond .
October 18, 2022
An amazing and witty encyclopedia of pop. Definitely a reference worth keeping.
January 7, 2024
Very fun and extensive book, really enjoyed my time with it. My one gripe was that some of the footnotes should’ve been expanded into their own chapters, as the nuggets shared there were fascinating enough to deserve expansion
August 4, 2025
A huge volume that I will review in stages. These are the first ten chapters of the 52. The others are on on my blog with the last twelve chapters on 29th July.
Foreword by Lenny Kaye
In New York City in the mid 1800's, George Templeton Strong was "writing meticulous accounts in his diaries" of visits to the opera, recitals, concerts and salons. If he was here today it would all be on a blog or other media.
Introduction
This book is a guide through the pop music of the first half of the 20th century. It's about records "that were made to sell".
Prologue
I wonder (like the author) who was first to stick a label in the middle of a record. That blank circle in the centre of a disc. They "became known as record labels". Apparently it was Emil Berliner (a German born inventor) who came up with that flat "gramophone disc". It was adopted by Columbia Records in 1901 through to 1960. "Cliff Richards' first half dozen singles were on 78's as well as the seven inch 45rpm". (Our first two records were Cliff''s Living Doll and Travelling Light both on 78's). Then notes about some early recordings of Stephen Foster's songs: Oh Susannah, Campton Races, Swanee River and Beautiful Dreamer in 1862! Unfortunately Foster died in 1864 at the age of 37. "The first writer of songs that were recognisably pop".
Chapter 1 Music Hall
I'm not sure this should start the birth of pop, but hey.
Chapter 2 Ragtime
This I understand. Black music, piano based and Scott Joplin it's "saddest victim". His Maple Street Rag was the first piece of sheet music to sell a million copies. The biggest ragtime hit of all. "Joplin was responsible for making ragtime the first true American music". But we get so much detail of artists of whom I had never heard (and I do know a lot from this period - see later). Until we reach Irving Berlin's big hit from 1911: Alexander's Ragtime Band. But only a passing mention of Jelly Roll Morton, and no mention what great piano he played. I have an old EP. Funnily enough, it's the last paragraph (it seems to have been added later) that is the best. It's about Fats Waller and his stride piano. He should have had his own chapter!
Chapter 3 Songs for Sale: Tin Pan Alley
We are in lower Manhattan, West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue, where "a warren of song writer's offices" was named Tin Pan Alley. (I didn't know that). The first arrivals came in 1893. The birth of the new record players included the Victrola in 1906 with the consequential demand for records. We hear lots about the earliest recordings and then Capella male quartets or as we know it, barbershop. The Ziegfeld Follies gave us Shine on Harvest Moon and By the Light of the Silvery Moon. But "the most significant song in the development of American pop, written by a scrawny twenty two year old called Irving Berlin was Alexander's Ragtime Band. The chapter ends with a piece about Sophie Tucker, "the mother of American song". How she became a huge star, especially as the first white female artist, who had to black up when she started out.
Chapter 4 Doing What Comes Naturally: Irving Berlin
His original name was Israel Berlin, who "wrote hit songs for more than half a century". How that song described above was such a big hit and set him up. When his wife died, some maudlin ballads were huge (and still sung today). What'll I Do and All Alone. In late 1937 he wrote White Christmas. In the 1950's even more big hits. "He is American music".
Note: I'm not sure about how some of the writing is repetitive over a number of chapters.
Chapter 5 A Culture of Consolation: Music Hall and Musical Theatre
Not sure why this is here, just padding? Yes, it was very important in the first years of the twentieth century, but hardly anything to do with the birth of pop?
Chapter 6 On the Other Side of a Big Black Cloud: World War 1
I was hardly interested in all those wartime songs. "British popular music had effectively pressed the pause button for four years".
Chapter 7 A Conversation of Instruments: The Birth of Jazz
Hurrah! Coming out of New Orleans, "popular music would have no bother combining elements of ragtime , blues and jazz". The author tells us that "the most succinct description of jazz I've ever come across" was "a conversation of instruments, ad-lib on the subject of a tune". It was the Original Dixieland Jazz Band that first conjured the name, and their front line of cornet, trombone and clarinet became the template of all the bands to come. (Right through to the sixties - see post on Dunmow Jazz Club).
The "best selling jazz orchestra of the 1920's was in fact the band of Paul Whiteman. He was labelled the "King of Jazz". Although "his musicians followed carefully prepared arrangements", the solos I guess the only times of improvisation. The chapter ends with a note about the young George Gershwin, already writing hugely popular songs and the extraordinary Rhapsody in Blue.
Chapter 8 The Greatest Love of All: Louis Armstrong
I didn't realise that this book would take me back to my teenage years. When I went through my jazz phase in my late teens, I had most of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings. His great love was the cornet, not the trumpet. He first of all joined Joe "King" Oliver's band when "it gave jazz it's voice". Joe put together the Creole Jazz Band, "effectively the first super group". They created the role for the soloist. Johnny Dodds was on clarinet that I remember from the Hot 5/7 tracks that also included Kid Ory on trombone.
I posted some time ago (7th February 2012) about Dunmow Jazz Club that I used to attend in 1962/3. Those bands booked by Derek Watson (on the National Jazz Archive) where he says "the village hall is quite big, more than a village hall .... people came from miles around .... some even from Portsmouth". "Shoulder to shoulder, nobody sat down ...... we used to run coaches ..... a coach from Braintree".
I was never sure when Louis turned to singing. He made the Fats Waller composition Ain't Misbehavin' a hit. I always preferred Fats' version. But Louis' vocals made him a star. Hello Dolly came much later. That's when" he became a "popular entertainer", the greatest sin in the eyes of the purists". (That's me). My post of the 28th January 2015 described my huge disappointment when he played the Hammersmith Odeon. (Stall on the right, not far from the front).
Chapter 9 The Blab of the Pave: Jerome Kern and Broadway
Our author talks about the four different stages of music from 1900 - the revue, vaudeville, burlesque and operetta. But this chapter is all about Jerome Kern: "the first modern Broadway writer, the first master of the twentieth century American musical". The inspiration for all those famous composers who followed.
