History of Rock and Roll Chapert 3

Chapter 3 Outline 1. Introduction a. By the end of the 1950s, many of the important figures of rock and roll's first wave were out of the music business, but the industry had come to realize the importance of the youth market. b. Rock historians debate the quality and importance of the rock music made after the first wave, but before the Beatles. 2. Splitting Up the Market: Teenyboppers and Their Older Siblings a. By 1960, it became evident that there were at least two distinct youth markets: former rock and rollers, and their younger siblings. b. The Adults in the Room: Brill Building and Aldon Publishing i. "Brill Building" was both a place—a building housing music publishers in Manhattan—and a label applied to the methodical way companies such as Aldon Music produced songs; teen idols and girl groups were the principal artists performing Brill Building material. c. Teen Idols for Idle Teens i. Starting in the late 1950s, record companies sought out attractive young men who could be marketed to preteen and teenage girls. ii. Teen idols recorded for both major and independent labels and were successful on both the pop and rhythm and blues charts. iii. The pop recorded by teen idols is sometimes labeled bubblegum music. d. The Dance Craze, American Bandstand, and "The Twist" i. American Bandstand was a television show devoted to teen pop, and it featured teens dancing to hit records and lip-synced performances by musical guest stars. ii. Much of the focus of American Bandstand was on dancing, and it initiated a craze for named dances, such as "The Twist." iii. Shows like American Bandstand and movies starring musicians reinforced the idea of a national youth culture, and also helped to make rock and roll acceptable to adults. e. Folk Music and the Putting Away of Childish Things i. College-age listeners helped to make folk music into a popular "alternative" style. ii. Folk music had some popularity in the 1940s and early 1950s, but the left-wing political position of many folk artists caused problems for them during the Red Scare; during the early 1960s, after the folk revival began, many folk musicians were again more openly political. iii. Before the rise of folk, calypso was briefly popular in the United States. iv. v. Album sales are a better measure of folk musicians' success than singles. Two sides of the folk music market emerged: one exemplified by musicians like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and rooted in folk literature, the other exemplified by the Kingston Trio and more oriented toward the pop market. vi. In the early 1960s, a folk group called Peter, Paul, and Mary surpassed the Kingston Trio as the most commercially successful folk-pop group; the trio was also embraced by the folk community. vii. Folk's image of sincerity and authenticity was largely constructed by the music industry. viii. Both folk music and Brill Building pop were crafted to appeal to specific age groups. 3. Ambitious Pop: The Rise of the Producer a. The role of the producer shifted from a mostly organizational role to a specialist in charge of shaping the sound of a record. b. Producers began to experiment with ways to make records more musically sophisticated, c. Leiber and Stoller with the Coasters i. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were an important songwriting team in early 1950s rock and roll, and they took more control over the recording process than was typical at the time. ii. Hired to produce records for Atlantic, but maintained their rights to work with artists on other labels, making them some of the first independent producers. iii. Working with the Coasters, created "playlets," or songs that told a story; even though Leiber and Stoller were white, many of their playlets for the Coasters dealt with topics in black culture. iv. Two examples of early playlets recorded by the Coasters are "Smokey Joe's Cafe" and "Down in Mexico." v. "Little Egypt (Ying Yang)" is a playlet that demonstrates the changes to a rhythm and blues song necessary for crossover success; as with Chuck Berry, Lieber and Stoller's songs can be read on more than one level. d. The Important Collaboration between Songwriters/Producers and Performers i. Leiber and Stoller had a lot of control over the Coaster's records, but the musicians were also free to make changes; many aspects of the arrangements were written in advance of recording. ii. Leiber and Stoller blended a range of musical styles in their records. e. Taking on Social Issues i. Some of the most ambitious pop music in this era came from girl-group records; for example, "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," produced by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, had orchestral accompaniment and dealt with the topic of deciding whether or not to engage in sexual intimacy. f. Producers in the Brill Building: The Rise of the Girl Groups i. Other songwriting teams began following Leiber and Stoller's approach to record production; in the early 1960s, many of them were working with female vocal groups. ii. Popular female singers prior to the girl groups included Connie Francis, Connie Stevens, and Annette Funicello; some solo singers in the early 1960s, such as Little Eva, Mary Wells, and Lesley Gore, recorded stylistically similar music to the girl groups. iii. The girl groups were part of the Brill Building system that also shifted creative control from performers to producers; the pop style and mainly African American singers equaled consistent crossover success g. Phil