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Theoharis 1 Jason Theoharis
Mr. Taylor
AP English Literature
February 4, 2013
From Bing Crosby to Bruno Mars: The Evolution of the Voice of Pop
With technology constantly changing each day, it is no surprise that today’s pop music,
particularly the Billboard list of the top 100 hits, differs from that of the past. Music constantly evolves,
originating from primitive rhythms into heavily computed explosions of sound. Today’s Billboard Hot
100, a music industry standard singles popularity chart for the U.S. that gets issued weekly by the
Billboard magazine, has some clear transformations from that of the 1940s. However, humans yearn to
hear what they can relate to. Therefore, people often enjoy hearing songs that they can either sing along to
or be familiar with. Technically, there are enough possible melodies to last lifetimes, yet there seem to be
many commonalities between songs, as simple as chord progression or comparable melodic ranges and
patterns. Is it a coincidence that the melody of The Beatles’ “Lady Madonna” is exactly the same as the
verse in Sublime’s “What I Got”? Or that the chord progression in “Let It Be” and Johann Pachelbel's
Canon can be altered to match many hits from the past 50 years? All music comes from humans, which
continues to derive from older music created by humans, and clearly pop music alters, and stays the same
for that matter, due to humans’ desires. How do we distinguish between pop music and popular music? And how does such music
become popular in the first place? Unfortunately, pop music does not have a firm definition or sound, for
it constantly evolves and therefore can consist of differing characteristics of multiple genres. According to
The New Grove Dictionary Of Music and Musicians, an encyclopedia of music, popular music is music
since industrialization in the 1800's that is most in line with the tastes and interests of the urban middle
class. Pop music, on the other hand, is a musical genre that originated in its modern form in the 1950s,
stemming directly from rock and roll.1 Since that time, most consider pop music as the music accessible
1
Bill Lamb, "What Is Pop Music? A Definition", About.com, retrieved 8 March 2012. Theoharis 2 to the widest audience. Bill Lamb, a music journalist specializing in pop music, clarifies that today pop is
considered as the music that sells the largest number of copies, receives the most media-attention, and is
played the most frequently on the radio. He has cited it as a melting pot in that it constantly assimilates
ideas and concepts from other types of music such as R&B, country, and heavy metal, but originally
stems from rock and roll.2 The music in Billboard Hot 100 may not necessarily be considered pop music
by the artists themselves, but the magazine’s list requirements do correspond to today’s basic description
of the genre. Billboard’s editors and experts on the music industry choose their weekly Hot 100 based on
“key fan interactions with music, …sales and downloads, …radio airplay and touring as well as streaming
and social interactions on Facebook, Twitter, Vevo, Youtube, Spotify and other popular online
destinations for music.”3 In fact, one could argue that the Billboard Hot 100 is based on the music most
accessible and in demand, which has actually defined pop music since its commencement in the 1950s.
The production of music also supports its similarity across decades. With extremely rare
exceptions, pop music has neither strayed away from its typical “verse-chorus-verse-chorus” structure nor
from its basic 4/4 time signature. Production and instruments remain the most obvious difference between
the popular music of the past 70 years. Many radio hits of the 40s and 50s depend primarily on a piano
and brass instruments to drive the tunes, while guitars became more prevalent for the next several
decades. Synthesizers slowly gained popularity in the 1980s and are now standard in pop music.
However, most audiences are unaware that the major difference lies between those who sing these
popular songs. Clearly, the crooning, deep baritone of Johnny Cash completely clashes with the highpitched shriek of Michael Jackson. In fact, low-voiced men ruled popular music in the 1940s and 1950s, a
prime example being Elvis Presley, but with the exploding popularity of the Beatles throughout the 60s,
high tenors became customary for pop music for various reasons. For women, however, the case seems to
be nearly opposite. Over the years, altos (the lower voice range for women) have become nearly as
prevailing in popular music as tenors have, and it seems that instead of having men’s and women’s voices
2
3
Bill Lamb, "What Is Pop Music? A Definition", About.com, retrieved 8 March 2012. "Billboard.com FAQ." Billboard: n. pag. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. <http://www.billboard.com/footer/faq#/footer/faq>. Theoharis 3 in their own respective low and high octaves, they, over the years, have begun to sing within the same
general range. Female vocalists, however, have not faced such dramatic changes overtime.
