29 Sep 2026

September 2026 – A Timeline of Guitar History in 400+ Snippets: Part II

by CRAVEGuitars | posted in: History, Introduction, Observations, Opinion | 0

Prelude

SCOOBY‑DOOBY‑DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? Time to break out the Scooby Snacks, Shaggy.Yup. It is time for another CRAVE Guitars’ grand tour. I trust that all is well with you and yours wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. A warm early autumn greeting from CRAVE Guitars. This year has passed very rapidly. Time flies (N.B. From the Latin, ‘tempus fugit’, literally meaning, ‘time flees’. Roman Poet Virgil (70‑19BCE) used it in his epic poem, ‘Georgics’ (29BCE)). Come on people, admit it, you don’t get popular culture (Scooby Doo) and Roman classical literature (Virgil) used in a single paragraph very often. Come with me. You have entered into the weird and wonderful alternate dimension of CVG, a.k.a. CRAVE Vintage Guitars.

“You don’t play a guitar with your fingers, you play it with your heart” – Carlos Santana (1947‑)

This Month at CRAVE Guitars…

Previously on… (NB. A ‘recap’ is commonly used by TV series at the start of a programme to review key moments from one or more previous episodes and to set up the episode being watched. Recaps are often complemented by a ‘next time on…’ sequence at the end of a programme. The first documented use of the ‘recap’ was the American ABC TV series, ‘The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp’ (1955‑1961)). I digress. Again. Now, where was I? Oh yes. Previously on…

Last month, I set out the first part of a guitar history timeline from ancient times (c.3500BCE) to the end of the 19^th Century (1899). The main exposition to the subject matter was also set out last month, so there is little point in reiterating it here, as what was said then applies equally to this article. Follow the link below to view/review the preceding article should you so desire (opens a new browser tab)…

August 2026 – A Timeline of Guitar History in 400+ Snippets: Part I

“Guitars – what more can I say? They rule!!!” – Zakk Wylde (1967‑)

I should mention at this point that the timeline originally comprised 400 entries. Between the first and second parts being published, this had increased to 400+ after further intensive research. A lot more had to be ditched to keep it close to the original plan. The articles’ title now read “A Timeline of Guitar History in 400+ Snippets”.

Also, Part II was originally intended to be the concluding article covering the last 125 years. However, given the size and density of the project, as well as the fact that the 20^th Century in particular was an incredibly eventful period in guitar history, the decision was taken to split the entries into two roughly equal parts. Ultimately, now, the three parts together will represent a continuous piece of work, broken down for easier accessibility.

As with Part I, no AI was used in researching and writing this article; it is the result of authentic analogue biological processes. Quotes continue the theme from last month of insights into the guitar. Only a tiny smattering of images again this month.

“To stand up on a stage alone with an acoustic guitar requires bravery bordering on heroism. Bordering on insanity” – Richard Thompson (1949‑)

The Rationale for the Article

Easy one this. As you might expect, Part II is a direct continuation of the previous article and Part III will follow on next month, so no further justification is necessary.

Up to the end of the 19^th Century, classical and folk music were predominant, largely determined by one’s place in the social hierarchy we call the class system. The dawn of the 20^th Century saw musical genres transformed beyond all recognition, reflecting significant shifts in modern civilisation taking place globally. Democratisation of music opened up much broader access for ordinary people to experience the new musical trends emerging from the grass roots of society.

“I believe every guitar player inherently has something unique about their playing. They just have to identify what makes them different and develop it” – Jimmy Page (1944‑)

New musical genres enabled the guitar to transition from just an accompanying acoustic instrument to become central as a lead instrument, especially with the introduction of resonator and then electric guitars. The instrument became prevalent across most, if not all, modern musical forms, becoming the world’s favourite instrument in the process.

For many readers, this more contemporary period will be of more topical interest. I hope so. If you’ve read this far, I don’t want to lose you now.

“I don’t know of a guitar player that has only one guitar. They’re never happy with one. I’m never happy with just one of them. I woke up and ended up with six, even if you can only play one at a time!” – Les Paul (1915 2009)

A Timeline of Guitar History: Part II – 1900‑1959

So, without any further ado, let’s delve straight into the timeline covering the first chunk of the 20^th Century with the next 150 entries. As with the last article, for those with an attention deficit, the infographic below provides a significantly abbreviated alternative version.

