The crooner Rudy Vallee'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 Vallee 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. She charts early crooners' rise and fall between 1925 and 1934, contrasting Rudy Vallee with Bing Crosby to demonstrate how attempts to contain crooners created and dictated standards of white masculinity for male singers. Unlike Vallee, Crosby survived the crooner backlash by adapting his voice and persona to adhere to white middle-class masculine norms. The effects of these norms are felt to this day, as critics continue to question the masculinity of youthful, romantic white male singers. Crooners, McCracken shows, not only were the first pop stars: their short-lived yet massive popularity fundamentally changed American culture.
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Lîbrary o Congress Cataogîng-în-Pubîcatîon Data McCracken, Aîson, [date]author. Rea men don’t sîng : croonîng în Amerîcan cuture / Aîson McCracken. pages cm—(Refigurîng Amerîcan musîc) Incudes bîbîographîca reerences and îndex. isbn978-0-8223-5917-3 (hardcover : ak. paper) isbn978-0-8223-5936-4 (pbk. : ak. paper) isbn978-0-8223-7532-6 (e-book) 1. Croonîng. 2. Mae sîngers—Unîted States. 3. Popuar musîc— Unîted States—1921–1930—Hîstory and crîtîcîsm. 4. Popuar musîc—Unîted States—1931–1940—Hîstory and crîtîcîsm.i . Tîte. ii. Serîes: Refigurîng Amerîcan musîc. ml3477.m37 2015 782.42164'0811—dc23 2015010107
frontispiece:Bîng Crosby, pubîcîty stî or hîs first fim short,I Surrender, Dear(1931). Thîs shot demonstrates the way that crooners o the tîme were sîmutaneousy represented both as romantîc cataysts or heterosexua coupes and as potentîa competîtîon or women’s afectîons. Author’s coectîon.
sixdnîKehT“rauatNo That Worked”: The Crooner Redefined, 1932–1934 (and Beyond) 264
Concusîon 311
Notes 333
Bîbîography 375
Index 411
acknowledgments
When I began thîs project, I dîd not antîcîpate the way ît woud personay speak to me, and o me, and how much îts ong gestatîon process woud teach me about eeîng hîstorîca connectîon as we as tracîng hîstorîca change. I have been so ortunate and earned so much rom havîng these croonîng voîces în my head these many years, but ît took me a surprîsîngy ong tîme to reaîze that they were just puîng on and extendîng parts o me that wereareadythere.Ittookmeaongtîmetoacknowedgethatthepur-poses these voîces served or theîr audîences în the încreasîngy conserva-tîve, heteronormatîve, mascuînîst ate 1920s and eary 1930s were the same purposes such voîces had served or me growîng up as an aîenated emî-nîst, queer, workîng-cass Irîsh Cathoîc gîr în a conservatîve, erocîousy mîdde-cassmîdwesterntownînthe1980s. In act I grew up durîng one o the heydays o the romantîc crooner în Amerîcan cuture. Sînce the 1920s crooners have aways been present în some orm, those vunerabe young men who undermîned mascuîne codes wîth theîr pretty aces, sot haîr, and sweet, peadîng voîces ongîng or ove. At the tîme I dîdn’t grasp the încongruîty that the most macho decade în Amerîcan hîstory was set to popuar songs by the Smîths, Depeche Mode, wham, Phî Coîns, Aîr Suppy, Cuture Cub, and Tears or Fears, and what were teîngy reerred to as “power baads” by “sot” rock bands such as Chîcago, REO Speed-wagon, Foreîgner, and Journey. But my aîes and I responded to these songs be-cause theîr yrîcs spoke o our own desîre or connectîon and communîty. Songs such as “Don’t You Forget about Me,” “I Want to Know What Love Is,” “Lay Your Hands on Me,” “Peope Are Peope,” and “How Soon Is Now” were representatîve o our eeîngs o dîference, rustratîon, and margînaîzatîon. Whîe these songs were wîdey enjoyed, they were especîay resonant or nascent emînîst, gay, and queer-coded “theater” kîds îke us. Theîr wîstuness