Early Days of Rock n Roll

ricky-ricky rock and roll is a river of music rock and roll music is an art form rock and roll in the early 1950s popular music belonged to the realm of wholesome white performers such as Perry Como Doris J and Gale storm the songs they sang were designed to be as innocent and inoffensive as possible for the most part this music reflected the taste of a growing white middle-class enjoying the fruits of post-war prosperity the fifties also saw the advent of a new social class the teenager with more leisure time and money to spend than ever before bored with the current hit parade young people began doing their radios stations that played a more exciting kind of music black rhythm and blues graduate records by the top black artists began showing up on tube boxes where white kids congregate rhythm and blues with the combination of several black musical styles from jazz and big band music he took its rhythm and beat from blues and gospel it's emotional intent yet beeban in fievel's dog wait on me baby baby with Marty you everybody hi y'all this is yours Julie Alan Freed welcoming you to the big deep one eventually a few white DJ's began playing rhythm and blues records specifically for teen audience some using the term rock and roll to hide as black origin among the most prominent was the Cleveland DJ Alan Freed free played all types of R&B record but he was partial to the smooth sounds and black vocal harmony groups they don't know records by black vocal harmony groups began to gain popularity with the young white audience but rather than promote these unknown groups the major record companies found they could sell more records if the songs were re-recorded by established white groups now every time I look at you something is on my mind not that I want you to baby we be known as cover versions these records were heavily promoted and almost always surpassed the original recordings and save resent a new sound but it was time had come for a white performer who could adapt rhythm and dreams without losing its by hey Steve we must be out about cosmic picket line we should be getting some sleep instead of coming here maybe so but something's getting these people out of their house and I'm gonna find out what it is in 1952 a small-time Country and Western band from Chester Pennsylvania began playing a curious mixture of rhythm and blues a country sweet this new music soon attracted an enthusiastic following up and down the New Jersey Shore when one of their recording the future looked promising another song but in subsequent choices the theme song for the movie Blackboard Jungle not only made the song the years the biggest hit the catapult is Bill Haley with and rock and roll to national attention Phil Haley had given kids everywhere the music could spoke their language thank you guys take that view all the way rock'n'roll is cool paddy and you know it hello prepare the station is WI NS your contact station the city is in 1954 pookkalam freeze Nova's radio program to New York he also began staging live shows that presented the leading R&B groups to white audiences for the first time routes like the chun years and bill Haley's comets and John from their northern urban roots and create profitable but elsewhere in the country other musicians reaching into their musical heritage and inventing their own versions of this new music in the south the predominant music of blacks was country blues directly descended from work songs and old-time spirituals sung by the same grandparents the blues gave expression for the black man's hardships as well as offering a means of escape from them few southern blacks ever dreamed making a living from their music in fact there was no place in the south where a black man could even make a record until a white radio engineer named Sam Phillips opened the Memphis recording service the white man playing them up the neither beat the white man's get it Peter Philips eventually started his own record company called son and continued to record blues singers but all along he kept thinking if only I could find a white man who read the Negroes sound of the Negro clear I could make a million dollars I like to sing a song for you now one of my favorites and titles you never lose your mind most of the white citizens of Memphis as elsewhere the South had little use for the record Sam Phillips they raised on Country and West or hillbilly and when you baby sauce pepper and log in a little too much now if your mama's mean- from me lock her up at home loss that hang on to that key oh she's gonna try below they'll do it every time and when your babies all staff and large abilities you might all take it out limit some southern musicians however had begun to incorporate the Blues into their country sound one of them was a 19 year old Memphis truck driver who spent all his free time hanging around when Elvis Presley first walked into the Sun studio he knew he was special Elvis told Sam Phillips he didn't sing like nobody and he was right well I wish it on darling Elvis Presley's first record that's alright got Memphis by surprise Sam Phillips had found his man now he had to make him a star sixteen coach my baby in tray Oh brain drain well it's bringing my Oh by the early 1950s she caused few mills and factories and lured thousands of blacks from the deep south with the promise of employment and a better life among them were many musicians raised on country blues jumpin sound and will wanna know this all about in the black ghetto on the sprawling Southside musicians began