1902	Five businessmen backed Orville H. Gibson to form the Gibson Mandolin‑Guitar Mfg. Co. Ltd. in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. The new company introduced its first archtop guitar, the L‑1 model. In 1926, the L‑1 name was re‑used as a flat top acoustic guitar
1902	C.F. Martin & Co. introduced the ‘OOO’ (Auditorium) model, a small‑bodied flat top acoustic guitar with a slightly shorter 24.9″ scale length (rather than Martin’s usual 25.4″ scale)
1903	Luthier Anastasios Stathopoulo and his family emigrated from Izmir in Turkey to settle in Long Island City, Queens, New York City, USA where they established a musical instrument business
1904	Chicago‑based harp manufacturer, Lyon & Healy acquired the Regal Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company
1906	Stromberg Guitars was founded by Swedish immigrant Charles A. Stromberg (1881‑1956) making banjos and mandolins in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
1907	Anastasios Stathopoulo opened a shop in New York City making banjos and mandolins. The shop was called the ‘House of Stathopoulo’
1908	American luthier Chris Knutsen (1862‑1930), born Johan Christian Kammen in Norway, known for his harp guitars between 1895 and 1906, started making Hawaiian steel guitars in Seattle, Washington, USA. Knutsen relocated to Los Angeles, California in 1914 and began to make harp ukuleles as well as Hawaiian guitars to meet popular demand
1909	Anastasios Stathopoulo filed his only US patent for a bowl back mandolin musical instrument. The patent was granted the same year
1909	Clarence Leonidas ‘Leo’ Fender (1909‑1991) was born in Anaheim, California, USA. He would become one of the industry’s greatest pioneers and a hugely influential figure
1915	Anastasios Stathopoulo died and his son, Epaminondas (‘Epi’), took over at the company that would later become Epiphone in 1928
1915	American department store and mail order giant Sears, Roebuck and Company introduced the Silvertone brand, used by the company until 1972. Silvertone guitars, basses and amps were manufactured for Sears by Harmony, Danelectro, Valco, Kay and Teisco
1915	Lester William Polsfuss (1915‑2009), a.k.a. Les Paul, American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier and inventor was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA
1916	Fred Gretsch Jr. relocated Gretsch to a spacious 10‑story building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, USA
1916	Sears, Roebuck and Company acquired the Harmony Company to supply ukuleles and guitars for their retail and mail order business
1916	C.F. Martin began building guitars for Oliver Ditson Co. of Boston, Massachusetts and New York, USA, including the first ‘dreadnought’ acoustic guitar named after the British Royal Navy ship, HMS Dreadnought. Martin wouldn’t use their own name on a dreadnought guitar until 1931
1917	The first jazz track was recorded – ‘Dixie Jass Band One‑Step’ by the Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) for the Victor Talking Machine Company
1918	Orville H. Gibson died of chronic endocarditis (a form of heart disease) in New York, at the age of 62
1920	Chicago Musical Instrument Company (CMI) was founded by Russian immigrant Maurice Henry Berlin (1895-1984), based in Chicago, Illinois, USA making guitars, brass instruments and electronic organs. CMI would later acquire Gibson Guitars in 1944
1920	The first blues vocal track was recorded in New York City by an African American singer Mamie Smith (1891‑1946) – ‘Crazy Blues’ for OKeh Records
1921	Stromberg‑Voisinet was formed by Henry ‘Kay’ Kuhrmeyer (1894‑1956), Charles G. Stromberg (1873‑1960) and Frank C. Voisinet (1876‑1937) in Chicago, Illinois, USA to build mandolins and guitars. The company would be renamed Kay in 1931
1921	American designer and sound engineer, Lloyd Loar (1886‑1943) started working for Gibson Mandolin‑Guitar Mfg. Co. Ltd. Loar helped to design and refine the Gibson carved archtop mandolins and guitars with the aim of increasing flagging sales
1921	Gibson employee and engineer Thaddeus ‘Ted’ McHugh (1859‑1945) was credited with inventing the adjustable truss rod. A US patent was filed in 1921 and granted in 1923. McHugh also designed the height‑adjustable bridge
1922	Gibson introduced the Lloyd Loar‑designed L5 acoustic archtop jazz guitar, one of the first guitars to use f‑holes. Gibson also introduced the F5 mandolin, also designed by Lloyd Loar in the same year
1923	The first commercial country & western track was recorded in New York City by Alexander Campbell ‘Eck’ Robertson (1887‑1975) – ‘Fiddlin’ John Carson’ for OKeh Records. Robertson had recorded several tracks for Victor Talking Machine Company the previous year but these were not widely available
1923	Italian guitarist, inventor and luthier, Mario Maccaferri (1900‑1993) established his reputation as a classical guitarist and maker of classical and gipsy jazz guitars
1923	Musician, designer and engineer, Lloyd Loar began working on an experimental electrostatic pickup at Gibson before he left the company in 1924
1923	Chicago‑based mail order and department store retailer, Montgomery Ward & Co. introduced Airline as one of its house brands. A range of Airline electric and acoustic guitars were sold between 1958 and 1968 to tap into the explosion in popular guitar‑based music. Airline is now an independent family‑owned business based in Chicago, Illinois, USA since 2024
1923	As part of Sears, Roebuck & Company, Harmony became the largest manufacturer of musical instruments in the USA, producing over 250,000 units in a year
1924	Austrian‑Hungarian immigrant and musician, Sam Ash (1897‑1956) opened the first Sam Ash Music Store in W 48^th Street in Manhattan, New York City, USA. The location became the famously so‑called ‘Music Row’. The Sam Ash retail chain went out of business in 2024 after 100 years
1925	Swiss immigrant Adolph Rickenbacher (1886‑1976) founded Rickenbacher Manufacturing Company, manufacturing metal and plastic products. The company would later become Rickenbacker
1925	Hagström was founded by Albin Hagström (1905‑1952) in Älvdalen, Dalecarlia, Sweden to make accordions from 1932. The company didn’t start making electric guitars until 1958 and basses in 1961. Hagström ceased production in 1983 (revived in 2004)
1926	Gibson introduced the flat top L‑1 acoustic guitar, famously used by legendary American delta blues guitarist and singer, Robert Johnson. The moniker L-1 had previously been used for Gibson’s first archtop guitar
1927	The National String Instrument Corporation was founded by vaudeville entertainer George Beauchamp (1899‑1941) and luthier John Dopyera (1893‑1988) in Los Angeles, California, USA to make resonator guitars
1927	John Dopyera filed for a US patent for the tricone resonator guitar. The patent was granted the same year
1928	The first signature guitar, based on the Gibson L‑1 acoustic with a deeper body, was released to recognise popular American jazz singer and guitarist, Nick Lucas (1897‑1982)
1928	Epaminondas Stathopoulo changed the name of his company to the ‘Epiphone Banjo Company’. The Epiphone name combined Epaminondas’ nickname, ‘Epi’ and the Ancient Greek word phōnē, meaning sound or voice. Epiphone stared making acoustic guitars, followed by archtop guitars from 1931 and amplifiers from 1935
1928	American luthier, John Dopyera left National and founded the Dobro Manufacturing Company with four of his brothers. The name Dobro is a contraction of ‘DOpyera’ and ‘BROthers’
1928	Clayton Orr ‘Doc’ Kauffman (1901‑1990) filed the world’s first patent for a mechanical vibrato unit (often erroneously called tremolo), the Vibrola. Kauffman’s US patent for an “Apparatus for producing tremolo effects” was granted in 1932
1929	Chicago‑based Stromberg‑Voisinet advertised the first commercial electric guitar, although none are known to exist. The company ceased trading in 1931
1930	C.F. Martin announced the OM (Orchestra Model) flat top acoustic guitar and introduced their first guitar featuring 20‑frets and a 14^th fret neck‑to‑body joint. The ‘14/20’ design became widely adopted by Martin from 1934
1930	While still working at National, George Beauchamp filed a US patent for a Dobro acoustic guitar with a single inverted resonator cone. The patent was granted in 1932
1930	American brand Harmony Musical Instruments, part of Sears, Roebuck & Company, sold over 500,000 units, a record at the time
1931	Ro‑Pat‑In Corporation was founded by engineer Adolph Rickenbacher and inventor George Beauchamp in Los Angeles, California, USA. The company would become Rickenbacher from 1934 and Rickenbacker from 1950
1931	Gretsch started manufacturing acoustic guitars in Brooklyn, New York City, USA
1931	Kay Musical Instrument Company was formed from the demise of instrument manufacturer Stromberg‑Voisinet by founder Henry Kay ‘Hank’ Kuhrmeyer, based in Chicago, Illinois, USA to make guitars, mandolins, banjos and ukuleles
1931	C.F. Martin started selling dreadnought 6‑string flat top acoustic guitars under its own name. Martin introduced the D‑1 and D‑2 (later renamed the D‑18 and D‑28). Martin had been making dreadnought acoustic guitars for Oliver Ditson Co. since 1916. The dreadnought rapidly became an industry standard and Martin’s design has been widely emulated today
1932	Prototyped in 1931, Ro‑Pat‑In Corporation started to manufacture a Hawaiian lap steel guitar with an electromagnetic horseshoe pickup, the Electro A‑22 (a.k.a. the ‘frying pan’, nicknamed because of its circular aluminium body and long neck). A US patent was filed in 1934 and granted in 1937. The guitar became the first solid body electric lap steel guitar. The model was discontinued in 1939
1932	The earliest examples of mains powered guitar amplifiers started appearing following the introduction of electrolytic capacitors and rectifier vacuum tubes (valves)
1932	Renowned luthier John D’Angelico (1905‑1964) opened a workshop in Manhattan, New York City, USA to make premium acoustic jazz guitars
1932	Henri Selmer partnered with luthier Mario Maccaferri to produce acoustic ‘gypsy jazz’ guitars (closely associated with virtuoso jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt). Maccaferri designed the ‘Modèle Jazz’ with an internal resonator, steel reinforced neck, D‑shaped sound hole and a single lower squared‑off cutaway. Selmer continued production until 1952 (with oval sound holes) after Maccaferri left in 1934
1933	Adolph Rickenbacher renamed the Ro‑Pat‑In Corporation to Electro String Instrument Corporation and instruments were re‑branded ‘Electro’
1933	George Beauchamp was sacked by the board at National String Instrument Corporation and joined Adolph Rickenbacker at Electro String Instrument Corporation
1934	National String Instrument Corporation and Dobro Manufacturing Company merged to form the combined National Dobro Corporation
1934	The Gibson factory at Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA resumed full‑time instrument production after the height of the Great Depression
1934	American musician and inventor Paul Tutmarc (1896‑1972) founded Audiovox Manufacturing Company to manufacture lap steel guitars
1934	Gibson introduced the Super 400 (priced at $400) acoustic jazz guitar. The design heavily influenced both Stromberg and D’Angelico archtop jazz guitars, as well as Gibson’s direct competitor Epiphone
1934	Gibson launched a line of lower‑priced instruments under the Kalamazoo brand name for musicians adversely impacted by the Great Depression
1935	Gibson hired American jazz guitarist Alvino Rey (1908‑2004) to work on the design of a prototype electric guitar pickup. Gibson appointed electrical engineer Walter Fuller (1917‑1997) to develop the electromagnetic bar pickup, often called the ‘Charlie Christian’ after the jazz guitarist
1935	Epiphone introduced the Emperor Masterbuilt acoustic jazz guitar, larger than the Gibson Super 400, fuelling stiff competition for high‑end archtop jazz guitars in the US
1935	Rickenbacker introduced the solid body electric Electro‑Spanish Model B guitar made from Bakelite with a bolt‑on rounded neck, as opposed to the square necks used on Hawaiian lap steel guitars. The Model B was considered the world’s first production, solid body electric guitar
1935	Paul Tutmarc developed the first electric fretted bass guitar, the Audiovox Model 736 Bass Fiddle, some 16 years before Fender introduced the Precision bass
1935	Supro guitars was launched as a low‑cost in‑house brand by its parent, National Dobro Corporation. Supro was discontinued in 1968 when then‑parent company Valco went bankrupt. The Supro brand was revived in 2014
1935	American salesman, Manny Goldrich (1904‑1968) founded the famous Manny’s Musical Instruments & Accessories Inc. retail store on ‘Music Row’, W 48^th Street, Manhattan, New York City, USA. In 1999 Manny’s was sold to competitor Sam Ash Music
1936	Gibson introduced the Advanced Jumbo flat top acoustic guitar with Sitka spruce top and rosewood back and sides The guitar was designed by American country & western singer/songwriter Raymond Otis Whitely (1901‑1979). Only 300 were produced before Gibson replaced it with the J‑200 Super Jumbo in 1937
1936	Gibson introduced the EH‑150 6‑string lap steel guitar and amplifier for $150, the company’s first production electric Hawaiian steel guitar
1936	Gibson released the (Electric Spanish) ES‑150 and EH‑150 amplifier for $150. The ES-150 was the first commercially available electric ‘Spanish’ guitar. The ES‑150 was basically a modified Gibson L‑50 archtop fitted with a single ‘Charlie Christian’ bar electromagnetic single coil neck pickup
1937	US Patents were granted to George Beauchamp for his electromagnetic horseshoe pickup design, originally filed in 1933 and 1934
1938	Leo Fender, a qualified electronics technician, opened the Fender Radio Service in Fullerton, California, USA to repair radios, phonographs, amplifiers and PA systems
1939	Harry DeArmond (1906‑1999) developed the first commercially available detachable guitar pickups, the RH/RHC for ‘round hole’ flat top guitars and the FH/FHC for ‘f‑hole’ archtop guitars. DeArmond worked with Rowe Industries to bring the pickups to market. Other DeArmond pickups include the Rhythm Chief, Dynasonic and Gold Foil, popular in the 1950s‑1970s. DeArmond pickups were used on Guild, D’Angelico, Epiphone, Fender, Martin, Airline and Silvertone guitars
1939	Les Paul began building his homemade experimental electric guitar prototype, called ‘the log’. The instrument comprised a 4”x4” strip of pine, onto which he attached a neck, bridge, pickups, Epiphone hollow guitar body ‘wings’ and a ‘Doc’ Kauffman Vibrola. Les Paul presented it to the Gibson board in 1941, who rejected the concept as too unusual
1940	Les Paul signed an endorsement deal with Gibson, which included him appearing with the ES‑300 electric archtop jazz guitar in the company’s advertisements
1940	Gibson introduced the first electromagnetic pickup with adjustable pole pieces and Alnico magnets, designed by in‑house engineer Walter Fuller, intended to supersede the bar pickup. The P13 pickup was the predecessor to the P‑90 introduced after the end of WWII in 1946
1940	Valco was formed following a restructuring of the National Dobro Corporation by a stakeholder group of former owners Victor Smith, Al Frost and Louis Dopyera. Valco manufactured guitars and amplifiers under a variety of brand names including National, Airline and Supro, as well as making guitars for other companies such as Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward using Harmony, Kay and Silvertone brands
1943	Leo Fender joined forces with former Rickenbacker engineer and inventor of the Vibrola tailpiece, ‘Doc’ Kauffman to create K&F Manufacturing Corporation to build lap steel guitars and amplifiers in Fullerton, California, USA
1944	Chicago Musical Instrument Company (CMI) acquired Gibson
1945	Les Paul invented and pioneered the use of echo‑delay and multi‑track studio recording techniques
1945	Schaller GmbH was founded by toolmaker and mechanic, Helmut Schaller (1923‑1999) in Postbauer‑Heng near Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. Schaller is a musical instrument hardware manufacturer
1946	Ampeg was founded by Everett Hull and Stanley Michaels in Linden, New Jersey, USA to manufacture transducer pickups (the ‘AMplified PEG’) for upright acoustic basses. Ampeg would later build specialist bass amplifiers
1946	‘Doc’ Kauffman and Leo Fender parted ways and the latter founded a new business to build guitars and amplifiers called Fender Electric Instrument Company
1946	Gibson introduced its premium P‑90 single coil pickup following the end of WWII. Gibson didn’t file a US patent for the P‑90 until 1955. P‑90s came in two forms depending on mounting, the ‘dog ear’ and ‘soapbar’ variants
1946	Fender introduced the ‘woodie’ series of valve amplifiers, built up to 1948 and Fender ‘tweed’ series amplifiers, built up to 1960
1946	Framus (Fränkische Musikinstrumentenerzeugung) was founded by Fred A. Wilfer (1917‑1996) in Erlangen Germany to resettle displaced workers from post‑WWII Luby in Czechoslovakia. The company was formed to make stringed instruments. Framus closed in 1975 and was resurrected in 1995 as part of Warwick GmbH & Co Music Equipment KG
1946	Following WWII, nylon strings widely replaced traditional gut strings on most classical instruments, including classical acoustic guitars
1946	Carvin Corporation was founded by Lowell Kiesel (1915‑2009), based in San Diego, California, USA to manufacture guitar pickups
1946	What would become the Teisco brand in 1964, Aoi Onpa Kenkyūjo was founded by guitarist Atswo Kaneko and electrical engineer Doryo Matsuda in Tokyo, Japan
1946	American former motorcycle racer, mechanic and inventor/designer, Paul Bigsby (1899‑1968) formed The Bigsby Electric Guitar Company, based in Downey, California, USA to build lap/pedal steel guitars, solid body electric guitars and accessories
1947	Gibson’s introduced the GA‑50T valve amplifier, the first amp to feature a built‑in tremolo effect
1947	Danelectro Corporation (short for ‘Daniel electric‘) was founded by electrical engineer, Nathan ‘Nat’ I. Daniel (1912‑1994), based initially in Red Bank and then in Neptune City, New Jersey, USA
1948	Gibson hired American businessman Ted McCarty (1909‑2001) from the Wurlitzer Company. He became vice president in 1949 and president of the company in 1950. McCarty rapidly expanded Gibson’s design and manufacturing capability during 1950s
1948	Paul Bigsby built a bespoke solid body electric guitar for country music artist Merle Travis. It was widely regarded as a milestone in solid body electric guitar design and was said to have heavily influenced Leo Fender’s guitars. Bigsby built two other guitars for George Grohs and Tommy ‘Butterball’ Paige
1948	Epiphone introduced the Emperor hollow body electric archtop guitar, associated with legendary jazz guitarist Joe Pass (1929-1994)
1948	Fender introduced its Champ valve amplifier, initially called the Champion 800, rated at 5W into an 8” speaker. Also widely introduced was the Princeton valve amp with 4W into an 8” speaker
1948	The Japanese brand, Teisco was introduced to sell affordable musical instruments. Teisco was one of the Japanese companies that imported budget instruments into the US and UK from 1960. In 1967, the brand was discontinued and, in 1969, the name was acquired by Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., Ltd. The brand was revived in 2018
1949	Leo Fender and George Fullerton started developing a prototype for a new solid body electric guitar design that would initially be called the Broadcaster. The guitar was formally re‑named the Telecaster in late 1951
1949	Gibson introduced the hollow body ES‑175 electric archtop jazz guitar. It featured f‑holes, a single Florentine cutaway and, initially, a single P‑90 pickup
1949	Watkins Electric Music (better known as WEM) was founded by brothers Charlie and Reg Watkins in London, England to manufacture PA systems, guitar amplifiers and electric guitars. WEM also became famous for its portable Copicat tape echo effect unit
1950	Fender appointed V.C. Squier Company to supply strings for the company’s new electric guitar models
1950	Fender introduced the first mass produced solid body electric guitar, the forerunner of the Fender Telecaster, the single and dual‑pickup Fender Esquire. Fender renamed it the Broadcaster before they were forced to remove the name (the so‑called ‘Nocaster’) due to a legal dispute with Gretsch. The model was officially renamed the Telecaster in 1951. The model has been in continuous production since
1950	Gibson president, Ted McCarty was heavily involved in many pioneering guitar design innovations during Gibson’s ‘golden age’ between 1950 and 1966. McCarty oversaw the introduction of the Gibson Les Paul Model, ES‑335, Flying V, Explorer, SG and Firebird, as well as the humbucking pickup and tune‑o‑matic bridge
1950	Jennings Musical Instruments (JMI) Ltd. was founded by Thomas Walter Jennings (1917‑1978) in Dartford, Kent, England to make guitar amplifiers. The company changed its name to Jennings Musical Industries in 1956. The company would formally become VOX in 1957
1951	Leo Fender’s Fender Electric Instrument Company was incorporated in Fullerton, California, USA
1951	Fender introduced the revolutionary solid body electric fretted Fender Precision Bass guitar alongside the newly re‑named Telecaster guitar
1951	Gibson introduced the Super 400CES (standing for Cutaway Electric Spanish), a high‑end 18”‑wide electric archtop jazz guitar
1952	Gibson introduced the Ted McCarty‑designed solid body electric guitar, the Les Paul Model gold top with a carved maple top over a mahogany body, a set mahogany neck, dual P‑90 single coil pickups and a trapeze tailpiece
1952	Jimmy D’Aquisto started work as an apprentice to master luthier John D’Angelico in Manhattan, New York City, USA
1952	Valco introduced its first solid body guitars under its National and Supro brand names. The Valco brand name never appeared on an instrument
1952	The Guild Guitar Company was founded by guitarist and music retailer Avram ‘Alfred’ Dronge (1911‑1972) in Manhattan, New York, USA. Guild employed many former Epiphone employees after the latter moved to Philadelphia following a damaging industrial dispute
1952	Fender introduced the famous Twin combo valve amplifier with two 12″ speakers and two 6L6 valves and a rated output of 25 watts. Fender also introduced the Bassman series, the first dedicated bass amplifiers
1953	Engineer and inventor, Paul Bigsby filed a US patent for the innovative Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. The patent was granted in the same year
1953	Ted McCarty designed the Tune‑O‑Matic adjustable bridge with wire retainer, first used on the Gibson Super 400 archtop jazz guitar
1953	Gretsch introduced the single cutaway 6128 Duo Jet with a chambered mahogany body, intended to compete with Gibson and Fender
1954	After a brief spell with Gibson, German luthier Roger Rossmeisl (1927‑1979) was appointed by Rickenbacker to design their electric guitars and basses
1954	Fender introduced the innovative 3‑pickup Stratocaster solid body electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton and Freddie Tavares. The Stratocaster has remained in continuous production to‑date
1954	Leo Fender filed a US patent for the Fender Synchronized Tremolo (vibrato). The patent was granted in 1956
1954	Gibson introduced the upmarket black (ebony) and gold Les Paul Custom using Ted McCarty’s adjustable Tune‑O‑Matic bridge
1954	Gibson introduced the entry‑level single‑cutaway, slab‑bodied Les Paul Junior guitar with a single P‑90 bridge pickup. The Junior’s body was changed to a double‑cutaway in 1958 and was discontinued in 1963
1954	Danelectro started production of a line of guitars using its distinctive ‘lipstick’ pickups, with covers made from actual cosmetic lipstick tubes
1954	Gibson introduced the J‑160E acoustic/electric 6‑string flat top guitar. The model was later made famous by John Lennon of The Beatles
1955	Valco introduced the National 1104 Town & Country solid body electric guitar. The Town & Country also appeared under the Airline brand
1955	Fender introduced the Tremolux valve amplifier, the first Fender amp with a built‑in tremolo effect. The design was patented in 1956
1955	Gibson introduced the intermediate‑level single‑cutaway, slab‑bodied Les Paul Special and TV guitars with dual P‑90 pickups. The Special’s body was changed to a double‑cutaway in 1958 until it would be replaced by the Les Paul SG (Solid Guitar) Special from 1961 and SG Special from 1963
1955	Gibson introduced their first thinline guitar model, the hollow‑body carved archtop Byrdland, named after guitarists Billy Byrd and Hank Garland. The Byrdland was based on the deeper L‑5CES and with a short 23½” scale. The guitar was available in both Florentine and Venetian cutaway form
1955	Prototyped in 1954, Gretsch introduced the single cutaway 6120 Chet Atkins Hollow Body with endorsement by American country guitarist Chet Atkins (1924‑2001). The body was changed to a double cutaway thinline design in 1962 and re‑name as the ‘6120 Nashville’ in 1964
1955	Zemaitis guitars was founded by London‑born luthier Tony Zemaitis (1935‑2002) based in London, England. He was born as Antanas Kazimeras Žemaitis, of Lithuanian descent
1956	Fender introduced the short scale single pickup solid‑body electric Musicmaster ‘student’ guitar. It would be followed by the Duo‑Sonic (also 1956), the Mustang (1964) and the Bronco (1967)
1956	Danelectro introduced the world’s first 6‑string electric bass guitar (a.k.a. the Tic‑Tac Bass)
1956	Hartley Peavey (1941‑) built his very first amplifier constructed from surplus parts. He would later go on to found Peavey Electronics in 1965
1956	Mosrite guitars was founded as Mosrite of California by Semie and Andy Moseley with investment from Reverend Ray Boatright. Mosrite started out to build electric guitars initially in Bakersfield and then in Los Angeles, California, USA. Mosrite went bankrupt in 1968
1956	Aria Guitars Co. was founded by Shiro Arai (1930‑2019) in Nagoya, Japan. Aria initially retailed acoustic guitars before they started to manufacture acoustic guitars from 1964 and electric guitars from 1966
1957	Wandrè Guitars was formed by artist and luthier, Italian Antonio Vandrè Pioli (1926‑2004). The instruments, known for their futuristic eccentric and experimental features, were sometimes referred to as ‘sound sculptures’. Wandrè guitars ceased production in 1968
1957	Epiphone was acquired by Gibson’s parent company, Chicago‑based CMI (Chicago Musical Instruments) and the two companies were merged
1957	Gibson introduced the milestone P.A.F (Patent Applied For) humbucking pickup designed by American electronic engineer Seth E. Lover (1910‑1997)
1957	Gretsch introduced the Filter’Tron humbucking pickup designed by American inventor and engineer Joseph Raymond Butts (1919‑2003)
1957	Rickenbacker introduced the iconic 4000 series bass guitar with its distinctive neck‑through body and ‘cresting wave’ body shape, designed by Roger Rossmeisl
1957	The Ibanez brand was created in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan as a subsidiary of Hoshino Gakki Kabushiki, a.k.a. Hoshino Musical Instruments
1957	Jennings Musical Industries (JMI) was renamed VOX Amplification Ltd. The rebrand was widely regarded as the founding of VOX in the UK
1958	British amp manufacturer VOX introduced the legendary AC30 combo valve amp, rated at 30W
1958	Fender introduced the upmarket Fender Jazzmaster offset solid body electric guitar, intended to attract conservative jazz guitarists from major rival, Gibson
1958	Gibson changed the gold top Les Paul Model to the cherry sunburst Les Paul Standard with dual PAF humbucking pickups. Arguably, the iconic Les Paul Standard ‘burst is Gibson’s most famous and desirable model. It was replaced in 1961 by the Les Paul Standard SG, renamed simply as the SG in 1963 after Les Paul’s endorsement agreement with Gibson ended
1958	Gibson introduced the ES‑335 semi‑hollow thinline electric guitar with an innovative solid centre block intended to reduce feedback in high gain situations. The semi‑acoustic centre block design ironically imitated Les Paul’s failed ‘the log’ prototype (1939‑1941)
1958	Gibson introduced the ground‑breaking and futuristic Modernistic series of guitars comprising the Flying V and Explorer solid body electric guitar models. A third model was proposed (and patented), the Moderne, although no known originals are known to exist. The Moderne was finally released in 1982‑1983 (with just 143 sold)
1958	The budget Gibson Les Paul SG Junior, Special and TV models were redesigned with new slab body, double‑cutaway guitars, replacing the original single cutaway ones
1958	Airline guitars, manufactured by Valco, sold through the Montgomery Ward department store and mail‑order business, were introduced and remained for sale until 1968 when Valco went bankrupt
1958	Rickenbacker introduced the semi‑acoustic 300 series guitars designed by German luthier Roger Rossmeisl
1958	British string manufacturer Rotosound was founded by brothers James and Ron How in Blackfen, Kent, England, although the Rotosound brand name wasn’t used until 1963
1958	Swedish manufacturer, Hagström started making electric guitars and basses
1959	Gibson introduced the lower priced Melody Maker solid‑body electric ‘student’ guitar, initially based on the outline of the Les Paul and using new covered single coil pickups
1959	Fender introduced the ‘Brownface’ series of valve amplifiers, manufactured until the style was discontinued in 1963
1959	Burns Guitars London was founded by Alice Farrell and Jim Burns (1925‑1998) in London, England to build electric guitars and basses
1959	Japanese brand Takamine – inspired by Mount Takamine – was founded as Ozhone Musical Instrument Manufacturing in Sakashita, Gifu, Japan to make acoustic guitars. The company was renamed Takamine Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in 1962

