With love, The Musical Girls...

It is really sad but today, we have to say goodbye.

This blog has been an unbelievable experience for us because we have been able to show you a little piece of the American culture: its music.

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said once that “Life would be a mistake without music” and this is totally true. Music is part of our lives; it helps us when we are sad, it amuses us when we are happy, it leaves a footprint in our best memories… And with this blog we have tried to rewrite the history of a country whose music, even if the United States is a very young country, is one of the most important one around the world.

We only hope we have been able to get this task and more important, that you have enjoyed following our posts because that was the point.

Thank very much to all the readers who were there and to all those who will come. Don’t forget feeding your soul with the magic of music…

With love,

Raquel, Lorena, Nieves and Tania. 

Musical Theatre

Even if we have been able to see that musicals have been performed on the TV and at the cinemas, we are going to focus in the musical theatre which was the very beginning of this extraordinary artistic expression that combines music, songs, dialogues, dance and acting.

In order to you to understand how important musicals are we are going to describe some of the most important historical aspects (not all of them because there many). We have to know that musicals have been performed since ancient time, but the modern ones we know were a work of the Americans Harrigan and Hart. And know we will make a division in different years:

Renaissance to the 1800s: first of all it is very important to know that nowadays North America is the country of musicals but before becoming an independent country they received the influence of the Italian opera, the French Molière and the Elizabethan and Jacobean plays and an essential name: William Shakespeare. During the 18th century the most popular plays were “The beggar’s Opera” and “The Bohemian Girl”. However, until 1752 America didn’t have a real importance and it started its career with “The Merchant of Venice”.

1850s to 1880s: in Europe the Hervé’s opérette creation and the musical burlesque were very popular. But it was in 1866 when we saw the first American musical “The Black crook”. And as we said at the beginning to important people for this genre were Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart who also played in Broadway in those years. They tried to show the situation of the country with their comedies and burlettas. 

1890s to the new century: in 1891 the Charles Hoyt’s play “A Trip to Chinatown” broke all the records in Broadway. In 1898 we saw the first play only performed by African American, “A Trip to Coontown”. But once again, during those years the top musicals were in London and America tried to copy most of the stories creating some of them like “The Belle of New York” which was the first American musical to be played in London.

Operetta and World War I: this genre arrived again to London and Broadway with “The Merry Widow” competing with the musical. In America Victor Herbert and their “Naughty Marietta” or “Babes in Toyland” were very important. But during the war people wanted to amuse themselves and they did it thanks to plays like “Irene” which was played in Broadway 670 times. During the 20th century America innovated in their musicals like Shubert Brothers did when in London still preferred the Edwardians one.

The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression: the 20s were full of songs, lights, dance and plays such as “No, No, Nanette” or “Oh, Kay!” but in order to innovate they presented in the Ziegfeld Theatre a new musical called “Show Boat” with a more elaborated plots.

1930s: Great Depression affected the musical business because people couldn’t afford it. However, during those years the scene we could see stars such as Fred Astaire and Ethel Merman. Furthermore, some producers moved from Hollywood to Broadway and created success such us “Hellzapoppin”. Moreover, once again, they tried to innovate and the political satire “Of Thee I Sing” won the Pulitzer Prize. This decade also knew the legendary musicals “West Side Story” and “Sweeney Todd”.

        

The Golden Age: Rodgers and Hammerstein created the revolutionary “Oklahoma!” which followed the example of “Show Boat” and whose song “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” won the Pulitzer. After that they also created some of the most important classic musicals such as “The King and I” or “The Sound of Music”.

1950s: during this decade we knew plays like “My Fair lady” and the performance of “Pygmalion” by Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. “The Threepenny Opera”, “The Fantasticks” “Ernest in love” were created.

1960s: many titles come to our minds during this decade like “Celebration”, “Hello, Dolly!” or “Funny Girl” but maybe you know better the legendary “Cabaret”. Other of those plays were the fairy tale play “Into the Wood” (very popular this year thanks to the Disney adaptation) or “Dear World”.

1970s to present: at the beginning we knew the new rock musicals such as “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Evita” or “The Rocky Horror Show”. Broadway also welcomed a huge variety of plays different from the usual style, but we could see other like “Chicago”, “Annie” or “Nine”. During the 80s we could see once again the European influence in Broadway with plays like “The Phantom of the Opera”, “Miss Saigon”, “Les Misérables” or “Cats”. In the 90s decade the Walt Disney Company had an important role in Broadway and plays like “The Beauty and the Beast” or “The Lion King” started to be performed. During the 2000 we didn’t only returned to the classic plays but we could also see the very important “Wicked”, “Billy Elliot”, “Hairspray” or “The Colour Purple” adapted from films. 

To sum up, we could say that musicals, as you have seen, have been a very important part of the North American culture and they continue being one of the most acclaimed artistic expressions nowadays. We are very happy about have shown you this piece of art and we really hope you have enjoyed it!

                    

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.theatrehistory.com/american/musical030.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_theatre







                                       

Music in the 2010s

Finally, today we have arrived to the end of our musical chronology so we are going to explain how music has been in these last five years. Once again, in order to make the post easier to be understood, we are going to make a division in the different music styles. So, here we go!

Pop

This style has been the predominant during the last ten years and since 2010 specially thank to artists like Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Taylor Swift or Demi Lovato between many more of them. We cannot forget that singers from other countries like Justin Bieber who is Canadian, has a lot of success in the USA.

However, and even if all them have been very important, the singer who had the role of rise the pop to the top of charts was Lady Gaga with her album The Fame. Nevertheless, once again those new artists had to compete with the Queen of Pop, Madonna. 

