My big head has been working overtime lately (for no apparent reason, as usual), and it’s time to share my new pet theory:

My claim is that over the past hundred years or so, the development of Anglo- and African-American popular music can be divided into highly predictable cycles.

You see, I figure that roughly, there’s been a revolution, a major shift in mainstream popular taste, every 35 years - starting with African American work songs entering the public consciousness around 1885, followed by the jazz revolution in the 1920s, the introduction of rock’n'roll in the 1950s and finally by the rise of rap music in the 1980s.

These 35 year-cycles can be split further into 7-year cycles that each mark the introduction of a significant new stylistic direction. About midway through these 7-year cycles there have been fads that also had a major impact on popular music, but these fads can generally be considered as an amalgam of previously established styles, and not as something inherently new.

So, according to my logic, the next major music revolution will occur around the year of 2025! I can’t wait.

Of course, this is not to be taken very seriously, and, if anything, the theory exposes my total insecurity and lack of knowledge concerning anything released after 1990. I don’t know the first thing about rap/hip hop music. I have no formal background. I have no research to back up my conclusions. I’m just another one of those average, rambling blogger-types.

Bebop is defined at a very early stage of its development (and to call bebop mainstream’s a bit of a stretch, really) , new wave? 1983?, rap/hip hop is defined at a late stage and there are at least a couple of other approximations. So there’s absolutely no reason whatsoever to digg me here. You hear me?

It usually takes quite a few years for a stylistic period to be settled in people’s minds, and I think it’s hard to be very precise about the past 10 years, so a lot of question marks there.

Here’s my list. I imagine this list in the center of a musical landscape surrounded by styles that influenced (and were influenced by) it: folk, country, gospel, modern classical music, electronic music. Take a look, see if you agree:

1885 African American work songs

1895 Blues
1905 Ragtime
1913 Dixieland

1920 Jazz

1927 Hot jazz
1934 Swing
1941 Bebop
1948 Rhythm and blues

1955 Rock ‘N’ Roll

(1958 Doo wop)
1962 The Beat
(1966 Psychedelia)
1969 The Prog
(1972 Glam)
1976 The Punk
(1979 Disco)
1983 New wave
(1986 Hair metal)

1990 Rap/Hip Hop

(1993 Grunge)
1997 New School?
(2000 Boyband? Teenage divas?)
2004 The beginning of the demise of hip hop?
(2007 ?)
2011 ?
2019 ?

2025 ?? Cyber Plink Plonk ??