For those who prefer a purely visual interpretation of guitars as a counterpoint to either the infographic or the chronological listing, here is a graphical illustration of 18 key milestones in guitar evolution from 1900 to 1959.

“Doesn’t matter what guitar you play, as long as you’ve got passion!” – Eric Johnson (1954‑)

Final Thoughts on ‘A Timeline of Guitar History in 400+ Snippets: Part II’

Like the film, ‘Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980), this article is the meat in a timeline sandwich, so there aren’t any ‘final’ thoughts at this stage. A retrospective critique will now be reserved for the end of Part III. While it isn’t the beginning and it isn’t the end, it remains a crucial part of the guitar’s story and the validity of the entries are just as important as the other parts.

I have to admit that 1959 feels like a less than ideal intermission point. It would have been better to break at, say 1949 instead of 1959 but that would then imbalance the overall topic. In some ways, though, the end of the 1950s was a watershed in cultural, social and musical change. It is also a relevant year for the author, experiencing the world that would by home for the first time. So, 1959 it is.

“Guitars have been the obsession of my life. I first picked one up at the age of four and I’ve been a guitar junkie ever since” – Johnny Marr (1963‑)

CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Album of the Month’

This could be pretty much any album from the history of guitar music recordings. However, one had to be chosen, so I have gone for something that represents both a landmark in both guitar music as well as recording. The pick wasn’t actually an album at the time but it has become an essential collection of tracks for most guitar aficionados and for anyone with an interest in guitar history. I reckon it’s a fitting choice for this article, deriving from the first half of the 20^th Century. Drum roll please. This month’s accolade goes to…

Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings (1990): Given the expansive mythology surrounding Robert Johnson (1911‑1938), in the real world he only recorded 29 songs with 13 alternate takes in two separate occasions. The first recording sessions took place between 23 and 25 November 1936, in San Antonio, Texas, USA. The second recording sessions took place on 19 and 20 June 1937, in Dallas, Texas. This compilation album comprises 41 tracks, which represents all but one known tracks, covering a total of 107 minutes. It therefore represents a definitive milestone in the history of the blues and guitar music.

There isn’t room here to go into all the fascinating truths, myths, legends and fictions surrounding American delta blues guitarist, singer/songwriter and Mississippi native Robert Leroy Johnson and his trusty Gibson L1 acoustic guitar. Despite his limited recording portfolio recorded during his short life (he died in mysterious circumstances at the age 27, thereby unwittingly founding the infamous ’27 club’), he has become one of the most celebrated and influential of all guitarists, transcending the acoustic blues tradition of which he was part. Other virtuoso instrumentalists like jazz guitarist Charlie Christian (1916‑1942) and gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt (1910‑1953) can also be regarded as similarly influential in terms of early recorded guitarists. Without these guys, we wouldn’t have the diversity of guitar music we enjoy today.

BELIEVE IN MUSIC!

“Hello Satan, it’s time to go. Me and the devil, walkin’ side by side” – Robert Johnson (1911‑1938)

Tailpiece

Wow, this is turning into a genuine epic. It was as I was editing the original full Part II, it became obvious that it was just too much for a single article. If I was struggling to edit it due to its enormity, then readers would also have a hard time wading through so much information. There was little point in being counter‑productive. It was only very close to publication date that I decided to make the change. Without a great deal of time to reflect, I can only trust that the outcome hasn’t been overly compromised.

“Some people tell me that the worried blues ain’t bad. Worst old feelin’ I most ever had” – Robert Johnson (1911‑1938)

Please come back next month and join me for the third and now‑final part of the esteemed guitar’s timeline. Adiós por ahora, mis amigos.

