- 1920s shaped by World War I ("The Great War")
- Horrific devastation
- Incongruous combination of modern warfare and old world strategy
- Armored vehicles
- Poison gas
- Soldiers on horseback armed with swords
- 10 million soldiers killed (100,000 Americans)
- Radical art movements arose in reaction to global political upheaval
- Emergence of Jazz in America
- New style based on large ensembles
- Louis Armstrong
- Duke Ellington
- Glenn Miller
- Inspired a sense of free spirited attitude
- Strong rhythms
- Jagged melodies
- Big sound
- Big sound
- 1930 26,000 businesses failed
- By 1932 25% jobless rate forced families into shantytowns
- Depression was both economic and psychological
- 1940s shaped by World War II
- American soldiers returned in triumph
- G.I. Bill allowed highest college enrollment ever
- Benefits of college education in the 1950s:
- Higher earning power
- Single income families
- Increase in the middle class"Boom" in birth rate (hence the term "Baby Boomers" — children born in the 1950s)
- Children in the 1950s would have more allowance money to spend on rock and roll
