ANCIENT RECORDS

The Forgotten Music of the Acoustic Era





 Most people feel a sense of nostalgia for old music at some point during their lives. It may be the music that was popular when one grew up, or it may be the classics of some supposed "golden age". The music that the teenagers loved in the 1950's and 1960's remains quite popular to this day, and even many who were not alive then are familiar with the top stars of the time. Who hasn't heard of Elvis Presley or The Beatles? But even this music which seems so old now was built upon a long legacy of recorded sound. The Big Band era of c. 1935-1945 is remembered fondly by many who were around at the time, and the music has been discovered by many others. Certainly, many people around today are familiar with the bands led by such illustrious figures as Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman, and there are few who have not heard of Frank Sinatra, who got his start singing with the big bands of Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. But go back further in time, and memories start to become foggy. The big stars of the height of the Jazz Age and the doldrums of the Depression, c. 1925-1935, are not so well known now. The ladies fell madly in love with the great crooners: Bing Crosby, Russ Columbo, and Rudy Vallee. Of these three, Bing Crosby is the only one who is widely known nowadays, and that is because his popularity lasted far belong this era. Dance bands were also popular at this time, with Paul Whiteman leading the popularity contest of the 1920's.

But even these ancient recordings were built upon a rich legacy of recorded music. In the days before the use of the microphone, before 1925, countless millions of records were sold. Who were the popular recording artists of that time? Few people today could name more than one or two. What styles of music were popular? Again, the knowledge is lost in the fog of time. The records are still here, however. While many have certainly been destroyed, large quantities survive and they are surprisingly available to anyone who chooses to search for them. Standard 78-RPM records are the most common, and turntables which play them are readily available. Cylinders made of wax or celluloid also survive to the present day, but they are far more scarce, and playback equipment is difficult to obtain. This old, forgotten music, once rediscovered, is quite fascinating. The purely acoustic recording method, with the unusual singing style and instrumentation required due to the limitations of the technology, sounds quite strange and foreign to modern ears, but it has a certain charm, and some of the music of the era is as vibrant and enjoyable now as it was then. The music of this period is a vital part of our history, and it deserves to be preserved and rediscovered.

This site is my humble attempt to introduce people to the music of this period. Through a brief outline of the history, musical genres, and popular recording stars, I hope to provide an introduction which will interest people in this neglected period of musical history. As soon as I finish obtaining some computer equipment I need to digitize my old 78s, I will post a few recordings. Due to space limitations, there will never be a huge number here, but I will rotate them periodically so that new material will frequently be available. Also, as these records are so old that the copyright has long since expired, the recordings are in the public domain, so I would encourage people to distribute them as they please. I have more than 1000 78s, and about half of them date to the pre-1925 period, so there will be plenty of material. I have not yet acquired any cylinders, as I do not have playback equipment for them, but many cylinder recordings are available on CD reissues. As I find them, I will post links.

THE ACOUSTIC ERA

The History, Stars, and Musical Genres

UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Inactive links here are place-holders for future articles.

  • The Early History of Recordings
  • The Technology of Early Recordings
  • A List of Major Musical Genres
  • The Ugly Side: Racist Music
    WARNING: This article may include scans of record labels and recordings which are inherently offensive.
  • The Top Stars of the pre-1925 Era
  • 1925: The Year of Sudden Technological Change

    • Sample Recordings

  • None are available at this time. I hope to add a few after I get the proper equipment to digitize the records.


    • References and Links

    A great reference book on this material is Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954, Record Research Inc., 1986. It includes historical information, short biographies of artists, and a massive list of all Top 40 hits from 1890-1954. I have learned a great deal from reading this book.

    Links: I have found a number of websites which are useful. A few offer CD reissues of 78s and cylinders from this time period. I will compile a list in the near future.

    Finally, the records speak for themselves. There is no substitute for collecting and listening to the wide variety of records which have survived to the present day. I have learned more from my records than from any other source.


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    All contents of this site, unless otherwise noted, Copyright 2002-2008 Heather Harrison. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to accredited educational institutions to copy and use this material as desired, in whole or in part, provided that proper credit is given.