In fact, the 1920s was a decade of deep cultural division, pitting a more cosmopolitan, modernist, urban culture against a more provincial, traditionalist, rural culture. The decade witnessed a titanic struggle between an old and a new America as well as the rise of a modern consumer economy and mass entertainment. All of these themes were played out in the nation's music.
Two appliances - the phonograph and radio - made popular music more accessible than ever before. The 1920s saw the record player enter American life in full force. Piano sales sagged as phonograph production rose from just 190,000 in 1923 to 5 million in 1929. The popularity of jazz, blues, and "hillbilly" music fueled the phonograph boom.
The decade was truly jazz's golden age. Originating in New Orleans during the second decade of the twentieth century, jazz entered the cultural mainstream during the 1920s. Duke Ellington wrote the first extended jazz compositions; Louis Armstrong popularized "scat" (singing of nonsense syllables); Fletcher Henderson pioneered big band jazz; and trumpeter Jimmy McPartland and clarinetist Benny Goodman popularized the Chicago school of improvisation.
The blues craze erupted in 1920, when a black singer named Mamie Smith released a recording called "Crazy Blues." The record became a sensation, selling 75,000 copies in a month and a million copies in seven months. Recordings by Ma Rainey, the "Mother of the Blues," and Bessie Smith, the "Empress of the Blues," brought the blues, with its poignant and defiant reaction to life's sorrows, to a vast audience.
Rockabye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody Listen to this music
Second Hand Rose Listen to this music
Singing in the Rain Listen to this music
Makin' Whoopee Listen to this music
My Mammy Listen to this music
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles Listen to this music
It's Right Here for You Listen to this music
Jazz Baby Listen to this music
Jazzing Around Listen to this music
Happy Tho' Married Listen to this music
Bandana Days/I'm Just Wild About Harry Listen to this music
Frankie and Johnny Listen to this music
Baltimore Buzz Listen to this music
Crazy Blues Listen to this music
Daddy, You've Been Like a Mother to Me Listen to this music
Carolina in the Morning Listen to this music
April Showers Listen to this music
Ain't We Got Fun Listen to this music
You Can't Do What My Last Man Did Listen to this music
You Can't Keep a Good Man Down Listen to this music
Toot, Toot, Tootsie Listen to this music
Vamp Listen to this music
Wabash Blues Listen to this music
Swanee Listen to this music
That Thing Called Love Listen to this music
Plantation Echoes Listen to this music