to play a new style of blues electric blues that could be heard above the din in the noisy honky tonk where blacks congregated one of these clubs was Alling by two brothers Phil and Leonard chess who had started a company to record the best of these urban blues after a take 1 Chess Records had a number of hits on the rhythm and blues chance but by 1955 the chess brothers like other independent producers were seeking ways to adapt this music to the expanding rock-and-roll market Chuck Berry was just what the chess brothers needed the leader of a popular East st. Louis rhythm and blues trio Barry had come to Chicago seeking a recording contract arriving at chess studios very impressed Phil and Leonard with his articulate vocal style and a guitar sound that was part blues part country and pure rock and roll overnight ladies and gentlemen as everybody knows Harlem whenever any new musical trend is evinced itself in the popular field with Charleston or the Black Bottom or any of the rhythm songs the first area to find out about it in advance is Harlem trouble each go end up in Harlem I've seen these shots in the newsreels about thousands of people jamming the streets around Frank shiffman's Apollo Theater all trying to get in to see dr. jives roll rhythm and rhythm and roll rhythm and color whatever you called it rhythm and blues continue to evolve as more musicians picked up the rock and roll beat one of these was another chess artist Bo Diddley whose distinctive guitar style became his trademark in spite of the growing acceptance of rhythm-and-blues cover versions by performers like pat boone still dominated in fact many new fans thought the TAT moon's music was rock and roll when you see it until they heard the original man until you Larry you Oh my fella Hey you know one laughs I just rock and roll all get started anyway where would he call rock'n'roll knives Brisbane blue I've been paying for 15 years involving New Orleans had always been a musical city but in addition to the jazz clubs in the French Quarter there had been a thriving rhythm and blues scene since the early 1940s following the success of Fats Domino record companies from other parts of the country began sending their artists to record in New Orleans studios one of these was a flamboyant young singer from Macon Georgia Richard Penniman otherwise known as little the Nolan that what to do yes indeed I don't know what to do to me I didn't wanna record songs like tutti frutti and other songs like that that don't make a lot of sense you know but I the recording director went out thank goodness he told me to go ahead and do it because it was going to be a hit so I said all right I didn't believe it but we went ahead and recorded it anyway I gone cookie is the wreath nine-thirty is a gal for me Oh I believe on without family now to continue with our show we're going to bring you some of that the DJ's like Alan Freed became more adamant in their crusade against cover version some even banning Pat Boone's records from their station gradually the tables began to turn the success of Chuck Berry Fats Domino and Little Richard enabled more and more black musicians to gain access from the national pop charts and the mixed audience we don't have a thing I'm not a juvenile delinquent even so the most successful stingers were those like 14-year old Frankie Lonnie who had a sweet innocent and white sound it seems to us a pretty fabulous family how do you spend it I don't know about here thousands but they go into truck but I'm told by 21 what do you spend the money but you do get so we're going allowance of twenty seven dollars a week and they kept their hamburger didn't what you want yeah yet as rock and roll was gaining momentum so is the movement against it they relieve Akkad in Pittsburgh PA deep in the heart that is because I know how it feels you think I know what it does to you I know the evil feeling that you feel when you're singing and all these the last position that you get into in the beat well if you talk to the average teenager of today and you ask them what it is about rock and roll music that they like and they don't the first thing they'll say is the beat the beat the beat we did Big C you just got T man about half them there feigned autograph the obscenity and vulgarity of the rock and roll music is obviously a means by which the white man his children could be driven to the level with a come on appeal the teacher she gets him one by one become so lakeside what you look at over rock'n'roll has got to go there even organizing a group to fight rock and roll this rock and roll's the musical noise symptomatic of a decadent and here responsible youth I've been looking into this rock and roll stuff and believe me what I see disgust me buck set up a 20-man committee to do away with the this vulgar animalistic rock and roll pop if you used to call that the communist ideology I think we hit it fairly deep in the heart by the end of 1955 Elvis Presley had become popular throughout the south but he still hadn't produced a national hit nevertheless sensing his raw talent RCA with the help of manager Colonel Tom Parker bought Presley's contract from Sun Records and launched a massive campaign of press and television appearances on the phone hello just one moment hello Elvis you know less than two years ago you were running $14 a week as a movie Usher and then $35 a week for driving a truck in Memphis today you're the most controversial name in show business what do you keep in mind mostly I mean some of the songs you're going to do or