Kingman notes that the "increased vitality, and ultimately
the Americanization, of the popular music stage" helped shape American
popular music in the 20th century, at least until the birth of rock and
roll. He further notes that Broadway and Tin Pan Alley - although never
the same entity - were interrelated in complex ways. This led to a stratification
of American popular song.
- Beginning in the 1890s, theater songs dominate the popular song canon.
- Slightly "Below" the theater songs were a second class of
song that emerged in the 1930s - "movie" songs.
- The Tin Pan Alley songs not associated with a theatrical/cinematic production.
Most were short-lived, manufactured to take advantage of the latest fads.
