In this week's reading by Starr and Waterman in their book American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3, the beginning of chapter three really peaked my interest. The beginning of the chapter describes how technology and the music business progressed in the 1920s and 1930s. Right after World War I, the record industry massively expanded and declined (because of the Great Depression) with the invention of the phonographic record. Sales for this record were continuously increasing until eventually "total national sales of phonograph discs surpassed those of sheet music for the first time" (43). Then in 1925 "electric recording" was a way to promote the new "microphone" to help performers with their acoustic sound and music. Next came the radio network. Radio was able to "link the smallest towns to the biggest cities and provided a source of excitement for working people" (45). In 1927 the first "sound film" was developed and music became linked with the entertainment industry. Music was something that became a definite part of feature films. This made me think a lot about today and how we use new technologies to make music. One in particular is "auto-tune." Auto-tune is a device that can alter someone's voice. There is even an iPhone application called "The T-Pain app" that people use to alter their voices and mimic the way people sing. It outrages me to see how people don't genuinely use their own natural talent anymore to make music. They use computers and different devices now instead of creating music with instruments the old-fashioned way. One person especially made me think just how ridiculous the use of auto-tune really is in this generation. In her song "Money Can't Buy You Class" reality television star Countess LuAnn sings on Bravo's hit show "The Real Housewives of New York City." Once you hear her you can clearly see that she can NOT sing. But with the use of auto-tune she can completely change her voice to make a hit single.
Here is her single:
This is what she actually sounds like: