Popular voices: amplification, rock music and vocal quality in Grease

Grease is rarely thought of as a revolutionary or groundbreaking musical in musical theatre history. However, it is part of an uneasy period of the musical when rock music challenged the conventions of the golden age form. The voices heard in Grease and other 1970s rock musicals emulated sounds created for mediatized environments rather than the traditional live theatre, creating a rift in the perception of vocal quality. Through its nostalgia for the 1950s and infectious sound, Grease's characters have become recognizable worldwide. Sandy Dumbrowski is the picture of a good girl at the beginning of the show, but she displays visual and aural characteristics of her 1970s creation by the end. This essay argues that the rock musical techniques used in Grease contribute to a shift in the vocal quality heard from the 1950s women characters.