How the Saxophone Shed Its Cheesy Image and Returned to the Pop Music Spotlight

Long relegated to the punchline of pop music, the saxophone is making a loud return. Once a dominant fixture of mid-century jazz and late-century chart-toppers, the woodwind instrument suffered a steep decline in popularity beginning in the 1990s. Today, however, it is shedding its cheeseball stigma, returning to hit records, driving viral social media trends, and drawing a new generation of performers and hobbyists.

Prominent contemporary saxophonists have built massive digital audiences by sharing live gigs and impromptu performances. Jamaican-born artist Masego, who plays both alto and tenor saxophone, has accumulated more than 666 million Spotify streams on his popular track “Tadow.” Masego blends improvisation with his own vocal recordings and attributes the instrument’s resurgence to a renewed public appreciation for live musicianship, alongside the growing global prominence of sax-friendly genres like Afrobeat.

“When you’re seeing the saxophone utilized on those types of rhythms, and then you saw Afrobeat’s rise in popularity and more of a larger respect for West Africa, to me the saxophone kind of fits right within that,” Masego said.

Decades ago, the saxophone occupied an unassailable spot in American music. Legends like Charlie Parker and John Coltrane defined mid-century jazz on the instrument, while mainstream artists such as Aretha Franklin, David Bowie, George Clinton, and Bruce Springsteen incorporated its sound into rock and soul classics. As late as November 1992, Whitney Houston’s recording of “I Will Always Love You” spent 14 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, anchored by a memorable sax solo performed by Kirk Whalum. That same month, millions watched Bill Clinton play the tenor sax on late-night television.

By the early 1990s, however, sax solos began vanishing from top-40 music. A 2023 analysis of 1,081 songs featuring saxophone solos released between 1955 and 2020 showed that while solos appeared on more than 60 top-40 tracks annually in the late 1950s, entire years in the 21st century passed without a single one. Industry figures noted that the soloist in sunglasses had calcified into a fashion cliché, and listeners gravitated toward the grittier, heavier sounds of the grunge movement.

“Maybe legacy rockers like Meat Loaf still used saxophone, or legacy bands still touring, like Earth, Wind & Fire or Chicago,” said Jeremiah True, an executive at Taiwan-based saxophone manufacturer P. Mauriat. “But it wasn’t what the kids were listening to.”

The turning point began in the 2010s, as a wave of younger players integrated the instrument into hip-hop, electronic music, and modern jazz. Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album *To Pimp a Butterfly* featured Los Angeles saxophonists Kamasi Washington and Terrace Martin. Kenneth Whalum, nephew of Kirk Whalum, has collaborated with Beyoncé and Jay-Z, while Grammy-nominated performers Melissa Aldana and Lakecia Benjamin have won acclaim for blending classic jazz with innovative improvisation. Additionally, jazz saxophonist and conductor Immanuel Wilkins received a MacArthur Foundation genius grant.

Masego noted that he spent his career trying to protect the instrument’s image. “The saxophone started being associated with corny, quirky, zany things,” he said. “I was trying to make sure I kept it perceived as cool, because cool was my religion.”

Irony has also played a role in the instrument’s return, particularly through a viral social media trend known as the “saxophones getting louder” meme. The trend stems from a wailing instrumental piece composed by Stanley Clarke for the 1991 film *Boyz n the Hood*, performed by Kirk Whalum to underscore a tragic drive-by shooting scene. Today, social media users pair the dramatic crescendo with trivial everyday misfortunes, ranging from being accidentally locked out by a pet to home-improvement mishaps.

Whalum, now 68, views the meme with amusement, particularly when applied to DIY projects. “There’ve just been so many, man,” he said. “They should have a category called DDIY — don’t do it yourself. Sure enough, someone comes tumbling down a ladder or falls off the roof.”

Amateur and student musicians are also fueling the renaissance. Andrew J. Allen, president of the North American Saxophone Alliance and an associate professor of music at Georgia College & State University, purchased $18,000 worth of saxophones last year—spanning from sopranos to baritones—to ensure student performers had access to quality horns. While Allen worries that instrument tariffs could slow momentum by inflating prices that range from a few hundred dollars for beginners to tens of thousands for custom professional models, he remains optimistic.

Allen attributes the rising youth interest to nostalgia and a collective desire to disconnect from digital devices. “It has a lot to do with what the kids call touching grass these days,” Allen said, noting that the instrument’s acoustic properties closely mimic the human voice in a way electronics cannot replicate. “The innate humanity of the instrument is calling us back to something that’s a little more grounded in physical reality.”

Major manufacturers report steady demand. Jeff Peterson, a senior manager at Yamaha Corp., stated that saxophones remain among the company’s most popular wind instrument categories, prompting the development of digital alternatives like the YDS-150 to help novices learn more affordably. Meanwhile, professional gatherings continue to draw record crowds, highlighted by nearly 1,500 attendees at the most recent North American Saxophone Alliance conference at Ohio State University.

Educational platforms have experienced similar growth. Scott Campbell, COO of the instructional platform BetterSax, reported that the brand’s YouTube channel has reached nearly 440,000 subscribers, growing by 20% annually over the past five years.

Adult learners are returning to the instrument as well. Brittney Watkins, a 40-year-old legal consultant and cultural strategist in the Washington, D.C., area, played the sax in junior high before her family sold it when she joined high school sports. She now plans to purchase a new horn.

“Nothing else moved me the same way,” Watkins said. “The sound of a sax is hard to ignore. She wails for you when you’re hurt, and when you need soothing, she talks sweetly just to you.”

For younger students like 21-year-old Wesley Harper, who studies under Allen in Georgia and plans to pursue graduate studies in music performance, the attraction is purely artistic. “It isn’t something you do to get rich in,” Harper said. “I’m here for the love of the game. I will figure it out one way or another. Music has to be in my life to make me happy, because I feel like that’s my purpose in this world: sharing the love of saxophone.”