In Allison McCracken’s book, Real Men Don’t Sing, she discusses crooning and masculinity in the early 20th century. Crooners were young male singers in the late 1920s and early 1930s who sang love songs softly into microphones over the radio. They were America’s first modern pop stars. What allowed crooners to become singing stars were the “transformative effects of microphone technology” and the “millions of adoring fans,” both female and male (McCracken, 3). However, not everyone idolized the romantic crooners. Many men believed crooners did not represent American manhood and were effeminate for many reasons. Crooners vocalized their emotions and sense of vulnerability, and embraced women as individuals that they depended on. Their