some of your plans or what but what goes through your mind well everything is happening so fast in the last you're gonna have to learn I'm all mixed up you know I mean I can't keep up with everything that's happening your style of gyrating why do you thing has been federally criticized even by usually mild and gentle TV critics now do you bear any animosity toward these critics well not really those people have a job to do and they they do it and you think you've learned anything from the criticism leveled at you America soon discovered Sam Phillips cream that white man the negro feel and negro I want to tell you something instantly later someone I don't think that I'm revealing any secrets when I say when I say that that Elvis Presley is the fastest rising young singer in the entertainment industry today Elvis had in six months achieved more Fame than any other singer in history some people felt that Sam Phillips had made a big mistake Phillips was certain that another one of his artists whose record I just hit number one would become even bigger than Elvis about a million two hundred thousand copies right that's right makes me angry well I'm sure you're very happy by the car is your tree already I can get them ready what's your please friends here is very nice to have Carl on the show Carl Perkins and the trio steppin out in their blue suede shoes for my you can do anything for me of my blue suede shoes that beaten Presley's first RCA record into the top ten but an automobile accident on the way to New York killed a band member and prevented the group from touring for nine months Perkins recovered but his career never did I would like to say right now that the people over twentieth century-fox have really been wonderful all the great stars in the cast the director the producers was our first picture Elvis was now the undisputed king of rock and roll yet ever since childhood he'd had but one dream to become a movie star now that dream came true love me Tender love me true for my darling DJ by the end of 1956 rock and roll have created a revolution teenagers everywhere I have another one here a popular song of the day and I'm going to simply recite it for you if I may as a poem just drinking the simple beauty and the fun to be of the sentiment Skitch be-bop-a-lula she's my baby be-bop-a-lula I don't mean maybe she's the one that's got the beats she's the one with flying feet she's the one that walks around the store she's the one that gets more and more be-bop-a-lula he's my baby me Baba Luba I don't mean maybe he Baba Luba she's my baby love my baby love those record executives still didn't understand rock and roll but they can no longer ignore the demand with a big feet as the record industry opened its doors to new artists the second wave performer severe one of the first was a lanky Texan with glasses Buddy Holly want to ask you a question how old are you well there's 218 120 and the time to lunch where do you come from Lubbock Texas Lubbock Texas yes you go to school down there well we did until we got out of high school finally right after high score you started playing together yes sir that's your big hit right from the starters at this sort of a long well we've had a few rough times I guess you say but we've been real lucky Kenneth this crew would text a nice thin line nice to have you up here thank you very nice Stan for these specs Oh Hey I know I want you I won't you pay what is Jenny don't ever leave twins only a 20 year old would say a slave in the first place but how about you what journey everything on 18 years old with your police mile 18 20 I think Pat Boone is old enough to be their grandfather they have a wonderful record bye-bye love there goes my bag my blade but while adults were being reassured by the Everly Brothers soothing harmony a new performer was about to appear whose frenzied style would set them whirring picking record of the year he's right eat the pies - woojae yes so we're gonna have our jailers back just majorly Lert with the Gradius record he's I think he's ever recorded great balls of fire would see a quasi okay Brian so I'll get you a cold bottle of cocoa thank you play ball by this time the booming rock-and-roll market not only welcoming sound it demanded room consequently some of the original stars were having a hard time keeping up Phil Haley for example had had a string of hits but none to top to rock around the clock in 1957 Haley's popularity in America had begun to wane Europe however seemed to offer a second chance we quite often have people come to meet us like that but I think this was the most enthusiastic reception I've ever seen you get a mix yourself when you're here welcome Oh music I would say that makes me happy and I enjoy playing it very much is European teenagers have been eagerly followed rock and roll's progress in America Namaskar Haley's arrival on European soil touched off an explosion of unbridled enthusiasm uncontrollable in America two things were getting out of hand after an Alan Freed concert in Boston erupted into violence police began cracking down at rock and roll shows across the country you got a lead on our feeling here in Jersey City that this rock and roll rhythm is filled with dynamite and we don't want the China might to go off from the crucible stadium in Jersey City after we heard about the incidents throughout the country and the coming of this concert to Jersey City I asked our Commissioner of public favor Lee Allowance Whipple so look into the matter and he did make a survey of the situation my department made