Truth, peace, love, and guitar music be with you always. The CRAVEman, signing off for now. Until next time…

CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Quote of the Month’: “Unwise people all too often confuse power, money and information with wisdom, wealth and knowledge. Wise people understand the difference and live wisely”

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29 Nov 2019

November 2019 – The Story of Modern Music in 1,500+ Facts – Part IX

by CRAVEGuitars | posted in: History, Introduction, Observations | 0

Introduction

Welcome to the end of the 20^th Century. Not actually, of course, that was 20 years ago now. I mean, in the ‘Story of Modern Music’, having covered almost 350 years so far, welcomes you to the very end of the century that really transformed mankind’s potential and bestowed opportunities hitherto unforeseen and unthought‑of, including musically.

If you would like to (re)visit any of the first eight chapters of the story to‑date, you can do so here (each link opens a new browser tab):

I did think of trying to compress the last three decades into a single article and then thought better of it on the grounds that doing so might diminish the impact of the period within the overall picture. So, just for now, the millennial years will have to wait. The result is that the 1990s will have its own dedicated article, although it will be a slightly more diminutive read compared to the previous five decades/articles.

The Story of Modern Music Part IX 1990-1999

It is quite tricky to pinpoint exactly what the ‘90s meant to music devotees. It seemed to depend where you lived, your age and, perhaps, what socio‑economic ‘class’ you belonged to. Whether it was grunge, alternative, Britpop or dance music that floated your boat, there was a new and exciting scene to associate with and belong to. The psychological attachment to a musical style was important to many, especially young people who were looking for some structure to life while the old order of social and political systems seemed to be disintegrating around them. Although not quite as disobedient and defiant as previous musical archetypes, there was still an underlying seething resentment of ‘the man’, which various groups saw as attempting to control their chosen form of exuberant self‑expression. In a sense, they were tapping into the anger of the marginalised.

With previous decades, it was notable that births of familiar artists outnumbered deaths, while the ‘90s saw that trend beginning to reverse. Many future artists that may well achieve sustained fame may have been born in the ‘90s but not yet discovered, while the stars of previous eras are getting, let’s be honest, a bit long in the tooth.

Similarly, it is becoming difficult to distinguish what definitive musical gems will rise from the seeming homogeneity of releases to become revered as ‘classic’ in years to come. Arguably, the 1990s marked the last vestiges of milestone singles and albums. From then on, listening habits began to change fundamentally and that, in turn, changed the way we regard significance, at least through the traditional lens of sales figures.

Historical Context 1990-1999

Some commentators called the 1990s as the ‘best decade’, although that clearly depended on your circumstances and point of view! The dawn of the 1990s experienced widespread international political restructuring, especially in Eastern Europe following the end of the Cold War and the fracturing of the communist Eastern Bloc. The 1990s also saw the growth in environmental consciousness based on dire scientific predictions about global warming and climate change. Ironically, scaremongering about ‘greenhouse gases’ led to an expansion of ‘green’ industries in developed countries. Similarly, many commentators observed signs of societal dysfunctionality, leading to prescient dystopian novels such as ‘Generation X’ by Douglas Coupland (1991), ‘Random Acts Of Senseless Violence’ by Jack Womack (1992), and ‘Prozac Nation’ by Elizabeth Wurtzel (1994). The wealth gap between the haves and have‑nots was striking; a morally unjustifiable trend that would only worsen from the 1990s onwards. The increase in the pace of technological change in post‑industrial countries fuelled the migration towards ‘digitocracies’ and resulted in manufacturing being outsourced to low‑cost developing countries on a massive scale. A period of unprecedented growth in the use of the Internet fuelled unsustainable speculation in the value of high‑tech companies, known broadly as the ‘dot‑com bubble’, a phenomenon that was bound to burst, which it ultimately did. Many companies that had become reliant on IT during the decade were fearful of the impact of Y2K on computer systems that were not prepared for the turn of the millennium.

Year	Global Events
1990	Following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of soviet communism, East and West Germany were reunited as the Federal Republic of Germany. Political internee and equal rights campaigner, Nelson Mandela was released from prison after serving 27 years. His return to freedom effectively marked the end of apartheid in South Africa. The ground breaking American cult TV series Twin Peaks burst onto screens. Created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, and starring Kyle MacLachlan. It is considered a landmark in television drama. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, named after American astronomer Edwin Hubble, was launched into low Earth orbit. The telescope was designed to look into deep space. The first Middle East Gulf War started after Iraq invaded and annexed neighbouring Kuwait. A U.S.‑led coalition of 35 countries responded with Operation Desert Storm resulting in a coalition victory.
1991	Communist rule of the soviet USSR ended, resulting in a break up into a number of separate countries. The dismantling of the communist state effectively ended the 45‑year old Cold War between Russia and America. British computer scientist and engineer, Tim Berners-Lee posted a short summary of the World Wide Web project, effectively launching the Internet, initially to research institutions and then to the general public.
1992	The infamous Los Angeles riots took place after 4 LAPD officers were acquitted of using excessive force in the arrest of African-American Rodney King the previous year. The incident had been videotaped and broadcast widely on TV, sparking renewed civil rights activism. Founded in 1918, Central European country Yugoslavia descended into bitter civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a devastating military conflict that lasted until 1995.
1993	Democrat politician Bill Clinton became the 42^nd president of the U.S.A. Another massive American cult TV series, The X-Files was first broadcast, created by Chris Carter and starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. The European Union (EU) succeeded the European Economic Community (EEC) when 12 countries signed the Maastricht Treaty, signalling a process of closer political and economic union.
1994	The trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico came into effect. Anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician Nelson Mandela was elected as president of South Africa. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) declared a cease fire in Northern Ireland, paving the way for de‑armament and the subsequent peace process. The 38Km (23.5mile) Channel Tunnel rail link beneath the English Channel from Folkestone in England to Calais in France was opened for business.
1995	The phenomenally successful multi‑national online auction and e‑commerce website eBay was launched, founded by entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar and based in San Jose, California. Former professional American footballer O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of the double murder of former wife Nicole Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman. The criminal trial, held in Los Angeles, was widely broadcast on TV.
1996	Dolly the sheep became the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell by using nuclear transfer in Scotland, UK. Dolly died in 2003 at the age of 6. Heir to the British throne, Prince Charles was formally divorced from Diana, Princess of Wales in London.
1997	The British crown colony of Hong Kong was returned to Chinese sovereignty as a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China after 156 years of British rule. Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris, France at the age of 36. Her lover, Egyptian socialite Dodi Fayed, was also killed in the crash, sparking many conspiracy theories. Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and humanitarian missionary Mother Teresa died of a heart attack in Rome at the age of 87. The Pacific Rim countries were hit by the major Asian Financial Crisis, starting in Thailand and spreading rapidly across east and southeast Asia, resulting in an international financial contagion that threatened a severe worldwide economic meltdown.
1998	The male virility drug Sildenafil, commonly known as Viagra, became available for use in America. It was originally discovered by pharmaceutical company Pfizer as a treatment for heart‑related chest pain. The Internet search engine Google Search was launched. It is the most widely used search engine on the World Wide Web, with over 90% market share in 2019, handling more than 5 billion searches per day. Multinational technology giant, Apple Inc. launched the highly successful iMac computer. The multilateral Good Friday Agreement was signed in Belfast by the Republic of Ireland and Britain as part of the on-going Northern Ireland peace process. The first module of the International Space Station (ISS) was launched into low Earth orbit. The ISS has served as a multinational microgravity research laboratory.
1999	The Euro became the official single currency for the majority of European Union (EU) countries, known commonly as the Eurozone. The security of the Euro is overseen by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. Politician, Vladimir Putin became President of Russian Federation, succeeding former president, Boris Yeltsin.

Musical Genre Development 1990-1999

The 1990s was a decade of sometimes dysfunctional music set against a background of major political change and social polarisation/alienation.

One phenomenon of the 1990s that isn’t genre‑specific but which built on the perennial success of pop music was the ‘boy band’ and its all‑girl equivalent. Artists included Backstreet Boys, Boyz II Men, *NSYNC, Take That, Westlife, All Saints, S Club 7, Spice Girls and Destiny’s Child. The record company ‘manufactured’ bands didn’t have it all their own way; solo pop music artists were also highly successful during the 1990s, including Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Simpson, and Mandy Moore.

American heavy metal saw a resurgence including bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Pantera achieving massive popularity. Meanwhile, British heavy metal was also prospering with NWOBHM bands such as Def Leppard, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.

Hip‑hop became increasingly divisive, inciting gang warfare, gun violence and drug use, fuelling rivalry between east and west coast artists, and resulting in a number of high profile deaths including Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.

The English ‘Manchester movement’ (or ‘Madchester’ as it was often called) was strong in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. The scene centred on venues like the Haçienda nightclub in Manchester, run by post‑punk band New Order and led by local bands such as Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and The Charlatans, although the latter were actually based in the west midlands. The music isn’t necessarily a genre per se, it was more of a loose social and cultural grouping that also encompassed fashion, art and media. The OTT craziness of the Manchester scene was faithfully represented in the film ’24 Hour Party People’, made in 2002, directed by Michael Winterbottom. Other artists associated with the vital hotpot based around the UK’s North West were The Verve, Inspiral Carpets and James, as well as Scottish band Primal Scream. The Manchester ‘baggy’ zeitgeist would be important in the growth of the drug‑fuelled rave scene later in the decade.

A fusing of genres led to the emergence of trip hop as a discrete genre that grew from its roots in Bristol, UK and was pioneered by artists like Massive Attack, Tricky, Portishead, Morcheeba and Sneaker Pimps. Sometimes referred to as ‘downtempo’, it is typified by taking electronica, hip‑hop, house, funk, dub, soul and psychedelia and creating something altogether different and fresh. While its roots were clearly experimental and atmospheric, trip hop was influential in that it led to other popular mainstream forms that became subsumed in the electronic dance craze (see below) of the 1990s and early 2000s, including breakbeat, bigbeat, drum ‘n’ bass, IDM, dubstep and acid jazz. Like the Manchester movement, trip hop was very much a UK‑led genre, which had little mainstream success in the U.S.

Like punk before it, alternative rock and its counterpart, experimental noise rock, is a musical genre that railed against the major record corporations that ran the music business and the mainstream pop and rock products they marketed. Independent producers and record labels that existed outside the studio system were very much part of an active underground movement, particularly in America, and this is where a number of bands came to public attention at the start of the 1990s. Compared to the mainstream, alternative artists found it relatively difficult to garner wide audience appeal, so word of mouth, radio and record releases were the way that the message got out. The alternative moniker is more of an umbrella term relating to artists’ status in the system, rather than having definitive identifiable genre characteristics. Notable alternative artists include Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Nine Inch Nails, Beck, Jane’s Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins and Pixies. Before they signed to a major label, R.E.M. were seen as alternative and this started a broadening of the definition that included other major artists such as Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age, Radiohead and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. The start of the new millennium saw other alternative rock artists emerge including The Strokes, Interpol and The Rapture, extending and ensuring alternative rock’s destiny into the 21^st Century.

Grunge is a specific genre of music that developed in the Pacific North West of the United States and more specifically its epicentre in and around Seattle in Washington State. Like alternative/noise rock, grunge was an underground movement centred on an independent record label, in this case, Sub Pop records based in Seattle. Grunge is influenced by punk, metal and alternative styles resulting in something altogether different from all of them. Grunge is characterised by slow, raw arrangements and a distinctly distorted lo‑fi sound. Compositions often followed a quiet‑loud‑quiet structure. Lyrics tended to be downbeat, melancholic, anti‑consumerist and often depraved with a focus on cultural alienation and social isolation. While all of the following rejected the term ‘grunge’ as defining their music, especially after signing to major labels, the early pioneers of Seattle’s grunge scene included Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney and Alice In Chains. The core grunge scene had largely fizzled out and diversified by the end of the 20^th Century. A revival of the grunge ethic evolved in the 2010s to include artists like Courtney Barnett, Wolf Alice and Yuck.

Britpop was essentially an upbeat and positive British reaction to the dark and depressing American grunge scene. The music and its cultural background (nicknamed ‘Cool Britannia’) lasted approximately from 1993‑1997 before fizzling out. The major bands of the Britpop period included the ‘big four’; Oasis, Blur, Pulp and Suede. Collectively they expanded popularity to include other artists such as Supergrass, Cast, The Lightning Seeds, Sleeper and Elastica. The so‑called ‘Battle of Britpop’ between Oasis and Blur around 1995 was a media‑fuelled highlight catching the public’s imagination at the time. Britpop was important for influencing many quintessentially British bands that came along for the ride including Coldplay, Travis, Feeder, Stereophonics, Elbow, Snow Patrol and Keane. Further influences included Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys in the 2000s.

