Explore every episode of the podcast A Brief History of Music

Hip-hop is more than a music: MCing, DJing, B-Boying and graffiti writing are the four core pillars to the inner-city African-American subculture, and hip-hop music reflects that strong sense of identity. Rappers prize “keeping it real” to their roots, and that includes making use of a new technology - the sampler - to rap over. Here we explore into the links between African-American identity and culture, and to the technological advancements that made their music possible.

The word “rock” means many different things: clean-cut mop-tops, psychedelia and hippies, angry punks - but one thing rock is irrevocably tied to is rebellion. As a music primarily oriented to teenagers sick of their parents’ polite crooners and seeking more wild sounds, it has found itself tied to several anti-establishment counterculture movements. Today we look at how the conventions of rock have changed greatly over the years, but how the underlying song remains the same.

Blues is a story of slavery, struggle and liberation, a great musical tradition originated in Africa and indelibly shaped by the African-American experience. In this episode we explore how early blues was derived from spirituals, work songs and field hollers, the dark metaphor behind the crossroads story, and discuss the cultural appropriation of black blues music by white musicians in the 60s and 70s.

Jazz was the first great American musical genre, and deeply influential to American culture in the early 20th century. Join in as we explore the influences and origins of the genre, how it was shaped by recording technology and commercialisation, some of its most important stylistic conventions, and how aspects of jazz performance remain in popular music many decades after its peak.

Putting popular music in context.