Since the mid-1960s, the popular culture has been directed by four forces: the youth market, technological advances, sophisticated marketing, and an increasingly diverse population. Film lost part of its audience to television until it rebuilt itself through the development of youth-oriented films, blockbuster movies, and commercial product tie-ins. Meanwhile, TELEVISION dealt with changes in delivery. The once-dominant three national networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) were joined by several dozen cable and satellite networks, often specialized by subject matter and demographic group. Television and MOVIES were affected by the availability of videocassette recordings. First introduced to the home market in 1977, VCRs opened the market to more sales but, in the case of movies, kept some people away from movie theaters. Theater was hampered by the increasingly high cost of mounting shows that began to rise dramatically in the 1970s, and by the effect of a modern society used to recorded, rather than live, performances. As it had for decades, popular MUSiC continued to be driven by youth, but after the breakup of the Beatles and other popular groups of the 1960s, it fragmented largely along demographic and ethnic lines. Technological advances included the commercially and technologically successful compact disc, first invented in 1969 by Klass Campann, a physicist with Philips Research, and introduced in 1972; the personal music player; and the expanding practice of Internet music transmission. Making a blockbuster that reaches a mass audience became the producers’ aim in all the arts; serving a range of groups with rapidly changing tastes is the reality.
Movies
Beginning with 1960’s Psycho and concluding with 1969’s Midnight Cowboy, the 1960s in American film were marked by an increasing expression of adult issues and language. The movie Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, a Warner Brothers film production, broke the language barrier by using the phrase “hump the hostess,” although the word “screw” had been deleted from the final release. A few months later, Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up became the first film marketed by a major distributor (MGM) with nudity in it. In April 1968 the U. S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutional power of states and cities to prevent the exposure of children to books and films that could not be denied to adults. Officially marking that change was the replacement of the long-lived Production Code with a multitiered movie industry ratings system introduced in November 1968. The system included four ratings ranging from G (general audiences) to X (no one under 17 admitted).
The 1970s were marked by creative experimentation, the rise of the blockbuster movie, and the introduction of
The videocassette recorder (VCR) in 1977. As the major studios foundered, young directors such as George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg reinvigorated familiar genres and brought studios back to life. Francis Ford Coppola made the gangster movie a romantic tragedy with The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974). Stanley Kubrick continued his 1960s experimentation with the crime fantasy in A Clockwork Orange (1971); Robert Altman entered with M*A*S*H (1970) and Nashville (1975). But it was two summer movies that had the most lasting effects. Spielberg’s shark thriller Jaws (1975) became one of the first films to top $100 million in rentals; Lucas’s space spectacular Star Wars (1977) was even more popular. With them, the blockbuster was born.
During the 1980s, blockbusters and sequels dominated the box office. From Star Wars came two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and The Return of the Jedi (1983). Spielberg directed two successes: the alien fantasy
E. T (1982) and the homage to afternoon serials, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Other blockbusters included The Terminator (1984) and Die Hard (1988). Serious dramas included Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980).
The 1990s were marked by the refinement of Disney animation, the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers, and the top disaster film in movie history. Having already reinvigorated Disney animation in Beauty and the Beast (1991), Disney surpassed itself in visual creativity and box-office success with the 1994 film The Lion King. Director Quentin Tarantino presented the moral universe of the underworld in Pulp Fiction (1994); the Coen brothers set their crime drama Fargo (1996) in the snowy upper Midwest and featured as its sleuth a pregnant woman. Successful at the box office was James Cameron’s Titanic
Actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford perform in a scene from the film Star Wars (1977). (Ochs/Getty Images)
(1997), which united the disaster movie with a star-crossed love story. It became the decade’s top moneymaker.
The new millennium brought an increased interest in global productions, such as Ang Lee’s martial arts saga Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), which was coproduced by companies in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States. The Roman epic also made a comeback, this time secularized for modern audiences in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2001).
