In the creativity and energy of genres such as progressive country, reggae, punk, funk, and early rap music, we will find affirmation both of changes in the business of music and of deep continuities underlying the history of American popular music. A new generation of country artists was embracing music and attitudes that grew out of the 1960s counterculture; this movement was called progressive country. The popular music of the 1970s provides rich evidence of the continuing vitality of venerable musical forms and techniques"including the African-derived polyrhythms of funk music, reggae, and early rap music; the twelve-bar blues form in rock music; and the Euro-American ballad form in country music"and of the capacity of marginalized communities and musical traditions to revitalize the commercial mainstream of popular music. The 1970s also saw the consolidation"on an unprecedented worldwide scale"of corporate control over the production of musical products. By the close of the decade, a handful of major transnational companies were responsible for the majority of record sales"in America and worldwide"and were busy swallowing up smaller companies. The audience for popular music fragmented into dozens of specialized-taste communities, creating a complex musical landscape.