If there is one culture that influenced Western music more than any other, undoubtedly it has to be the African-American culture.
Without having to take into account all the spiritual songs sang by the slaves working on the plantation fields in the early 18th Century, Afro-American music made a huge impact on modern music just in the last Century alone. It’s quite amazing how Afro-American artists have managed to create new styles of music over the years, turning every genre into mainstream music.
Here I’ve created a small simple graph of how Afro-American music has evolved through the years:
– Year —> STYLE —> Influential Artist
-Early 1900 —> BLUES —> Muddy Water, Buddy Guy, B.B. King,
-1920s —-> SWING —> Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole
-1940s —> BEBOP —> Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk
-1950s —> ROCK’N’ROLL —> Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry
-1960s —> MOTOWN —> The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin
-1970s —> FUNK —> James Brown, P-Funk, Sly & The Family Stone
-1980s —> DISCO —> Neil Rogers, Donna Summer, Diana Ross
-1990s —> HIPHOP —> A Tribe Called Quest, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z
-2000s —> R&B —> Mary J Blidge, Beyonce, Rihanna
If this is not enough styles in just 100 years, consider that I have also left out GOSPEL, DOO WOP, SOUL, HOUSE and others.
‘till next time!
