A. Social Change

B. Racist Backlash

C. The Music Industry vs. Rock and Roll

D. The Blanching of Rock

II. Change

A. Social Change

1. television made more radio space available

○ Created space for a greater variety (African American

artists)

○ - ’53 300 TV stations and 27 million sets

○ Don’t forget about our diehard DJs (Freed, Alan

Jarvis…)

2. Portable transistor radios

○ ’47 Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, available to public

by 1953…12 million in ten years!

3. car stereos

○ 50 million by 1963

II. Change

A. Social Change cont…

4. Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954

○ a. overturned 1896 ruling in Plessy vs. Ferguson

○ b. “separate but equal” is, and was, inherently unequal

○ c. same time as baby boomers entering secondary

schooling

wealthier population = more spending money = record sales

increase

○ d. Chuck Berry notes “a salt and peppering of the crowds”

but while this was happening…

II. Change B. Racist Backlash

1. White Citizen Counsel of Birmingham, Alabama and like organizations, plus mainly southern religious organizations, object to rock and roll

○ a. object to sexual nature in: lyrics, rhythm, and dancing

○ b. Houston Juvenile Delinquency and Crime Commission blacklists 30 songs [as does Memphis and others] all African American artist such as:

- Drifters “Honey Love” & “Too Much Lovin” by The Five Royals

- “Work with Me Annie” by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters

- Ray Charles “I Got a Woman” and even Little Richard

II. Change C. The Music Industry vs. Rock and Roll

1. Crooners Unite

○ Frank Sinatra – Rock and Roll is “the most brutal, ugly,

desperate, vicious form of expression it has ever been

my unfortune to hear”

sentiments echoed by Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin

2. many pop radio stations displeased with R&B

influence in popular music

3. ASCAP protest (American Society of Composers,

Authors and Publishers)

○ “Lets give the music business

back to the musicians”

II. Change D. The Blanching of Rock

1. RCA, Columbia, Capital and Decca Records begin loosing market share to independent labels

2. begin push to find white artists to cover/copy songs from African American artists

○ a. Charles “Pat” Boone from Nashville Fats Domino “Ain’t That a Shame”

El Dorados “At My Front Door”

Big Joe Turner’s “Honey Hush”

“Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally” by Little Richard

“I’ll Be Home” by the Flamingos and

“I Almost Lost my Mind” by Ivory Joe Hunter

- 60 hit singles with 6 going #1

○ b. Others follow

McGuire Sisters cover the Moonglows

Dorthy Collins covers Clyde McPhatter

Perry Como tales “Kokomo” from Gene and Eunice

Crew Cuts covered the Penguins “Earth Angel” and “Sh-boom” from the Chords

II. Change

D. The Blanching of Rock

3. record companies began to sell in suburban

supermarkets

○ 1956 sold $14 million and then in 1957 sold $40

million!!!

4. most DJs happily spun white imitations

5. 45rpm record replaces old 78rpm

○ 45 was 7 inches and cost 75 cents

○ 78 was breakable, 10 inches, and cost $1.05

smaller labels couldn’t compete with production costs

“I love the rhythm and beat of good rock and roll music and I think most

people like it too. After all, it’s a combination of folk or hillbilly music

and gospel singing.” - Elvis

III. Rockabilly A. Rockabilly Roots

1. Mixture of country, blues and western culture

2. artists were mostly poor southern white teenagers

who were exposed to the changing R&B scene

○ Carl Perkins “Blue Suede Shoes”

III. Rockabilly B. The Rockabilly Sound

1. different blendings of

blues and country

2. huge southern gospel

influence

○ a. many early rockabilly

stars thought their music

was “sinful”

○ “That’s All Right” by Arthur

Big Boy Crudup

covered by Elvis

III. Rockabilly C. Sun Records and the Big 4

1. owned by Sam Phillips – Memphis, TN

○ turned an old radiator shop into a place where black R&B

musicians could record in the South

2. wanted to make music for “young whites, young

blacks, and then older blacks” – Phillips

3. “If I could find a white man who had the negro sound

and the negro feel, I could make a billion dollars.” -

Phillips

III. Rockabilly C. Sun Records and the Big 4

4. Elvis Presley makes a record for his mother’s

birthday in ‘54

○ a. “That’s All Right” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky”