Pop music, over the years, has borrowed aspects of multiple other different genres, from rock and
roll, to metal, to alternative rock, to even hip-hop music.4 However, despite these obvious changes in
sound and more advanced production, the theory and composition of pop songs remain similar.
Gracenote, the largest database of music and video data in the world, currently contains approximately
130 million songs.5 Since this number only consists of songs recorded and uploaded to the website, it is
evident that more have been written over the past several hundred years, meaning, supposedly, over 130
million melodies have been sung. A melody serves as a succession of pitches in musical time over an
accompaniment,6 often through voice or a non-percussion instrument. A common belief is that since new
music is constantly being composed and has been since the beginning of time, humans are not likely to
ever exhaust every possible melody. However, the method in which the Western musical scale works may
ensure that exhausting new musical possibilities may be inevitable.
While no scale is perfect, for the purposes of this analysis, the Western scale serves as the most
understandable and relatable, especially since all American pop music uses the Western musical scale in
composition. Western music, as Elana Mannes states in The Power of Music, “comes home to the root
note or basic harmony of a key after moving away.” A popular chord progression like that of The Beatles’
“Let It Be”7 consists of C, G, Am, and F but always returns to the root chord after each phrase, giving the
listener a feeling of resolution and familiarity.8 There are 12 notes total in the Western musical scale,
including C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, Ab, A, Bb, and B (“b” denotes a flat note), which fill up a full
octave. An octave difference possesses notes equivalent in tone yet different heightened pitches, such in
that a 440Hz tone with a 220Hz tone is the same note but different octave, as well as a 300Hz tone with a
4
Bill Lamb, "What Is Pop Music? A Definition", About.com, retrieved 8 March 2012.
"About Gracenote." Gracenote. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.
6
"melody." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica,
Inc., 2012. Web. 16 Dec. 2012.
7
Let It Be." Perf. Lennon-McCartney. Let It Be. Perf. The Beatles. Apples, 1970. LP.
8
Mannes, Elana. The Power of Music: Pioneering Discoveries in the New Science of Song. N.p.: Bloomsbury
Publishing USA, 2011. Print.
5
Theoharis 4 600Hz tone, etc.9 Durations of each note being played or sung determine whether it is a quarter-note, halfnote, or eight-note. For each measure in a composition of 4/4 common time, the most widely regarded
time signature due to the simplicity of having a total of 4 uniform beats per measure, a quarter-note makes
up for one quarter of the measure; hence four quarter-notes equal one full measure. With 30-40 notes
being a typical amount for a relatively long pop melody, there are about 36 possible intervals between
notes and 3 possible durations of each. To determine the amount of melodies possible in Western music
alone, according to Everything2 popular writer “Yerricde,” 36 would have to be raised to the 3rd power,
which results into 46,656 different possible melodies.10 While some variations of these tunes are probable,
each of the 130 million songs in the Gracenote database must hold similarities to at least several of the
other ones. To put this number into perspective, if around 200 songs in total were written in Western
musical scale each week throughout the country, a conceivable scenario, then each of these possible
Western musical scale melodies would be completely exhausted in just above 4 ½ years.
The composition and execution are not the only important elements of a pop song, for the words
and lyrics often play an equal role. Lyrics are most often written in common meter, a poetic meter quite
often written for ballads that consists of four distinct lines that switch between iambic tetrameter and
iambic trimeter, all the while having an a-b-a-b rhyme pattern. The amount of syllables for the first and
third line is eight while the number of syllables for each even-numbered line is six.11 Possessing a basic,
familiar, and sing-songy rhythm, common meter has been used throughout the past few centuries in a
wide range of poetry and music, with examples including American folk song “House of the Rising Sun,”
theme for “Gilligan’s Island,” Bob Dylan’s frequently covered “Knocking on Heaven’s Door,” and even
the Christmas classic “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman.” Without knowing this, one may be surprised that
John Newton’s 1835 eminent hymn Amazing Grace can be sung interchangeably to the melody of the
Pokémon Theme song.
9
Wisemen, Gay. "Why Do We Lke Music?" ThinkQuest. Education Foundation, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2012.
Yerricde. "Counting melodies." Everything2. Everything2 Media, LLC., 25 Apr. 2001. Web. 5 Dec. 2012.
11
"common metre." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc., 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2012.
10
Theoharis 5 Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
I want to be the very best
That saved a wretch like me!
