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1940 |
TM, ®, Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.
Disney's "Fantasia" introduces stereo sound
Pete Seeger forms the Almanac Singers to sing protest songs with communist overtones
Keynote is founded by Eric Bernay
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1941 |
Arkansas' radio station KFFA hires Sonny Boy Williamson to advertise groceries, the first case of mass exposure by blues singers
"La Discotheque" opens in paris, a club devoted to jazz music
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1942 |
Bing Crosby's White Christmas becomes the best-selling song of all times (and will remain so for 50 years)
Los Angeles bluesman T-Bone Walker incorporates jazz chords into the blues guitar with I Got A Break Baby
Capitol is founded in Hollywood, the first major music company which is not based in New York
Savoy is founded in Newark (NJ) by by Herman Lubinsky to promote black music
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1943 |
The first "disc jockeys" follow the American troops abroad
The USA army introduces V-Discs that play six minutes of music per side
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein produce the musical Oklahoma that uses choreographer Agnes de Mille to design the ballets
King is founded in Cincinnati by Sydney Nathan to promote black music
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1945 |
Les Paul invents "echo delay", "multi-tracking" and many other studio techniques
Sam Hoffman plays the theremin in film soundtracks
White bluesman Johnny Otis assembles a combo for Harlem Nocturne that is basically a shrunk-down version of the big-bands of swing
Mercury is founded in Chicago
Jules Bihari founds Modern Records in Los Angeles, specializing in black music
Bill Monroe's Kentucky Waltz popularizes the "bluegrass" style 
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1946 |
TM, ®, Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.
Louis Jordan launches "jump blues" with Choo Choo Ch'Boogie
Muddy Waters cuts the first records of Chicago's electric blues (rhythm and blues)
Carl Hogan plays a powerful guitar riff on Louis Jordan's Ain't That Just Like a Woman
Damstadt in Germany sets up a school for avantgarde composers
Raymond Scott founds "Manhattan Research", the world's first electronic music studio
Lew Chudd founds Imperial Records in Los Angeles, specializing in black music
The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film company opens a recording business to sell their movie soundtracks
Specialty Records is founded by Art Rupe in Los Angeles to specialize in black popular music
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1947 |
TM, ®, Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.
Billboard's writer Jerry Wexler coins the term "rhythm and blues" for Chicago's electric blues
Roy Brown writes and cuts Good Rockin' Tonight in Texas
Six majors control the music market: Columbia, RCA Victor, Decca, Capitol, MGM, Mercury
The Hollywood-based tv program of Korla Pandit (John Red), pretending to be an Indian guru and playing a Hammond organ, publicizes exotic sounds
Chess Records is founded in Chicago by two Polish-born Jews to promote rhythm and blues
Ahmet Ertegun founds Atlantic in New York to promote black music at the border between jazz, rhythm and blues and pop
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1948 |
TM, ®, Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.
Pete Seeger forms the Weavers, which start the "folk revival"
Detroit rhythm'n'blues saxophonist Wild Bill Moore releases We're Gonna Rock We're Gonna Roll
Columbia introduces the 12-inch 33-1/3 RPM long-playing vinyl record
Pierre Schaeffer creates a laboratory for "musique concrete" in Paris and performs a concerto for noises
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Tale Of The South Pacific introduces exotic sounds to Broadway
Leo Fender introduces its electric guitar (later renamed Telecaster)
Moe Asch founds Folkways, devoted to folk music
Ed Sullivan starts a variety show on national television (later renamed "Ed Sullivan Show")
Homer Dudley invents the Vocoder (Voice Operated recorder)
Memphis' radio station WDIA hires Nat Williams, the first black disc jockey
The magazine "Billboard" introduces charts for "folk" and "race" records
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1949 |
TM, ®, Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.
Moondog virtually invents every future genre of rock music
Fats Domino cuts The Fat Man, a new kind of boogie
Hank Williams' Lovesick Blues reaches the top of the country charts
Scatman Crothers cuts I Want To Rock And Roll (1949), with Wild Bill Moore on saxophone
RCA Victor introduces the 45 RPM vinyl record
Fantasy is founded
Todd Storz of the KOWH radio station starts the "Top 40" radio program
The "Billboard" chart for "race" records becomes the chart for "rhythm and blues" records
Aristocrat changes its name to Chess
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