Spector and the Wall of Sound i. An ambitious producer who worked with girl groups; his approach to production is called the Wall of Sound, which involved recording a large number of instruments in a small space and using reverb to create a wash of blended sounds. ii. Important Wall of Sound Hits included the Crystals'"Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me" and the Ronettes'"Be My Baby"; Spector used top studio musicians and a three-track machine, and he often asked for multiple playbacks and takes. iii. "Be My Baby" features staggered entrances of instruments that create an aural impression of grand scale. iv. Many to compare him to classical music composers; he continued to produce innovative music later in the decade with the Righteous Brothers'"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'." v. Girl group music was both blatantly commercial and some of the most ambitious rock and roll of its time. 4. Sweet Soul on the Rise a. Sam Cooke Turns to Pop i. In the late 1950s, a lighter style of black pop emerged; The Drifters and Ben E. King had a long series of hits with Leiber and Stoller in a style known as sweet soul, and singers like Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis recorded pop ballads. ii. Like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke transitioned from gospel music to pop, and he had a number of hits in a light pop style influenced by rhythm and blues. b. The Drifters and Ben E. King i. The Drifters were actually two different vocal groups who recorded sweet soul for Atlantic; the second iteration worked with producers Leiber and Stoller and then Bert Berns. ii. Ben E. King's performance of "There Goes My Baby" with The Drifters shows the influence of Sam Cooke's singing; the accompaniment featured orchestral strings, which was unusual for a rhythm and blues record. iii. "There Goes My Baby" demonstrates Leiber and Stoller's eclectic musical influences. iv. Ben E. King was fired from The Drifters in 1960, and Leiber and Stoller produced him as a solo artist. 5. Rockabilly Popsters a. By 1960, the music of rockabilly artists such as Elvis had become country-influenced and adult-friendly pop. b. The Everly Brothers i. Came from a country music background, and they became popular following their hit "Bye Bye Love" in 1957. ii. Many of their early hits were written by Boudleaux and Bryant and recorded with studio musicians in Nashville; the songs show influences of both country and rhythm and blues and address teenage love. iii. The most distinctive features sound are their close harmony and straight-tone singing in the high end of their vocal ranges. c. Roy Orbison i. Released four records with Sun before moving to Monument and producing a string of hits between 1960 and 1965. ii. Wrote most of his own songs and had a wide range of stylistic influences; he developed a ballad singing style in which he frequently used his falsetto voice. d. Ricky Nelson i. The son of entertainers Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard, began his career playing himself on the radio and subsequent television show series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet; at age seventeen, he began making solo records. ii. Did not write his own music, and he performed material that was patterned after Elvis Presley and other stars of the era. iii. The development of rockabilly in the early 1960s shows both the influence of Brill Building practices and connections to the first wave of rock and roll. 6. Surfin' USA: It's Just Good, Clean, White-Suburban Fun a. The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, and Vocal Surf Music i. The members of the Beach Boys grew up in Los Angeles, on the other side of the country from most of the rock music business, and they had eclectic influences. ii. The Beach Boys had their first regional hit in 1961 and their first national hit the following year; they remained popular even as the Beatles dominated American pop. iii. Until 1964, the Beach Boys stuck to a surf music formula, with vocals that drew on doo-wop, girl group, glee club, and jazz music; their instrumentals were heavily influenced by Chuck Berry. iv. The Beach Boys were influenced by the production methods of Phil Spector, and the group's leader Brian Wilson started producing their records; the Beach Boys modeled "Don't Worry Baby" on the Spector-produced "Be My Baby." v. Jan and Dean had surf music hits, and they worked closely with the Beach Boys until the two groups' record labels objected; Wilson would continue to do more creative and ambitious work as a producer. b. Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar i. Dick Dale and the Del-Tones pioneered an instrumental surf style featuring the guitar. c. Duane Eddy and the Ventures i. Duane Eddy and the Ventures also produced instrumental records; prior to this, most rock and roll had focused on vocal performances. 7. Narrative Lyrics Run Amok: The Splatter Platter a. Teenage Romanticization of Death i. There were a number of songs on the topic of teenage death released between 1959 and 1964. ii. A series of shifts in the music business brought together songwriters Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and George "Shadow" Morton, who began writing the song "Leader of the Pack" together. iii. "Leader of the Pack" tells the story of the death of a motorcycle hoodlum in the style of a Leiber and Stoller playlet. iv. Jan and Dean also had a hit in this vein, "Dead Man's Curve" about a car crash; two years later, Jan was involved in a serious auto accident.