Like no one ever was
I once was lost, but now am found,
[beat] To catch them is my real test
Was blind, but now I see.
To train them is my cause
-­‐
John Newton’s “Amazing Grace”
-­‐
Jason Paige’s “Pokémon Theme”
While the structure of the lyrics remains similar through methods such as common meter (6-8-6-8
syllable pattern), short meter (6-6-8-6 syllable pattern),12 and long meter (8-8-8-8 syllable pattern),13 there
is no doubt that the subject, phrases, and context of pop music have not significantly altered overtime
either. According to an article regarding the inexorable popularity of music in The Economist, nearly half
of the lyrics of pop songs involve romance or sexual behavior,14 for quite frankly, songs regarding love
and attraction are likely to never go out of style and continue to dominate the airwaves and Billboard Hot
100 charts. However, the only element of a romantic song with a more enduring effect for the listener
than the subject matter is the voice that sings them.
Sound waves are a result of vibrations that particles make during a period of time. Frequency
determines how high or low pitched the sound is. This term, however, actually refers to the amount of
vibrations that an individual particle makes per second, with more frequent particle movement creating a
much higher frequency.15 The frequency of a sound wave is actually different from its speed. Frequency
denotes how frequently a wave passes through a certain point, while speed describes how quickly the
wave passes through the point. An example of this can be seen on a string of a musical instrument, such
as a violin, guitar, or cello. Such a string vibrates; creating a specific frequency, though it is possible for
many different frequencies to be made by a single string, while strumming the string repeatedly shows
exemplifies its speed, showing various durations of frequencies. The three main characteristics of the
12
"short metre." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc., 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2012.
13
"long metre." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc., 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2012.
14
"Why Music?" The Economist: n. pag. The Economist. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.
15
"frequency." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc., 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2012.
Theoharis 6 string that can alter its frequency are length, density/diameter, and tension. Like sound waves, the shorter
the length, the higher the frequency, which results in a higher pitch. Therefore, when a violinist holds
down a string with her fingers, she shortens the length of the open string, causing a higher pitch to
resonate. The higher she moves her fingers, making the string shorter, the higher the sound she will
produce. Diameter, or thickness, of the string ensures that the thicker the string, the lower and slower the
vibration, causing a lower frequency. Density, or heaviness, of the string holds the same consequence,
meaning a dense string causes a slower vibration and lower pitch. Finally, tension describes how tightly
the string is extended. Therefore, the tighter and thinner the string, the higher the pitch and frequency.16
Such rules for instrumental strings directly correlate with that of a human’s vocal range, which depend on
one’s particular anatomy. Vocal chords are dual strips of cartilage within the larynx which vibrate to
produce sound. A boy between birth and eight years of age generally retains vocal chords with a length of
2-3 millimeters, which continue to grow and develop along with the rest of the body throughout the
male’s lifetime.17 Generally, the longer the vocal chord, the lower the vocal range. The reason why men’s
voices tend to be far lower than that of women’s is the fact that male vocal chords grow nearly twice as
long, with average lengths for female and male vocal chords being 10 millimeters and 16 millimeters,
respectively.18 Likewise, the thicker the vocal chord, the darker and heavier the tone of voice.
The voice of a male human varies and evolves, starting as early as birth. From birth until his
seventh or eighth birthday, a boy’s voice is not mature enough to even match that of a female soprano yet,
making vocal training at such a young age futile.19 Once boys reach young pubescent ages, they are then
able to sing and be classified in one of the male vocal parts, which are split up into three primary distinct
parts that determine how low or high of a frequency they have the physical capability to sing. These vocal
parts, from lowest to highest, include bass, baritone, and tenor. Within each particularly vocal range, there
are several subtypes of classifications based on relative range and vocal weight. A lyric baritone, for
16
Nondestructive Testing, ed. "Frequency and Pitch." NDT Resource Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2012.
Poncelet, Barbara. "What to Know About Puberty and Voice Changes." About.com. N.p., 3 Sept. 2009. Web. 5
Dec. 2012.
18
"Voice Changes Throughout Life." National Center for Voice & Speech. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2012
19
Brown, Ralph M. The Singing Voice. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1946. Print.
