Vintage 1930-1959

The era between 1930 and 1959 represents the most seismic shift in the history of "published music." In 1930, purchasing music meant buying a fragile, heavy shellac disc that played for three minutes. By 1959, the consumer could buy a high-fidelity, unbreakable vinyl LP housing a cohesive artistic statement, or a stack of colorful 45s that defined a youth culture.

This article explores the evolution of the record as a physical object and an artistic medium during these three transformative decades.

The Shellac Era: 1930–1941

In the early 1930s, the "record" was a monolithic format: the 78 RPM disc. Made of a brittle shellac compound (derived from beetle resin), these 10-inch or 12-inch discs were heavy, noisy, and incredibly fragile. If you dropped one, it didn't just scratch; it shattered like a dinner plate.

Economically, the industry was in freefall. The Great Depression had decimated disposable income. Record sales, which hit 104 million in 1927, plummeted to just 6 million by 1932. The "published music" of this era was primarily functional. People bought records to dance to at home or to hear a hit song from a radio broadcast.

The "Album" as a Book The term "album" originated in this period, but it meant something quite literal. Because a 78 RPM side only held about 3 to 4 minutes of music, longer works like symphonies or collections of songs had to be spread across multiple discs. These discs were sold in a bound book with kraft paper sleeves, resembling a photo album.

Note: A listener wanting to hear Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in 1935 had to manually flip or change the record every four minutes, breaking the continuity of the music entirely.

The Invention of Cover Art Until the late 1930s, records were sold in plain brown or grey paper sleeves, sometimes with the record company's logo, but rarely with any artwork specific to the music. This changed in 1939 due to Alex Steinweiss, a visionary art director at Columbia Records.

Steinweiss reasoned that music should be sold like a book, with compelling visuals. He convinced his superiors to let him design a cover for a collection of Rodgers and Hart songs. The result was a high-contrast image of a theater marquee. Sales exploded (up 800%), and the modern concept of "album art" was born. Published music was no longer just auditory; it was now a visual commodity.

The War Years and The Great Silence: 1942–1945

World War II halted the industry's recovery, but it also forced innovation. The primary ingredient of records, shellac, came from Southeast Asia, a supply line cut off by the war. Record companies were forced to recycle old discs, asking citizens to turn in their old records for scrap to make new ones.

The V-Disc During this time, the U.S. government produced "V-Discs" (Victory Discs) for troops overseas. These were unique because many were made of vinylite, a flexible plastic that was more durable and had lower surface noise than shellac. This was a crucial "beta test" for the vinyl formats that would dominate the post-war era.

The Petrillo Ban (1942–1944) Perhaps the most significant event in "published music" during the 40s was not a song, but a silence. James C. Petrillo, head of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), declared a ban on all commercial recording to force record companies to pay royalties to musicians for radio play.

For over two years, instrumentalists could not record. To get around this, record labels (specifically Decca and Columbia) relied on acapella vocalists, as singers were not considered "musicians" by the union. This inadvertently killed the Big Band era. By the time the ban ended, the public's taste had shifted from the orchestra leaders (like Benny Goodman) to the solo vocalists (like Frank Sinatra) who had kept recording during the strike.

The Battle of the Speeds: 1948–1950

The late 1940s saw the single greatest technological leap in published music history. Within a span of two years, the 78 RPM record was rendered obsolete by two competing formats that would define the industry for the next forty years.

1. The Long Player (33 ⅓ RPM)

In June 1948, Columbia Records unveiled the LP (Long Play). Developed by Peter Goldmark, this 12-inch disc was made of "unbreakable" vinyl and used "microgrooves"—hair-thin grooves that allowed for up to 22 minutes of music per side.

• The First LP: Columbia catalog number ML 4001, Mendelssohn’s Concerto in E Minor, performed by Nathan Milstein and the New York Philharmonic.

• The Impact: For the first time, a listener could hear a complete movement of a symphony without interruption. The "album" transformed from a heavy book of discs into a single, sleek artistic object.

2. The 45 RPM Single

RCA Victor, Columbia’s arch-rival, refused to license the LP format initially. Instead, they released their own format in 1949: the 7-inch 45 RPM single.

Unlike the LP, which was designed for continuity, the 45 was designed for speed and convenience. It had a large center hole, allowing a stack of records to be dropped quickly by an automatic record changer. RCA color-coded them by genre:

• Green: Country-Western

• Red: Classical

• Yellow: Children's

• Black: Pop

The Compromise Consumers were initially confused and frustrated by the "War of the Speeds," requiring different turntables for different records. However, by 1950, a truce was reached. The industry settled on a dual-format standard that persisted for decades:

• LPs were for classical music, jazz, and "serious" adult pop albums.

• 45s were for hit singles, pop songs, and the jukebox.

The 1950s: The Golden Age of Published Music

With the formats settled, the 1950s saw an explosion in the artistic and commercial scope of records.

The Rise of the "Concept Album"

Prior to the LP, pop albums were usually just collections of unrelated hit singles. In the mid-50s, Frank Sinatra and arranger Nelson Riddle utilized the LP format to tell a story.

In 1955, Sinatra released In the Wee Small Hours. It wasn't just a collection of songs; it was a mood. The blue-tinted cover art, the melancholy tracklist, and the consistent down-tempo arrangements created a cohesive experience of loneliness and heartbreak. This is widely considered one of the first "concept albums." The physical record was no longer just a carrier of music; it was a canvas for a thematic narrative.

The Independent Revolution and Rock 'n' Roll

While major labels (Columbia, RCA, Decca) focused on LPs and adult pop, the 45 RPM single became the weapon of choice for a new generation. The 45 was cheap to produce, light to ship, and durable enough for teenagers to carry to parties.

This format enabled the rise of Independent Labels like Sun Records (Memphis), Chess Records (Chicago), and Atlantic (New York). These small labels recorded the R&B and Country sounds that majors ignored.

• Sun Records: In 1954, Sam Phillips released Elvis Presley’s "That’s All Right" on a 45. It sounded urgent and raw—a sound that couldn't have been captured on the muddy, noisy shellac of the 1930s.

• Chess Records: Published electric blues by Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry, whose distorted guitars cut through the vinyl grooves with a fidelity that acoustic 78s could never achieve.

High Fidelity (Hi-Fi) and Stereo

By the late 1950s, "published music" became a technical obsession. The term "High Fidelity" became a marketing buzzword. Album covers began displaying technical specs about frequency response and microphones.

In 1958, the industry introduced Stereo LPs. Published music moved from a one-dimensional (mono) experience to a spatial one. Listeners could now hear the separation of instruments, placing them "in the room" with the band. This triggered a massive wave of re-purchasing, as audiophiles replaced their mono collections with stereo versions.

Conclusion

Between 1930 and 1959, the "record" evolved from a fragile, utility-based commodity into a high-fidelity art form. The industry moved from the limitations of the 3-minute shellac side to the expansive 22-minute vinyl horizon.

By 1959, the dichotomy of modern music consumption was set: the LP (the domain of the "artist," the concept, and the adult listener) and the 45 (the domain of the hit, the youth, and the moment). This structure, established in the heat of the post-war technology boom, would govern the music industry until the advent of the digital era.

References for further viewing: ... Every Billboard #1 Hit 1950-1959 ...

This video provides a chronological audio-visual tour of the exact "published music" discussed in the latter half of the article, allowing you to hear the shift in sound quality and genre from the early 50s pop crooners to the rock and roll explosion of the late 50s.

EVERY BILLBOARD #1 HIT (1950 - 1959) WITH VIDEO - YouTube

Tromboybk · 535K views