An industrial musical is a musical performed internally for the employees or

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...

s of a business to create a feeling of being part of a team, to entertain, and/or to educate and motivate the management and salespeople to improve sales and profits. It can be used to increase staff awareness of public relations, advertising, marketing or corporate image. Other terms for industrial musicals include the corporate musical or industrial show, but the latter can also refer to

trade show A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and cu ...

s, which are publicity events organized by businesses in a specific industry to promote their products to potential buyers. Industrial musicals are not restricted to corporations or to businesses involved in industry. They should not be confused with

industrial music Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...

or with musicals produced by businesses to be seen by the general public, such as

Disney's The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

stage production of ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance, it ...

'', for example.

History

Industrial musicals originated from company songs,

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...

s and

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...

s for promoting enthusiasm among workers. The songs were brought in by the management, as opposed to worker-created

work song A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a form of work, either sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or a song linked to a task which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest song. Definitions and ...

s. Internal musical groups could be formed to encourage company loyalty, keep employees happy, and to help advertise the company to the public. Early 20th century examples include IBM's internal songbook '' Songs of the IBM'', and the

Larkin Soap Company The Larkin Building was an early 20th century building. It was designed in 1903 by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1904-1906 for the Larkin Soap Company of Buffalo, New York. The five story dark red brick building used pink tinted mortar and u ...

which organized community singing and had a women's drum corps, an orchestra, a ukulele club, and daily recitals on a pipe organ. At some point, a collection of company songs was extended into a full musical theater format, and the industrial musical was born. Many of these musicals were made in North America during the economic boom that followed World War II, and this practice continued into the 1980s and 1990s. The earliest known industrial musicals were produced by retail and automotive companies such as

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

, and the

Marshall Field Marshall Field (August 18, 1834January 16, 1906) was an American entrepreneur and the founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores. His business was renowned for its then-exceptional level of quality and customer ...

's chain of

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

s. By the end of the 1950s and throughout the 1960s, other types of businesses also began to put on shows. Some musicals were part of annual showcase events for presenting a company's new line of products. Businesses could spend a lot of money to produce a musical, hiring talented Broadway composers and lyricists. The pay was very good, the task was challenging, and from the theatre's point of view, the production costs were much higher than a regular Broadway musical. Shows could have as many as 30 people in the cast and a 60-piece orchestra. Composer Hank Beebe estimates that the 1957

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

musical was budgeted at over 3 million dollars (U.S.), because it cost six times the amount it took to bring ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons f ...

'' to the stage that same year. The song performances were rarely heard outside of the companies they were written for, but sometimes the employees would be given a souvenir

record album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

. Some productions lasted for a limited number of nights, while others traveled from city to city for regional sales meetings. According to composer

John Kander John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927) is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb (with lyricist Fred Ebb), Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including ''Ca ...

, who conducted several industrial shows early in his career and wrote the music for the 1966 General Electric industrial ''Go Fly a Kite'' (the complete score from which was issued on a 2-LP set that was given to GE employees), the cast albums for these industrial shows "were never intended for commercial release. ..It was sort of a separate world." Yet it is largely through these rare albums that evidence of these shows has survived. By the 1980s, industrial musicals were made less and less often. Jonathan Ward, a writer and DJ who collects industrial musical albums, theorizes that the reason for the decline was partially due to rising production costs for stage shows, and the availability of low-cost video and multimedia technology. Ward thinks another reason for the decline was a change in work attitudes. In the 1950s and 1960s, employees might have expected to spend the majority of their working careers with one company. By the 1980s, employees and the management may have been less inclined to think this way. The feelings of company loyalty and community promoted in the song lyrics would have been met with more cynicism. Some corporations, however, continued to successfully produce industrial musicals during the 1980s and 1990s and beyond. The

Shaklee Corporation Shaklee Corporation is an American manufacturer and distributor of natural nutrition supplements, beauty products, and household products. The company is based in Pleasanton, California with global operations in Canada, China, Indonesia, Japa ...

created its own in-house production company in 1980. Their team, led by producer Dale T. Hardin, director Craig Schaefer, and composer/lyricist Michael Reno created dozens of Shaklee Shows from concept to performance, and eventually branched out into in-house satellite TV. The Shaklee creative team created their own production company called "Command Performance Productions" that produced shows for other clients such as Charles Schwab and Marriott Lodging until 2000. Despite the trends that affected industrial musicals, businesses have continued to make company songs. For example,

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

produced a corporate anthem in 2001 titled "Our Vision of Global Strategy." In 2013, the first book on the history of industrial musicals, titled '' Everything's Coming Up Profits'', was published, written by

Steve Young Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccane ...

and Mike "Sport" Murphy. A series of industrial music audio anthologies, organized by decade, accompanied the book. In 2018, ''

Bathtubs Over Broadway ''Bathtubs Over Broadway'' is a 2018 American documentary film directed by Dava Whisenant. Comedy writer Steve Young’s assignment to scour bargain-bin vinyl for a late-night segment becomes an unexpected, decades-spanning obsession when he stu ...