17
Theoharis 7 example, has the quality and range to fit the baritone category, but holds a much lighter, tenor-like tone
than that of the dramatic-baritone.20 21 Such distinctions are more apparent in musical theater and operatic
music, though they certainly can describe popular vocalists of any time period. Lyric baritones tend to be
more frequent in pop music than dramatic baritones due to their light and accessible sound, giving less
emphasis on vocal strength and more on the melody and lyrics. Most men have access to falsetto, or false
voice. One immerses into their falsetto when surpassing the upper break in their chest voices, often giving
at least an extra octave of notes capable of being sung only in a squeaky, childish, and often quite comical
manner. With men’s vocal chords being typically longer that than of women’s, it is no surprise that they
are able to sing high notes that their female counterparts are familiar with all the while having access to
an octave or two below them. Ralph Brown, a vocal expert of the 1800s, stated, “No voice, either high,
medium, or low, lyric or dramatic, has all the admirable qualities.” However, the more knowledge one
gathers about each of the many different voices, the more appreciation one can give to a voice that may
not even be preferable to one’s own tastes.22 Needless to say, typical listeners of pop music do not hold
this level of knowledge for voices, and therefore, depending on the time period, prefer certain voices over
others, as shown by the Billboard Hot 100.
Although popular music in the U.S. has remained similar throughout the past 70 years due to
humans’ preference for familiarity in the songs they listen to as well as their craving for a specific
structure, subtler differences are apparent in ways other than composition and theory. Popular music has
changed primarily due to varying vocals, and each decade the Billboard Hot 100 #1 hits have been
revolved around the values and culture of the era, with each popular male voice corresponding to
whatever the period’s culture may be. Despite how much vocal training a singer has undergone, vocal
appreciation remains a subjective subject, though popularity still depends on the listeners’ preference;
20
Brown, Ralph M. The Singing Voice. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1946. Print.
O'Connor, Karyn. "How To Determine Singing Range and Vocal Fach." Sing Wise. Karyn O'Connor, 2012. Web.
17 Dec. 2012.
22
Brown, Ralph M. The Singing Voice. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1946. Print.
21
Theoharis 8 hence, society’s musical preference of any time period actually determines the sound of pop music, more
specifically the characteristics of the male voices they hear.
Though Billboard magazine did not publish their first list of Hot 100 hits until November 12,
1955, they had released lists of number-one songs in the United States starting in 1940.23 Much success
came to Tommy Dorsey in 1940 with his #1 “I’ll Never Smile Again”
24
(See Appendix – Track 1),
exemplifying the typical radio hit of the decade. Choruses included female sopranos over his own, while
he sang alone in his mid-register baritone range for the verses. This formula will again be used quite
commonly in pop music of the 2000s, giving most attention to the higher pitched vocals of the refrains
sung by tenors, altos, or sopranos while verses are either rapped or more quietly sung by basses or
baritones. In 1944, Bing Crosby’s song “Don’t Fence Me In” became one of the most popular songs of
the year. Known for bringing jazz to a larger mainstream audience, he also set the standard for male
vocalists on the radio in the 1940s. Along with his 1942 greatest hit “White Christmas”25 (Track 2), a
classic that many continue to play to this day during the holiday season, Crosby sings comfortably in the
bass range with a baritone-like quality with female backup vocalists to round out the sound. Throughout
this decade, vocal-driven pop substituted Big Band/Swing at the end of World War II, although it often
used rather large orchestras backing up the vocalists. World War II caused great social upheaval, and the
music of this period shows the effects of this disturbance. Johnnie Ray described this music’s decade to
“make them feel …exhaust them …destroy them.”26 Such low, masculine voices were ideal in capturing
this notion, possessing the ability to get under the listeners’ skin. In “Nature Boy”27 (Track 3), Nat King
Cole sounds much lighter and higher-pitched than the typical male singer of the 40s, though he falls into
the lyric baritone category, considered awfully low in today’s standards. To end the decade, “Riders in the
Sky”28 (Track 4), an instant classic of Vaughn Monroe, displays the vocalization of the definitive
dramatic baritone of the decade, with a clearly heavier and darker quality than that of Nat King Cole.
23
"HOT 10 BILLBOARD (1940)." Valencia Magazine: n. pag. Valencia Magazine. Web. 5 Dec. 2012.
Dorsey, Tommy. I'll Never Smile Again. Composed by Ruth Lowe. RCA Victor, 1940. LP.
