Popular Music
1950s: The Emergence of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Day 2
• Background on life in the 1950s
• What is the “music industry” today?
• Independent Labels – regional
• Major Labels – RCA, CBS, Decca, & Capital Records
• Marketing Categories: Regional vs. National
• Development of the lightweight “unbreakable” 45
rpm record
• Top 40 Radio was created
Day 3: Sounds of the Cities
First stop…
• New Orleans
– Cosimo Matassa (J&M Studio)
– Antoine “Fats” Domino
– Little Richard
Fats Domino
Piano
Charted 36 Top 40 pop hits
Transcended racism
Had an elegant gentleman
persona
Little Richard
Originally from Macon, GA
Contract bought out for
$600
Went to New Orleans to
record at J&M Studio
Most outrageous rocker
First to use mascara
Next stop…
• Los Angeles
– Johnny Otis
– Bobby Day
– The Champs
– Ritchie Valens
Johnny Otis
First to make successful
transition from jazz to rock
‘n’ roll
Big hit was Willie and the
Hand Jive
Catalyst for African
American culture and
talent
Bobby Day
Rockin’ Robin
The Champs
Drew on Mexican rhythms
Tequila
Ritchie Valens
First Chicano rock ‘n’ roll
star
Died 3 months before his
18th birthday in plane crash
with Buddy Holly & Big
Bopper (February 3, 1959)
Known as “the day the
music died”
La Bamba
Day 4: Sounds of the Cities
Moving on to Chicago…
And…Cincinnati
• Chess Records
• King Records
– Bo Diddley
– Chuck Berry
• Vee Jay Records
Bo Diddley
First instrument was the
violin
Usually performed in all
black with a black Stetson
hat
Known for “shave and a
haircut” diddy
Performed with oddly
shaped guitars
Chuck Berry
King of Rock ‘n’ Roll??
Was told he sounded “too
country for a black man”
Songs were too socially
relevant for many people
Could relate to a white
teen culture
R&R’s first guitar hero
Cincinnati
• King Records
– Crossroads for blues and country music
– Encouraged c&w artists and r&b artists to record
each other’s songs
Day 5: The Gospel Connection
• R & B artists did not perform in church.
• Gospel singers were expected to steer clear of
“devil’s music.”
• The Dominoes
Ray Charles
“The Genius”
Blinded by glaucoma as a
child
Did not see a contradiction
between gospel and r&b
58-year career, won 12
Grammy Awards
He virtually created the
gospel blues style
Day 6: Doo Wop – The Intersection of
Gospel, Jazz & Pop
• Doo Wop was the product of urban vocal
harmony groups, mostly African American and
almost invariably male.
– Influenced by gospel, jazz, pop, and blues styles.
– Group Names (bird groups and car groups)
– The Ravens
• “One Hit Wonders”
• New York City was the center for doo wop.
• The Clovers
– Love Potion No. 9
The Coasters
• Major hit makers from
1950-1961
– Yakety Yak
– Charlie Brown
– Poison Ivy
The Drifters
Race in Doo Wop Groups
Italian Americans
• Dion and the Belmonts
• Frankie Lymon and the
Teenagers
• The Dell Vikings
• Johnny Maestro and the
Crests
Gender Balance
• Only a few groups had females
• All-female groups were even fewer…their
songs defined male-female relationships
Doo Wop ended in 1961
Those Oldies But Goodies – Little Caesar and the Romans
Day 7: Rockabilly (The Country Strain)
Sam Phillips
• Started the Memphis
Recording Service in 1950
• Cost $2 per side
• Founded Sun Records in
Memphis, TN in 1953
• Wanted to filter the African
American style through
white performers, making it
more accessible to the
mainstream audience
Bill Haley & His Comets
• Balding and looked
somewhat middle-aged
• Rock Around the Clock sold
17 million copies
Elvis Presley
Born to poor, white Mississippi parents
on January 8, 1935
At Sun Records he recorded 10 sides
(each of the 5 records had a r&b song
backed with a c&w song)
Contract sold to RCA-Victor for $35,000
Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, & Don’t Be
Cruel
Was not a songwriter
“Elvis the Pelvis”
Joined the Army from 1958-1960
Charted 149 Top 40 hits and 92 albums
on the charts
Also starred in movies
Day 8: Rockabilly continued…
Carl Perkins
The son of poor, white
southern parents
Blue Suede Shoes
Said, “Rockabilly is a country
man’s song with a black
man’s rhythm.”
Career ended after he was
nearly killed in a car crash.
In 1964, the Beatles invited
him to a recording session
where they recorded 3 of his
songs.