Dance music (in this context, Electronic Dance Music – EDM) was a phenomenon that had its roots in the late 1980s but exploded in the early 1990s and lasted well into the 2000s. Dance music comprises largely electronically produced progressive dance music intended for use at nightclubs, festivals and (often illegal) raves by DJs who mixed and re‑mixed heavy beats through loud PA systems to audience rapture. In fact, many record labels and DJs became far more celebrated than the musical artists they played in their DJ sets. The predominant sub‑genres of dance music include house, techno, trance, drum ‘n’ bass and dubstep, although these only represent the tip of the dance sub‑genre iceberg. Dance beats generally comprise programmed synthesizers, samplers and drum machines to produce buoyant, insistent 4/4 dance rhythms. Dance music also became synonymous with recreational drug use such as ecstasy (MDMA) as well as party holiday destinations such as Ibiza and Mykonos islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Some of the famous artists of the dance scene include The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Underworld, Orbital, KLF, The Shamen, The Future Sound of London, 808 State, Groove Armada, Aphex Twin, Basement Jaxx and Daft Punk. Later artists built on the foundation, include Pendulum, SBTRKT and Skream. DJs became pivotal in promoting the dance craze and became famous in their own right, including Carl Cox, Fatboy Slim, Pete Tong, Paul Van Dyk and Armin van Buuren. There are many sub‑genres of dance including acid house, IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), ambient, breakbeat, downtempo, jungle and UK garage, all ensuring that dance music remains up‑to‑date and relevant in the 21^st Century.

Musical Facts 1990-1999

Day	Month	Year	Music Fact
23	January	1990	American guitarist and co-founder of southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allen Collins died from pneumonia in Jacksonville, Florida at the age of 37.
8	February	1990	American country and rock & roll singer and songwriter, Del Shannon committed suicide as a result of depression at his home in California at the age of 55.
18	February	1990	English singer Freddie Mercury made his final public appearance with other members of pop/rock band Queen at the Brit Awards ceremony, held in London.
20	March	1990	English electronic/alternative rock band Depeche Mode released their career-defining classic 7^th studio album, ‘Violator’ in the UK.
26	March	1990	Northern Irish blues/rock guitarist, Gary Moore released his classic studio album, ‘Still Got The Blues’.
3	April	1990	Highly acclaimed Grammy award winning American jazz singer Sarah Vaughan died from cancer at her home in Hidden Hills, California at the age of 66.
10	April	1990	American East Coast rappers Public Enemy released their politically charged 3rd studio album, ‘Fear of a Black Planet’.
16	April	1990	Indie rock giants, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released their 6^th studio album, ‘The Good Son’.
26	June	1990	Prolific American alternative rock band Sonic Youth released their successful and significant 6^th studio album, ‘Goo’.
24	July	1990	American heavy metal rock band Pantera released their classic 5^th studio album ‘Cowboys From Hell’.
21	August	1990	Legendary American blues guitarist and singer B.B. King received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6771 Hollywood Boulevard.
27	August	1990	American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, Stevie Ray Vaughan and four others died tragically in a helicopter crash in East Troy, Wisconsin at the age of 35.
31	August	1990	The funeral service of American blues/rock guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan took place at Laurel Land Cemetery in Dallas, Texas.
3	September	1990	English heavy metal rock band Judas Priest released their 12^th studio album, ‘Painkiller’.
21	September	1990	American thrash metal rock band Megadeth released their superb classic 4^th studio album, ‘Rust In Peace’.
6	October	1990	American Heavy metal band Metallica began recording their massive studio album ‘Metallica’ (aka the ‘black album’) in Los Angeles, California.
9	October	1990	American thrash metal band, Slayer, released their mega 5^th studio album, ‘Seasons In The Abyss’.
29	October	1990	Legendary award-winning American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter John Lee Hooker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
8	January	1991	English guitarist and songwriter, Steve Clark of hard rock band Def Leppard died of alcohol poisoning at his home in London, at the age of 30.
15	February	1991	Successful English pop singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actor Ed Sheeran was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire.
21	March	1991	Legendary American inventor and founder of Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, Leo Fender died from Parkinson’s disease in Fullerton, California at the age of 81.
8	April	1991	English trip-hop pioneers, Massive Attack, released their successful debut studio album, ‘Blue Lines’ in the UK, including the dance anthem, ‘Unfinished Sympathy’.
20	April	1991	English guitarist and front man of rock bands Small Faces and Humble Pie, Steve Marriott died in a house fire at his home in Essex at the age of 44.
23	April	1991	American guitarist, singer and songwriter with New York Dolls, Jonny Thunders died in mysterious circumstances in a hotel room in New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of 38.
30	July	1991	American heavy metal rock band Metallica released their massively successful single ‘Enter Sandman’.
12	August	1991	American heavy metal band Metallica released their career-defining 5^th studio album, ‘Metallica’, often referred to as ‘the black album’.
27	August	1991	American alternative rock band from Seattle, the home of grunge rock pioneers, Pearl Jam burst onto the scene with the release of their astonishing platinum-selling debut studio album, ‘Ten’.
10	September	1991	American grunge rock pioneers Nirvana released their ‘90s anthem for disaffected youth, the near perfect hit single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.
17	September	1991	American hard rock band, Guns n’ Roses, released their 3^rd and 4^th studio albums ‘Use Your Illusion’ parts I & II on the same day in the U.S.
23	September	1991	Scottish alternative rock band, Primal Scream released their massive 3^rd studio album, ‘Screamadelica’.
24	September	1991	American grunge rock pioneers Nirvana released their career-defining classic 2^nd studio album ‘Never Mind’ in the U.S. Well over 30 million copies have been sold so far.
24	September	1991	American alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers released their 5^th studio album, ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’, produced by Rick Rubin.
28	September	1991	American jazz trumpeter, Miles Davis died of complications from a stroke, pneumonia, and respiratory failure in a hospital in Santa Monica, California at the age of 65.
14	November	1991	Legendary American guitarist and singer Jimi Hendrix received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6627 Hollywood Boulevard.
18	November	1991	Massive Irish rock band, U2, released their storming 7^th studio album, ‘Achtung Baby’ in the UK.
24	November	1991	English singer with pop/rock band Queen, Freddie Mercury died of pneumonia resulting from AIDS at his home in London at the age of 45.
15	January	1992	Rock band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and country music legend, Johnny Cash were both inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
29	January	1992	Influential American blues singer, songwriter, upright bass player and guitarist, Willie Dixon died of heart failure in Burbank, California at the age of 76.
21	February	1992	American heavy metal rock band Pantera released their classic 6^th studio album ‘Vulgar Display Of Power’.
31	March	1992	English heavy metal rock band Def Leppard released their classic 5^th studio album, ‘Adrenalize’.
20	April	1992	English indie rock icons, The Cure released their upbeat, commercial 10^th studio album, ‘Wish’.
21	April	1992	American rap rockers, Beastie Boys, released their 3^rd studio album, ‘Check Your Head’.
27	April	1992	Indie rock giants, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released their great 7^th album, ‘Henry’s Dream’.
9	May	1992	American guitarist, singer and songwriter Bruce Springsteen made his live American TV network debut on ‘Saturday Night Live’ with show host Tom Hanks.
21	July	1992	American alternative rock band Sonic Youth released their cult, cool, classic 8^th studio album, ‘Dirty’.
29	September	1992	American alternative rock band Alice In Chains released their sophomore studio album, ‘Dirt’.
6	October	1992	American rock band R.E.M. released their classic top‑selling studio album, ‘Automatic For The People’.
3	November	1992	American rock band Bon Jovi released their classic 5^th studio album, ‘Keep The Faith’.
10	November	1992	American rock band Rage Against The Machine released their outstanding and career defining eponymous debut album ‘Rage Against The Machine’.
9	December	1992	Although not officially announced until January 1993, English bass guitarist Bill Wyman left The Rolling Stones.
21	December	1992	Legendary American blues guitarist, Albert King died from a heart attack at his home in Memphis Tennessee at the age of 69, just 2 days after his last concert.
6	January	1993	English bass guitarist Bill Wyman officially announced that he was leaving The Rolling Stones after more than 3 decades with the band.
23	March	1993	English alternative/electronic rock band Depeche Mode released their 8^th studio album, ‘Songs Of Faith And Devotion’ in the UK.
20	April	1993	Emerging English alternative rock band Radiohead released their debut album, ‘Pablo Honey’ in the UK.
29	April	1993	English session guitarist, songwriter and producer who played extensively with David Bowie’s Spiders From Mars among others, Mick Ronson died from liver cancer in London at the age of 46.
23	August	1993	English new romantic band Duran Duran received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1770 Vine Street.
21	September	1993	American alternative grunge rock band, Nirvana released their 3^rd and final studio album, ‘In Utero’.
19	October	1993	American rock band Pearl Jam released their major 2^nd studio album, ‘Vs.’.
9	November	1993	American East Coast rappers Wu-Tang Clan released their incendiary debut studio album, ‘Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)’.
19	November	1993	American grunge rock band Nirvana recorded their classic live acoustic concert and album, ‘MTV Unplugged In New York’ at Sony Music Studios.
23	November	1993	American rock band, Guns N’ Roses, released their 5^th studio album, ‘The Spaghetti Incident?’
24	November	1993	Legendary American blues/rock guitarist, nicknamed The ‘Master of the Telecaster’ and ‘The Ice Man’, Albert Collins died from lung cancer at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 61.
4	December	1993	Non-conformist American guitarist and composer extraordinaire, Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 52.
1	February	1994	American pop punk rock band Green Day released their breakthrough 3^rd studio album, ‘Dookie’.
1	March	1994	American grunge band Nirvana played their last ever live concert, interrupted by a power cut, in Munich, Germany.
1	March	1994	American alternative rock artist, Beck released his 3^rd studio album, ‘Mellow Gold’.
8	March	1994	American alternative rock band, Nine Inch Nails released their career-peak 2^nd studio album, ‘The Downward Spiral’.
5	April	1994	American singer, songwriter, guitarist and member of grunge rock band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain died from a self‑inflicted shotgun wound in Seattle, Washington at the age of 27.
19	April	1994	Alternative rock band Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released their classic, career-defining 8^th studio album, ‘Let Love In’.
26	April	1994	American country music legend Johnny Cash embarked on a whole new period of his career with the release of his classic studio album, ‘American Recordings’.
27	April	1994	The famous San Francisco music venue the Fillmore reopened its doors at 1805 Geary Boulevard. It had been closed since 1989 after being damaged in an earthquake.
23	May	1994	Influential American virtuoso jazz guitarist, Joe Pass died from liver cancer in Los Angeles, California at the age 65.
24	May	1994	American rappers, Beastie Boys, released their classic 4^th studio album, ‘Ill Communication’ in the U.S.
14	July	1994	English rave band The Prodigy released their breakout 2^nd studio album ‘Music for the Jilted Generation’.
22	August	1994	Pioneering English trip-hop band, Portishead released their ground breaking debut studio album, ‘Dummy’.
23	August	1994	Acclaimed American singer, songwriter and guitarist Jeff Buckley released his first and only studio album, ‘Grace’. A modern classic.
26	September	1994	English trip-hop outfit, Massive Attack, released their great sophomore studio album, ‘Protection’ in the UK.
4	October	1994	Versatile American ‘redneck jazz’ guitarist Danny Gatton died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds at his home in Newburg, Maryland at the age of 49.
1	November	1994	American grunge band Nirvana released their impressive award-winning live album, ‘MTV Unplugged in New York’, 6 months after Kurt Cobain’s death.
5	December	1994	English indie rock group The Stone Roses released their sophomore studio album, ‘Second Coming’.
13	March	1995	English alternative rock band Radiohead released their breakout 2^nd studio album, ‘The Bends’ in the UK.
13	June	1995	Canadian singer, songwriter, musician and producer Alanis Morissette released her classic 3^rd studio album, ‘Jagged Little Pill’.
14	June	1995	Renowned Irish blues/rock guitarist Rory Gallagher died of MRSA following liver failure caused by medication and alcohol in London at the age of 47.
9	August	1995	American guitarist Jerry Garcia of psychedelic rock band Grateful Dead died from a heart attack while at a rehabilitation centre in California at the age of 53.
2	September	1995	12 years after it was founded, America’s homage to contemporary music, the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Museum opened on the shore of Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio and was celebrated with an all-star concert.
26	September	1995	American alternative rock band Sonic Youth released their great 10^th studio album, ‘Washing Machine’.
2	October	1995	Australian artists, Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue released the haunting and elegiac duet single ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’.
7	November	1995	American alternative rock band Alice In Chains released their eponymous 3^rd studio album, ‘Alice In Chains’.
21	November	1995	American rock legend, Bruce Springsteen released his 11^th studio album, ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’.
17	January	1996	Music greats, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Velvet Underground were all inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
5	February	1996	Australian alternative rockers, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released their dark 9^th studio album, ‘Murder Ballads’.
16	April	1996	American alternative rock group Rage Against The Machine released their sophomore studio album, ‘Evil Empire’.
17	May	1996	American blues, soul and funk singer, songwriter and guitarist, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson died of a heart attack after collapsing on stage in Yokohama, Japan at the age of 61.
15	June	1996	Legendary American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald died of complications from diabetes in Beverley Hills, California, at the age of 79.
18	June	1996	American alternative rock artist, Beck, released his classic, top-selling 5^th studio album, ‘Odelay’.
17	July	1996	English bass guitarist with R&B band The Animals and Jimi Hendrix’s manager, Chas Chandler died of an aneurism in Newcastle, at the age of 57.
10	September	1996	American alt-rock group R.E.M. released their classic 10^th studio album, ‘New Adventures In Hi-Fi’.
13	September	1996	American rapper Tupac Shakur died of gunshot wounds following a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 25.
19	September	1996	American jazz guitarist George Benson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7055 Hollywood Boulevard.
31	October	1996	English/American guitarist Slash announced that he was leaving rock band Guns N’ Roses after a relationship breakdown with the group’s lead singer Axl Rose.
2	November	1996	Sublime American singer and guitarist, known as ‘the songbird’, Eva Cassidy died from cancer in Bowie, Maryland at the age of 33.
10	January	1997	American soul legend James Brown received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1501 Vine Street.
12	February	1997	English singer and songwriter David Bowie received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.
4	March	1997	Alternative rock band, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released their classic 10^th studio album, ‘The Boatman’s Call’.
9	March	1997	American rapper Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G.) was shot and killed in Los Angeles, California at the age of 24.
11	March	1997	English former member of The Beatles, Paul McCartney was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, London.
7	April	1997	British dance/electronica/big beat duo, The Chemical Brothers, released their massive studio album, ‘Dig Your Own Hole’ in the UK.
14	April	1997	English electronic/alternative rock band Depeche Mode released their classic 9^th studio album, ‘Ultra’ in the UK.
29	May	1997	Renowned American singer, songwriter and guitarist Jeff Buckley died tragically from accidental drowning in Wolf River Harbor, Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 30.
4	June	1997	English bass guitarist and founder of rock band Small Faces, Ronnie Lane died from pneumonia resulting from multiple sclerosis in Trinidad, Colorado at the age of 51.
16	June	1997	English alternative rock band Radiohead released their top-selling 3^rd studio album, ‘OK Computer’ in the UK.
30	June	1997	British rave band, Prodigy, released their massive zeitgeist‑defining 3^rd studio album, ‘The Fat Of The Land’ in the UK.
22	August	1997	German industrial metal rock band Rammstein released their massive 2^nd studio album, ‘Sensucht’ (translated crudely as ‘Desire’).
11	September	1997	American blues legend John Lee Hooker received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard.
30	September	1997	English trip-hop band, Portishead released their eponymous sophomore album, ‘Portishead’ in the UK.
12	October	1997	American folk singer, songwriter and guitarist John Denver died tragically in plane crash in Monterey Bay, California, at the age of 53.
19	October	1997	American guitarist, best known for his work with Alice Cooper, Glen Buxton, died of complications from pneumonia in a hospital in Mason City, Iowa at the age of 49.
10	November	1997	Highly-regarded American session guitarist and one of the most recorded musicians in popular music history, Tommy Tedesco died of lung cancer in Northridge, California at the age of 67.
22	November	1997	Australian singer and front man of the rock band INXS, Michael Hutchence committed suicide in Sydney, Australia at the age of 37.
19	January	1998	American singer, songwriter and guitarist, Carl Perkins died from throat cancer in Jackson-Madison County Hospital, Tennessee, at the age of 65.
30	January	1998	English pop singer and songwriter Sir Elton John received his knighthood from Her Majesty The Queen.
19	February	1998	Legendary American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7060 Hollywood Boulevard.
20	April	1998	English trip-hop outfit, Massive Attack, released their classic 3^rd studio album, ‘Mezzanine’ in the UK.
14	May	1998	American singer and actor, Frank Sinatra died from a heart attack at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California at the age of 82.
6	July	1998	Legendary American singer, guitarist and actor, nicknamed the ‘King of the Cowboys’, Roy Rogers died of heart failure in Apple Valley, California at the age of 86.
25	July	1998	American virtuoso jazz guitarist, Tal Farlow died of oesophageal cancer in New York City at the age of 77.
17	August	1998	Mexican-American guitar legend Carlos Santana received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard.
15	September	1998	American heavy metal rock artist, Marilyn Manson released his massively successful classic 3^rd studio album, ‘Mechanical Animals’.
24	September	1998	American icon and rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis Presley was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
1	October	1998	American guitarist, singer and songwriter and founder of rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.
2	October	1998	American country & western ‘singing cowboy’ Gene Autry died of lymphoma at his home in Studio City, California at the age of 91.
6	October	1998	American rock band Queens Of The Stone Age (QOTSA) released their self-titled debut album, ‘Queens Of The Stone Age’.
13	October	1998	The Crossroads Centre in Antigua, founded by English blues/rock guitarist and singer Eric Clapton, opened its doors to help clients with drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
3	November	1998	American alternative rock singer, songwriter, musician and producer, Beck, released his 6^th studio album, ‘Mutations’, the follow up to the massive ‘Odelay’.
29	November	1998	American jazz pioneer of the 7-string guitar, George Van Eps, died of pneumonia in Newport Beach, California at the age of 85.
25	December	1998	English pop/rock band, The Beatles, received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard.
30	December	1998	American surf rock band The Beach Boys received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street.
15	March	1999	Legendary American singer and songwriter Bruce Springsteen was inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
28	April	1999	American rock band Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Boulevard.
17	May	1999	Award-winning American singer, songwriter, guitarist, electronica musician and producer Moby released his mega-successful 5^th studio album, ‘Play’.
15	June	1999	After a long break, American Latin rock band Santana released their highly successful 17^th studio album, ‘Supernatural’.
16	June	1999	English rock singer, drummer and member of progressive rock band Genesis, Phil Collins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard.
24	June	1999	English blues/rock guitarist, Eric Clapton auctioned many of his guitars in New York City. The proceeds were used in support of the Crossroads Centre he founded in Antigua as a residential treatment centre for alcohol and chemical dependencies.
11	August	1999	American rock band KISS received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard.
7	September	1999	American virtuoso guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer Steve Vai released his astonishing 5^th studio album, ‘The Ultra Zone’.
2	November	1999	American alternative rock band Rage Against The Machine released their 3^rd studio album, ‘The Battle Of Los Angeles’ in the UK.
23	November	1999	American alternative rock artist, Beck, released his adventurous 7^th studio album, ‘Midnite Vultures’.
17	December	1999	American smooth jazz, funk and soul saxophonist, Grover Washington Jr. died of a heart attack in New York City at the age of 56.
26	December	1999	Highly acclaimed American soul singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer, Curtis Mayfield, died from complications of diabetes in a hospital in Roswell, Georgia at the age of 57.

