Popular Music Popular music is music that is enjoyed by the largest possible audience. It includes country music, folk music, rhythm and blues, musical comedy, jazz, marches, rock n' roll, and ragtime. Young people primarily listen to popular music. The popular music industry is based largely on...

Bessie Smith, known as the "Empress of the Blues," was the most influential and controversial classical blues singer of the 1920s. During her prime, her powerful blues voice sold almost a million records and gave her a weekly salary of about $2000, placing her at the top of the blues charts. Tho...

From the classical days of Mozart and Beethoven to the present day's 50 cent and Britney Spears, popular music has evolved from simple performances to a multi-billion dollar industry. The form of popular music itself has changed as well, ranging from the jazzy tunes of Billie Holiday to the rock-and...

The Guitar The guitar is an instrument that was first seen to show up in 1800-1900 B.C. Clay pots with pictures of priests wielding instruments with a very strong resemblance to a guitar were found in the ancient near east. The guitar is one of man's oldest and most symbolic instruments. T...

The Social Significance of the Blues and its Impact on Jazz To understand the part played by the blues in American society, we need to consider what psychological imprints the blacks inherited from the years of slavery as well as what cultural and artistic forms existed during those times. ...