A review of book I've never read, here archived at a Canadian
university site, summarizes, if not completely makes the case,
that teenage mores and manners, and affectations of style, in
1950's reflected much of what had been seen in the immediately
previous era of Swing. Here is the interesting synopsis that
mentions the book: "Teenagers: An American History" by someone named
Grace Palladino from this site:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~edoebele/capping/swingmusic.html
[OPEN QUOTE]
"Long before rap or even rock and roll, the music for teens was swing.
In Teenagers: An American History, Grace Palladino explains that swing
music had been shaping teenage style since 1937, when Benny Goodman
and his band first got high school students to dance in the aisles of
New York=92s Paramount Theater (50). Swing music, itself, is difficult
to define. Kelly Schrum, in Some Wore Bobby Socks, describes it as
evolving from jazz, but points out that =93music historians often
characterize swing as a =91gross commercialization of jazz=92 in part
because of its wider audience and greater profits=94 (99). She says that
swing generally refers to big band jazz, music arranged for large
bands and played with a steady beat for dancing (99).
Teens across the country would turn up their radios to songs by Duke
Ellington, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, and Woody Herman (Palladino 50).
Swing music of the =9230s and =9240s extended its influence beyond the
radio to encourage teenage lingo, dancing, fa****on, and purchasing
patterns. For the first time in history, teenagers were ru****ng to
record stores to purchase records that appealed to their demographic.
Words like =91hepcats=92 and =91jitterbugs=92 entered young adults=92
vocabulary, referring to serious swing fans, unlike =91squares=92 who did
not take music as seriously; similarly, a song or band might be =93in
the groove=94 if it was really popular (Palladino 50). High school
students across North America were dancing the Lindy Hop, the Suzie Q,
or the Big Apple, while dressed in the saddle shoes, skirts, and
sweaters of =91Bobby Soxers=92 (51).
Of course, the swing movement was not without its critics. Palladino
remarks that parents, teachers, and even some teens did not know what
to make of this rebellion inspired by music (51). Formerly obedient,
responsible youth were now swooning for Frank Sinatra and lining up in
the streets for hours to catch a glimpse of their favourite musicians.
=93Teens riled their parents with a maddening language that only their
friends understood=94 (Palladino 51); furthermore, the new fa****ons
showed =93a little too much thigh=94 than parents approved of (51).
In some ways, adolescence as we know it today =96 that period of
stretching boundaries and testing limits, as one heads towards
adulthood and independence =96 coincided with the swing movement. In the
1920s, the teenage population had begun to grow, and by the end of the
1930s, teens were staying in school longer, making for a distinct
demographic separate from children and adults (Palladino 52). It was
during this time that advertisers and merchandisers began to
=93recognize an attractive new market in the making, one that was not
necessarily bound by adult standards or tastes=94 (Palladino 52). Other
multimedia formats followed suit. Seventeen, the first magazine
published specifically for teens, debuted in 1944. Just four years
later, the first novel for young adults, Seventeenth Summer, by
Maureen Daly hit bookstores (Hastings). Who would have thought that
swing music would have had such profound effects on teenage culture?
Strong opposition to swing music continued. A study by Paul Witty and
his associates in 1941 of high school students=92 use of radio concluded
that teens =93did not learn anything of value from the radio: immature
interests are too frequently exploited and young people are offered a
variety of emotional thrills via the air=94 (Schrum 104-105). Despite
this opposition, however, swing music prevailed among teens. Young
women would hang up posters of their favourite musicians in their
lockers, much like teens do today. Strum explains that =93music provided
teenage girls with an avenue for exploring ***uality and romantic
fantasy as well as the op****tunity to experiment with gender
boundaries=94 (127). Teenage boys were just as eager to =91let loose=92 at
swing dances and concerts, setting the stage for rock and roll a few
years later."
[END QUOTE]
L.I. - the next part of what ostensibly is a kind of Cliff's Notes
for the Palladino book, for the next big thing, r & r:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~edoebele/capping/rocknroll.html
Point is, I believe there are ways and means that the Swing Era and
its music influenced rock and roll more than many can see,
acknowledge, or give credit for. But here we are talking mores,
manners and style, and attitudes; but I believe rock and roll
has at least some debt to Swing music itself somewhere, that I can
seeking to find confirmed, although I know its primary debt is too the
Blues, and to a lesser extent, the Boogie-Woogie aspect of Jazz, and
some Country & Western influences; and the product, with some
amalgamming was entirely going for a new direction with different and
fresh impetus.
Maybe it can be said the whole Swing phenomenon opened some doors for
Rock and Roll, but I think there are musical things, elements that
inspired the Fathers of Rock and Roll, too.
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