When Kern was young, he made his way to the UK who, at that time, provided all the shows for the USA. Back home he was writing songs for many of these for which he never received a credit. But then his first stand out song They didn't believe me was for another imported show. The song was a trailblazer and we hear a lot about it's construction.
At the same time, Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart were writing so many songs with no success until, in 1925, a song for "The Garrick Gaieties" meant they joined the immortals. Manhattan is a classic that is still played today. (But why is this included in a section about Jerome Kern?) However in 1921, for a musical "Shuffle Along", came the standard I'm just wild about Harry. The top show of the late 1920's was "Showboat" with songs composed by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein.
Chapter 10 Let Me Entertain You: Al Jolson
Although we are told Jolson was the biggest star of the 1920's, I have no interest in his story. "Jolson is the biggest name in this book whose enormous success seems hard to fathom today (no surprise there). (his voice is not pleasant) whose crude, untutored, megaphone voice seems impossible to listen to as entertainment". Well, "The Jazz Singer" was the first talkie and Jolson was the star. Say no more. His longevity is explained.
Foreword by Lenny Kaye
In New York City in the mid 1800's, George Templeton Strong was "writing meticulous accounts in his diaries" of visits to the opera, recitals, concerts and salons. If he was here today it would all be on a blog or other media.
Introduction
This book is a guide through the pop music of the first half of the 20th century. It's about records "that were made to sell".
Prologue
I wonder (like the author) who was first to stick a label in the middle of a record. That blank circle in the centre of a disc. They "became known as record labels". Apparently it was Emil Berliner (a German born inventor) who came up with that flat "gramophone disc". It was adopted by Columbia Records in 1901 through to 1960. "Cliff Richards' first half dozen singles were on 78's as well as the seven inch 45rpm". (Our first two records were Cliff''s Living Doll and Travelling Light both on 78's). Then notes about some early recordings of Stephen Foster's songs: Oh Susannah, Campton Races, Swanee River and Beautiful Dreamer in 1862! Unfortunately Foster died in 1864 at the age of 37. "The first writer of songs that were recognisably pop".
Chapter 1 Music Hall
I'm not sure this should start the birth of pop, but hey.
Chapter 2 Ragtime
This I understand. Black music, piano based and Scott Joplin it's "saddest victim". His Maple Street Rag was the first piece of sheet music to sell a million copies. The biggest ragtime hit of all. "Joplin was responsible for making ragtime the first true American music". But we get so much detail of artists of whom I had never heard (and I do know a lot from this period - see later). Until we reach Irving Berlin's big hit from 1911: Alexander's Ragtime Band. But only a passing mention of Jelly Roll Morton, and no mention what great piano he played. I have an old EP. Funnily enough, it's the last paragraph (it seems to have been added later) that is the best. It's about Fats Waller and his stride piano. He should have had his own chapter!
Chapter 3 Songs for Sale: Tin Pan Alley
We are in lower Manhattan, West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue, where "a warren of song writer's offices" was named Tin Pan Alley. (I didn't know that). The first arrivals came in 1893. The birth of the new record players included the Victrola in 1906 with the consequential demand for records. We hear lots about the earliest recordings and then Capella male quartets or as we know it, barbershop. The Ziegfeld Follies gave us Shine on Harvest Moon and By the Light of the Silvery Moon. But "the most significant song in the development of American pop, written by a scrawny twenty two year old called Irving Berlin was Alexander's Ragtime Band. The chapter ends with a piece about Sophie Tucker, "the mother of American song". How she became a huge star, especially as the first white female artist, who had to black up when she started out.
Chapter 4 Doing What Comes Naturally: Irving Berlin
His original name was Israel Berlin, who "wrote hit songs for more than half a century". How that song described above was such a big hit and set him up. When his wife died, some maudlin ballads were huge (and still sung today). What'll I Do and All Alone. In late 1937 he wrote White Christmas. In the 1950's even more big hits. "He is American music".
Note: I'm not sure about how some of the writing is repetitive over a number of chapters.
Chapter 5 A Culture of Consolation: Music Hall and Musical Theatre
Not sure why this is here, just padding? Yes, it was very important in the first years of the twentieth century, but hardly anything to do with the birth of pop?
Chapter 6 On the Other Side of a Big Black Cloud: World War 1
I was hardly interested in all those wartime songs. "British popular music had effectively pressed the pause button for four years".
Chapter 7 A Conversation of Instruments: The Birth of Jazz
Hurrah! Coming out of New Orleans, "popular music would have no bother combining elements of ragtime , blues and jazz". The author tells us that "the most succinct description of jazz I've ever come across" was "a conversation of instruments, ad-lib on the subject of a tune". It was the Original Dixieland Jazz Band that first conjured the name, and their front line of cornet, trombone and clarinet became the template of all the bands to come. (Right through to the sixties - see post on Dunmow Jazz Club).
The "best selling jazz orchestra of the 1920's was in fact the band of Paul Whiteman. He was labelled the "King of Jazz". Although "his musicians followed carefully prepared arrangements", the solos I guess the only times of improvisation. The chapter ends with a note about the young George Gershwin, already writing hugely popular songs and the extraordinary Rhapsody in Blue.
Chapter 8 The Greatest Love of All: Louis Armstrong
I didn't realise that this book would take me back to my teenage years. When I went through my jazz phase in my late teens, I had most of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings. His great love was the cornet, not the trumpet. He first of all joined Joe "King" Oliver's band when "it gave jazz it's voice". Joe put together the Creole Jazz Band, "effectively the first super group". They created the role for the soloist. Johnny Dodds was on clarinet that I remember from the Hot 5/7 tracks that also included Kid Ory on trombone.
I posted some time ago (7th February 2012) about Dunmow Jazz Club that I used to attend in 1962/3. Those bands booked by Derek Watson (on the National Jazz Archive) where he says "the village hall is quite big, more than a village hall .... people came from miles around .... some even from Portsmouth". "Shoulder to shoulder, nobody sat down ...... we used to run coaches ..... a coach from Braintree".
I was never sure when Louis turned to singing. He made the Fats Waller composition Ain't Misbehavin' a hit. I always preferred Fats' version. But Louis' vocals made him a star. Hello Dolly came much later. That's when" he became a "popular entertainer", the greatest sin in the eyes of the purists". (That's me). My post of the 28th January 2015 described my huge disappointment when he played the Hammersmith Odeon. (Stall on the right, not far from the front).
