Discuss some of the major factors that led to the boom in the U.S. record business in the 1950s through 1970s.

What will be an ideal response?

The invention of the long-playing vinyl album, allowing more songs on a single disc, coupled with
increasing spending power and the popularity of radio fueled the growth of recorded music. Later stereo
and generally higher-fidelity caught the imagination of the listening public. In the 1960s and into the
1970s, popular music captured the restless mood of the era, becoming the sound of the new generation.