[78-L] FW: Look at this! Another 'rock historian' telling us aboutthe 1930s

[Cary Ginell]

A lot of these sobriquets are radio station format buzzwords that were eventually absorbed by "the trades" (Billboard, Cash Box, Record World). "Standards" could be performed by jazz musicians, but they were, and are, associated with mainstream pop vocalists like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, etc., a group that can include jazz-oriented mainstream vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Torme. A standard is a song (not a record) written by Tin Pan Alley songsmiths from the teens and '20s through "Rock Around the Clock." "Rock Around the Clock" was the first Tin Pan Alley song that did not belong in the Standards category. It was written by two Alley craftsmen, but neatly separated the Standards era from the Rock 'n' Roll era. There were some Alley writers who leaked over into the rock era - those operating out of the Brill Building, for example, but generally speaking, a hallmark of the rock era was of the performer creating the song. That's what the Beatles pioneered, more than anything - doing away with the "professional songwriter" tag. Today, that tag is more associated with country music than any other genre - there are dozens of Nashville songwriters who either do not perform or have not had hits as performers. This started just about the time rock 'n' roll was getting started, with writers like Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard, and Roger Miller (Miller became a star on his own). 

 

As for "Evergreen," this was a term that got started in the 1980s, again stemming from radio formats. An Evergreen differs from a Standard chronologically. Evergreens come later than Standards. They are middle-of-the-road pop songs that would never be played on a rock station. Artists that fall under this category are Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow, Bread, some John Denver songs, etc. The format was previously known as MOR, but that (and Beautiful Music) developed a negative stigma, so Evergreen was introduced. I was involved in radio syndication during the '80s so I can vouch for this. It was a deliberate attempt to add a more palatable, Orwellian tag, if you will, to the 70s and 80s' equivalent of Alley songs.

 

Cary Ginell


 
> From: saag at telia.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:56:09 +0200
> Subject: Re: [78-L] FW: Look at this! Another 'rock historian' telling us aboutthe 1930s
> 
> 
> But isn't the word "Standard" limited to jazz use? Wouldn't the universal 
> equivalent for older types of popular music be: Evergreen?
> BTW: For classic operetta-tunes we use the word "Oerhaenge" in Swedish - 
> "Earring" or, literally, "Eardrop". Is there any equivalent in English?
> Kristjan 
> 
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