Thank you for this excellent guide to the incursion of avante-garde and experimental music into the pop and mainstream music realm in the 20th century. As far as this trend goes I think it culminates in the 1970's with LOW by David Bowie, and ends with Autobahn by Kraftwerk (whose output sadly devolved into disco thereafter with TransEuropeExpress). While Bernard Hermann was responsible for re-tuning the ear of the mainstream via popular movies, I feel that the real turning point for average casual music listeners and mass young audiences came in the 1960's who were introduced to the intriguing sounds slipped into their pop music Kool-aid by the innovative studio production techniques prevalent in England during that time (The Beatles and the slew of Brit invasion bands using the same studios, producers, and engineers) Miles Davis certainly fell in to that wellspring with Bitches Brew. As far as the inception of avantgarde music into the mainstream, let's not forget the impact of being fed the most piquant avante garde of Ligeti right alongside the most saccarine of Johann Strauss, it was the spoonful of sugar that made the medicine go down - thanks to Stanely Kubrick.
Thanks George. Here's another quick story you'll enjoy. I went to my local Tavern last night to see 3 bands. Each was very different. First was a metal band. Then indy rock. But I was there for the last band called freejazzhouseparty. They looked so young, what could they possibly know about playing free jazz? A lot. They opened with a beautiful version of Lonely Woman.
Very interesting article, Rick. Thank you.
A quick acknowledgement that I created the image for this story using OpenArt.ai.
Thank you for this excellent guide to the incursion of avante-garde and experimental music into the pop and mainstream music realm in the 20th century. As far as this trend goes I think it culminates in the 1970's with LOW by David Bowie, and ends with Autobahn by Kraftwerk (whose output sadly devolved into disco thereafter with TransEuropeExpress). While Bernard Hermann was responsible for re-tuning the ear of the mainstream via popular movies, I feel that the real turning point for average casual music listeners and mass young audiences came in the 1960's who were introduced to the intriguing sounds slipped into their pop music Kool-aid by the innovative studio production techniques prevalent in England during that time (The Beatles and the slew of Brit invasion bands using the same studios, producers, and engineers) Miles Davis certainly fell in to that wellspring with Bitches Brew. As far as the inception of avantgarde music into the mainstream, let's not forget the impact of being fed the most piquant avante garde of Ligeti right alongside the most saccarine of Johann Strauss, it was the spoonful of sugar that made the medicine go down - thanks to Stanely Kubrick.
Great comment, and stay tuned for Part 2.
Great stuff. So well written. And a history of everything I was interested in musically. More please.
Thanks George. Here's another quick story you'll enjoy. I went to my local Tavern last night to see 3 bands. Each was very different. First was a metal band. Then indy rock. But I was there for the last band called freejazzhouseparty. They looked so young, what could they possibly know about playing free jazz? A lot. They opened with a beautiful version of Lonely Woman.
https://soundcloud.com/freejazzhouseparty