Finally, among our boys we can’t forget Bruno Mars with all his hits, Robin Thicke and his Blurred lines, Maroon 5 Chris Brown.




There are many varieties of pop style like electropop with artists like Ke$ha, Britney Spears or even Rihanna and Lady Gaga who have tried to use a lot of different music styles. 

                                                           

Rock 

This style that wasn’t so popular at the beginning of the century, during these last years has been reborn thank to a variety called alternative or indie rock. Some of the artists who have risen rock to the top again are Lana del Rey, Imagine Dragons, Foo Fighters or Thirty Seconds to Mars. A very special mention to those legends like Bruce Springsteen who still give concerts and make the stadiums around the world be full. 

Pop Punk and Punk Rock

These styles are still in the charts only thanks to artists like Paramore, 5 Seconds of Summer, Blink-182, Green Day or The Offspring. 

We can’t forget that this era belongs to pop because of that we called “the fan phenomenon” in which thousands of teenagers follow another teenager artist whose lyrics speak about summer love and those kinds of stuffs.

R & B

This style which was especially successful in the late 1980s nowadays has been changed for a variety called PBR & B or “hipster R & B”. Some of the most important artists who have developed it are Rihanna, Jason Derulo, Ne-Yo, Justin Timberlake or Cee Lo Green. However, the queen of this style is Beyonce who is considered one of the best voices of this era. 

Hip hop

It is very important to know that hip hop has suffered a rise because of female rappers as the famous Nicki Minaj or the Australian Iggy Azalea who has a lot of influence in the USA. Although it is evident that men are still more numerous: Drake, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Jay Z, Eminem, French Montana or the popular Macklemore with his hits “Can’t hold us” or “Thrift Shop”. As a curiosity, we have been able to see that many of these rappers have decided to collaborate with pop artists in order to be more successful around the world.

                                                 

      

Electronic

We have to make a very special mention to this genre and all its varieties (house, techno, garage rock, eurodance, trip hop and trance music) because the artists who play it have been able to be some of the most successful one in the world. They have received the influenced of groups like Daft Punk but they have also influenced pop artists like Katy Perry, Iggy Azalea or Lady Gaga who tried to mix electro and pop after have seen the success of the first one. The most important electro artist is the North American Skrillex and the Dubstep style. With his second EP called “Scary Monsters” he won three Grammy Awards. 

So, as we said at the very beginning we have finished our music chronology but we have not finished the blog. Next week you will see our two last curiosities.

We hoped you have enjoyed not only this post but also this interesting history!

Bibliography

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010s_in_music#Pop

- http://www.teenvogue.com/entertainment/cover-stars/2013-04/justin-bieber/?slide=1 

- http://spiceheart.mforos.com/183535/10373057-rihanna-iv-eras-loud-talk-that-talk/?pag=2 

Music in the 2000s.

                                                       
The 2000s were for the most part nondescript. The pop music fragmented into smaller trends. The 2000s saw the creation exception of a few indie-related genres and electronic subgenres. Convergence of different styles was one of the more defining features of the decade, seen with the creation of trap and chillwave in the United States.
Nevertheless, distinguishable elements can be attributed to the decade from a musical point of view, such as the common and mainstream usage of some software Auto-Tune and the rise of media player programmes such as iTunes and YouTube.
The popularity of teen pop carried over from the late 1990s with groups like Backstreet Boys and singers like Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera dominating the charts in the earlier years of the decade.
Despite a slight slip of popularity in the early part of the decade, adult contemporary and country music found success throughout the 2000s.
Besides, despite the hip hop dominance, rock music stood popular, notably alternative rock, and especially genres such as post-grunge, pop punk and emo.
Electronic music was also popular at this decade. Also genres such as chillout, house and trance. Finally reggaeton became a definitive latin genre, as well as salsa and merengue.

Hip Hop

Hip Hop dominated the scene in the early 2000s with artists such as Kanye West, Snoop Dog and Lil Wayne. Eminem, who is the best known Hip Hop artist, enjoyed great success. He attempted to be controversial and subversive. He also became the ebst selling rapper of all time. Genres such as crunk and snap music grew in popularity. The most popular crunker was Lil Jon. 

Rock

When it comes to Rock, the most popular subgenre was Pop Rock. Singers such as Snow Patrol, Fall Out Boy, Simple Plan, Green Day and the winner of American Idol Kelly Clarkson became really popular. 

Pop

At this decade, Teen pop was extremely popular thanks to the success of teenagers such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Also, Boy bands had their popularity. One of this band is the Backstreet Boys. Not everything was gold for Boy bands, and finally they ended up by dissapearing. This lead the way to the beggining of an adult contemporary genre with singers such as Jesse McCartney and Justin Timberlake. A lot of girls girls groups were formed in the 2000s, groups such as Pussycat Dolls and Sugababes. The most popular singer, of course, was Michael Jackson, but not only on this decade, but of all times. He released his final album at this decade and, unfortunetly, he died in 2009.

Adult Contemporary

                                               
Along the decade, the popularity of this genre grew up. Artists like Alicia Keys found success on this genre. 

Country

Country sales continued rising. One of the most successful artists was Carrie Underwood. Another popular artist was Shania Twain. Also, there some popular male country singers such as Keith Urban. 

Reggaeton

This genre gained a quick success during the decade as well as Latin music. One of the most famous Latin singers is Shakira, because even if she is not American she is very popular in the continent and around the world.

                                       

Here you got some videos! Hope you enjoy them!

                             

Chasing Cars- Snow Patrol

                                   

Mockingbird- Eminem

                                    

Sometimes- Britney Spears