Easy Listening Hit Covers
tagStarted 1958Peak 1962–1976Last big hit 1980
Located in 1 route
Easy listening hit covers adapt songs already proven on radio, stripping out grit, youth-culture noise, or vocal idiosyncrasy in favor of soft-focus melody and clean studio polish. Strings, choir-like backing textures, mellow rhythm guitar, and restrained percussion make the familiar feel both safer and more sumptuous.
History
As Top 40 became more youth-oriented, adult buyers still wanted the same songs in a more decorous frame, and labels responded with cover albums by the Hollyridge Strings, Living Strings, 101 Strings, Percy Faith, James Last, and countless anonymous studio groups; this practice became one of the central economic engines of easy listening and one reason the form overlapped so heavily with beautiful-music radio.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Library of Congress, "Elevator Music"
- Mood Media, "History of Muzak"
- Joseph Lanza, *Elevator Music*. citeturn7search21turn7search13