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Fun fact: London’s venerable Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, founded by Sir Thomas Beecham, is actually younger than both Slade’s Noddy Holder and Queen’s Freddie Mercury. As the RPO glided through its first rehearsal 75 years ago in September 1946, the future front men of Slade and Queen were already bawling at full volume, albeit as babies.<\/p>
Behind this pub-quizzable fact is a deeper truth. Pop is more established, and the classical establishment sprightlier, than some imagine. Indeed, the RPO\u2019s Hooked on Classics \u2013 a medley of hook lines from popular classics overlaid by a drum-machine disco beat, often dismissed as the lowest ebb of crossover music<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 turned a respectable 40 years back in August 2021. The 1981 disco prince is now a dad dancer. It\u2019s a story of Art vs Commerce; paying respect vs paying bills; and Beethoven<\/a><\/strong> vs the Veg-o-Matic chip slicer.<\/p> The three-minute 45rpm pop song arrived in 1949 (with Perry Como’s ‘You’re Adorable’, since you ask). A new market boomed, along with the postwar babies like Noddy and Freddie and peaked in 1974, when 200 million 45s were sold. Many artists explored combinations of long-form classical rigour with quick-fix pop exuberance. Switched on Bach<\/em>, a 1968 album of JS\u2019s music faithfully played but inventively on Bob Moog\u2019s new synthesisers<\/a><\/strong>, won plaudits for its realiser Wendy Carlos (then under the name Walter).<\/p> 1960s: the birth of the classical crossover movement<\/h2>