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Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, , non-Rock music vocals and instrumental covers of selected popular rock songs. It mostly concentrates on music that pre-dates the rock and roll era, characteristically on music from the 1940s and 1950s. It was differentiated from the mostly instrumental beautiful music format by its variety of styles, including a percentage of vocals, and to fit various parts of the broadcast day.
Easy listening music is often confused with lounge music, but while it was popular in some of the same venues it was meant to be listened to for enjoyment rather than as background sound.
Jackie Gleason, whose first ten albums went gold, expressed the goal of producing "musical wallpaper that should never be intrusive, but conducive".
Similarly, in 1956 John Serry Sr. sought to utilize the accordion within the context of a jazz sextet in order to create a soothing mood ideally suited for "low pressure" listening on his album Squeeze Play.The Cash Box, Album Reviews, Cash Box Publishing Co., New York, December 8, 1956, Vol.XVIII No. 12, p. 38 Review of album "Squeeze Play" in Cash Box magazine, Pg. 38 on americanradiohistory.com Review of the album "Squeeze Play" in "The Cash Box" magazine - See Album Reviews column on December 8, 1956 p. 38 on americanradiohistory.com
During the format's heyday in the 1960s, it was not at all uncommon for easy listening instrumental singles to reach the top of the charts on the Billboard Hot 100 (and stay there for several weeks).
Beautiful music, which grew up alongside easy listening music, had rigid standards for instrumentation, e.g., few or no (at the time, the saxophone was associated with less refined styles such as jazz and rock and roll, although Billy Vaughn was an exception to the rule), and restrictions on how many vocal pieces could be played in an hour. The easy listening radio format has been generally, but not completely, superseded by the soft adult contemporary format.
According to the Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, "The public prominence and profitability of easy listening in led to its close association with the so-called 'Establishment' that would eventually be demonized by the rock counterculture."John Shepherd, David Horn (eds.) (2012). Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World Volume 8, p. 194. . In (1981), rock critic Robert Christgau said "semiclassical music is a systematic dilution of highbrow preferences".
In the early 1990s the lounge revival was in full swing and included such groups as Combustible Edison, Love Jones, The Cocktails, Pink Martini and Nightcaps. Alternative band Stereolab demonstrated the influence of lounge with releases such as Space Age Bachelor Pad Music and the Ultra-Lounge series of lounge music albums. The lounge style was a direct contradiction to the grunge music that dominated the period.
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