Space age pop is a

subgenre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

and

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...

music associated with Mexican and American composers and songwriters in the

Space Age The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 during 1957, and continuing ...

of the 1950s and 1960s. Also known as bachelor pad music or

lounge music Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. The rang ...

,''Pulse'' (Monthly music digest of Tower Records/Video) #164 October 1997 Page 57 Article: "Catalog Rolling: How Record Labels Decide What Titles to Re-Release" (article begins on page 42) it was inspired by the spirit of those times, an optimism based on the strong post-war economy and technology boom, and excitement about humanity's early forays into space."Space Age Pop developed out of America's insatiable appetite for the new and improved, providing grown-ups with the music they wanted: seductive moods, primitive beats, and fantastic effects.", Page 6, ''Exotiquarium: Album Art from the Space Age'', Jennifer McKnight-Trontz and Lenny Dee, St. Martin's Press Music/Songbooks, 1999, Although there is no exact album, date, or year when the genre was born, producer Irwin Chusid identifies its heyday as "roughly 1954 to 1963—from the dawn of high-fidelity (hi-fi) to the arrival of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

.""The History of Space Age Pop" liner notes by Irwin Chusid
''Space Age Pop Vol 1: Melodies and Mischief''
RCA Records 1995 The music is not limited to a single style, and it is not always easily categorized. There are several styles that can be recognized as an influence: classical composers like

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

and

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

; the

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

s of the 1940s; and different exotic styles, such as

samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havi ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

, and Calypso music. It is also related to its genres of

exotica Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same name that was popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s with Americans who came of age during World War II. The term was coined by Simon "Si" Waronker, Liberty Records ...

, or

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator m ...

,"the 1950s and 1960s - an era obsessed with technological advancements and new frontiers. The covers depict happy families, comfortable homes, and cocktail parties. Space Age Pop is the musical interpretation of these dreams. It comprises the eerie, mesmerizing sounds of Mood music, the Polynesian, Hawaiian, Caribbean, and jungle melodies of Exotica; the hi-fidelity and stereo-inspired sounds of bachelor pad music; and the dream, seductive rhapsodies of cocktail tunes." Page 1, ''Exotiquarium: Album Art from the Space Age'', Jennifer McKnight-Trontz and Lenny Dee, St. Martin's Press Music/Songbooks, 1999, and may be regarded as a precursor to the musical genre of

space music Space music, also called spacemusic or space ambient, is a subgenre of new-age music and is described as "tranquil, hypnotic and moving". It is derived from ambient music and is associated with lounge music, easy listening, and elevator music. ...

. Albums often have album covers related to

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

—those include rockets, moonscapes, or

modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, ...

Genre and style

Space age pop brought innovation to popular music in several ways—these albums in the early 1950s attend to include some of the earliest examples of

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. So ...

s,"The Beatles 1967 Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is often cited as the first concept album. But Space Age Pop artists were recording them as soon as the LP came out in the late 1940s.", Page 10, ''Exotiquarium: Album Art from the Space Age'', Jennifer McKnight-Trontz and Lenny Dee, St. Martin's Press Music/Songbooks, 1999, and embraced the earliest form of four-track recordings introduced in 1957."Between 1957 and the introduction of quadraphonic (four-channel) recordings in the 1970s, Space Age Pop artists made stereo an essential factor in choosing instruments and composing their music.", Page 10, ''Exotiquarium: Album Art from the Space Age'', Jennifer McKnight-Trontz and Lenny Dee, St. Martin's Press Music/Songbooks, 1999, Even though the genre takes on a variety of approaches in style,

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed ...

, composition, and

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

, it also shows some similarities. For instance, many of the composers associated with the genre used a string orchestra for applying warmth and color to the sound, often combined with a Latin percussion section. A variety of keyboard instruments—from

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbr ...

s to organ—are frequently used, and occasionally even the

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

for that out-of-this-world sound. The arrangements of the instruments tend to be highly original, conveying a sense of humor and playful charm—though album covers often have a

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

theme. It is also common for composers to use well-known

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive l ...

s as a basis for their own work and recordings, such as '' Harlem Nocturne'', '' Caravan'' and '' Autumn Leaves''. Classical pieces are also popular among space age composers, but almost always arranged in a lighter way than the original.

Resurgence

Space age pop, largely forgotten after the late 1960s, underwent an enormous surge in popularity in the early 1990s, leading to the release in 1994 of the signature CD compilation of the space age pop music of

Juan García Esquivel Juan García Esquivel (January 20, 1918 – January 3, 2002), often known mononymously as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisti ...

, ''Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music'', which sold over 70,000 copies. Underground pop band

Stereolab Stereolab are an Anglo-French avant-pop band formed in London in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's music combines influences from krautrock, lounge and 1960s pop music, often incorporating a re ...

, in 1993, released ''

Space Age Batchelor Pad Music ''Space Age Batchelor Pad Music'' (also known as ''The Groop Played "Space Age Batchelor Pad Music"'') is an EP (or "mini-LP") by the alternative music band Stereolab, originally released in March 1993. The release became an underground hit, an ...

'' 'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic'' an EP which is said to have factored significantly in raising awareness of the band. In the 2010s, one can hear the resurgence of the style through the tribute jazz vocal ensemble Randy Van Horne Singers.

CD compilations

* ''Melodies and Mischief: The History of Space Age Pop Vol. 1'', RCA 07863 66645-2 * ''Mallets in Wonderland: The History of Space Age Pop Vol. 2,'' RCA 07863 66646-2 * ''The Stereo Action Dimension: History of Space Age Pop Vol. 3'', RCA 07863 66647-2 * ''Ultra-Lounge, Vol. 3: Space Capades'', Capitol 7 2438-35176-2 * "RE/SEARCH: Incredibly Strange Music Vols. 1 & 2," Caroline Records 1993 (Vol. 1) & Asphodel Records 1995 (Vol. 2)

Notable 1950s and 1960s recordings

* "From Another World" by Sid Bass (RCA Vik) * "Re-Percussion" by Dick Schory">Sid Bass (songwriter)">Sid Bass (RCA Vik) * "Re-Percussion" by Dick Schory * "Wired For Sound" (RCA Vik) and "Soundpower!" by Marty Gold * "Other Worlds Other Sounds" by Juan García Esquivel, Esquivel * "Skin Diver Suite" by Leo Diamond * "Persuasive Percussion" by Enoch Light (Command) * "Sputnik (Satellite Girl)" by Jerry Engler and the Four Ekkos (Brunswick Records), 1957. (rockabilly) * " Telstar" written by

Joe Meek Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 – 3 February 1967) was an English record producer, sound engineer and songwriter who pioneered space age and experimental pop music. He also assisted in the development of recording practices like over ...

and performed by the Tornados (Decca / London Records), 1962.

References

External links

The space age pop-music pageGallery of space age pop album covers
{{Pop music

1950s introductions 20th-century music genres Pop music genres Easy listening music Space Age American styles of music Mexican styles of music