The evolution of music is nothing short of amazing. Music has been around since the beginning of time, from performing for full opera houses to modern venues, cellos and violins to drum sets and eight string guitars, records to an infinite assortment of artists in the palm of our hands. As the world changed, so did the music, but not only in the aspect of sound. Although many new genres emerged, marketing, technological advances, advertisement, the art of performance, and so much more has made a remarkable change. As fascinating as the timeline pertaining to the history of music would be to cover, this article will focus on the years of 1950 to present day and select genres of music, specifically rock ‘n’ roll.
Flashback to the 1950s, radio is all the rage. For the rebellious teenagers, they are given the sweet sound of Rock ‘n’ Roll. “Before long boy and girls around the country were rushing out to by the latest hits from such artists as Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, and Bill Haley and the Comets. In 1956 teenagers found their first rock ‘n’ roll hero in Elvis Presley.” (US History Text). From that time on, Elvis Presley was known as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Although not as influential, many new artists and bands surfaced. Soon, live performances began to take the world (of music) by storm.
How did anyone hear about upcoming shows? Through the newspaper, flyers, and the ever so popular radio and television. Although television dominated through the fifties to the sixties, the radio made a grand gesture in attempt to win its audience back. They presented recorded music, news, talk shows, weather, public-service programming, and shows for specific audiences and eventually received a large enough audience once again for them to not only survive, but to flourish. Newspapers and flyers were a great way to spread the word to local residence, but radio helped reach a much larger audience. Today, radio does play a part in advertising upcoming shows and events, such as simply promoting the event and even holding contests for tickets and the occasional backstage pass, but a majority of advertisement is done through social media. Artists promote upcoming concerts and the releasing of singles and albums through their “personal” Twitter and Facebook accounts, hold interviews that can be found on YouTube, television, and radio stations. This kind of advertisement can reach anywhere from one hundred to one thousand people in a matter of just one single post and it is a great marketing tool!
Now that word has broken out about the upcoming show, now all that’s left is to purchase the ticket itself. Back in the fifties and sixties concert tickets ranged anywhere from fifteen to forty dollars, but typically was between twenty and thirty dollars. In 1998, the average ticket prices for the top ten grossing North American tours were $47.96, in 2008 the price skyrocketed to an average of $151.34. When tours became popular, the most expensive ticket for top ten tours in 1998, for such bands as the Rolling Stones, a ticket would cost about five hundred dollars. In the year of 2008, a tour ticket for Bon Jovi would break the bank for a whopping $2,060. Before, tickets were general admission and did not dictate where people were prohibited to go. They could roam freely among the venue, push their way to the front of the crowd, or easily stay in the back if that is where they were most comfortable. Today, customers pay for which section they will be seated in for the duration of the show, whether it be in the pit, a section of seating, or lawn seats if they are available. The ticket prices may cost a pretty penny, but the experience itself is priceless.
In the early years of concerts, band merchandise was limited, naturally. Although there was not much variety to choose from, tables were slammed. People found it dire, which it was, to buy one of the two or three band t-shirts available. How else was anyone to know that you attended the greatest rock show of all time without a proper souvenir? Today, the variety is more than plentiful. Customers can find merchandise ranging from multiple different t-shirts, hats, string backpacks, bracelets, cups, posters, sweatshirts, shorts, stickers, CDs, etc. Something that has not changed however, is band merchandise is generally paid for in cash, unless they have a Square Reader, which is a portable credit card processing accessory that attaches straight to their mobile phone.
Now that everyone has heard of the show, bought their ticket, and got some killer merchandise to take home, the only thing left is to enjoy the show! Back then, there wasn’t much to help hype the crowd, but that never seemed to affect the overall performance. The artist had their microphone, instruments, big speakers, and an assortment of white, bright lights to emphasize the awe factor of the show. Even with the simple supplies they had, the crowd never seemed more alive. Today, artists have everything from the prior list including colorful lights, speakers throughout the venue, and they are given the option to use fog/smoke machines, confetti cannons, strobe lights, large backdrops that are able to display videos and effects, and depending on what kind of show, an assortment of other things. Concerts today are as if they are an illusion that you’ve entered a new world, and once you leave, the world that you once knew does not seem nearly as exciting as it once was.
Now that the show is over, the next time people will be able to hear the music again is through the radio, tapes, and stereos. The options were limited, but they never seemed so sweet. Today, with technological advances, we have all the music from the show, previous work from that artist, and a whole other assortment of artists in the palm of our hands. We are given personal music libraries on cell phones and iPods, we are given radio, music television, Pandora, Sound Cloud, YouTube, and what seems to be an infinite amount of other sources for music. Today, we can put on our headphones and slip into the 1950s and beyond by a simple search, fall into a world of our own and simply get lost in the music.
Unofficial Work Cited Page
Ø http://admin.bhbl.neric.org/~mmosall/ushistory/textbook/Chapter%2027%20Postwar%20America/ch%2027%20sect%203%20Pop%20Culture.pdf
Ø https://www.google.com/search?q=difference+between+concerts+then+and+now&biw=976&bih=460&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=YXsiVeOXO8m2sAWPk4SQCw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#imgdii=_&imgrc=sQyc5cyULnPODM%253A%3BP-y7VfQMJnRXwM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Folddognewtits.files.wordpress.com%252F2014%252F09%252Fimg_8021.png%253Fw%253D662%2526h%253D860%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Folddognewtits.com%252Ftag%252Fthe-difference-between-concerts-now-and-in-the-80s%252F%3B353%3B459
Ø https://books.google.com/books?id=3Huu90EQHpEC&pg=PT23&lpg=PT23&dq=difference+between+concerts+then+and+now&source=bl&ots=iuKu_GAWgX&sig=Z2feKjyJ4mtY_P43liRaxhAvzhc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GXsiVcTnMfOJsQTHuIGgCQ&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=difference%
Ø 20between%20concerts%20then%20and%20now&f=false
Ø http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/tag/rock-n-roll-1950s/
Ø http://television50s.weebly.com/fun-facts.html
Ø http://www.chicagonow.com/hippy-shakes/2014/07/rock-concerts-then-now/#image/9
Ø http://admin.bhbl.neric.org/~mmosall/ushistory/textbook/Chapter%2027%20Postwar%20America/ch%2027%20sect%203%20Pop%20Culture.pdf
An interesting choice of topics and good range of issues to discuss in contrast of “old school” concerts and those of today.
A few issues as you revise:
–With this format, you don’t need an intro para. (which is what first para. seems to be). If you did want to do overview para., I’d suggest bulking it up considerably with some specific stats re: concerts then and now.
–Once you decide on particular posters to use, I’d think one of the paragraphs (or two) would be one those particular artists.
–Topic sentences should establish the point of contrast (how has this aspects of concerts changed, or stayed the same)–in other words, you want to make it clear that each of these paras. will deal with both old and new. Within each para. you probably don’t want to bounce back and forth–first half old; second half new.
–Keep tone informational and relatively impersonal.
–The info in some of this is rather general, the sort of thing that most everyone already knows. Look for some more specific stats, facts, etc. to bring *new* info to your reader.
–Work needs to be done on handling of sources, adding both in-text citations and a Works cited page. Everything on the Works cited page must appear somewhere as an in-text citation (that is, they must all be used somewhere). Note that at least two of four sources must have originally appeared in print.