'', a documentary on industrial musicals and Steve Young's quest to discover their creators, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Titles of industrial musicals

* ''1000 and One!'' –

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produ ...

(1954 for the '55 model year) * ''A Fan Family Album'' – Westinghouse (1954) (History of electric fans) * ''AM Route 66'' –

American Motors American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 1954. At the time, it was the ...

(1965 for the '66 model year) * ''Building a Better Way to See the U.S.A.'' –

(1971 for the '72 model year) * ''Diesel Dazzle'' –

(1966) * ''Go Fly A Kite'' –

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

(1966) * ''Going Great!'' –

(1963 for the '64 model year) * ''Good News about Olds'' –

(1958 for the '59 model year) * ''Got To Investigate Silicones'' –

(1973) (about

Silicone A silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer made up of siloxane (−R2Si−O−SiR2−, where R = organic group). They are typically colorless oils or rubber-like substances. Silicones are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cooking ...

s) * ''Take It From Here'' –

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...

(1963 - for release of Xerox 813 copier) * ''The Bathrooms Are Coming'' – American Standard (1969) * ''The Chevrolet Experience'' –

(1976 for the '77 model year) * ''The Grip of Leadership'' –

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

(1961 - 75th anniversary) * ''The Mighty "O"'' –

(1953 for the '54 model year) * ''The Shape of Tomorrow'' – Westinghouse (1958) * ''The Spark of Imagination'' – The

Shaklee Shaklee Corporation is an American manufacturer and distributor of natural nutrition supplements, beauty products, and household products. The company is based in Pleasanton, California with global operations in Canada, China, Indonesia, Japan, ...

Corporation (1994) * ''This is Oldsmobility'' –

(1957 for the '58 model year) * ''This is the Year That Is!'' –

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

/Imperial (1964 for the '65 model year) * ''Who Could Ask for Anything More?'' –

(1959 for the '60 model year) * ''Wonderful World of Chemistry'' – E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (1964) * ''You Belong in a Dodge ''-

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

(1969 for the '70 model year) * ''You're The Top'' –

(1960 for the '61 model year)

Composers and lyricists

Hank Beebe Hank Beebe (July 16, 1926 – February 5, 2023) was an American composer, known for his choral compositions, Broadway musicals, and most notably for his work through the 1950s to the early 1980s composing industrial musicals for the employees an ...

Jerry Bock Jerrold Lewis Bock (November 23, 1928November 3, 2010) was an American musical theater composer. He received the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Sheldon Harnick for their 1959 musical ''Fiorello!'' and the Tony A ...

* Michael Brown *

Sheldon Harnick Sheldon Mayer Harnick (born April 30, 1924) is an American lyricist and songwriter best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on musicals such as ''Fiorello!'' and ''Fiddler on the Roof''. Early life Sheldon Mayer Harnick was bo ...

* Bill Heyer *

Max Hodge Max Hodge (February 12, 1916 – August 17, 2007) was an American television writer who worked on shows including '' The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.'', ''CHiPS'' and '' Mission: Impossible'', and is perhaps best known for creating Mr. Freeze for ''Ba ...

Kander and Ebb Kander and Ebb were a highly successful American songwriting team consisting of composer John Kander (born March 18, 1927) and lyricist Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004). Known primarily for their stage musicals, which include ''Cab ...

* Sonny Kippe *

Lloyd Norlin Lloyd, Lloyd's, or Lloyds may refer to: People * Lloyd (name), a variation of the Welsh word ' or ', which means "grey" or "brown" ** List of people with given name Lloyd ** List of people with surname Lloyd * Lloyd (singer) (born 1986), Americ ...

* Skip Redwine * Michael Reno *

Raymond Scott Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow; September 10, 1908 – February 8, 1994) was an American composer, band leader, pianist, record producer, and inventor of electronic instruments. Though Scott never scored cartoon soundtracks, his music is ...

* Sid Siegel * Wilson Stone * Thomas Tierney * Charles Title

History

Titles of industrial musicals

Composers and lyricists

See also

References

Further reading