MUS 160 - History of Popular Music

3 credit hours - Three hours weekly; one term.
Explores the various styles and genres that make up modern popular music. Focuses primarily on the pop musics of the western idiom, and analyzes these genres in terms of their historical context, stylistic content and musical impact. By emphasizing inter-relationships between sociological, cultural and musical trends, students will begin to analyze how these musics affect western popular culture in general.

Note: Typically offered at MC and OL; fall and spring terms.

Course Outcomes:

Explain the historical context of popular music
- Identify and describe characteristics of music
- Describe how the various styles of music influenced the development of Rock and Roll
- Explain the emergence of Rock and Roll
- Articulate how the three different trends in 50s Rock and Roll developed
- Draw a time-line diagram of the roots of Rock and Roll
Describe the transition to early 60s Rock and Roll
- Describe the fragmentation of the market
- Identify stylistic characteristics of folk music
- Identify and describe Surf Music and the Dance Craze
Analyze situations involving the Beatles
- Define the musical revolution
- Provide a qualitative description of the three Beatles eras
- Draw a diagram of a timeline of the Beatles Revolution
Analyze Rock and Roll development in terms of the British Invasion
- Identify the main groups
- Explain how the British Popular Music Style developed
- Explain how one group differs from another
Explain the differences and interconnections between Folk Music and
Folk Rock
- Explain folk music and folk rock and how they are related
- Characterize the various artists
- Give an example of how of crossover artists
- Discuss how Folk Rock and Folk Music evolved
Compare and contrast the Art and Jazz Rock
- Name several artists that make up the Art and Jazz Rock spectrum
- Define Legitimate music
- Explain the qualitative relationship between Rock Opera and Rock with Orchestra
Identify and describe Dance Music, Hip-Hop, and Rap
- Interpret direct relationships
- Infer the implications of relationships
Identify Alternative Styles and the basic characteristics
- Identify current understandings of Punk, Alternative and Progressive Rock
- Make connection between lecture and listening assignments