[BLANK_AUDIO] We've been talking about pop music before rock and roll, and we saw several white artists. Well, there was black popular music as well, long before Motown invented what's come to be called black pop. There were quite a few groups whose records sold well, and some even attracted white buyers. An example is the Mills Brothers. The group originally included four brothers and they were from Piqua, Ohio, near Dayton. They started out singing in barber shop quartets and in church. During their career they made some 3,000 recordings. And they sold more than 3 million records. Paper Doll was the number one record on the Billboard Hot 100 for three months during World War Two, and sold 3 million copies. That was an amazing accomplishment for a black vocal group in the 1940s. [MUSIC] Another example is the Ink Spots, formed in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the early 1930s. Musicologists say their music led to Rhythm and Blues, and Doo-Wop. One of their biggest hits was If I Didn't Care, from 1939. [MUSIC] We're going to wind this up back on the white side of pop music in the 1950s. Do you remember the risque hillbilly song we heard earlier called, Sweet Violets? It was quote, edited and recorded in 1951 by pop singer, Dinah Shore. Before we hear it, popular music in the early 1950s featured a lot of novelty songs like this and everyone, adults and teenagers alike, kind of grew weary of such drivel. Here's Sweet Violets, the cleaned up version. Number three hit from 1951. [MUSIC] Patty Page's How Much Is That Doggie In the Window is another example of the sort of novelty songs that were pop staples in the early 1950s. Was number one for eight weeks in 1953. Many rock historians believe it was songs like this one that alienated young people from the pop music of their parents and helped them enthusiastically embrace rock and roll. [MUSIC] Enough. You get the idea. Occasionally, during our class, I will offer what I call a consumer note. A suggestion or two on albums you can buy if you are interested in learning more about the topic we've been discussing. I don't make any money on sales of these recordings, and you certainly are not required to buy any of them. I just thought you might like to have some options. This one, the first rock and roll record, begins just about where our class did, around 1900 and winds up with Elvis Presley. Well, that winds up our brief look at the elements in the stew that ended up becoming rock and roll. We're going to take a closer look, though, at the major elements, blues, jazz, and so on. Next time, we'll talk about the early country blues artists from Mississippi. We'll call it Mississippi Ghosts.