Jerry Lee Lewis
Known for his boogiepowered “pumping piano”
Had blonde, curly hair
Turned out three Top 10 pop
hits in a row for Sun
Records, Whole Lotta
Shakin’ Goin’ On, Great Balls
of Fire, and Breathless
Johnny Cash
Started at Sun Records in
1955
After a few country hits, I
Walk the Line became a Top
20 pop hit in 1956
Switched to Columbia
Records in 1958
Career included gold and
platinum records, films, and
his own TV show
Died in 2003 from
complications from diabetes
“The Million
Dollar Quartet”
Elvis Presley
Jerry Lee Lewis
Johnny Cash
Carl Perkins
Day 9: Rockabilly continued…
Buddy Holly
Enjoyed greater success in
Great Britain than in US
Was a Texas-born rockabilly
who reached the pop
audience
Signed to Decca Records in
1955, wore “coke-bottle”
glasses
The Crickets – That’ll Be the
Day in 1957
Never had a country hit
Died in plane crash
The Reaction to Rock ‘n’ Roll
• The Eisenhower Era
– Dwight D. Eisenhower was conservative, oldfashioned, bland, polite, and conventional
– Only bland music was released
• “Family Life” in the 1950s
– Teenagers rebelled
• Rock ‘n’ Roll represented everything that white,
middle-class parents feared (the “devil’s music,”
NAACP strategy for recruiting young whites, or a
communist plot to undermine the moral fiber of
the younger generation)
Day 10: The Established Powers Fight
Back
• Revenues from record sales climbed from $213
million in 1954 to $603 million in 1959
• The pop market, and music industry, tripled
during the 1950s
• Rock ‘n’ Roll was here to stay
• “War on Rock” – Established powers of the music
industry joined forces with the US Government in
an attempt to suppress the music
• ASCAP - American Society of Composers, Authors,
& Publishers
Covering the Bases
• Cover records not only
altered the style of the
music but also the lyrics
– Were released during
the expected chart life of
the original
– Often outsold the
original
• How could cover
records be beneficial?
• Pat Boone
– Built his career sanitizing
the classics
– This kept him from being
inducted into the Rock
‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame
Pop Diversions
U.S. Calypso
Popular Folk Music
• RCA and Columbia records
led the push
• Harry Belafonte
• Kingston Trio
– Banana Boat, established the
tone and content of the style
– Clean-cut image, brightly
colored matching shirts, and
upscale college humor
(white).
– Signed to Capital Records in
1957, released 18 albums
that made the Top 20
Schlock Rock
• Philadelphia was the major hub
• 3 Independent Labels: Chancellor,
Cameo/Parkway, and Swan
– Transformed local teenagers into teen idols
– Focused on image, not talent (boy-next-door)
Day 11: Schlock Rock continued…
• Italian American artists
– Fabian, Frankie Avalon,
Bobby Rydell, Freddy
Cannon, Bobby Darin,
Annette Funicello
– Felt compelled to
Anglicize their names
• Chubby Checker
– African American
superstar
– The Twist was the first
dance craze
– Original name was
Ernest Evans
American
Bandstand
TV Show that began in 1952
as a local Philadelphia
broadcast on an ABC affiliate
Dick Clark took over the
show in 1956 and was
known as the “perpetual
teenager”
In the early years, only white
performers appeared on the
show
Promoted rock ‘n’ roll via TV
Television’s Greatest Hits
• Mickey Mouse Club
– Launched Annette
Funicello’s R&R career
– Started the mouseketeer
craze
• The Adventures of Ozzie
and Harriet
– Starred Ricky Nelson
– A Teenager’s Romance
went to #2
Songwriters
• Paul Anka
– Diana
• Neil Sedaka
– Calendar Girl
• Brill Building (1619 Broadway, NYC)
Day 14: The Official Attack on Rock ‘n’
Roll
• By the mid 1950s, R&R had become the focal point for
all of society’s fears of violence, juvenile delinquency,
and general moral decline.
• R&R brought styles of music that were considered
class- and race-specific into the mainstream.
• Religious organizations supplied lists of inappropriate
records.
• Towns set up review boards to screen new releases.
• Police confiscated offensive records and jukeboxes.
• Payola – paying for play
– Payola Hearings
Surf’s Up!
• Surf music emerged in the early 1960s.
– Vocal and Instrumental varieties
– Only lasted from 1962-1964
– Made R&R white and middle class.
– Surfing = easy going lifestyle
– British Invasion wiped out the genre
Surf Groups
• Surfari’s – Wipe Out (only instruments)
• Guitar-Based Groups
– Duane Eddy and the Rebels
– The Ventures
• Established the instrumentation of the classic R&R
quartet – electric guitar, rhythm, bass guitar, & drums
The Beach Boys
Defined Surf Music
A Family Affair
Wrote songs that elevated
the sport to a metaphor for
the American Dream
Surfin’ USA
Signed with Capital Records
in 1962
Brian Wilson was the
group’s main song writer,
arranger, and producer