Tailpiece

The 1990s was certainly a strange decade both musically and culturally, notably as a segue to the 21^st Century. While it seems very recent, it is actually receding into long‑term memory, thereby affecting our perceptions of what it meant to us at the time. Still to come, the new millennium is temptingly beckoning and it will prove as frustrating as it was liberating.

Now… we have a minor problemo. I was hoping to conclude this series of articles conveniently in December at the very end of the current decade. However, there are still one, two or maybe even three articles still to write before we are done. December 2019’s article will therefore, ceteris paribus, interrupt the sequence in that it will cover a summary of 2019 through the eyes of CRAVE Guitars, meaning that the ‘History of Modern Music’ will resume early in 2020, all being well. This series has been a gargantuan task thus far, so perhaps a short break in proceedings won’t do any harm. Heaven knows what will follow after it has been concluded though. Looking into the crystal ball of the future is largely futile, so I’ll have to start thinking hard about the ‘next big thing’ very soon. However, that can wait for next year/decade. Until next time…

CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Quote of the Month’: “It is a moral travesty that, if you have got everything, you think you can get away with anything.”

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31 May 2019

May 2019 – The Story of Modern Music in 1,500+ Facts – Part III

by CRAVEGuitars | posted in: History, Introduction, Observations | 0

Introduction

Well, my, my, my… Here we are back again with spring just about to morph into balmy summer. I can’t believe that we are nearly half way through the last year of the 2010s already.

This means that we are now well into this year’s major music project with article number three of, well, who knows how many at the moment. Such a venture needs breaking down into digestible chunks or it would be colossal as just one bite at the proverbial cherry. The source data is immense, yet still only manages to brush the surface of a monumental subject matter. As always, if there are errors or omissions that I should consider including retrospectively, let me know via e‑mail or the web site’s contact form.

If you would like to pop in and (re)visit the first two parts of the story to‑date, you can do so here (each link opens a new browser tab):

The Story of Modern Music Part III 1920-1939

This month, we start at the beginning of the ‘Roaring Twenties’ and finish at the end of the ‘Dirty Thirties’ (the latter being a moniker apparently associated with the Dustbowl era rather than something inherently naughty – apologies for that!).

The world had never seen decades like these and hasn’t since. As such, they exhibit polar opposites in human endeavour. These twenty years stand a testimonial to the rapid progress of civilisation while also as a condemnation of the self‑destructive stupidity of the human condition. Hindsight, as ‘they’ say is a wonderful thing, so perhaps we should learn something profound from an examination of our collective past and build a better future for mankind. However, I digress…

This brings us to the format of this article, which follows the same tripartite structure for each 10‑year span as last month. Each decade is given a broad historical context outlining the sorts of global events – good and bad – that occurred, followed by examples of how music genres emerged and changed over the period and, finally, the whole point of this series, some music facts associated with the same years. As a whole, it hopefully provides an interesting insight into what went on. Here we go…

One noticeable trait that comes through strongly this month is the number of births occurring in the 1920s and 1930s of people who would go on to be significant musical icons in the 1950s and thereafter. This means that this month’s ‘facts’ are setting the foundation for future articles, while later ones will see a shift to the other, and rather more mortal, end of their illustrious lifetimes.

Historical Context 1920-1929

The 1920s was a paradigm shift in global affairs. The ‘Roaring Twenties’ and were characterised by post‑WWI optimism, individualism, industrial and economic growth, as well as social, artistic, and cultural dynamism. However, underlying the positivity was an omnipresent political paranoia, fuelled by conspiracy and corruption that stood a portent of the looming storm clouds that were gathering. The rise of radical political doctrines including communism and fascism would ultimately lead to further international conflict. Women were experiencing greater emancipation as a result of the suffragette movement, paving the way for later equalities movements.