Chapter 9 The Blab of the Pave: Jerome Kern and Broadway
Our author talks about the four different stages of music from 1900 - the revue, vaudeville, burlesque and operetta. But this chapter is all about Jerome Kern: "the first modern Broadway writer, the first master of the twentieth century American musical". The inspiration for all those famous composers who followed.
When Kern was young, he made his way to the UK who, at that time, provided all the shows for the USA. Back home he was writing songs for many of these for which he never received a credit. But then his first stand out song They didn't believe me was for another imported show. The song was a trailblazer and we hear a lot about it's construction.
At the same time, Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart were writing so many songs with no success until, in 1925, a song for "The Garrick Gaieties" meant they joined the immortals. Manhattan is a classic that is still played today. (But why is this included in a section about Jerome Kern?) However in 1921, for a musical "Shuffle Along", came the standard I'm just wild about Harry. The top show of the late 1920's was "Showboat" with songs composed by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein.
Chapter 10 Let Me Entertain You: Al Jolson
Although we are told Jolson was the biggest star of the 1920's, I have no interest in his story. "Jolson is the biggest name in this book whose enormous success seems hard to fathom today (no surprise there). (his voice is not pleasant) whose crude, untutored, megaphone voice seems impossible to listen to as entertainment". Well, "The Jazz Singer" was the first talkie and Jolson was the star. Say no more. His longevity is explained.
July 10, 2022
This is a hugely challenging book tracing the birth of pop from its origins at the start of the 20th century until its last couple of decades. I have read similar undertakings in classical music such as The Lives of the Great Composers, but there the task is slightly more manageable due to the presence of several obvious and prominent titans such as Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi etc. who almost single handily change music forever in their lifetimes. Let's Do It begins with Ragtime and Scott Joplin, but there are so many crisscrossing timelines that it's a complex undertaking. Development happens very rapidly and is complicated by the fact that pop music is generally associated with its performers rather than its composers, and happens across multiple bands or singers rather than just the brilliance of a Beethoven rewriting the rule book at his desk.
At its best, this book concentrates on one individual (e.g. Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosbie) for a few pages. But it does have a tendency just to name so many tracks and performances that it's hard to keep up at times. I tried playing some of the songs while I was reading it, but it was too difficult to concentrate on them both.
I do not have a background in pop music so there was a lot of new material here for me. You could spend a lifetime studying this book, there is so much information in it.
It would be great to have a playlist of great and influential songs from the 20th century, that would have been a fantastic appendix! I took away a few names from it and have listened to some things I never would have done, but I don't have the time to devote to anything more than plucking a few songs at random from the distant past to see if I like them.
I give it 4 stars, but that's just for me and what I got from it. I suspect many who know more and appreciate popular music better than I would get more from it and therefore for them it would be five stars.
At its best, this book concentrates on one individual (e.g. Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosbie) for a few pages. But it does have a tendency just to name so many tracks and performances that it's hard to keep up at times. I tried playing some of the songs while I was reading it, but it was too difficult to concentrate on them both.
I do not have a background in pop music so there was a lot of new material here for me. You could spend a lifetime studying this book, there is so much information in it.
It would be great to have a playlist of great and influential songs from the 20th century, that would have been a fantastic appendix! I took away a few names from it and have listened to some things I never would have done, but I don't have the time to devote to anything more than plucking a few songs at random from the distant past to see if I like them.
I give it 4 stars, but that's just for me and what I got from it. I suspect many who know more and appreciate popular music better than I would get more from it and therefore for them it would be five stars.
August 6, 2022
A sort of prequel to Stanley’s equally excellent Yeah,Yeah, Yeah, this book charts the history of popular music and song from the beginning of the twentieth century to the birth of Rock’n’Roll with the advent of Presley.
Stanley is skilled at concisely outlining the main directions that pop took starting with Ragtime whilst exploring in more detail the key players and why they were so important to the development of music.
The author also shines deserved spotlights on those writers and artists that are now forgotten when at the time they were popular which leads you to track them down to see what the fuss was about.
The canvas of coverage is wide; taking in the worlds of blues, jazz, swing, show tunes and easy listening and takes a balanced view of the acts that drew attention. This made me re-evaluate my take on some of the artists covered
For example I slightly revised my view of The Original Dixieland Jazz Band , who were anything but, from that of a group who exploited what was essentially music pioneered by black artists to looking at them as simply a popular act at the time and the impact that they had on their audiences. They were never going to be the real deal but did have a kind of merit.
The bottom line is that this is the music business with emphasis on business.
One puzzle is that I’d love to know what he has against the show tunes of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice which he disparages briefly without explaining why.
A fantastic read.
Stanley is skilled at concisely outlining the main directions that pop took starting with Ragtime whilst exploring in more detail the key players and why they were so important to the development of music.
The author also shines deserved spotlights on those writers and artists that are now forgotten when at the time they were popular which leads you to track them down to see what the fuss was about.
The canvas of coverage is wide; taking in the worlds of blues, jazz, swing, show tunes and easy listening and takes a balanced view of the acts that drew attention. This made me re-evaluate my take on some of the artists covered
For example I slightly revised my view of The Original Dixieland Jazz Band , who were anything but, from that of a group who exploited what was essentially music pioneered by black artists to looking at them as simply a popular act at the time and the impact that they had on their audiences. They were never going to be the real deal but did have a kind of merit.
The bottom line is that this is the music business with emphasis on business.
One puzzle is that I’d love to know what he has against the show tunes of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice which he disparages briefly without explaining why.
A fantastic read.
July 12, 2023
I read the first half of this last summer and finished it this summer. This is a history of American and British pop music from 1900 into the 1960s. Stanley wrote "Yeah!, Yeah!, Yeah!", which is a history of rock music. This is his history of the rest of pop music.
It is filled with interesting stuff.
He explains how huge Bing Crosby was. "He recorded nearly four hundred hit singles, an achievement no one- not Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Beyonce of Kenye West- has come remotely close to matching, and probably no one ever will." Crosby wasn't just popular. He was the first modern singer. He figured out that using a microphone meant that he didn't have to bellow. His cool casual style was impossible before radio and modern recording.