○ b. Elvis’ popularity skyrockets

○ c. Elvis’ live performances create teenage hysteria among

all races

○ d. joined Louisiana Hayride (a nationally-syndicated radio

broadcast) in the end of ‘54

III. Rockabilly D. The Killer

1. Jerry Lee Lewis from Louisiana

2. wild piano player

○ “played blues on left hand and country on the right”

3. drove to Memphis and threatened punishment if he

wasn't recorded

○ “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” (cover)

4. appears on the Steve Allen Show in ‘57

○ “Luifer incarnate” – observer

○ “Great Balls of Fire”

III. Rockabilly E. Carl Perkins

1. not as flashy as Elvis, married, and older

2. becomes a major rockabilly songwriter

3. Elvis covers “Blue Suede Shoes”

III. Rockabilly F. Johnny Cash

1. began playing rockabilly while in the Air Force

2. early hits: “Cry, Cry, Cry” and “Folsom Prison Blues”

3. in ‘56, “I Walk the Line” and “Get Rhythm”

III. Rockabilly G. Other Sun rockabilly stars

1. Billy Lee Riley

○ part Native American “Flying Saucer Rock and Roll”

2. Sonny Burgess “Red-Headed Woman”

3. Ray Harris “Little Mama” (an Elvis wannabe)

4. Roy Orbison “Oobie Dooby”

○ a. “in the wrong place at the wrong time when I heard

Elvis”

○ b. iconic dark image with near operatic, ethereal voice

○ c. later successes:

i. “Only the Lonely” “Crying” and “Pretty Woman”

III. Rockabilly H. The Decca Challenge

1. Decca Records became Sun Records biggest

competitor

2. signed Bill Haley and the Comets from Michigan

○ actually predates Elvis’ first record

3. “Rock Around the Clock” and “Shake, rattle, and Roll”

○ the first was featured in Blackboard Jungle

4. Charles “Buddy” Holly and the Crickets from Texas

○ idolized Elvis

○ in ‘57 “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue”

III. Rockabilly I. Rockabilly Sweeps the Nation

1. Capital signs Gene Vincent

2. Cadence signs Every Brothers “Wake Up Little Suzie”

3. Imperial signs Ricky Nelson “Hello Mary Lou”

4. Liberty Records signs Eddie Cochran “Summertime

Blues”

III. Rockabilly

J. The Selling of Elvis Presley

1. The King of Rock and Roll was sold to RCA Victor in

‘55 for $40,000

○ Now managed by Colonel Tom Parker

○ “He sells Elvis to the people who sell stuff to the public,

and those are the media people” – Parker’s employee

2. Elvis begins to appear on numerous television shows

○ 83% of TV market watched his Ed Sullivan appearance in

‘56

3. Elvis began to act in movies

○ - Love Me Tender in late ‘56

III. Rockabilly

J. The Selling of Elvis Presley

4. invention of Top 40 radio in ‘54

○ to save radio from declining popularity

○ fuels Elvis’ meteoric rise (never seen before)

5. the mass marketing of Elvis:

○ bobby socks, shoes, skirt, blouse, sweater, charm

bracelet, lipstick (Hound Dog Orange, Heartbreak Hotel

Pink, or Tutti Fruitti Red, handkerchiefs, purse, pencil, pop

(soda), Bermuda shorts, blue jeans, pen pals, board game,

pajamas, pillow, fluorescent portraits, etc.

○ 78 different products @ $55 million

III. Rockabilly

K. Reactions Against Presley Mania

1. Time magazine labeled Elvis a “sexhibitionist”

2. seen as a leader in the “juvenile delinquent

revolution”

3. rock and roll is linked with violence, riots and drugs

4. anti-Elvis marketing schemes

○ car dealerships deals

○ radio station bon fires

○ I Like Ludwig buttons at Yale

III. Rockabilly

L. Elvis Goes to Hollywood

1. throughout the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, Elvis’ act

became more subdued

○ Steve Allen Show w/ tuxedo and hound dog

2. split with members of his pioneering band

3. after Army, he sings operatic ballads that do not

resemble his earlier rockabilly style

○ ex. “Its Now or Never” (best selling single @ 20mill.

copies)

○ over 250 million records sold by end of his career

4. plays in over 30 Hollywood films

○ usually cheesy with him singing pop ballads

5. becomes clean-cut and mild-mannered

III. Rockabilly

L. Elvis Goes to Hollywood

6. reaches the pinnacle of

popularity and success

7. becomes isolated and secluded

○ would attract a mob wherever he

went

8. turned to drugs and alcohol

9. Aug 16, 1977 – died at age 42