1940's

Frank Sinatra

The 1940's were a great time in music with singers such as Al Jolson, Billy Murray (not the ghost-buster) and the extraordinarily famous Frank Sinatra. While ragtime was the fan-favorite leading up to this era, the Great Depression wiped out most musicians and composers during the 20's and 30's. Ragtime music quickly died out and was rapidly replaced by swing time music, the feelin' good music of the late 30's and early 40's. However, even though swing was the most popular of genres through the majority of its existence, country and jazz were becoming the rising stars.
Les Paul, a known musician and guitarist, was becoming more and more famous as he created the first ever electric-body guitar.
In 1942, Bing Crosby also released his single "White Christmas" which was the largest selling single in history with over 50 million copies sold world wide.
In 1948 Columbia Record Company created the 33 1/3 rpm, featuring the first record that held 25 minutes of music per side.
In 1949 RCA Victor then introduced their record that held 8 minutes of music and was 45 rpm.
Though the electric guitar was introduced in this time it wasn't quite used for the shredding that it is now but back then it was used in cool jazz bands. This decade was one of the most influential times in music history.