ABSTRACT
Keir Keightley has assessed the case for ‘easy listening’ to be the most appropriate name for the dominant mainstream in American popular music between the end of the swing era and the ascendancy of rock. The fetishization and ‘masculinization’ of the technology of hi-fi may have been a way for middle-class men to claim a refuge or escape from domestic space and high-spec equipment may be de rigueur for the fantasy bachelor pad, but gendered discourses become complicated in this context, as sentimental forms of feelings traditionally coded as feminine and heard in the womanly world of the home may attract, develop, and project masculine subjectivities. The stylistic frames of easy listening were drawn by smooth repackagings of pre-war standards, popular show tunes, and the lighter end of classical. The relationship of sentimental music and commerce never seemed so cosy. The repertory usually identified with these recordings and listeners has not, however, had an easy critical ride.