a very thorough investigation of these so-called problems we had telephone conversations and correspondence with various municipalities they put it among these being Hartford Connecticut farms New Jersey Asbury Park and the city of Hoboken and we find these programs are not for the good of the community and that's why I ordered them ban by 1958 the tide was turning against rock and roll looking for an excuse to undermine the music they felt was corrupting America's youth the US government began an investigation into paola the practice of deejays accepting money to play reckless idle we know the facts and when I when I when an entertainer has a financial interest in something that he's selling to the public he oughta stay so Alan Freed already a controversial figure was singled out as the first I'd love to answer all your questions fellas you know I'd like to be nice but my attorney what doesn't want me to say a thing I'm trying my best occasionally I just can't say I'm under subpoena here Alan Freed's career was ruined four years later he died a broken man rock and roll had turned the music industry and young America upside down but for some of the performers who had given it life the end was already crying in rock and roll star Little Richard announced today that he was quitting Shogun's at the dedicated life to God the always unpredictable singing idol who claims to have made over a million dollars in the last two years the kids such as Tweedy fruity and Lucille has enrolled in a Bible College in Alabama two ago words make peace with Jesus the abrupt announcement which came about seems the height of his brief career the music industry and fans everywhere Jerry what about this reception in London can you tell us about that yes sir very nice the people seated us real nice well the papers reported that you were greeted with silence over there and with kept calls it from the audience is that right were you there mrs. Lewis I thought I was there but I wasn't at the show oh you weren't at the show oh did you notice anything like that that sort of reception no why did you leave when were you married when we imagine well we leave our personal questions out of this all right well good luck thank you wherever today in the German port of Bremen des private Elvis Presley arrives in Europe to begin his tour of duty with the American 3rd Armored Division hundreds of young German fans have become the air to greet Elvis and to get one last look at the king of rock and roll before he disappears into army life the military police are doing their best to control the crowd as Elvis presses his way toward the truth training that will take them to the American army base near Frankfurt Elvis seems to be taking it all in stride as the fans press closer aware that this is the last they may sieve their singing on it for the next two years aware of the changes in the air Buddy Holly decided to turn his career in a new direction he left the crickets got married and moved to New York he wanted to concentrate on songwriting but performing was lucrative so in the winter of 1959 he decided to join newcomers Ritchie Valens in the Big Bopper for one more tour from Clear Lake Iowa three of the nation's top rock-and-roll singing stars Ritchie Valens JP the Big Bopper Richardson and Buddy Holly died today with their violent to the grand jury chartered plane following an appearance before Paul Anka and Fabian were brought in to finish the tool the popularity of these so-called teen idols was indicative of the changes with the taken place their music pretended to be rock-and-roll but for the most part it was just a parody ironically the fans didn't seem to notice the decade ended as it had begun the homogenizing influence of the music establishment produced clean-cut respectable white performers who stayed well within the bounds of polite entertainment gradually but thoroughly the hard edges of rock and roll over eradicate the strong regional accents silenced spontaneity and the spirit of rebellion stifled by 1959 out of the original artists only Chuck Berry seemed immune to the forces that were changing rock'n'roll a watch a look at a row in a way it was after that Barry continues his music was used for some flash it celebrated the universal hopes and dreams of all Tina black white rich and poor from every region it was rebellious but in a good-natured way it's message was the last day would not only endure inspire a generation positioners still be rocking in all care for today we'll have Izu well alright rock'n'roll had ignited a revolution yet there was the price for all that unexpected vitality and flash Elvis will forever the king of rock and roll never again achieved the originality of his first record Bill Haley returned to the small time where he lived out his days playing rock around the clock at revival concerts little Richard never thoroughly convinced of his religious calling vacillated between rock-and-roll and God others overcame the tragedies that befell them and attempted to rebuild careers cut short in one way or another they all continue to play the music that had brought them Fame when eventually as rock-and-roll came of age some saw their careers revived but however fate treated them neither the passage of time nor the whims of popular tastes could diminish the magnitude of their contribution they had left behind an immeasurable legacy that legacy was rock and roll why

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Length: 58min 45sec (3525 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 23 2016