Popular Hits of the 1940s for Weddings
Top 100 for 2020
We’ve calculated our favorite Best 1940s Music for Weddings to get people on the dance floor! The 1940s were known for big band and jazz styles. During the 1940s era, a popular music style, rock and roll, was just being created and has not made it to the masses. The 1940s are also known as the era of World War II. Therefore, the music was upbeat to keep people positive and not thinking of the effects of the war. Enjoy our list of the Best 1940s Music.
From the upbeat sounds came a widely popular dance style – the Jitterbug. For the slower songs, dances included the foxtrot and the waltz. For a younger military generation, the Jitterbug overtook the slower dances because slow dances were seen as boring and outdated. However, in the mid to late 1940s, the Jitterbug style recreated itself. It became less energetic and regenerated itself as the beginning of rock and roll. Swing was also a popular dance style of the 1940s. Swing dance types include the lindy hop, east coast swing, and west coast swing. Two other popular dances of the Best 1940s music were the jive, part of swing, and tap.
Popular big band style music artists from the Best 1940s music include Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey (brothers), Benny Goodman, and Dizzy Gillespie. 1940s jazz style music artists include Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra. A form of jazz called scat music also became popular with artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, and Cab Calloway. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, scat music is a jazz vocal style using emotive, onomatopoeic, and nonsense syllables instead of words in solo improvisations on a melody.
The Best 1940s Music was stricken with the war ending with the finality of dropping the first nuclear bomb. The Best 1940s Music rekindled women going to work as men were off fighting a war. The war also got America out of the depression by creating many jobs. Popular film stars included actors Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, and Humphrey Bogart. An invention prominent in the music industry took place in 1949 with the rpm 45 records. Although tv debut in 1939 – in 1947, commercial television with 13 stations became available to the public. Radio was the main source of news, music, and entertainment in the 1940s. Pin-up girls became icons with GIs, such as Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable. A new look for women was introduced after the war ended – feminine dresses with long, full skirts, and tight waists. Men’s fashion was at its apex with their zoot suits.
Top 5 Best 1940s Songs
1) Paper Doll – Mills Brothers
2) Moonlight Cocktail – Glenn Miller
3) (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons – The King Cole Trio
4) Sentimental Journey – Les Brown & Doris Day
5) Ballerina – Vaughn Monroe
Best Songs of the 1940s
1940s wedding song list curated by Matthew Campbell
Last Updated: July 8, 2020
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