Stanley remembers long forgotten stars. The Boswell Sisters were big in the 1930s. They sang as a trio and they swung. He quotes one critic who claimed in 1944 that "no single group had such a hand in shaping our popular music." I never heard of them before this book.
Stanley also enjoys dropping in modern links. Gracie Fields was a big English star in the 1930s. "When I Grow Too Old To Dream" was one of her big hits. Stanley , in discussing it, casually mentions that "It is not surprising that years later Yoko Ono would choose it as one of her desert Island Discs.". Or that he mentions that the "withdrawn persona and opague image" of the great big band leader Glen Mille, reminds him of David Bowie.
Stanley has a great ability to explain the importance of the key figures like Louis Armstrong, Billy Holiday or Frank Sinatra. He also gets a kick out of featuring the forgotten stars or almost stars. He is also good at tracing the constant evolution of Pop Music from European semi-classical to the influx of early jazz, into swing, into the big bands, to the lounge singers, to the sixties. He also weaves in the influences of jazz, blues, country, folk, Cuban and Mexican music into the boiling pop pot.
Stanley is English and therefore spends more time than I needed on the British pop stars of the 30s. 40s and 50s. Most of them were unknown in America and much of their music was derivative of American music.
He is at his best when he is trying to convince us about his favorites. His portrait of Peggy Lee is convincing and moving. She was aloof, difficult and headstrong and sang beautiful songs. It does lose some of its emotional power when he mentions in a footnote that the Sesame Street puppet was originally "Miss Piggy Lee" and was shortened to "Miss Piggy" when they decided they didn't want to upset Peggy.
This is a labor of love by a very talented and amusing writer who knows what he is talking about.
It is filled with interesting stuff.
He explains how huge Bing Crosby was. "He recorded nearly four hundred hit singles, an achievement no one- not Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Beyonce of Kenye West- has come remotely close to matching, and probably no one ever will." Crosby wasn't just popular. He was the first modern singer. He figured out that using a microphone meant that he didn't have to bellow. His cool casual style was impossible before radio and modern recording.
Stanley remembers long forgotten stars. The Boswell Sisters were big in the 1930s. They sang as a trio and they swung. He quotes one critic who claimed in 1944 that "no single group had such a hand in shaping our popular music." I never heard of them before this book.
Stanley also enjoys dropping in modern links. Gracie Fields was a big English star in the 1930s. "When I Grow Too Old To Dream" was one of her big hits. Stanley , in discussing it, casually mentions that "It is not surprising that years later Yoko Ono would choose it as one of her desert Island Discs.". Or that he mentions that the "withdrawn persona and opague image" of the great big band leader Glen Mille, reminds him of David Bowie.
Stanley has a great ability to explain the importance of the key figures like Louis Armstrong, Billy Holiday or Frank Sinatra. He also gets a kick out of featuring the forgotten stars or almost stars. He is also good at tracing the constant evolution of Pop Music from European semi-classical to the influx of early jazz, into swing, into the big bands, to the lounge singers, to the sixties. He also weaves in the influences of jazz, blues, country, folk, Cuban and Mexican music into the boiling pop pot.
Stanley is English and therefore spends more time than I needed on the British pop stars of the 30s. 40s and 50s. Most of them were unknown in America and much of their music was derivative of American music.
He is at his best when he is trying to convince us about his favorites. His portrait of Peggy Lee is convincing and moving. She was aloof, difficult and headstrong and sang beautiful songs. It does lose some of its emotional power when he mentions in a footnote that the Sesame Street puppet was originally "Miss Piggy Lee" and was shortened to "Miss Piggy" when they decided they didn't want to upset Peggy.
This is a labor of love by a very talented and amusing writer who knows what he is talking about.
Read
October 1, 2022If someone is expecting that in the book LET’S DO IT THE BIRTH OF POP, the Beatles would be front and center along with the great musicians of the 50’s and 60’s, might be in for bit of culture shock. The Beatles are not even remotely mentioned until well after page 500 and there definitely is no focus on the music that many baby boomers experienced.
Bob Stanley looks at music pretty well from the beginning of the 20th century, delving deeply into the annals of music history right to the roots of music. This is a follow-up to his previously acclaimed book YEAH YEAH YEAH, giving readers a musical tour like few would ever find anywhere else.
He tells us many things people take for granted. The notion of “pop music,” has always seemed to be something that was coined in the sixties. It actually came about in 1901 in an advertisement in the British theatrical trade paper The Stage. It read, “WANTED Manager to apply at once in the London Music Lending Library, the largest and best lib in the world. All the latest Pop. Music.” “Pop” was a shortened version of the word “popular.” It was cheaper to print shorter words so Pop was the anointed term. From this early tidbit of trivia, Stanley takes us on a musical history tour of the greatest magnitude. He tells us firstly about Scott Joplin and ragtime music. Ragtime actually began spreading across Europe, as John Philip Sousa introduced it on that first overseas tour. It caused a wave of appreciation for it, as songs such as Jungle Town Rag, Trouble Rag and Ragtime Cowboy Joe, caught the wave of the craze.
The book follows the course of music, and profiles many known commodities and some that I am sure we are most unfamiliar with. There is a look at many names such as Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Scott Joplin, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland and pretty well hundreds more performers. Some defined the genre, but others perhaps not as recognizable, were also integral in bringing music to new standards and to new level of public appreciation.
Stanley discusses how the advent of radio helped the music, along with Broadway shows and the coming of television. Barbershop quartets, British dance bands, dance halls, the 45 RPM record, post-War music, and film soundtracks all factored in, to the advent of pop music, showing progression, and catching the attention of the public in so many ways.
With more than 600 pages, Stanley truly has covered all the bases of music, giving dues to anyone, everyone and everything, that propelled pop music forward. For those who enjoy a thorough overview of music’s infancy and advancement, this is the ideal book to add today to your library.
Bob Stanley looks at music pretty well from the beginning of the 20th century, delving deeply into the annals of music history right to the roots of music. This is a follow-up to his previously acclaimed book YEAH YEAH YEAH, giving readers a musical tour like few would ever find anywhere else.