25
Crosby, Bing. White Christmas. Composed by Irving Berlin. Decca, 1942. LP.
26
"Cry: The Johnnie Ray Story," Jonny Whiteside, Barricade Books, October 1994.
27
Nature Boy. Composed by Eden Ahbez. Capitol Records, 1948. LP.
28
(Ghost) Riders in the Sky. Perf. Vaughn Monroe. Composed by Stan Jones. RCA Victor, 1948. LP.
24
Theoharis 9 Interestingly enough, of all Billboard’s #1 songs of this decade sung by males, there is not a single track
sung by a tenor. During the summer of 1950, Nat King Cole’s “Mona Lisa” rose to the top of the charts
for nearly a month. Throughout the track, he sings lightly with no note exceeding the baritone range.
Though possessing a lower register capability, his tone and clarity in his words distinguish him as a lyric
baritone. Later that year, Phil Harris’s tongue-in-cheek track “The Thing” displays an example of a bassbaritone in a #1 hit, which was quite common during this time. The following year, “Cry”29 (Track 5)
topped the charts, with vocalist Johnnie Ray possessing a much lighter, higher range than that of the
typical popular vocalist. That being said, his upper range throughout the melody does not surpass a high
baritone G4, ensuring that his classification would be of a lyric baritone. The same year, Perry Como
recorded “Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom),” a typical radio hit including backup female sopranos and
all, and displayed his Bing Crosby-influenced baritone, though resting on a much higher end of the
baritone spectrum. At this time, Elvis Presley emerged in raising the bar for baritones throughout the late
1950, with a range extending to about 3 octaves, not including falsetto. Bob Dylan began to change vocal
styles in this decade as well, for he slowly popularized less properly-trained, sloppier, singing that sounds
like slightly modified talking, but nonetheless with his songwriting skills he made an immense impact on
popular music. Yet another decade passes with baritones and basses completely ruling the airwaves, for
no major changes in the popular male voice take place until the mid-60s through the explosion of The
Beatles.
Within the first few months of 1964, The Beatles controlled the airwaves with their three back-toback hit singles “I Want To Hold Your Hand”30 (Track 6), “She Loves You,” and “Can’t Buy Me Love.”
Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and John Lennon’s vocal harmonies in the first track soar nearly half
an octave higher than many other male vocalists of the time, and to a high falsetto shriek the first instant
the listener hears the word “hand.” One can tell that as opposed to the vocals of say, Johnnie Ray, the
execution of The Beatles seems forced and strained, making it apparent that they had not received the
29
30
Ray, Johnnie. Cry. Composed by Churchhill Kohlman. Okeh, 1951. LP.
The Beatles. I Want to Hold Your Hand. Composed by Lennon-McCartney. Capitol, 1963. LP.
Theoharis 10 vocal training that past top hit single holders had been given. While this has been a small step in making
listeners more accustomed to sloppiness in the vocalization they hear on the radio, it also has opened
doors for those that may not have had the proper vocal technique that most popular artists had once had.
This decade saw great success for other tenors and singers constantly singing in falsetto. The
Beach Boys’ 1966 hit “Good Vibrations” is male harmonization at its finest, with immense emphasis on
the top falsetto voices. One would be hard-pressed to find a top single during the 40s or 50s sung in the
same manner as “Mr. Tambourine Man” by The Byrds or “Dizzy”31 (Track 7) by Tommy Roe. Mick
Jagger of the Rolling Stones, though limited in his range, pushed even more boundaries through his raspy,
nasally, belt style of singing. Despite these vocal changes, some baritones, including Bobby Goldsboro
and Jim Morrison of The Doors, did manage to get decent radio play, while basses, by the time of the
eruption of The Beatles, had been completely disregarded from pop music. By the end of the decade, with
hits such as “Hey Jude” by The Beatles, Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”
32
(Track 8)
and many high harmony-concentrated groups with several #1 hits such as The Temptations and Simon &
Garfunkel, it was clear that tenors were in high supply and demand, only to increase throughout the two
subsequent decades.
The 1970s had very little male vocal change from the 60s, relative to the latter’s instant jump
from the 1950s. However, baritones became even less common than the previous decade, with the major
male hits being sung by high tenors including Elton John, Steve Miller, Stevie Wonder, and the falsettoinured BeeGees (Listen to Track 9 “You Should Be Dancing” 33). With amity playing an important role in
society, especially after and during the Vietnam War, it is no surprise that the male vocal ranges in
popular hits became higher, sweeter, more accessible, and comforting than that of the 1940s and 1950s.
