Easy listening8/5/2023 The lead double-sided single from the album, “It’s Too Late”/”I Feel the Earth Move”, spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 beginning in mid-June of 1971. The soft rock album Tapestry by Carole King, released in February 1971, became one of the best-selling albums of all time. The Carpenters’ hit version of “(They Long to Be) Close to You” was released in the summer of 1970, followed by Bread’s “Make It with You”, both early examples of a softer sound that was coming to dominate the charts. The adult contemporary format began evolving into the sound that later defined it, with rock-oriented acts as Chicago, the Eagles and Elton John becoming associated with the format. The Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts became more similar again toward the end of the 1960s and into the early and mid-1970s, when the texture of much of the music played on top 40 radio once more began to soften. Major artists of that time included Bread, Carly Simon, Carole King, Cat Stevens, James Taylor, Lobo and Gilbert O’Sullivan who achieved number-one hit singles between 1970–1972 with “Nothing Rhymed”, “Alone Again (Naturally)” and “Clair”. Late 1960s soft rock artists include the Bee Gees, whose song “I Started a Joke” was a number one single in several countries Neil Diamond with the 1969 hit “Sweet Caroline”, the Hollies with their US and UK top 10 hit “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”, and Elton John with his popular song “Skyline Pigeon”.īy the early 1970s, softer songs by the Carpenters, Anne Murray, John Denver, Barry Manilow, and even Barbra Streisand began to be played more often on “top 40” radio and others were added to the mix on many adult contemporary stations. ![]() From the end of the 1960s, it became common to divide mainstream rock music into soft and hard rock, with both emerging as major radio formats in the US. By 1968, hard rock had been established as a mainstream genre. Softer sounds in rock music could be heard in mid-1960s songs, such as “A Summer Song” by Chad & Jeremy (1964) and “Here, There and Everywhere” by the Beatles and “I Love My Dog” by Cat Stevens (both from 1966). Soft rock was prevalent on the radio throughout the 1970s and eventually metamorphosed into a form of the synthesized music of adult contemporary in the 1980s. The style smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. region of Southern California and in the United Kingdom. Vocals were by the popular artists of the day such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Matt Monro, Jack Jones, Barbra Streisand, Vicki Carr, Dionne Warwick, Nancy Wilson and others, and vocal groups or duos such as Simon & Garfunkel, The Fifth Dimension, Harpers' Bizarre, The Lettermen and The Sandpipers.Soft Rock is a form of pop rock that originated in the late 1960s in the U.S. Orchestras and groups included Henry Mancini, Herb Alpert, Stan Getz, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Paul Mauriat. It was differentiated from the mostly instrumental beautiful music format by its variety of styles, including a significant percentage of vocals, arrangements and tempos to fit various day parts during the broadcast day.Įasy listening music is often confused with so-called "elevator music" provided by Muzak and other music services for malls and elevators, or "lounge music," but while it was popular in some of the same venues it bore only modest resemblance to the background sound of this kind of music.Ī significant part of easy listening music was pure instrumental and included some big band and orchestral arrangements of standards, themes from movies, bossa nova hits and small instrumental ensembles playing instrumental versions of popular songs, including jazz and even some rock and roll. It encompassed instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs and popular non-rock vocals. ![]() Freebase (0.00 / 0 votes) Rate this definition:Įasy listening is a radio format that emerged on FM radio in the early 1960s, related to middle-of-the-road music as played on many AM radio stations.
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