He tells us many things people take for granted. The notion of “pop music,” has always seemed to be something that was coined in the sixties. It actually came about in 1901 in an advertisement in the British theatrical trade paper The Stage. It read, “WANTED Manager to apply at once in the London Music Lending Library, the largest and best lib in the world. All the latest Pop. Music.” “Pop” was a shortened version of the word “popular.” It was cheaper to print shorter words so Pop was the anointed term. From this early tidbit of trivia, Stanley takes us on a musical history tour of the greatest magnitude. He tells us firstly about Scott Joplin and ragtime music. Ragtime actually began spreading across Europe, as John Philip Sousa introduced it on that first overseas tour. It caused a wave of appreciation for it, as songs such as Jungle Town Rag, Trouble Rag and Ragtime Cowboy Joe, caught the wave of the craze.
The book follows the course of music, and profiles many known commodities and some that I am sure we are most unfamiliar with. There is a look at many names such as Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Scott Joplin, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland and pretty well hundreds more performers. Some defined the genre, but others perhaps not as recognizable, were also integral in bringing music to new standards and to new level of public appreciation.
Stanley discusses how the advent of radio helped the music, along with Broadway shows and the coming of television. Barbershop quartets, British dance bands, dance halls, the 45 RPM record, post-War music, and film soundtracks all factored in, to the advent of pop music, showing progression, and catching the attention of the public in so many ways.
With more than 600 pages, Stanley truly has covered all the bases of music, giving dues to anyone, everyone and everything, that propelled pop music forward. For those who enjoy a thorough overview of music’s infancy and advancement, this is the ideal book to add today to your library.
August 16, 2022
I loved, 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,' by Bob Stanley and was hugely excited to read this book, subtitled, 'The Birth of Pop.' This takes music from 1900 up to the advent of rock 'n' roll and slightly beyond, although more in sense of how early popular music influenced later years, so the bulk of it is certainly before the 1950's and that's fine, as Stanley's second book started in 1952 and went up to the 1990's.
So, you may ask, music before rock 'n' roll sounds a little dull and dated. Not at all and Stanley is an excellent author who really makes the period he is writing about come to life. He concentrates on the UK and also the USA, which begin largely with Music Hall in England and Vaudeville in the US. We start from the first use of the term 'pop' the first 'hits' and mass produced music.
Bob Stanley takes us on a music odyssey through two world wars, on the way visiting Ragtime, Tin Pan Alley, Irving Berlin, Jazz, Louis Armstrong, Ira and George Gershwin, Al Jolson, radio, the birth of the BBC, hillbilly (including the East Coast view of 'poor white trash' which finally explained country music to me), Duke Ellington, Bing Crosby, Swing, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, the Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, LP's, 45's, Big Bands, Nat King Cole, and a host of other musical styles and innovators.
If you love music and you want to know how it developed, and where from, then this is an excellent read. It also shows that there was great music in the past and there were characters who pushed boundaries, explored genres and paved the way for popular music to grow and, in my opinion, hit its peak in the Sixties and Seventies. A long, but wonderful read. I loved and recommend it highly.
So, you may ask, music before rock 'n' roll sounds a little dull and dated. Not at all and Stanley is an excellent author who really makes the period he is writing about come to life. He concentrates on the UK and also the USA, which begin largely with Music Hall in England and Vaudeville in the US. We start from the first use of the term 'pop' the first 'hits' and mass produced music.
Bob Stanley takes us on a music odyssey through two world wars, on the way visiting Ragtime, Tin Pan Alley, Irving Berlin, Jazz, Louis Armstrong, Ira and George Gershwin, Al Jolson, radio, the birth of the BBC, hillbilly (including the East Coast view of 'poor white trash' which finally explained country music to me), Duke Ellington, Bing Crosby, Swing, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, the Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, LP's, 45's, Big Bands, Nat King Cole, and a host of other musical styles and innovators.
If you love music and you want to know how it developed, and where from, then this is an excellent read. It also shows that there was great music in the past and there were characters who pushed boundaries, explored genres and paved the way for popular music to grow and, in my opinion, hit its peak in the Sixties and Seventies. A long, but wonderful read. I loved and recommend it highly.
December 23, 2025
Firstly, this is a big book. Closing on 600 pages, and taller than a standard novel. I wonder if this is how I got my current back injury, just from hefting it up to read.
That' my problem, though. The first point to make is that this book is wonderfully researched and detailed, by an author who clearly has a passion for it all and wants to educate us. He goes from the times when pop music was sheet music, there being no practical recording and playback media for the masses, through ragtime, jazz, swing and up to the present era.
You might argue that the strength of the book is its weakness - and this is that he crams so much in. There are so many quick-fire references to writers, composers, arrangers, movies, TV shows, songs, musicals, that even in a book of this size he can't go into detail on everything he might wish to. It's easy to think that he might have better served his audience to cut down on the scope and concentrate on one style or period or artist.
But this is the internet era - anything with less deatil than we'd like, we can easily look up. In this sense, the book in parts acts like an encyclopedia in narrative prose. Read it as a story, or use it to look bits and pieces up when the need arises. You choose. This, to me, falls on the side of strength.
It's been a definite eye-opener to the history of popular music, and invaluable for understanding the dynamics of the industry and the consumption of music over the last century or so, as technology, social attitudes and politics have driven change around the world. More importantly for me, as a music fan, it's allowed me to discover new names and understand genres to a greater extent. I expect next year's Spotify Wrapped to be all the richer for it.
That' my problem, though. The first point to make is that this book is wonderfully researched and detailed, by an author who clearly has a passion for it all and wants to educate us. He goes from the times when pop music was sheet music, there being no practical recording and playback media for the masses, through ragtime, jazz, swing and up to the present era.
You might argue that the strength of the book is its weakness - and this is that he crams so much in. There are so many quick-fire references to writers, composers, arrangers, movies, TV shows, songs, musicals, that even in a book of this size he can't go into detail on everything he might wish to. It's easy to think that he might have better served his audience to cut down on the scope and concentrate on one style or period or artist.
But this is the internet era - anything with less deatil than we'd like, we can easily look up. In this sense, the book in parts acts like an encyclopedia in narrative prose. Read it as a story, or use it to look bits and pieces up when the need arises. You choose. This, to me, falls on the side of strength.
It's been a definite eye-opener to the history of popular music, and invaluable for understanding the dynamics of the industry and the consumption of music over the last century or so, as technology, social attitudes and politics have driven change around the world. More importantly for me, as a music fan, it's allowed me to discover new names and understand genres to a greater extent. I expect next year's Spotify Wrapped to be all the richer for it.
