ABSTRACT

American popular music draws on the rich treasury of cultures brought over from the Old World and Africa. One measure of the impact of America on the world is the universal acceptance of its popular music. The complexity of language and cultural and social traditions evident in the popular music of those days were also reflected in the minstrel shows performed in the "opera houses" of all larger communities, from the Appalachians to Virginia City, Nevada, and other entertainment halls. American popular music gradually took on characteristics that differentiate it from the cultivated and vernacular music of Europe, or the tribal music of Africa. With new styles of popular music frequently providing the foundation of new dances and, hence, impact on physical relations between the sexes on the dance floor, much commentary about music may express disguised sexual anxieties. Popular music also provides most of the background for television and the movies.