Suburban Squires
As postwar (that's WWII,
The Big One) euphoria gave way to Cold
War Paranoia, Americans were looking for kicks they could
get at home.
The idea of harnessing technology to enhance the pursuit of leisure
captivated millions of suburban squires taming a new frontier.
Mood music
With the advent of hi-fi, newly prosperous postwar couples
entertaining the boss at home, and newly-identified Playboy® philosophers--swinging
bachelors entertaining a babe at the pad-- could supply their own mood
music, for whole half-hours at a time, or longer, with a record
changer.
Organization Men
All over America, they came...and went. With enforced regularity,
they moved...onward and upward, and often. On an average of once
every four years, company men pulled up stakes, put their own
little corner of the world on the market, and traveled to wherever
the next sales territory or middle management promotion took
the
Music Appreciation?
What music had they grown up with? Polka,
klezmer,
conjunto, western swing, gospel,
the community
band--any European
classical music more challenging than Arthur Fiedler's
Boston Pops?
Soundtrack to Suburbia
The modern mandate was Fit In: to each new suburban community,
with their new collegues at the branch office, when they had
the new gang over for backyard barbeque.
Incorporating just enough distinctive (yet familiar) elements
from world traditions to feign sophistication, Lounge was music
everyone could agree on. The new Stereo recordings were the perfect
Soundtrack To Suburbia.