September 10, 2024
A very thorough look at middle-of-the-road pop music (defined somewhat loosely, but mostly meaning anything radio-friendly that doesn't belong strictly to any specific genre), from the first days of records to circa 1970. For the sheer breadth of knowledge Stanley provides and the perspective on such a wide swath of artists, the book definitely deserves five stars. Anyone who is interested in the history of 20th century music - or wants to learn more about some relatively unheralded singers of yesteryear - will want to read this. It doesn't really fill any particular niche in music history, but it fills in a lot of blanks across several different segments of the story.
A couple of caveats: First, Stanley gets a few non-musical facts wrong that can't help but stick out for anyone who recognizes them (jukebox pioneer Homer Capehart was a senator from Indiana, not a governor). Secondly, there are brief mentions of some behind-the-scenes music industry figures like Brian Epstein and some fictional characters, particularly minor Simpsons characters, with no explanation of who they are/were. Odds are most people who are interested in this subject matter will know who they are, but still. Last but not least, there's not much of a case for why he thinks the story ends with the 1970s (it seems to be related to when he thinks Frank Sinatra should have retired, a point on which I agree with him, but there have been plenty of worthy artists since then!).
Overall, though, this is a great introductory tome for anyone who wants to get a better appreciation of the top 40 of yesteryear. Just don't expect more than that.
A couple of caveats: First, Stanley gets a few non-musical facts wrong that can't help but stick out for anyone who recognizes them (jukebox pioneer Homer Capehart was a senator from Indiana, not a governor). Secondly, there are brief mentions of some behind-the-scenes music industry figures like Brian Epstein and some fictional characters, particularly minor Simpsons characters, with no explanation of who they are/were. Odds are most people who are interested in this subject matter will know who they are, but still. Last but not least, there's not much of a case for why he thinks the story ends with the 1970s (it seems to be related to when he thinks Frank Sinatra should have retired, a point on which I agree with him, but there have been plenty of worthy artists since then!).
Overall, though, this is a great introductory tome for anyone who wants to get a better appreciation of the top 40 of yesteryear. Just don't expect more than that.
January 16, 2025
This hefty volume is bookended by two glaring errors. Near the beginning, Bob states that music hall star Marie Lloyd was "never recorded", when she did actually put out a few 78s in her later years. And very near the end, Victor/Victoria is noted as being the movie in which Julie Andrews attempted to shed her squeaky clean image by going topless. That actually happened in S.O.B., which was released the year before.
So I wonder what other errors the fact checkers at Faber may have missed. There's probably loads.
And yet, I'm still happy to give this book five stars because of the sheer enthusiasm that shines through every page.
The subject is huge, and at times it feels like Bob is trying to spin too many plates at once ("we'll come back to him later" he writes on numerous occasions) but overall this is a very worthwhile book. Growing up in the 1970s and 80s, anything from before the rock'n'roll era was deemed to be ancient and boring. Indeed, music changed so quickly back then that even records released just a year or so previously could suddenly find that they'd reached the end of their use-by date. But now that the dust has settled on what was an extraordinarily musical century, we can at last take a longer view and be a little more objective. Pop music did not begin on April 12, 1954, when Bill Haley recorded "Rock Around The Clock". We'd already had 50 years of recorded pop by then, and it's nice to see the pre rock'n'roll songs and stories emerge from the fog.
A word of waring, though. This book's 52 chapters may take you a while to get through. They did me, as I had to keep stopping to listen to the wonderful records.
So I wonder what other errors the fact checkers at Faber may have missed. There's probably loads.
And yet, I'm still happy to give this book five stars because of the sheer enthusiasm that shines through every page.
The subject is huge, and at times it feels like Bob is trying to spin too many plates at once ("we'll come back to him later" he writes on numerous occasions) but overall this is a very worthwhile book. Growing up in the 1970s and 80s, anything from before the rock'n'roll era was deemed to be ancient and boring. Indeed, music changed so quickly back then that even records released just a year or so previously could suddenly find that they'd reached the end of their use-by date. But now that the dust has settled on what was an extraordinarily musical century, we can at last take a longer view and be a little more objective. Pop music did not begin on April 12, 1954, when Bill Haley recorded "Rock Around The Clock". We'd already had 50 years of recorded pop by then, and it's nice to see the pre rock'n'roll songs and stories emerge from the fog.
A word of waring, though. This book's 52 chapters may take you a while to get through. They did me, as I had to keep stopping to listen to the wonderful records.
June 7, 2025
I'm not really sure where I land on this book - it was entertaining and informative, and yet there's a subtle "old man shaking fist at sky" kind of vibe throughout, a bemoaning of the rise of genres, artists, or forms the author doesn't like and the fall of ones he does. What's "popular" at any given moment is, by definition, ephemeral - tastes, current events, and culture are constantly changing and evolving and "pop"/what's popular rises and falls with those tides. The author makes that point throughout the book several times and yet, oddly and paradoxically, complains that these changes result in changes in pop music.
The book is arranged like an incoming tide in that the chapters overlap each other chronologically - one chapter might talk about 1940-1950 and the next chapter, focusing on a particular artist might back up the history to 1944 and cover that artists career through to the start of the time period covered in the next chapter, which had me flipping back and forth between chapters, trying to orient myself in the timeline. I would have preferred a straight, sequential chronological order of the material. I would also desperately love a song list (in chronological order) to have been included (songs are referenced in text (and in footnotes) but it would have been nice to have one consolidated list of all the songs referenced). The writing style is, at times, quite dense, with a lot of similes whose references I didn't always get/understand, and I'm not sure I agreed with many of his conclusions. But, when all is said and done, the book is very thorough, thought-provoking, and interesting. All in all, I think this was 3.5 stars for me
The book is arranged like an incoming tide in that the chapters overlap each other chronologically - one chapter might talk about 1940-1950 and the next chapter, focusing on a particular artist might back up the history to 1944 and cover that artists career through to the start of the time period covered in the next chapter, which had me flipping back and forth between chapters, trying to orient myself in the timeline. I would have preferred a straight, sequential chronological order of the material. I would also desperately love a song list (in chronological order) to have been included (songs are referenced in text (and in footnotes) but it would have been nice to have one consolidated list of all the songs referenced). The writing style is, at times, quite dense, with a lot of similes whose references I didn't always get/understand, and I'm not sure I agreed with many of his conclusions. But, when all is said and done, the book is very thorough, thought-provoking, and interesting. All in all, I think this was 3.5 stars for me
May 25, 2025
A rare and beautiful thing, this voluminous book was captivating from the first to the last page - even though I was busy with it for a month, not once I wanted to skip the page; it kept me engaged to the very end and than I went back once more to re-read about Jake Thackray. I have read in the past books focused on specific genres, however this is the very first time that I have encountered book that covers almost the whole century of recorded popular music - in all its disguises, be it vaudeville, blackface, blues, crooners, swing, rock, Broadway, you name it. It sounds very ambitious and it is - it is also brimming with interesting perception, conclusions, sardonic wit and opinions. "Let's Do It" works as a kind of prequel to author's "Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop" but while it starts with the very dawn of recorded popular music, it goes much further than the rise of rock - it covers popular music all the way to the early 1970s and explains what were the seismic changes at that point.
