Real Men Don't Sing: Crooning In American Culture
by Allison McCracken
Buy on AmazonThe crooner Rudy Vallée's soft, intimate, and sensual vocal delivery simultaneously captivated millions of adoring fans and drew harsh criticism from those threatened by his sensitive masculinity. Although Vallée and other crooners reflected the gender fluidity of late-1920s popular culture, their challenge to the Depression era's more conservative masculine norms led cultural authorities to stigmatize them as gender and sexual deviants. In Real Men Don't Sing Allison McCracken outlines crooning's history from its origins in minstrelsy through its development as the microphone sound most associated with white recording artists, band singers, and radio stars.…
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"How did popular music get from Point A to Justin Bieber? DePaul University professor Allison McCracken fills in a key piece of the puzzle with this research-rich, intriguing account of how microphone-assisted heartthrobs won over American ears in the early 20th century. Grounded in the story of the first vocalizing pop idol, Rudy Vallee, McCracken’s book shows how shifting technologies, changing attitudes about sex and a new, female-driven fan culture fed pop’s “intimate aesthetic,” which prevails to this day. A chapter on Adam Lambert and Glee brings the story into this century."
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