The Song Planner

Lounge / Cocktail Music

familyStarted c. 1948Peak 1956–1966Last big hit still active

This family centers on atmosphere: brushed drums, cocktail piano, vibraphone, soft horns, close-miked vocals, bossa sway, and the suggestive spaciousness of hi-fi stereo. It is music designed to make a room feel better dressed than it is, whether the setting is a hotel bar, martini den, casino lounge, living-room hi-fi console, or modern retro revival.

History

Lounge and cocktail music emerged from postwar nightlife, hotel and casino culture, bachelor-pad stereophonics, Latin crossover, and the easy-listening market for stylish background foregrounding; Martin Denny, Esquivel, Henry Mancini, Julie London, Dean Martin, Herb Alpert, and later Combustible Edison or Pink Martini mapped different sides of the family, whose afterlife in 1990s revival culture and modern hotel-bar playlists proved that “atmosphere music” can outlive the décor that first sold it.

Defining artists

Essential listening

← Explore Easy Listening / Standards / Lounge

Sources

  • Wikipedia, “Lounge music”
  • Museum of Broadcast Communications, “Easy Listening/Beautiful Music Format”
  • The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Music, “Other mainstreams: light music and easy listening, 1920–70.”