The 1979 hit “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough” foreshadowed Michael Jackson’s supremacy throughout
the 1980s in all his countertenor glory. At this time, synthesizers become common in pop music, though
31
Roe, Tommy. Dizzy. Composed by Tommy Roe and Freddy Weller. ABC Records, 1968. LP.
Gaye, Marvin. I Heard It Through The Grapevine. Composed by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong.
Tamla,1968.LP.
33
Bee Gees. You Should Be Dancing. RSO, 1976. LP.
32
Theoharis 11 the classic compositional formulas never strayed from its origins, nor were the melodies always
completely original. “Thriller”34 (Track 10), perhaps the definitive pop song of the 1980s and of Michael
Jackson’s career, includes a precariously familiar bass line to that of Rick James’s minor hit “Give It To
Me Baby.” While many famous artists of previous decades such as Queen, Paul McCartney, Stevie
Wonder, and John Lennon continued to produce hits, new artists emerged, with tenors robustly singing
higher and higher. One hit wonders such as Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”
35
(Track 11) and Wham’s
“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” tapped into the quintessential 80s popular voice, with more enduring
acts throughout the decade including REO Speedwagon, Foreigner (Listen to Track 12”Juke Box
Hero”36), Phil Collins, Journey, and Bon Jovi belting notes higher than those capable of an alto or mezzosoprano voice. Throughout this decade, it was considered attractive for men to dress similarly to women,
and therefore common for males to dress in a softer, more feminine color palette, according to
professional screen-writer and novelist Si Kingston. Particularly earlier in the decade, many embraced
cross dressing, with male outfits regularly including eyeliner, various necklaces, lace gloves, tight pants,
all the while growing their slightly teased and often dyed hair well below their shoulders.37 During this
time, femininity was popular in fashion, and this was no different vocally in the decade’s most popular
music. What first began as a joke to confuse his choir instructor in grade school, Guns N’ Roses front
man Axl Rose taught himself to sing in the tenor and alto range using strictly falsetto, despite being a
natural baritone with the capacity to hit even some of the lowest bass notes. His wide range ensured that
he had the capacity to compete with the higher, powerful tenors of the decade, with “Sweet Child O’
Mine”38 (Track 13) displaying his soft, airy, yet upholding falsetto vocals until the outro, featuring Rose
singing a low baritone F#2 almost two octaves below middle C.
With the Billboard Hot 100 charts of the 1980s primarily consisting of high tenors and
countertenors singing comfortably higher in chest voice than many females, one could assume at this
34
Jackson, Michael. Thriller. Composed by Rod Temperton. Epic, 1982. CD.
Survivor. Eye of the Tiger. Composed by Frankie Sullivan, Jim Peterik. EMI, Scotti Brothers, 1982. LP.
36
Foreigner. Juke Box Hero. Composed by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones. Atlantic, 1981. LP.
37
Kingston, Si. "Men's Fashion Styles in the '80s." eHow. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec.
38
Guns N' Roses. Sweet Child 'o Mine. Composed by Guns N' Roses. Uzi Suicide, 1987. CD.
35
Theoharis 12 point that the popular male voice since the 1940s dramatically increased each decade. However, the 1990s
saw a drastic decrease in the popularity of high tenors. While higher-voiced males still remained popular,
baritones at this time reemerged on the radio, singing some of the greatest hits of the decade. In 1991,
Nirvana’s album Nevermind and Pearl Jam’s Ten popularized alternative rock music. Not only did
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” re-evolve rock music with its irresistible compositional simplicity though never
quite reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it set a new standard for the following decade of a
typically much lower, heavier vocals than that of the previous decade. Pearl Jam vocalist and songwriter
Eddie Vedder’s voice perfectly matches the range, tone, and qualities of a common baritone (Listen to
Track 14 “Elderly Woman Behind a Counter in a Small Town”39) yet became a radio staple, a challenging
feat for a low-voiced rock singer. However, there is no doubt that music popular to the public continues to
lend from past music, as shown by the opening of Nirvana’s “Come as You Are”
40
(Track 15) and
Killing Joke’s 1984 song “Eighties” as well as the similarities between the 90s popular band Smash
Mouth’s “Then The Morning Comes” with the 1965 recorded “It’s My Life” by The Animals. Even The
Offspring use the chord progression and melody of “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da” by The Beatles in their 1998 hit
“Why Don’t You Get A Job?,” although one can see distinct difference between the darker tone and
hoarseness produced by the 90s male voice, though they more or less lie within the same general vocal
range at this point.
