Let’s remember when legislation to curb the spread of jazz music was introduced in the Washington legislature, on this day in 1933 (December 22)
Depression-era Washington state had a big menace on their hands that needed to be addressed: jazz music. Really.
As Peter Blecha wrote in HistoryLink:
On December 22, 1933, amid growing fears over the perceived threat posed by that relatively new fad, jazz music, Washington State Representative William A. Allen submits his proposal (House Bill 194) to establish a commission that will study the presumably dangerous and deleterious effects that the largely African American art form might be having on the general public. Allen’s bill never comes to a vote, but it exemplifies a long tradition, which will be repeated a generation later for rock ’n’ roll, of efforts by authorities to clamp down on new trends in music.
In countless instances over the centuries, new forms of music have been forbidden by rulers, religious leaders, and other societal and governmental authorities all across the globe — often because music is seen as a potentially destabilizing force. These authorities’ various angles of attack have included condemning songs for their beats, tempo, chord structures, instrumentation, volume, associated dance moves, or what they consider offensive lyrical content.
This fear of music is, however, not completely without merit as songs can have the ability to convey new ideas; to explore shockingly innovative chordal, melodic, and rhythmic terrain; to introduce radical instruments and their sounds; and to inspire new sensual body movements by dancers. The historical record reveals that most attempts to formally ban such things have failed. But not all — and when jazz music arose about a century ago (as with rock ’n’ roll music, five decades later), its detractors were legion.
As a matter of fact, plenty of people saw a direct correlation between jazz and rock ’n’ roll — and in truth, those two realms do share some musical DNA. But the people who fretted about such things also often shared a certain mindset about racial matters. For example, London, England’s Daily Mail editorialized in 1956 that rock ’n’ roll “is sexy music. It has something of the African tom tom and voodoo dance [about it]. It is deplorable. It is tribal. And it is from America. It follows rag-time, dixie, jazz, hot cha cha and boogie woogie, which surely originated in the jungle. We sometimes wonder whether it is the negro’s revenge.”
Amazing.
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