Year	Global Events
1920	The United States introduced national legislation to ban the production, transport and sale of alcohol, widely known as the prohibition.
1921	The Irish Revolution led to the partitioning of Ireland into Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom and the South, which is now the Republic of Ireland.
1922	The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was created and existed until c.1991 when the political confederation collapsed. Georgian revolutionary and Soviet politician Joseph Stalin became leader, and later dictator, of the USSR. Danish physicist and philosopher Niels Bohr won the Nobel Prize for his work on atomic structure and quantum theory. Fascist leader Benito Mussolini became Prime Minister in Italy and proceeded to seize power as dictator espousing an ideology of ‘revolutionary nationalism’.
1923	Egyptian pharaoh King Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened by British archaeologist Howard Carter. The first Le Mans 24 Hours Grand Prix of Endurance motor race took place in France. It remains the world’s oldest endurance sports car racing event.
1924	The first international Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France.
1925	Author Franz Kafka wrote the novel, ‘The Trial’, the same year that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote ‘The Great Gatsby’. The first successful black & white television transmission was made by Scottish engineer John Logie Baird in the UK, with the first public demonstration the following year.
1926	The first General Strike took place in Britain after the Trades Union Congress (TUC) called for widespread industrial action to support miners who were locked out by owners demanding longer hours for less pay. The famous U.S. Route 66 highway from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California was opened, with a total length of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).
1927	Aviator Charles Lindburgh made the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in his plane The Spirit of St. Louis. The sprawling epic dystopian science fiction silent film, ‘Metropolis’, directed by Fritz Lang was released. Russian/American singer and actor Al Jolson starred in the first commercial feature length ‘talkie’ film, ‘The Jazz Singer’.
1928	Scottish biologist, Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the anti‑biotic penicillin, which would go on to revolutionise modern medicine. American animator Walt Disney introduced Mickey Mouse to the public in the short film, ‘Steamboat Willie’. Republican politician Herbert Hoover became the 31^st president of the United States of America.
1929	Notorious gangster Al Capone allegedly carried out the brutal Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre of 7 members of the North Side Gang in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois. American astronomer Edwin Hubble demonstrated that the universe is expanding. The Vatican City became an independent and sovereign state located within Rome, Italy. The U.S. Stock Market collapsed, known widely as the Wall Street Crash, precipitating the worldwide Great Depression that lasted until the late 1930s.

Musical Genre Development 1920-1929

Blues and jazz continued to be popular during the 1920s, the latter sparking the ‘jazzmania’ craze. These twin pillars of modern musical culture also began to spawn new genre styles and to influence a diverse range of musical expression. Record, radio and film companies started to search out new artists and music to bring to a wider audience. It was in 1925 that the electrical recording and the 78rpm vinyl record became standard, the same year that television began, thereby opening up a whole new market for musicians.

In the 1920s, two separate musical forms emerged from Louisiana in the deep south of the United States, cajun and zydeco. The Cajuns were French colonists, called Acadians, from North Eastern America (Canada and Nova Scotia) who migrated to Louisiana in the late 18^th Century, bringing with them Cajun musical traditions. The creole were people descended from the inhabitants of French colonial Louisiana and who developed their own distinct musical style called zydeco. Although often regarded as similar, the two forms developed in parallel and have different cultural origins and styles. Cajun music is often played on accordion and fiddle, while zydeco is usually played on accordion and washboard. Both forms became popular outside insular local communities from the late 1920s when early recordings became available. Stylistic origins derived from blues, jazz, spirituals, traditional folk and country music, as well as regional influences from Europe, Africa, indigenous Americans and the Caribbean. Both cajun and zydeco are often used as dance music, including two‑steps and waltzes. Cajun and zydeco, in turn, influenced other forms of American roots music.

From the 1880s, musical theatre such as vaudeville and burlesque were common and very popular. From around 1920, commercial theatrical Broadway musicals originated in New York and London, becoming widespread and attracting big audiences before ‘talkie’ cinema movies began to adopt musical storytelling as a reflection of popular culture. Successful composers of the time included George & Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin. Prior to the 1920s most music distribution was by way of sheet music, piano rolls or live performance. It was during the 1920s that recording and distribution of popular music really took off, giving audiences much greater access to a wide range of music. However, the gramophone had strong competition from the proliferation of wireless radio and commercial radio stations during the 1920s, as well as motion pictures. In 1927, the first commercial feature length film to incorporate synchronised music, singing and speech, ‘The Jazz Singer’, starring Al Jolson was released. Broadway musicals reached their zenith in the 1940s with hits such as Oklahoma (1943). The convergence and crossover between Broadway and cinema musicals became a major launch pad for musical dissemination into the 1950s and beyond, including the development of soundtrack compositions for film and, later, television.

Country music was another genre that emerged from the Appalachian Mountain region of southern and eastern America during the 1920s, particularly in Tennessee but also Oklahoma and Texas. The roots of country music came largely from traditional genres such as folk, blues, hillbilly and western music, and was heavily influenced by Irish, English and wider European immigrants to the American east and south. Early popular country music, including cowboy songs, were often regarded as the music of the American rural working classes. Popular establishments for hillbilly music were the rowdy honky‑tonk bars of the period. Country music comprised of song ballads and dances normally constructed from simple arrangements, lyrics that told a story, and vocal harmonies. In addition country music accompaniment was usually provided by an array of acoustic string instruments such as banjos, guitars and fiddles as well as harmonicas and Jews harps. Early pioneers of country music included Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family, followed by other famous artists such as Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton. Country music is a massive commercial industry, now largely centred on Nashville, Tennessee. Country music is a diverse musical form of expression and continues to evolve, having seen several resurgences of popularity since its early heyday.

Musical Facts 1920-1929

Bert Weedon

Day	Month	Year	Music Fact
10	May	1920	English guitarist and a guide for millions of fledgling guitarists the world over, Bert Weedon OBE (1920-2012, 91) was born in London.
29	August	1920	Legendary American jazz/bebop saxophonist and composer, Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas.
7	June	1921	Virtuoso American jazz guitarist, Tal Farlow (1921-1998, 77) was born in Greensboro, North Carolina.
4	August	1921	Influential and highly renowned American jazz guitarist Herb Ellis (1921-2010, 88) was born in Farmersville, Texas.
7	August	1921	French virtuoso gypsy flamenco guitarist Manitas de Plata (1921-2014, 93) was born in Sète.
3	April	1922	American singer and Hollywood actress Doris Day was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
22	April	1922	Hugely influential American jazz double bass player and bandleader Charles Mingus was born in Nogales, Arizona.
10	June	1922	Famous American actress, singer and dancer Judy Garland was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
5	January	1923	Legendary American producer and founder of Sun Records, Sam Phillips was born in Florence, Alabama. Phillips signed artists including Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash.
6	March	1923	Legendary and hugely influential American jazz guitarist, Wes Montgomery (1923-1968, 45) was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.
25	April	1923	Legendary guitarist and one of the ‘Three ‘Kings’ of blues guitar, the one and only Albert King (1923-1992, 69) was born in Indianola, Mississippi.
29	July	1923	One of the world’s great innovators in modern music, nicknamed ‘The Father Of Loud’, Dr Jim Marshall OBE (1923-2012, 88), founder of Marshall Amplification PLC, was born in London.
17	October	1923	Great American jazz guitarist Barney Kessel (1923-2004, 80) was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
27	March	1924	Highly acclaimed Grammy award winning American jazz singer Sarah Vaughan was born in Newark, New Jersey.
18	April	1924	American blues rock guitarist, Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown (1924-2005, 81) was born in Vinton, Louisiana.
20	June	1924	Great American country guitarist and producer who established the Nashville sound, nicknamed ‘The Country Gentleman’ and ‘Mr. Guitar’, Chet Atkins (1924-2001, 77) was born in Luttrell, Tennessee.
6	July	1925	American guitarist, singer and Rock ‘n’ Roll pioneer Bill Haley (1925-1981, 55) was born in Highland Park, Michigan.
15	August	1925	Virtuoso Canadian jazz pianist and composer Oscar Peterson was born in Montreal, Quebec.
6	September	1925	American electric blues guitarist and Hall of Famer, Jimmy Reed (1925-1976, 50) was born in Dunleith, Mississippi.
16	September	1925	Legendary American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer supreme, one of the ‘Three ‘Kings’ of blues guitar, Mr BB King (1925-2015, 89) was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi.
28	November	1925	The famous country music institution, the Grand Ole Opry was founded in Nashville, Tennessee by George D. Hay to promote country music and showcase its history.
8	December	1925	American singer, musician, dancer, actor, vaudevillian and comedian Sammy Davis Jr. was born in Harlem, New York.
2	January	1926	The first edition of the monthly popular music magazine ‘Melody Maker’ was published in the UK, priced at just 3 pence. It ran for over 74 years until 2000.
3	January	1926	English record producer, composer and conductor, Sir George Martin was born in London. He was well known for his pioneering collaboration with The Beatles.
26	April	1926	Hugely influential American blues guitarist J.B. Hutto (1926‑1983, 57) was born in Blackville, South Carolina.
26	May	1926	Legendary and hugely influential American jazz trumpeter and composer, Miles Davis was born in Alton, Illinois.
17	September	1926	American bass guitarist who played with Elvis Presley in the pioneering rock ‘n’ roll years, Bill Black (1926-1965, 39) was born in Memphis, Tennessee.
18	October	1926	Hugely influential pioneering American rock ‘n’ roll guitarist, singer and songwriter, the legendary Chuck Berry (1926‑2016, 90) was born in St. Louis, Missouri.
23	November	1926	Underrated American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist, the inimitable R.L. Burnside (1926-2005, 78) was born in Lafayette County, Mississippi.
10	December	1926	Pioneering New Orleans blues guitarist, Guitar Slim (real name, Eddie Jones, 1926-1959, 32) was born in Greenwood, Mississippi.
28	January	1927	English jazz saxophonist and founder of the famous Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club situated in Soho, London in 1959, Ronnie Scott OBE was born in Aldgate, London.
–	January	1928	American country guitarist and member of Johnny Cash’s band, the Tennessee Three, Luther Perkins (1928-1968, 40) was born in Como, Mississippi.
19	April	1928	Influential English musician and pioneer of the British blues/R&B scene in the 1960s, Alexis Korner was born in Paris, France.
5	May	1928	One of the main men behind the ‘Man In Black’, American bass player with Johnny Cash’s band, the Tennessee Two, Marshall Grant (1928-2011, 83) was born in Bryson City, North Carolina.
6	August	1928	Famous American pop artist, manager of The Velvet Underground, producer, director and album artwork designer, Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
30	December	1928	Massively influential in the development of modern music, American guitarist, singer and songwriter Bo Diddley (1928-2008, 79) was born in McComb, Mississippi.
13	January	1929	American virtuoso jazz guitarist, Joe Pass (1929-1994, 65) was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
10	February	1929	Legendary American film and television music composer and conductor, Jerry Goldsmith was born in Los Angeles, California.
17	April	1929	German composer and big band leader of the James Last Orchestra, James Last was born in Bremen, Germany.
2	May	1929	Highly influential American rock ‘n’ roll guitarist, Link Wray (1929-2005, 76) was born in Dunn, North Carolina.
23	June	1929	American country singer, songwriter, actress, author, member of the famous Carter family and wife of Jonny Cash, June Carter Cash, was born in Maces Spring, Virginia.
19	December	1929	American blues and gospel guitarist, singer and songwriter, Blind Lemon Jefferson died from a reported heart attack in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of 36.

Historical Context 1930-1939

After a period of relative peace during the 1920s, the ‘Dirty Thirties’ followed. The harshness of the global recession set in, resulting in widespread unemployment, hardship, deprivation and poverty. The catalysts for descent of the globe’s major industrialised countries into a second and even more destructive world war had been seeded and, despite progress in other areas of human civilisation such as science, technology and art, the political die was already cast. Expansionist agendas fuelled Fascism in Europe, which coalesced into the rise of the Third Reich in Germany and its Axis power allies, while communism was also on the rise.