What caused these changes to the popular male voice? The evolution is obvious if one listens to
the hits chronologically, which would convey how people of each decade wanted to hear the respective
voices. Based on analysis of most popular music, higher pitches are more appealing and exciting to a
typical listener, which may be a significant factor in the drastic change in popularity from the 60s to 80s.
Even in operas and musical theater, the romantic lead males are almost always written for tenors, with the
antagonist frequently being a dramatic baritone or bass. Often regarded as the very first operatic
masterpiece, L’Orfeo, Claudio Monteverdi’s 1607 opera based upon the Greek mythological story of
39
40
Pearl Jam. Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town. Composed by Eddie Vedder. Epic, 1993. CD.
Nirvana. Come As You Are. Composed by Kurt Cobain. DGC, 1991. CD.
Theoharis 13 Orpheus, follows this typical formula. Orpheus, the romantic lead, sings in the tenor range as the female
playing opposite to him is a high soprano. Antagonist-like roles such as Greek gods Pluto and Charon are
basses, creating a contrast to the voices of the leading roles. The music of the ground-breaking musical
West Side Story written by Leonard Bernstein follows this trend as well, with many other musical
successors doing the same. Tony, the protagonist and hopeful for love, is a tenor while his gang-leading
friend Riff and antagonist gang-leader Bernardo are typically baritones or, on some occasions, easily sung
by basses. Clearly, there is a connection between higher-voiced males and listener, particularly female,
attentiveness.
However, according to Plos One, an open-access and peer-reviewed online scientific journal,
females find men with low voices the most sexually attractive. In fact, it has been researched that men
with low voices tend to have more children and are believed to be more fertile than tenors.41 If this is the
case, then why have tenors been so popular in the Billboard Hot 100 over the decades? Unfortunately for
low-voiced men, tenors are naturally more versatile, covering a large range of genres, and also more
thrilling particularly for large audiences. Rock music displays how performing in a higher key results in
heavier applause, which is also a nature of the culture. Perhaps this is why high-pitched auto-tune may
seem necessary on many radio hits, for it gives women the ability to sing along contentedly to such songs,
rather than singing uncomfortably at the very bottom of their own voice ranges. As record producer
Daniel J. Levitin states in This Is Your Brain on Music, like a tuba, a low voice “evokes solemnity,
gravity, or weight.”42
The composition of pop music in the U.S. has seen little change over the past 70 years. The
Western musical scale tends to listeners’ needs in that it provides resolution and familiarity. Humans
enjoy hearing what they are accustomed to. Humans created music. Music influences new music. This
pattern will continue for the rest of its existence, though pop will have subtle changes in execution
41
Re DE, O'Connor JJM, Bennett PJ, Feinberg DR (2012) Preferences for Very Low and Very High Voice Pitch in
Humans. PLoS ONE 7(3): e32719. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032719
42
Levitin, Daniel J. This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession. First Edition ed. N.p.:
Plume/Penguin, 2007. Print.
Theoharis 14 depending on the popular instruments and sounds of the time. The primary difference, the voice,
particularly in males, has seen quite a transformation over the past 70 years, due to listeners’ preference.
The crooner age of the 40s and 50s gave a great deal of success to baritones such as Frank Sinatra and
Dean Martin, which is no surprise since studies have shown that low voices are considered more
attractive to hear.43 However, when the Beatles emerged in the 1960s, listeners became accustomed to
hearing higher-pitched voices on the radio, soon temporarily removing basses and baritones from the
Billboard Hot 100. This is also due to the inclusion of heavy rock and metal into the top hits, which
generally require singers to deliver in tenor to soprano ranges. Since such music is meant to excite and
stimulate listeners, higher-pitched vocals are required to electrify their audiences. Not to mention that
during this time, femininity in males was considered attractive, displayed by more gaudy fashions and
girlish voices in pop music. Since the 90s, Billboard has included a relatively mixed bag of male vocal
ranges, primarily due to the larger range of genres the #1 hits have been utilizing. With a much larger
range of popular genres during a time, there will be a greater variety of vocal ranges on the radio.