Stanley is not only a brilliant writer but also a musician - it is because he is musician, that he has this unique perspective of what is the heartbeat of popular music (as accepted by masses, as opposite to critically acclaimed but unloved cult names) and as a listener, he really unearths rare gems that only nerds like me appreciate: he claims that one of Streisand's best recordings was rare 1966 single "Our Corner of the Night" which is totally fascinating as its anomaly from her better known work (and never released or either album or compilations). He is also very funny, as for example in this particular paragraph: "No singer was more indicative of America's new-found effervescence than the insatiable Sophie Tucker, who emerged in 1912, aged twenty-six, as ˜The Last of the Red Hot Mamas, though no one had previously been aware that red-hot mamas were endangered."
What struck me as the most interesting conclusion after reading such a massive survey of almost a century of popular music is how transitory everything is - recorded music is simply a recorded document of particular moment in time. And just like every moment, it has its value and than it goes away, mostly to be forgotten. No matter how big or popular certain songs or artists are in their time, eventually the new listeners will find new favourites and their own idols: a perfect example is Bing Crosby who was once a massive pop superstar and is almost completely forgotten now. Name every artist you find important and immortal - this book will show you that its all about perspective and as the time passes, new generations will not give a damn about your immortals. A case in point: musician and poet Rod McKuen : "He may be almost forgotten now, but until Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, McKuen’s album The Sea was the Warner Brothers group’s best-selling LP of all time. That catalogue included every album by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis on Reprise, not to mention those by Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. McKuen was huge, and now his music is forgotten." It seems to me this eventually happens to everybody, to metamorphose from current hit to oldies and than slowly to grandparents music. Re-evaluation and clever marketing (like in case of obscure blues artist Robert Johnson who became celebrated posthumously) might bring some names back into the spotlight, but generally speaking everybody has a moment in the sun and than it goes away, we are drops in the ocean, to be forgotten along with our pop stars.
Stanley is not only a brilliant writer but also a musician - it is because he is musician, that he has this unique perspective of what is the heartbeat of popular music (as accepted by masses, as opposite to critically acclaimed but unloved cult names) and as a listener, he really unearths rare gems that only nerds like me appreciate: he claims that one of Streisand's best recordings was rare 1966 single "Our Corner of the Night" which is totally fascinating as its anomaly from her better known work (and never released or either album or compilations). He is also very funny, as for example in this particular paragraph: "No singer was more indicative of America's new-found effervescence than the insatiable Sophie Tucker, who emerged in 1912, aged twenty-six, as ˜The Last of the Red Hot Mamas, though no one had previously been aware that red-hot mamas were endangered."
What struck me as the most interesting conclusion after reading such a massive survey of almost a century of popular music is how transitory everything is - recorded music is simply a recorded document of particular moment in time. And just like every moment, it has its value and than it goes away, mostly to be forgotten. No matter how big or popular certain songs or artists are in their time, eventually the new listeners will find new favourites and their own idols: a perfect example is Bing Crosby who was once a massive pop superstar and is almost completely forgotten now. Name every artist you find important and immortal - this book will show you that its all about perspective and as the time passes, new generations will not give a damn about your immortals. A case in point: musician and poet Rod McKuen : "He may be almost forgotten now, but until Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, McKuen’s album The Sea was the Warner Brothers group’s best-selling LP of all time. That catalogue included every album by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis on Reprise, not to mention those by Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. McKuen was huge, and now his music is forgotten." It seems to me this eventually happens to everybody, to metamorphose from current hit to oldies and than slowly to grandparents music. Re-evaluation and clever marketing (like in case of obscure blues artist Robert Johnson who became celebrated posthumously) might bring some names back into the spotlight, but generally speaking everybody has a moment in the sun and than it goes away, we are drops in the ocean, to be forgotten along with our pop stars.
December 30, 2022
This is an incredibly well researched and very readable book. It "is the definitive story of pre-rock 'n' roll".
It deserved 5 stars but for the following two sentences on page 582
"jazz had almost disappeared as a popular music form by the mid – 1970s. The death of Duke Ellington in 1974 felt like a full stop "
Is Bob (the author) joking? What about the work that so many were doing or about to do? For example Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett.
In the early 1980s Keith Jarrett formed a trio that for the best part of the next 30 years toured the world playing songs from the Great American Songbook to packed audiences.
Footnote. Bob, quite rightly, sings the praises of "I will wait for you" the love theme from the film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" written by Michel Legrand and nominated for an Oscar. As Bob remarks, this song was covered by virtually everyone. It is also on a live album recorded by the jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt in Paris two or three years ago. I had the good fortune to listen to this at a live performance from Jeremy at Ronnie Scott's jazz club earlier this year. It was sublime.
It deserved 5 stars but for the following two sentences on page 582
"jazz had almost disappeared as a popular music form by the mid – 1970s. The death of Duke Ellington in 1974 felt like a full stop "
Is Bob (the author) joking? What about the work that so many were doing or about to do? For example Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett.
In the early 1980s Keith Jarrett formed a trio that for the best part of the next 30 years toured the world playing songs from the Great American Songbook to packed audiences.
