Chapter 8

“Rock Around the Clock” :Rock ‘n Roll, 1954-59

Covers (textbook, p. 247-252)

• “Shake, Rattle & Roll”- Big Joe Turner (R&B # 1, Pop #22) : Shake, Rattle, & Roll- Joe Turner – YouTube- Bill Haley and the Comets (Pop # 7) : Shake, Rattle and Roll - Bill Haley and his Comets

• “Sh-Boom”- The Chords (R&B # 2, Pop # 5) : The Chords - Sh Boom- The Crewcuts (Pop # 1) : The Crew Cuts - Sh-Boom - YouTube

• “Mystery Train”- Junior Parker : Little Junior Parker - Mystery Train- Elvis Presley (C&W # 11) : ELVIS PRESLEY//Mystery Train - YouTube

White Covers

• R & B hits (Independent Labels) “covered” by Major labels (White Performers)

• “pretested” = less commercial risk• Lyrics often toned down

(sexual references made less explicit)• Recorded sound “improved” (cleaned up)• Who wins and who gets ripped off?

Difference in payments(flat fee [usually for Black performers]vs. per unit royalty [White performers])

Sun Records (Memphis)

Elvis Presley, Bill Black, Scotty Moore, Sam Phillips (owner)

Sam Phillips, owner/producer

Elvis Aaron Presley (1935-1977)• b. Tupelo, MS (poor white rural)

• Wide range of musical influences

• 1948 – to Memphis

• 1953 – 1st time at Sun Studios

• 1954 – demos for Phillips(“That’s All Right Mama” / “Blue Moon of Kentucky”)

• Public performances

• 1955 - Col. Tom Parker, manager

• Contract sold to RCA

• TV – 1956

• 1958-60 – into Army

Louisiana Hayride

• Elvis Presley. I Got A Woman.Louisiana Hayride Archives 1954-1956.Remastered.2011 . – YouTube

• Elvis Presley. Tweedle Dee.Louisiana Hayride Archives 1954-1956.Remastered.2011 . – YouTube

• Elvis Presley. Maybellene . ( Tunzi Remix ).Louisiana Hayride Archives 1954-1956.Remastered.2011 . - YouTube

Elvis on Television

• Jan-Feb ’56: Stage Show (CBS)- Variety show hosted by Dorsey Brothers- No special interest or reaction

• Milton Berle Show (1948-56) (“Mr. Television”) - 3 Apr ’56 (on Battleship USS Hancock)- 5 June ’56 : Elvis Presley - Hound Dog (1956) HD 0815007

• “Elvis the pelvis” – panned by critics as obscene

Elvis on Television (part 2)• The Steve Allen Show

- Sunday night variety (competitor to Ed Sullivan)- 1 July ’56 : “Hound Dog” : ELVIS PRESLEY on THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW 1956 "Hound Dog"

• Ed Sullivan Show- The Leading TV Variety Show- 9 Sept ’56 : "ELVIS DEBUTS ON TELEVISION" - (September 9, 1956) - 28 Oct ’56 : ELVIS PRESLEY "Hound Dog" on The Ed Sullivan Show - YouTube- 6 Jan ’57 : ELVIS PRESLEY "Don't Be Cruel" on The Ed Sullivan Show – YouTube

(text book LG, p. 264-6)

Elvis Presley – Singer/Personality• No Original Material• Eclectic vocal style• Stage presence & overt

sexuality – “Elvis the Pelvis”• Universal appeal (all charts)• Examples

- (1st rec. 1954) : Elvis Presley.... Thats Alright (Mama)- First Release - 1954

[cf. Crudup 1946 original : Arthur Crudup - That's All Right (original version) – YouTube]- (1957) YouTube - Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock (Music Video)

- (1957 movie) YouTube - Elvis Presley - Love Me Tender (End Scene)

- (RCA rec.) Love Me Tender Elvis Presley original 1956 – YouTube

- Elvis Presley - Don't Be Cruel (Textbook, p. 264-66)

Carl Perkins(1932-1998)

• born to Tennessee sharecropper

• Gospel & black music

• “Rockabilly”(CP is “The King of ….”)

• Examples- Carl Perkins - Blue Suede Shoes - Perry Como Show -1956 (Country # 1, Pop # 2)

- Carl Perkins - Honey Don't (1955) (B-side: “Blue Suede Shoes”)

- Carl Perkins - Matchbox - 1984 - YouTube

Jerry Lee Lewis(b. 1935)

• b. Louisiana- poor family (religious)- cousins (J. Gilley & Jimmy Swaggert)

• Boogie woogie piano style• “Wild man of Rock ‘n Roll”• Examples

- Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On (1957)

(Pop # 3, # 1 on Country AND R&B!)- Great Balls of Fire-Jerry Lee Lewis-original song-1957 – YouTube(Pop # 2, # 1 on Country AND R&B!)- jerry lee lewis - good golly miss molly.wmv – YouTube- Jerry Lee Lewis -Whole Lotta Shakin Going On (Live 1964) - YouTube

Buddy Holly(1936-1959)

• b. Lubbock, TX• Influenced by Elvis, etc.• C&W meets R&B for

Pop audiences• Examples

- Buddy Holly -THAT'LL BE THE DAY - Original song – YouTube (Pop # 1, R&B # 2)

- YouTube - Buddy Holly on the Arthur Murray Dance Party 12/29/57 (Peggy Sue)(# 3 on both Pop and R&B )

Ritchie Valens (1941-59)• Mexican-American• “Chicano Rock”• “La Bamba”

- Mexican folk song- US Pop chart # 22 (1958)

• Ex. “La Bamba”“Son Jarocho” style (Veracruz, Mexico)- TLEN HUICANI - La Bamba (Son Jarocho) www.musicajarocha.com – YouTube- la bamba son jarocho – YouTube- The Real Ritchie Valens - La Bamba – YouTube (text book LG, p. 273-5)

3 February 1959

5 miles NW of Mason City, IA Airport

“The Day the Music Died”

Buddy Holly

Ritchie Valens

(“Donna” / “La Bamba”)

J.P. Richardson, aka “The Big Bopper”(“Chantilly Lace”)

Payola• DJs as entry points to

market

• 200+ records a week!

• Money, gifts, etc. (legal)

• ASCAP (tin pan alley) vs. BMI (pop, etc.)

• US Congress investigates

• New FCC rules

• Alan Freed & others fired

• Dick Clark (American Bandstand) escapes

Alan Freed

Dick Clark

End of the “Rock ‘n Roll” era

Into theUS Army

(1958-1960)

Legal Troubles and Prison (1959-63)

Gets Religion (1957-63)

“Reverend Penniman”

(1958): his2nd Marriage

to his 1st cousin (once

removed)

Chapter 9

“Good Vibrations” :American Pop and the British

Invasion, the 1960s

22 November 1963

Martin Luther King

Memphis, 4 April 1968

Washington, DC, 28 August 1963

Vietnam & Kent State

4 May 19701965-1975

1968 Election

Protests

20 July 1969

Woodstock

1969