Will the voice range preferences of male pop artists change in the future? Or will they continue to
vary? As shown by the general trend since the early 1990s as well as the immense mainstream success of
hip-hop, it can be concluded that the next decade will contain a large variety of male vocal ranges, though
ultimately favoring basses and baritones. Interestingly enough, an aspect of vocal execution in pop songs
has repeated, with often a high tenor or soprano singing along to each refrain as a bass or baritone handles
the verses. If anything, the new millennium’s popular male voice became more mixed and diverse, with a
variety of hits from both sides of the vocal spectrum. Baritones Scott Stapp of Creed and Chad Kroeger of
Nickelback managed to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Other
alternative rock bands such as Matchbox Twenty and Vertical Horizon skyrocketed to the top of
Billboard’s list despite their relatively lower-voiced lead singers. However, immediately beginning in
2002, alternative rock quickly declined in popularity, with major hip-hop milestones being Nelly’s “Hot
43
Re DE, O'Connor JJM, Bennett PJ, Feinberg DR (2012) Preferences for Very Low and Very High Voice Pitch in
Humans. PLoS ONE 7(3): e32719. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032719
Theoharis 15 in Here”
(Track 16) and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”, therefore making hip-hop and rap the customary
radio hits and in fact becoming the new millennium’s mainstream pop music. Rapping each verse with a
singing-melody for choruses became quite popular this decade, with dynamics in that the verses would be
recited in often a baritone range while the choruses would be sung by tenors, altos, or even sopranos. The
2008 #1 hit "Live Your Life"
(Track 17) consists of rapped verses by T.I. featuring Rihanna for each
higher-pitched memorable refrain. High tenors still remained popular though, such as James Blunt and
Daniel Powder of 2006, with hits “You’re Beautiful” and “Bad Day”, respectively, along with Mario and
his common meter hit “Let Me Love You” during the previous year. Even the past two years of the 2010s,
Billboard Hot 100 #1 hits have included especially high tenors such as Bruno Mars, Nate Ruess of Fun.,
Gotye, and Maroon 5’s Adam Levine while the low voiced Flo Rida and pop music duo LMFAO have
been just as successful. Between the years 1940 and 2010, the final decade’s pop music holds the most
variety by far in the vocal ranges of the male vocalists, primarily due to the much larger range of genres
under the “pop music” umbrella throughout the decade, ensuring that the future male pop voices will be
just as diverse.
Music deeply feeds our minds with notions of human feelings and circumstances, connecting
humans more intimately. Voices in music, in particular, have the means to create an even more personal
connection, something that no other instrument can achieve. The connections and admirations of listeners
come naturally, for one does not have to teach others to enjoy song, for the wonder and awe is born with
them. In fact, music causes the brain to release the chemical dopamine,44 the same chemical released
during sexual intercourse, perhaps the most intimate act. A mixture of anticipation and even an element of
surprise cause this, hence why the familiar structure and voices of pop music are so satisfactory for the
average listener. The voice is a powerful tool, and as of now, humans have not found a more powerful
way to express emotions, revisit precedents, and most importantly, connect us with other humans of
different generations.
44
Sohn, Emily. "Why Music Makes You Happy." Discovery News 10 Jan. 2011: n. pag.
Discovery News. Web. 5 Dec. 2012.
Theoharis 16 Appendix
CD Tracks:
1) Tom Dorsey- “I’ll Never Smile Again”
2) Bing Crosby- “White Christmas”
3) Nat King Cole- “Nature Boy”
4) Vaughn Monroe- “Riders in the Sky”
5) Johnnie Ray- “Cry”
6) The Beatles- “I Want To Hold Your Hand
7) Tommy Roe- “Dizzy”
8) Marvin Gaye- “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”
9) The BeeGees- “You Should Be Dancing”
10) Michael Jackson- “Thriller”
11) Survivor- “Eye of the Tiger”
12) Foreigner- “Juke Box Hero”
13) Guns N’ Roses- “Sweet Child O’ Mine”
14) Pearl Jam- “Elderly Woman Behind A Counter in a Small Town”
15) Nirvana- “Come As You Are”
16) Nelly- “Hot in Here”
17) T.I. featuring Rihanna- “Live Your Life”
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