Lecture 5 The Fall of Rock and Roll The Devils Music?
- This rock and roll is anti-spiritual
- It’s satan’s music
- MLK says “It’s a sin to play rock and roll music” … “Plunges into degrading and moral depths”
- White pastors are similarly concerned Billy Graham believes it plagues children’s souls
- Jimmy Snow a former rock and roll singer preaches against the music
- Calls it communist, The End of the Golden Age
- The Key Charcters diminish
- Little Richard
- A man of deep faith but sings about sex and dresses homosexually.
- While flying to Sydney to Melbourne and sees Sputniks launch and takes it as a sign from god. Sees that his true calling is not rock and roll but to go become a preacher
- When lands in Melbourne throws off his rings and says he “DONE” and give up rock and role and becomes preacher
- Elvis
- Elvis joins the United States Army in 1958 in Germany. His mother dies in Basic Training. Start to take prescription pills. Lives a celebrity’s life in West Germany. He meat Priscilla Beaulieu who is 14 and gets married
- Jerry Lee Lewis
- On may 1958 so popular goes on tour in Great Britain. He has a new wife; She is named Myra Gail Lewis she is 13 years old. He married her before his second divorce finalized. They are also second cousins.
- The Payola Scandal
- The US government investigates the Us of Payola. Record industry is paying shows, DJs, Shows to pay music that is needed to sell more records. Alan freed and Dick Clark are all doing. The final nail in the coffin
- Chuck Berry
- Chuck berry in December 23, 1959. Gets arrested for transporting an underage Mexican age waitress to “work” in his club. Being assaulted.
- Sentenced for 5 years for Man Act. A racist act
- Conviction vacated October 1960 due to racist remarks
- Ron convinced in March 1961
- Spent 2 years in prison
- The Day the Music Died
- New names are coming up Buddy Holly, Richard Valnes, Big Booprt, Dion and The Belmonts are touring the Midwest in 1959
- Buddy Holly decides not to take a bus to Iowa and charters an airplane with Big Bopper. The plane crashes outside greenbay. Buddy Holly and Big Booper died. The capstone of the rock role age
- Buddy Holly was the cream of the crop, very big even in his short career
- Big Booper was an upcoming star Rock and Roll Alternatives
- Teen Idols
- Trying to get handsome sexy men to appeal to young girl. Trying to replicate the rock and roll super stars to manipulate women to buy shit. Trying to capture the rock and roll audience but more safe.
- Fabian Forte. “Hound Dog Man”
- Ricky Nelson “Poor Little Fool” a former child star that gets put into movies.
- Tommy Sands and Paul Anka, Pat Boone, Frankie Avalon, Connie Francis
- Brenda Lee: The most popular of these teen idols. “Rocking around the Christmas tree”
- Calypso
- Calypso comes out of the Carribean from black Afro-carribean anti British imperial songs
- Harry Belafonte “The banana boat song”
- Movies are capitalizing on Calypso and Teen Idols.
- Robert Mitchum stars in “Cape Fear” and puts out his own calypso music
- Novelty
- SONG AFTER SONG that fits the mold of what is needed. Britain in the 1950s
- Britain in the Early 1950s
- Postwar America is the land of plenty there is large middle class white growth. GI bills and Low interest loans and unemployment insurance. No direct destruction and America become the primary economic power across the world
- Britain is devastes
- Recovering from the debt and en our mas debt of war
- Almost bankrupt and relies on loans from the US and Canadian loans
- Austerity, housing shortages, failing infrastructure continue for after a decade the war. Shortages continue for years
- Weather induced crop failures in 1946-47
- Food rationing continues until 1953-54
- In 1953
- 1 in 3 had no bath
- 1 in 20 had no running water
- 4% had tv
- Few had household appliance
- Few owned cars
- Bombing Damages apparent
- Britain in the Late 1950s
- Marshall plan in 1948-1952. Investment of 12 billion dollar to Western Europe to recover. UK recovers 3.2 Billion. Used to buy American goods, and fund economic recovery.
- Britain embraces state socialism and a welfare economy and nationalizes a bunch of industry.
- Now teenagers can start to embrace rock and roll music The American Invasion
- Before Rock and Roll
- In the early 20th century elements of American music come in. Ministras shows are very popular in British society. BBC played British music and did not play a lot. Hated American music
- In the Second World War, A lot of American radio stations pop up to for American solder.
- In the 1950s pirate radio starts to pop up. Radio Luxembourg you could listen to it in the UK and hear what they were playing Rock and Roll
- Starts to pop up in the UK. Radio Caroline
- Bill Haley is first heard from a soundtrack from movies. It drove kids wild from blackboard jungle.
- British rockers start to copy american culture.