Music
Although Frank Sinatra won a best-record Grammy as late as 1966, rock and roll dominated popular music by 1969. Its reach encompassed “British invasion” groups like the Beatles and Rolling Stones, the pop/soul Motown Sound, and the folk/rock/protest music of Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel.
As the decade ended, many influential acts disbanded: Diana Ross and the Supremes in 1969, Simon & Garfunkel in 1970, and most famously, the Beatles in 1970. Further, by the early 1970s, some of the decade’s defining figures died mysteriously or from drug overdoses: Jimi Hendrix in 1970, Janis Joplin in 1970, Jim Morrison in 1971.
During the 1970s, popular music was represented by subspecialties serving smaller audiences. Groups ranged from Tony Orlando and Dawn to Wings to the Jackson 5. Folk protest singers, such as Carole King and Joan Baez, mellowed into singer/songwriters. Outrageousness and/or political statement were offered by Kiss, the Village People, and the punk rock movement, epitomized by the Sex Pistols. Critical favorites included Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen. For popularity, nothing beat disco music. Pounding and undulating, it bespoke sex and resurrected partner dancing. Leading purveyors were the Bee Gees and Donna Summer.
The 1980s began with a shock: the 1980 killing of Beatle John Lennon near his New York home. In 1981 the cable network Music Television (MTV) debuted and turned pop music into a visual as well as aural medium. Artists integrating original movement into their videos were able to rule the market. Among such video pioneers were Madonna and Michael Jackson; both reimagined dance as stylized self-expression. Another breakthrough, the compact disc, changed the way people listened to music. Small and clean-sounding, it made vinyl records obsolete. Other notable artists of the decade included Prince, the Police, and Culture Club.
The 1980s also witnessed the rise of the hypnotic, frank musical form, rap. By the 1990s, rap had a wide audience, with leading performers including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Busta Rhymes. Gangsta rap was denounced for its link to crime, as seen in the 1996 killings of rap singers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B. I.G. Many of the rap performers were linked to urban gangs.
The 1990s revealed evidence of country music’s crossover power, as Garth Brooks became a top-selling country and pop artist. Disaffected youth were drawn to the raw grunge music of Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain became the movement’s dark icon, following his death by drug overdose in 1994. Hip-hop was informed by soul and reggae, with leading performers including Lau-ryn Hill. Preteens took to boy groups like ’N Sync and girl-woman singers like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, the latter illustrating another musical trend: the popularity of Latin music. Ricky Martin is among notable Latin performers.
The millennium in music begins with multiple musical subgenres pointing to both widespread demographic splintering and great creative variety. There is no single sound to American popular music.
Television
By 1960, over 90 percent of American homes had one or more television sets. By 1994, surveys showed that 99 percent of American homes have one or more televisions. Cable television reaches 58.5 percent of American homes with 60 million viewers.
In the 1960s the three major networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—dominated programming, which was moving from the light comedies of the early decade {Bewi-tched, Green Acres) to shows more relevant to society. Among them were programs of political irreverence, such as The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, sexual liberation, like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and social conflict, like All in the Family.
The 1970s were also notable for popularization of the miniseries. Setting the standard was the 1977 miniseries about American slavery, Roots, which ran for eight consecutive nights. Sports, broadcast during prime-time hours since 1946, gained new currency when Monday Night Football debuted on ABC in 1970. With commentary {after 1971) by Frank Gifford, Don Meredith, and Howard Cosell, the program blended sports and entertainment.
By the mid-1970s, networks faced competition brought by technological advances and cable television. These advances also provided consumers with greater access to trends in popular culture. In 1975 the videocassette player (VCR) was introduced, allowing viewers to record programming and play rental tapes. As of 2000, over 98 percent of U. S. households had at least one television set; 86 percent had a VCR; 69 percent received cable programming. In October 2000, Americans watched an average of 29.04 hours of television weekly.
