• 1927-1932 - Duke Ellington and His Orchestra are the "house band" at the Cotton Club in Harlem.
• August 21, 1935 - Benny Goodman's orchestra performed to a capacity crowd at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles; considered to be the beginning of the Swing Era.
• 1951 - Alan Freed began playing R and B records at WJW in Cleveland; began calling the music "rock and roll." He named his show The Moondog Rock 'n' Roll House Party.
• 1954 - the year of Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka.
• September 9, 1956 - Elvis Presley's 1st Ed Sullivan Show appearance.
• August 5, 1957 - American Bandstand premieres on national television.
• February 3, 1959 - plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens.
• February 7, 1964 - the Beatles arrived in America for the first time, and they performed on the Ed Sullivan Show 2 nights later. This marked the beginning of what was termed the “2nd British Invasion.”
• Jan. 1966 - Trips Festival.
• October 4, 1967 - closing of the Psychedelic Shop in Haight-Ashbury.
• August 15, 1969 - Woodstock Music and Arts Festival.
• August 1, 1981 - 1st MTV broadcast

• From Ragtime:
  • characteristics of Ragtime - in particular, note that ragtime has syncopated rhythms but does not have swing feel.
  • Who was Scott Joplin?
• From Swing:
  • know the contributions of Fletcher Henderson and Benny Goodman to Swing.
  • Who was Don Redman and what were some of his contributions to big band arranging?
  • know basic facts about Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman, and Count Basie.
  • What was different about Kansas City swing?
• From The Music of Duke Eliington, know:
• With regard to his personnel, how does Ellington's band differ from other Swing Era bands?
• Know the characteristics of the "jungle sound."
• From Rhythm and Blues and Rockabilly:
  • Who was Sam Phillips interested in finding?
  • Be familiar with the elements of rockabilly.
• From The "Teen Market" and Racial Opposition:
  • Know the three definitions according to Garofalo for the term "rock and roll."
  • What was Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka and what was its significance?
  • How were DJ's such as Alan Freed important?
• From the Beat Generation:
  • Around whom did the Beat movement center?
  • To what did the term "beat" refer?
  • Know the general characteristics/philosophy of the beat movement.
• The Surfers:
  • How did surf music and the surfer lifestyle differ from 1950s rock and roll in terms of social and economic appeal?
  • What was Dick Dale's role in instrumental surf music?
• From The British Invasion:
• essential facts about British interest in America in the 50s.
• From Acid Rock, the Psychedelic Era, and Woodstock:
• Timothy Leary's posited four levels of consciousness.
• Who provided the focus for the Haight-Ashbury scene?
• What was significant about the Trips Festival?
• What was the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test? Who were the Merry Pranksters?
• From Motown:
• Know essential facts about Berry Gordy and the history of Motown.
• Who was the major competitor to Motown?
• How did the civil rights movement affect African American artists?
• From the 1970s:
  • Why are the 70s sometimes called a decade of retreat?
  • What technological advances changed the music of the 1970s?
• From the 1980s
• State of the recording industry in the 1980s - a major recession beginning in 1979; decline of sales, extensive layoffs, harder for new acts to obtain recording contracts.
  1. The record companies blamed home taping and piracy for the reduction in sales.
  2. It could also have been due to a less exciting period in music, a saturated market, and the failure of its own promotional abilities.
• The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" was the first video to premire on MTV. It was also the millionth video to air on the network (February 27, 2000) and the third most aired video in MTV history.
• Know the three phases of early MTV.
• What where the two alternatives to mainstream pop in the 1980s?

The Take-home portion of the exam:

• Using online notes and class discussions of previous eras as a model, describe the major musical trends and styles of the 1990s. You may want to include mainstream popular music as well as "other currents," and some consideration of technology might be helpful. How does the music reflect or relate to social conditions? What musical styles or industry trends might be compared to those in earlier eras.
• The take-home portion of the exam will be worth 15% of the final exam grade. It should be typed, double-spaced with normal margins and font sizes. Length is not a primary consideration, but a good practical length would be 1-1/2 to 2 pages. Cite sources as appropriate, and include some of your own thoughts.