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    About the Gold
   Standard Song List
 
   What is the GSSL?
   Origin, Biases, Limits
   About the 14 Genres
   117 Funny GS Songs
   25 Children's GS Songs
   One Song in a Million
   Offensive GS Songs

 

 


  
Images of the GSSL

   

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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   The Gold Standard
   Song List appears
   throughout
   How Music REALLY
   Works!, 2nd Ed.

  
  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Top


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   The Gold Standard
   Song List appears
   throughout
   How Music REALLY
   Works!, 2nd Ed.

  
  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Top

 

 

 

 

 


What the Gold Standard Song List Looks Like: Graphic Images

PAGE INDEX

A 3-D Bird's Eye View of the Gold Standard Song List
          Figure 1: Gold Standard Songs by Genre and Decade

Genre Popularity Over Time
          Figure 2: Typical Popularity Profile of a Genre Over Time

Genres Emerging Over Time
          Figure 3: Genre Breakouts in Historical Perspective

Gold Standard Songs Year by Year
          Figure 4: 100 Years of Gold Standard Songs

~ • ~ • ~ • ~

A 3-D BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF THE GOLD STANDARD SONG LIST
  

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  • Figure 1 below shows what this table looks like when converted to a 3-D chart.

   v

   
FIGURE 1:
Gold Standard
Songs by Genre and Decade

         
GENRE POPULARITY OVER TIME

  • The Gold Standard Song List, if taken as a more or less representative data sample of genre popularity, reveals a characteristic "genre popularity profile." This profile applies to most musical genres over time (Figure 1 above and Figure 2 below).

  • Typically, the genre begins as an underground musical movement. This formative phase often lasts many years, even decades.

  • At some point the genre breaks out as a widely recognized musical force in popular culture.

  • Within a decade or two, it crests and starts to subside in popularity. But it does not go away.

  • Instead, with few exceptions, it remains a permanent mainstream genre, co-existing, influencing, and being influenced by, many others. Every so often a long-established mainstream genre experiences a period of renewed popularity ("revival") that may extend for some years.

       
FIGURE 2:
Typical Popularity Profile of a Genre Over Time

 

 

GENRES EMERGING OVER TIME

  • Figure 3 below shows the major genres of Western popular music (at least in the main English-speaking countries) from approximate breakout dates to the present.

  • The Gold Standard Song List only applies to the right half of Figure 3. See About the 14 Genres for details.

      
FIGURE 3:
Genre Breakouts In Historical Perspective

       

      

GOLD STANDARD SONGS YEAR BY YEAR

  • Figure 4 below shows the total number of Gold Standard songs by year of composition for each year form 1900 to 1999.

  • The sudden jump in the 1920s coincides with the advent of radio.

  • The large bulge from the late 1950s to the early 1970s reflects the breakout and cresting of several genres concurrently: country/bluegrass, the folk/roots revival, the blues revival, reggae, R & B/soul, and rock/pop (see Figure 1 above).
      

FIGURE 4:
100 Years of Gold Standard Songs

 

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