Vanilla Pop: Sweet Sounds from Frankie Avalon to ABBA

by Joseph Lanza

This pop culture history serves up the soda fountain sound of the musical form that pervaded popular culture from the late 1950s to the vanilla pop. The argument that vanilla, rather than being the absence of flavor, is a unique, identifiable, and underappreciated characteristic of pop music is presented. Paying tribute to vanilla pop’s mild-mannered, soft, soothing, sweet-tempered vision, the key components of this sound that freshens the ear with its extreme studio processing, high-register vocals, and sparkly acoustics are highlighted alongside its primary artists, including Frankie Avalon, Pat Boone, the Four Preps, the Carpenters, Doris Day, ABBA, and even the early-1990s balladeer Tommy Page. Beloved songs from this era such as "A Shoulder to Cry On," "A Summer Song," "For All We Know," "Johnny Angel," "Sealed with a Kiss," and "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)" are also profiled. This definitive history pays tribute to a pop music in danger of being forgotten and is a gallant attempt to challenge fashionable misconceptions and refocus the world's pop sensibility to the sounds, as well as the artists, traversing the vanilla extreme.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2005

About the author

Joseph Lanza is the author of several books with subjects ranging from popular music to obsessive film directors, including ELEVATOR MUSIC: A SURREAL HISTORY OF MUZAK, EASY-LISTENING, AND OTHER MOODSONG (University of Michigan Press) and PHALLIC FRENZY: KEN RUSSELL & HIS FILMS (Chicago Review Press, 2007) -- a psycho-sexual, hyper-humorous, biographical thriller celebrating the great director. He recently appeared as himself in the 2011 BBC4 documentary: THE JOY OF EASY LISTENING.

He recently contributed the essay "Foreground Flatland" in the OXFORD HANDBOOK OF NEW AUDIOVISUAL AESTHETICS (2013) and the CD booklet essay for "RONNIE DOVE: The Complete Original Chart Hits (1964-1969)" from Real Gone Music (2014).

His forthcoming book is entitled, THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE AND ITS TERRIFYING TIMES, from Skyhorse Publishing -- scheduled for release in mid-January 2019.

Reviews

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phew, I'm done! (Not the book's fault, but every time it mentioned an unfamiliar artist, I'd head over to Spotify and give them a listen).

That was great. I discovered so many people (no, I already knew about Abba) and some great, great songs. This was really uncharted territory for me: largely the history of popular music recently has been the history of rock music, with some acknowledgment of the Joni Mitchell types ... but that's not the entirety of the music scene.

Amongst my favourite new discoveries: The Cowsill's "The Rain The Park and Other Things," The Fleetwoods' "Mr. Blue," Brian Hyland's "Sealed with a Kiss," "Tonight You Belong to Me" by Patience and Prudence, but especially the Goldebriars' "Sea of Tears" which (a) sounds like a current indie artist, not something 60 years old, and (b) lodged in my head for a week.

Well-written, exhaustively researched, and delivering what it promised, this was a terrific find. I wish I'd started it sooner!

(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book! Full of earworms though. Just about every chapter will remind you of at least one song that you won't be able to get out of your head for days. The book drags a bit in spots, but it's well-researched and includes a thorough discography. The same author has apparently also written a book on Muzak, which I think I need to read.