In 1972 the cable network Home Box Office (HBO) began; it broadcast films and features, eroding network viewership. The 24-hour-per-day news channel, Cable News Network (CNN) began broadcasting in 1980, which eventually reconfigured news coverage. CNN revealed on audience for continuous news coverage, leading to expanded network news and the development of other cable news channels such as Fox News and MSNBC. By 2002, Fox News dominated the cable news channels, while viewership of network news fell dramatically.
Prime-time programming during the 1980s was marked by larger-than-life soap operas, such as Dallas, and solid comedies, such as Cheers and The Cosby Show. The latter show was distinguished as an early example of an upper-middle-class family comedy starring African Americans.
In the 1990s and into the next millennium, cable programming has been seen as the forum for original programming. Cable series such as The Sopranos and Sex and the City won national awards and became part of the national currency. Overall cable viewing increased over the decade, with cable viewership surpassing network affiliate viewer-ship for the first time in 2000. Dominating noncable networks were the comedies Seinfeld and Frasier, as well as the game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and reality shows like Survivor. Reality shows featured average people put into extraordinary situations.
Responding to protest at the increasingly adult language and subject matter on television, the television industry instituted a set of TV parental guidelines in 1996. Modeled on the MPAA ratings, the guidelines encompassed several categories including TVY/All Children and TVMA/Mature Audience Only. Critics of violence and sex on television maintained that such programming was adversely affecting popular culture and indirectly promoting violence in the schools and lowering sexual mores among the youth. In response, television networks agreed that they had a responsibility to the public, and promised more self-regulation through labeling, but they also warned that censoring programs restricted “free speech.”
Theater
Since the late 1960s, professional theater has been marked by conflicting impulses and realities. While sexually explicit 1968 Broadway works like Hair and The Boys in the Band were meant to appeal to a younger audience, the age of regular theatergoers during the era rose.
The success of the 1968 play The Great White Hope, which opened in Washington, D. C.’s Arena Stage, prefigured two movements in late-century theater. One was the introduction of works by and about African Americans, such as August Wilson’s Fences (1987) and George C. Wolfe’s Jelly’s Last Jam (1992). The other trend was the use of regional theaters to provide Broadway offerings. Notable sites include Chicago’s Goodman Theater.
Facing an unsure future in the socially relevant 1970s, Broadway was revived by the gutsy 1975 musical A Chorus Line. Other popular musicals of the era included Annie (1977), based on the Little Orphan Annie comic strip, and Bob Fosse’s sensual Chicago (1975). Over the next quarter century, composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim created complex works including Company, Follies, and A Little Night Music. In the 1990s the post-baby boom generation was represented by Jonathan Larson’s musical, Rent.
The most successful purveyor of musicals during the last quarter century was British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who introduced the musical spectacle. His successes include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream-coat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, and Sunset Boulevard. All were rich with effects and had lengthy runs.
Notable playwrights included Neil Simon, who continued his 1960s successes with the trilogy of Biloxi Blues, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Broadway Bound. Wendy Wasserstein captured the complexities of women in the modern world in The Heidi Chronicles and The Sisters Rosensweig. Sam Shepard offered the unconventional dramas Buried Child and True West.
By the 1990-91 season, new Broadway productions hit a new low (28), and production costs continued to climb into the multimillions. This led producers to seek the predictable blockbuster that could attract a large audience and sustain a long run. They found their answer at the movies. A number of plays were adapted from movies, reversing a decades-old tradition of adapting plays for films. Among the lavish movie-based productions were the musicals Beauty and the Beast, Big, Victor/Victoria, and The Producers, which became the biggest theatrical success of the new century. The Producers was also distinguished for its record-breaking ticket prices of several hundred dollars for premium seating.
Further reading: Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows: 1946-Present, 3d ed. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1999); Gene Brown, Movie Time: A Chronology of Hollywood and the Movie Industry from Its Beginnings to the Present (New York: Macmillan, 1995); Michael Kammen, American Culture, American Tastes: Social Change and the 20th Century (New York: Knopf, 1999).
—Melinda Corey
World History