Year	Global Events
1930	The first FIFA soccer World Cup was held in Uruguay; the home team beat Argentina in the final.
1931	The Empire State Building opened in Manhattan, New York, reaching 102 stories and 1,250 feet (381m) tall.
1932	English author Aldous Huxley published his famous futurist novel, ‘Brave New World’. American aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
1933	Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected 32^ndPresident of the United States of America. After 13 years, the nationwide prohibition of manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol in America was ended. In Germany, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party became Chancellor and subsequently Führer in 1934, establishing his one‑party dictatorship. Infamous American bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot and killed after being ambushed by a posse of law enforcement officers in Louisiana.
1934	The worst ever American drought led to severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies, known widely as the Dust Bowl. Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, an American maximum security prison island located in San Francisco Bay, California, also known as ‘The Rock’, opened its cell doors for the country’s most notorious criminals.
1935	British publishing house Penguin Books was founded and introduced the first inexpensive paperback books.
1936	The massive art deco style Hoover Dam, spanning the Colorado River in Nevada became operational, with a height of 726 feet (221m) and a length of 1,244 feet (379m). British monarch King George V died. His successor, Edward VIII was crowned and soon abdicated, and George VI became King. The bitter Spanish Civil War started after the Spanish army in support of General Franco rebelled against the Republican presidency. The conflict lasted until 1939, resulting in Franco becoming nationalist dictator of Spain until 1975.
1937	The German passenger airship Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed when attempting to dock with a mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 people. Conservative Party MP Neville Chamberlain was elected British Prime Minister.
1938	Orson Welles’ infamous radio broadcast adapting H.G. Wells’ science fiction novel ‘The War Of The Worlds’ caused mass panic in America. The first comic book appearance of fictional superhero Superman was published by Action Comics.
1939	The classic ‘golden era’ Hollywood films ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Gone with the Wind’ were released. The first comic book appearance of fictional superhero Batman was published by Detective Comics (DC). The Second World War (WWII) began when Britain and France responded to Germany’s military invasion of Poland. The first successful flight of a jet-propelled aircraft was undertaken by a Heinkel He178, developed for the German Luftwaffe, in Rostock, Germany.

Musical Genre Development 1930-1939

Music of the 1930s was largely characterised by social events such as the Great Depression and the growth in popularity of radio and Hollywood cinema, which began to replace Broadway musical theatre. Established genres such as jazz continued to evolve to reflect changes in social culture, giving birth to swing and big band music. Jump blues music began to appear in the 1930s, adapting the grand swing and big band music for smaller venues, performed by small bands. The 1930s also saw the introduction of the electric guitar, which began to play a part in evolution of popular music of the decade.

Hawaiian music was popular with mainstream audiences in America during the 1930s, even though it had been a major genre in the mid-Pacific since the late 19^th Century. Hawaiian music was important because of its influence on country music, including the introduction of the lap steel guitar, often played horizontally and using a slide. It also helped to shape Polynesian music across the Pacific islands.

Traditional folk music has been an enduring form of musical expression throughout the centuries, in many nations and regions across the globe. Historically, folk music is often regarded as an oral tradition being handed down by word of mouth over many generations. During the 1930s, contemporary folk music, an Anglo‑American acoustic style, experienced a revival, often commenting about social issues including war, work, civil unrest, economic hardship, as well as love songs and non‑topical comedy themes. As the roots of folk music predate many modern musical genres, influences came from all over the world, imported by immigrants to America from Europe and Asia, as well as traditional songs used by African slaves. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, America in particular experienced a booming folk scene. The record industry began to exploit folk songs as an alternative to other popular genres. One of the most significant folk singer/songwriters of the generation was Woody Guthrie, whose work in the 1930s and 1940s was often seen as a protest against rural injustice, and which has influenced many artists since. Other famous artists from the 1940s to the early 1960s included Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan in America, Donovan, Ralph McTell and Martin Carthy in the UK, as well as Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, and Buffy Sainte-Marie in Canada.

Swing music is a close relative of jazz and has its roots as early as the 1920s, becoming a dominant genre during the 1930s and 1940s, predominantly in urban cities such as Chicago, New York and Kansas City. It is notable because music with a strong ‘swing feel’ became popular dance music, especially in lively clubs that could accommodate swing ensembles. Swing was popularised by big band swing orchestras such as that led by Benny Goodman. Other famous swing artists included Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey. The ‘swing era’ lasted for about 10 years from 1935 to 1946, when popularity began to fade during and after World War II. Swing was also hugely influential in popular music with artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. Dance crazes of the swing era included the jitterbug and the shag, which would evolve into dances later associated with genres such as R&B and rock ‘n’ roll. Swing and its derivatives have experienced a number of revivals in subsequent years.

Musical Facts 1930-1939

Day	Month	Year	Music Fact
15	January	1930	American Chicago blues guitarist working either solo or with other artists, Earl Hooker (1930-1970, 40) was born in Quitman County, Mississippi.
17	June	1930	American rock ‘n’ roll guitarist who played with Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps in the 1950s, Cliff Gallup (1930-1988, 58) was born in Norfolk, Virginia.
3	July	1930	Highly regarded, prolific American session guitarist, Tommy Tedesco (1930-1997, 67) was born in Niagara Falls, New York.
30	August	1930	American entrepreneur, musician and innovator of guitar equipment, Ernie Ball (1930-2004, 74) was born in Santa Monica, California.
29	April	1931	Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist, often referred to as the ‘King of Skiffle’, Lonnie Donegan (1931-2002, 71) was born in Glasgow.
17	September	1931	Record company RCA-Victor first demonstrated the 33¹/₃rpm Long Playing (LP) record. Astoundingly, the vinyl ‘album’ is still going strong, even now.
5	November	1931	Controversial American R&B/soul guitarist, songwriter, producer and rock ‘n’ roll innovator, Ike Turner (1931-2007, 76) was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
16	November	1931	Influential American blues guitarist, singer and long-term member of Howlin’ Wolf’s band, Hubert Sumlin (1931-2011, 80) was born in Greenwood, Mississippi.
27	December	1931	Influential rock ‘n’ roll legend, American guitarist Scotty Moore (1931-2016, 84) who played with Elvis Presley in the early days was born in Gadsden, Tennessee.
26	February	1932	The great American country legend that is Mr Johnny Cash (1932-2003, 71) was born in Kingsland, Arkansas.
9	April	1932	Great American singer, songwriter and guitarist, Carl Perkins (1932-1998, 65) was born in Tiptonville, Tennessee.
1	October	1932	Legendary American blues/rock guitarist and singer, ‘the master of the Telecaster’ and ‘the ice man’, Albert Collins (1932-1993, 61) was born in Leona, Texas.
14	March	1933	Multi-award-winning American musician and record producer Quincy Jones was born in Chicago, Illinois.
29	April	1933	Legendary American outlaw country legend, guitarist, singer and songwriter, Willie Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas.
3	May	1933	Legendary American singer, songwriter and producer, often proclaimed as the ‘godfather of soul’, James Brown was born in Barnwell, South Carolina.
15	July	1933	English virtuoso classical guitarist and one of the very best musicians of his generation, Julian Bream was born in London.
3	November	1933	English composer of film and TV scores, including 11 James Bond film soundtracks and numerous theme tunes, John Barry OBE was born in York, Yorkshire.
29	November	1933	Legendary English blues/rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and founder of the Bluesbreakers, John Mayall OBE was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire.
7	February	1934	American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist, Earl King (1934-2003, 69) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
28	April	1934	Renowned American delta blues guitarist Charlie Patton died from a heart disorder in Sunflower County, Mississippi at the age of 43.
3	September	1934	Hugely influential American blues guitarist and one of the ‘Three Kings’ of blues guitar, Freddie King (1934-1976, 42) was born in Gilmer, Texas.
21	September	1934	Legendary Canadian guitarist, singer and songwriter, Leonard Cohen (1934-2016, 82) was born in Montreal, Quebec.
1	December	1934	American blues and ragtime guitarist Arthur ‘Blind’ Blake died from tuberculosis in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the age of 38.
8	January	1935	American singer, guitarist and cultural icon that would become ‘The King’, Elvis Aaron Presley (1935-1977, 42) was born in Tupelo, Mississippi.
3	February	1935	Flamboyant American soul, blues and funk guitarist, singer and songwriter, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson (1935-1996, 61) was born in Houston, Texas.
29	April	1935	Influential American Chicago blues guitarist and singer, Otis Rush, (1935-2018, 84) was born in Philadelphia, Mississippi.
6	June	1935	American virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer Grant Green (1935-1979, 43) was born in St Louis, Missouri.
17	October	1935	English dairy farmer and founder of the world famous Glastonbury Music Festival from 1970 to date, Michael Eavis was born in Pilton Somerset.
22	April	1936	Great American singer, songwriter and guitarist, Glen Campbell (1936-2017, 81) was born in Billstown, Arkansas.
30	July	1936	Legendary and highly influential American Chicago Blues guitarist and singer, George ‘Buddy’ Guy was born in Lettsworth, Louisiana.
7	September	1936	Legendary American rock ‘n’ roll star, guitarist, singer and songwriter, Buddy Holly (1936-1959, 22) was born in Lubbock, Texas.
24	October	1936	English bass guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, former member of rock band The Rolling Stones and bandleader with The Rhythm Kings, Bill Wyman was born in London.
6	April	1937	Acclaimed American country singer, songwriter and guitarist, Merle Haggard (1937-2016, 79) was born in Oildale, California.
4	May	1937	Influential American surf rock guitarist often referred to as ‘the king of the surf guitar’ Dick Dale (1937-2019, 81) was born in Boston, Massachusetts.
15	May	1937	Renowned American guitarist, singer and actor, Trinidad ‘Trini’ Lopez III was born in Dallas, Texas.
15	June	1937	Influential American country guitarist and singer, Waylon Jennings (1937-2002, 64) was born in Littlefield, Texas.
13	January	1938	Australian guitarist, singer, songwriter and co-founder of psychedelic rock bands Soft Machine and Gong, Daevid Allen (1938-2015, 77) was born in Melbourne, Victoria.
25	January	1938	Grammy award-winning artist and Hall of Famer, legendary American songstress, Etta James was born in Los Angeles, California.
26	April	1938	American rock ‘n’ roll guitarist who became famous for his signature ‘twang’ guitar sound, Duane Eddy was born in Corning, New York.
16	August	1938	Legendary American blues guitarist Robert Johnson died in mysterious circumstances in Greenwood, Mississippi at the age of 27. The bizarre mythology surrounding Johnson’s life and demise continues to deepen with time.
3	October	1938	Legendary American singer and guitarist, Eddie Cochran (1938-1960, 21) was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota.
5	December	1938	Highly influential American guitarist, singer and songwriter, J.J. Cale (1938-2013, 74) was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
18	December	1938	English bass guitarist with The Animals, record producer and manager of both Slade and Jimi Hendrix, Chas Chandler (1938-1996, 57) was born in Newcastle upon Tyne.
2	April	1939	American singer, Motown soul legend and multi-award winning artist, Marvin Gaye was born in Washington DC.
4	April	1939	Incomparable English double bass guitarist who has collaborated with artists like John Martyn and Richard Thompson to great effect, Danny Thompson was born in Teignmouth, Devon.
28	July	1939	American singer and actress, Judy Garland recorded the perennial all‑time‑favourite song, ‘Over The Rainbow’ from the classic feature film, ‘The Wizard Of Oz’.
21	August	1939	Hall of Famer and prolific American guitarist and collaborator extraordinaire, James Burton was born in Dubberly, Louisiana.
23	September	1939	Influential American blues/rock guitarist Roy Buchanan (1939-1988, 48) was born in Ozark, Arkansas.
26	November	1939	American-born Swiss soul/R&B/pop singer, songwriter and actress Tina Turner was born in (where else?) Nutbush, Tennessee.
26	December	1939	Famous but volatile American ‘Wall of Sound’ record producer Phil Spector was born in New York. He is currently serving a 19-year prison sentence in California for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.

Tailpiece

Phew! That was a bit of a 20‑year roller coaster. However, this still hasn’t got us to point at which ‘modern music’ arguably really begins, i.e. from the emergence of rock ‘n’ roll and will ultimately bring us up‑to‑date. However, it is a fascinating insight into not only what the rapidly growing global population got up to but also how this was inextricably linked to how music was also progressing. Social culture and music are symbiotically interdependent – culture shapes and stimulates music and music reflects and influences culture. The 20 years covered in this article are therefore fundamental building blocks of the unstoppable development that will lead us to rock ‘n’ roll and beyond. The next article will, hopefully, bridge the gap from the start of WWII to the ground-breaking events that would take place in the 1950s.

Watch this space and make sure you tune in, same time same place next month. I can’t wait… can you? Until next time…

CRAVE Guitars ‘Quote of the Month’: “Don’t try to learn from geniuses how to be a genius. They are unique. Think for yourself and you are a genius, even if no-one else notices. That is also integrity.”

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Prelude

This Month at CRAVE Guitars…

The Rationale for the Article

A Timeline of Guitar History: Part II – 1900‑1959

Final Thoughts on ‘A Timeline of Guitar History in 400+ Snippets: Part II’

CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Album of the Month’

Tailpiece