The B-Side by Ben YagodaLocation: ML3477 .Y34 2015
ISBN: 9781594488498
Publication Date: 2015
A narrative and social history of the great American songwriting era. Everybody knows and loves the American Songbook. But it's a bit less widely understood that in about 1950, this stream of great songs more or less dried up. What happened, and why? The book illuminates broad musical trends through a series of intertwined stories. Among them are the battle between ASCAP and Broadcast Music, Inc.; the schism in jazz after World War II; the impact of radio and then television; and the bitter, decades-long feud between Mitch Miller and Frank Sinatra.