beyond the roots of lounge

suburban

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.