A well-written book that is really about the music and culture of the fifties. You have the normal which is standards such as Frank Sinatra, and musicals from Broadway or movies then when you get into “race records” they had people like Pat Boone singing in order to cattier to the white middle class. You still had the rise of country music, but this was the time of the Red scare at the beginning of the fifties. T.V. shows were on the rise and radio shows were declining. The author takes you through a look into these different types of music.
It was the younger generation that was listening to Little Richard, Fat’s Domino, Chuck Berry, and others. He speaks of the rise of Elvis who still did not help the adults with rock and roll music. For me, there is a lot of music from that period that stands out and when I think about it all of it is quite different in the range from Opera, Gospel, Country, Musicals, Blues, and then the beginnings of rock and roll. Just look at Sun records and the music he put out during that time.
I guess what the author was trying to get across was not only the difference in the music but also how it was delivered to the public, how a certain part of the culture from that time felt that rock and roll music and R&B was communist and was going to change young peoples mind. Funny how communism was the answer to everything. Heck I grew up with a bomb shelter in our back yard for decades before my father decided we should fill it up. That was a different time for everything and the music was just one. I still collect records from the fifties when I can find though it is much more difficult today as years ago. Overall a good book especially if you like the history of music or time period.

A musicologist looks at the music of the 1950s as it relates to American society now. Wierzbicki breaks the music down by genres--rock, pop, film music, jazz, Broadway, opera, and traditional and modern classical music. Mainstream pop went from big bands to solo singers that wanted their audiences to dance. Rock 'n' roll was about teenage angst, juvenile delinquency, and fears of social unrest. Jazz is viewed as the Beat Generation's alienation and rejection of mainstream values. Background trends include McCarthyism, conformity, and the nuclear arms race.

Pretty good book, but it lacks in places.