Footnote. Bob, quite rightly, sings the praises of "I will wait for you" the love theme from the film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" written by Michel Legrand and nominated for an Oscar. As Bob remarks, this song was covered by virtually everyone. It is also on a live album recorded by the jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt in Paris two or three years ago. I had the good fortune to listen to this at a live performance from Jeremy at Ronnie Scott's jazz club earlier this year. It was sublime.
September 5, 2024
Bob Stanley has written a huge compendium of popular music from the early 20th century to when rock 'n' roll bursts on the scene with Elvis and Little Richard and the Beatles. His next book YEAH YEAH YEAH continues the story but I have not read that yet.
LET'S DO IT is wonderfully told. There are stories and more stories that give us the feelings of the times as they pass from ragtime to big-band to jazz to torch songs. Stanley tells us all and is very funny throughout.
I once lived in a house that had a wind-up phonograph with a big horn. I had only 2 record for which I am eternally grateful. The first was Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto and the other one was a record by Al Jolson. Those big pieces were my introduction to loving music of all kinds and I benefit every day.
LET'S DO IT is wonderfully told. There are stories and more stories that give us the feelings of the times as they pass from ragtime to big-band to jazz to torch songs. Stanley tells us all and is very funny throughout.
I once lived in a house that had a wind-up phonograph with a big horn. I had only 2 record for which I am eternally grateful. The first was Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto and the other one was a record by Al Jolson. Those big pieces were my introduction to loving music of all kinds and I benefit every day.
November 26, 2025
Companion to Stanley's Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyoncé; similarly big and expansive, and Stanley is again the right combination of encyclopedically knowledgeable, enthused, and discerning for the task. He's more digressive here than in the prior book, and mercifully this one doesn't appear to have been "edited for American tastes" as Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! was.
Among a few errors in the text, there's one howler- Stanley mistakenly ascribes Ferde Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite" to Andre Kostelanetz, who recorded it twice.
Among a few errors in the text, there's one howler- Stanley mistakenly ascribes Ferde Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite" to Andre Kostelanetz, who recorded it twice.
dnf
December 11, 2025I started it last summer and was planning to read a chapter whenever I had time. I read more than one chapter only once or twice; otherwise, I read a single chapter in several sittings.
"LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU: AL JOLSON" was definitely the best of the 23 chapters I've read, closely followed by "THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL: LOUIS ARMSTRONG." Other than those two, the chapters that even focused on individual stars weren't very interesting.
The book is really dry, and my interest in history was the only reason I stuck with it. Considering the subject matter, it really should have been a bit more entertaining! I started reading another book by William Goldman about films, and that one is always entertaining, even when he talks about movies I don't care about.
"LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU: AL JOLSON" was definitely the best of the 23 chapters I've read, closely followed by "THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL: LOUIS ARMSTRONG." Other than those two, the chapters that even focused on individual stars weren't very interesting.
The book is really dry, and my interest in history was the only reason I stuck with it. Considering the subject matter, it really should have been a bit more entertaining! I started reading another book by William Goldman about films, and that one is always entertaining, even when he talks about movies I don't care about.
October 16, 2022
Hmm, how do I word it? This book didn’t quite “pop” for me. For many reasons. From being too long to too ancient (any history before 1950 is beyond me, I think many Zoomers could agree), to the words being too small and I felt that soaked up a bit too much of my enthusiasm for this book. Fortunately, the book wasn’t all bad and I learned a lot of valuable information most pop listeners of today would choose to ignore. If you’re an avid pop listener and also happen to be Gen Z, please pick up this book if you’re trying to up your game on reading - excluding Colleen Hoover novels.
July 18, 2022
eARC on Edelweiss+
Excellent history of pop music and its roots up to the early 1970s with a brief epilogue on the impacts of it on music after the 1970s. Includes jazz, Broadway, movies, musicals, crooners, early country (hillbilly music), and many more sub-genres that had influence on modern pop as well as the influence of certain eras such as the roaring 20s, the Great Depression, and both World Wars.
Excellent history of pop music and its roots up to the early 1970s with a brief epilogue on the impacts of it on music after the 1970s. Includes jazz, Broadway, movies, musicals, crooners, early country (hillbilly music), and many more sub-genres that had influence on modern pop as well as the influence of certain eras such as the roaring 20s, the Great Depression, and both World Wars.
December 19, 2022
The first (and only) nonfiction book I read this year that I actually picked—college books don’t count. As a music student, I decided to dive into the hot topic of pop music and where it all started. Most people would say it began in the 60s, with the rise of the Beatles, others might say Elvis Presley, or maybe the beginning of big band swing. So all those are wrong. If you want to seem a little more cultured or are just bored out of your mind, read this. It’ll cure your boredom.
July 11, 2024
Not just discographic but well written, with zingers in every chapter. Each of the 52 essays is anthology worthy, but my favourites were early on when Bob dealt with pre- and inter-war music. Unsung heroes, some found in footnotes, and big names are treated as equals, with the goal of shrinking a century of performed and recorded music. Frighteningly brilliant and a fine prequel to the equally magnificent Yeah Yeah Yeah.
January 30, 2025
An exhaustive walk through the path to the genesis of modern pop (although the later chapters stray all the way into the 1970s for some reason). His enthusiasm is infectious even though there's lots of stuff about music I can't really stand (like Sinatra). Lots of artists you'll never have heard of but still engrossing, and like all good music books, makes you want to listen to all the songs.
August 26, 2022
DNF. Too dense - clearly a huge amount of effort has gone into this but it is too ambitious - it covers a huge amount of music at a very high level and ends up being very repetitive and at times reads like a series of lists.
January 27, 2023
This is a wonderful book. As I lifelong music fan growing up in the 60s I had much to learn from Mr Stanley's book. So well assembled with tremendous writing. Anyone with an interest in popular music will have an very enjoyable and educational experience with this superb book.
April 25, 2023
Fantastisch! Bob Stanley schijnt een helder licht over de (voor mij in schemer gehulde) periode van de popmuziek tussen 1900 en 1950. Onmisbaar voor mensen die het plaatje van de 20e eeuwse muziek compleet willen hebben.
October 20, 2024
Great book about the history of U.S. and pop music of the UK, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the mid 50s. Loads of information. Told from a British point of view(the author is British), but still an excellent music history book.
August 29, 2022
Fascinating and informative history of pop music written in a conversational tone by someone who is passionate about their subject. Infectious.
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