What were the three genres for music ranked in Billboard Magazine in the 1950s? 2. Name several of the songs that had crossover success (popular in more than one of the 3 genre charts) in

Week 3 Questions

1. What were the three genres for music ranked in Billboard Magazine in the 1950s?
2. Name several of the songs that had crossover success (popular in more than one of the 3 genre charts) in 1956.

3. Name three factors that Billboard used to measure a song’s commercial success in the 1950s.

4. What is the name of the original song that Chuck Berry’s “Maybellene” covered?

5. Break down and compare/contrast “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Ain’t that a Shame” in each of the following ways:

a.Tempo
b.Tone of the vocals
c.Level of importance of the guitar part
d.Level of importance of the bass part
e.Texture of the drums (heavy? light?)
f.Which genre do you think each song should be labeled as?

6.Complete the following questions on “Johnny B. Goode”:

Johnny B. Goode
Chuck Berry
1958, Chess Records

1. Which instrument leads the opening?

2. 0:17 Is Chuck Berry singing as a bass (lower register) or as a tenor (upper register)?

3. Describe the overall tempo of this song.

4. At 0:35 the guitar and vocals trade off (when the guitar plays the vocals stop, and vice versa). What is the term for this in music?

5. At 1:25, the drums drop out for the first few beats of the guitar solo. What is the term for this in music?

6. Are the drums emphasizing the front of the beat or the back beat (is the urge to clap on the top of the beat or off of the beat)?

7. What is this song about? Do you think it’s more influenced by R&B, Country, or both?

7. What was the Payola Scandal?

8. In 1963, Chuck Berry successfully acquired royalties for the Beach Boys’ “Surfin USA”, given its similarity to his 1958 song “Sweet Little Sixteen”. What similarities do you notice dx the two songs?

9. What was the initial problematic term for the records that Billboard magazine would eventually refer to as R&B in the 1950s?