CHAPTER 1 THE CONCEPT The late '40's and early '50's ushered in a state of flux that was to have a uniquely dramatic effect on every diminutive aspect of life as we knew it. It was during this period of time, after the development of the Atomic Bomb, and the Second World War, that the isolationism of the United States, which ended during the war, would be changed into a type of protectionism which would spread the culture of America throughout the world in a dramatic and hurried way. In music, this movement started as an isolated segment of the American culture, and rose dramatically to engulf the imagination of the whole world. It began in the remotest parts of our country, in the hills, as far back as the '20's and '30's, and paralleled the development of the guitar as a main musical instrument, rather than a strictly background rhythm instrument. The big bands were beginning to disappear, and the singers of the bands began to become stars in their own right, but the war babies would reject this adult music, and search for a medium of their own. The year 1954, however, saw the emergence of a new musical force which completely engulfed the other musical forms, dominated American popular music for several years, and shattered the existing conception of what a popular song should be. [Malone, 1985, p. 246] Thus, the innocence of the '40's, with the distinct divisions of styles |
| 2 What It Was Was Rockabilly and sounds, on a few music charts, would soon cause the development of new charts and subcharts, black mixed white. The merging of the cultures of our society would soon develop into a tremendous force to be unleashed upon the world. With the advent of the '50's came a musical void: There were no songs for the teenagers. Popular music was comprised of show tunes, ballads, and singalong novelty songs by such performers as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Johnny Ray, and Frankie Laine. It wasn't until 1953 that we began to hear the likes of Bill Haley, or "House of Blue Lights," and other sounds of the new rebellion. Until the 50's, there were basically six major record companies: Columbia and Victor, which managed to survive since the beginning of recording in the late 1800's; Decca which was founded as the American division of British Decca, in 1932; Capitol which was founded in 1942, as the first major record company on the west coast; MGM which was established by the motion picture company in 1946; and Mercury Records which was formed in 1946 in Chicago. It was the age of style. The youth of the day were desperately searching for something different: crew cuts, Balboas, DA's, Mohegan Cuts, Flattops, Pegged Pants, extra large suit coats (black leather jackets came a little later). Undershirts were worn as clothing with the sleeves rolled up (perhaps with a cigarette pack and matches in the sleeve). Fast cars, especially 32 Fords, were in, and so was Marlon Brando. For teenagers, the void was not solely in the types of available music. There was also a void in movies suited to teenagers; movies were either for adults or for children. Thus teenagers were faced with the problem of having too much money and nothing to spend it on. The world was boring to the teenagers of the day. Regardless of the rise of television, there was just nothing to do. Therefore teenagers began to hang around various locations, just looking for some form of action to fill up their time and create some excitement. Hanging out on a street corner, usually at a Spa or corner drug or candy store became popular. Local gangs began to form throughout the country, segmenting the teenage population even further. Teenagers across the country began to search for and demand their own music, switching the dials as fast as they could to find music that they liked. In order to survive in the market, most radio stations at the time were generally required to play popular music. There were, however, many predominantly black stations cropping up all over the country, and many smaller independent stations in the smaller southern communities. |
The Concept 3 The music that these stations played was the rhythm and blues of the north, and country and western of the South. Eventually these two types of music would merge. The earliest sounds of rock and roll emerged from rhythm and blues, but the subject matter concerned the new tastes and style of the new teenage population that was developing across the country. The black musical hits contained disguised sexual innuendos, hidden in the lyrics, which were understood only by the subculture of blacks within the musical sphere. It would take most of the white population a number of years to understand the hidden meanings, although some would comprehend them immediately. Those who understood would become the artists or producers of the period. The teenagers of the day, the white jukebox players, were seeking out and listening to the black singers and musicians for a different sound than they could find in their white world. These black artists were the legendary rhythm and blues artists who heretofore were known only in the black world. It was the time to break down the barriers that existed between the worlds, and to mesh together the primary sounds of each to create a third. The early rock hits were merely cover songs -- songs recorded by white artists that had been hits by black artists in Rhythm and Blues, or hillbilly songs made popular in the country and western style. Until 1954 the cover versions of rhythm and blues records, done by white artists, or groups, generally outsold the independent black releases. For the most part, the deejays were forced to play the white versions, because whites controlled most of the radio stations in the country. The cover artists such as Pat Boone, The Diamonds, The Hilltoppers, and others were brought in to record these songs simply to attract the white audience to the black sound. The major labels of the day Columbia, RCA, Decca, Mercury, and Capitol were too "respectable" even to consider having black artists on their label. This situation later led to the speedy growth of the smaller black labels. In some cases, these white cover artists copied the music and style exactly as it was on the black records, but in other cases, they didn't even bother. When Pat Boone was placed before the teenagers instead of Little Richard, or Fats Domino, it didn't take too long for teenagers to realize that they were being fooled. To complete the picture, the large record companies were convinced that the teenagers were satisfied with the cover versions of the songs, since they, the owners, and producers, were satisfied. |
| 4 What It Was Was Rockabilly In 1955, the music industry started booming, beginning a climb in sales that kept going till 1959, by which time sales were almost treble what they had been in 1954. [Gillitt, The major part of this increase in sales was due to the enormous amount of small independent labels that arose during this period. Some of these labels later became large in themselves, thus changing the industry's method of doing business and the content of the sound emanating from the recording studios. The vintage year for rock `n' roll was 1956. Only nineteen rock `n' roll records made the top ten that year, but they included many of the best records in that style. [Gillitt, 1983, p. 40] As it happened, the majority of the hits for 1956 were in the typical previous top 40 pop type style, which obviously indicated that rock and roll did no yet totally dominate the market. The percentage of rock hits would increase every year, until rock would basically dominate the charts, and a new chart for middle of the road, or MOR, hits would be created. |
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