What's That Sound? • W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.
Focus on children's health, education, and overall happiness
White middle-class teenagers embraced rhythm and blues
Knowing parents wouldn't approve of suggestive lyrics
This could be children's form of social rebellion
Allowed an alternative to assimilating into their parents' adult world culture
Movies appeared with rebellious themes
Rebellious young people who rebelled for the sake of rebellion
The Wild One (1953) starring Marlon Brando
Rebel without a Cause (1955) starring James Dean
Blackboard Jungle (1955) about teenage delinquency in an urban high school
Featured "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock"
Song was played over the opening credits
Caused rock and roll to be associated with delinquency
One of the top pop records of that year
By 1955 rhythm and blues was being called rock and roll
Radio and records
The categories were based on buying patterns among consumers of music
Pop was based on white middle-class consumers
Rhythm and blues on black consumers
Country and western on rural and low-income white consumers
In the mid 1950s when white middle-class teens discovered rhythm and blues the distinction between styles blurred
Crossovers are records that appear on one chart and then on one of the other two
Two ways that a song can cross over to another chart:
The record sales can generate a chart position on another chart
For instance, a pop song becomes popular among country and western listeners, who buy enough copies of the record to generate a chart position on the country and western chart
A different artist can record a new version of the song specifically for a particular listening audience
When a different artist records a new version of a song it is called a "cover"
It is possible (and not uncommon) for a song to be both a cover and a crossover
This phenomenon was less common in the years from 1950 to 1953.
Only about 10% of songs crossed over from one chart to another chart
Beginning in 1954 25% of the rhythm and blues records began to cross over
By 1958 that figure was 94%
The cover and crossover trend followed a pattern based on economics
A black rhythm and blues artist would release a song recorded on a small indie label
A major label (or larger indie label) would release a cover of that song
The cover would usually be a white artist
The cover would come out quickly after the originalsometimes during the same month
Major labels had the distribution system and financial wherewithal to produce their recording quickly and get it out to a national audience
Therefore, the major label cover would be more successful than the original indie product
Black artists began to cross over in 1955
Fats Domino (Antoine Domino) from New Orleans
Recorded on Imperial records based in Los Angeles
Several early 1950s rhythm and blues hits
"The Fat Man" (r6, 1950)
"Goin' Home" (r1, 1952)
Polite, clean-cut personal image
Continued the pop style established by Frank Sinatra and Eddie Fisher
Helped establish rock and roll as a valid part of the mainstream in the last half of the 1950s
Cover versions controversy
Black artists resented white artists covering and outselling their records
Records were often reproduced in meticulous detail
Difference only that these covers were by white pop artists on another label
Intent seemed to be to replace the black artists' recordings in charts, broadcast, and jukeboxes
Pop music business executives watched rhythm and blues charts to get in on the next hit
Rhythm and blues and rock and roll artists provided material for the pop market
Black artists didn't reap the financial benefits of their recordings that they should have
Rhythm and blues artists often were paid a flat fee
Didn't get royalties that were usually paid to songwriters
Their record companies were small-scale operations
There was always the possibility that they would fold so money up front seemed better
Therefore the only long-term beneficiaries were the label executiveswho were white
Music business revolved around the song itself rather than a recording of a song
Common practice was to capitalize on whatever song was currently popular
Record labels promoted their singers as stylists
Therefore, singers like Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett sold because of their individual styles
White artists covering rhythm and blues songs made the songs in their own style
These artists believed that their covers brought the songs to the white audience
Black artists strongly disagreed and resented the practice of covering their songs for big profits
Elvis Presley
The first artist to repeatedly have hits on all three charts
The first rock and roll artist to gain the attention and interest (and investment) of a major label (RCA)
When signed to RCA in 1955, the company started the actions that brought rock and roll into pop mainstream
Elvis's youth was spent in a simple humble way among simple common people
Elvis was born to a poor family in Tupelo, Mississippi
Family moved to Memphis at age 13an impressionable time for a youngster
Knew and liked the usual country music popular in that region
Also exposed to thriving rhythm and blues community
Identified with blacks and particularly their style of clothing
Elvis learned to sing country songs and rhythm and blues songs as a child
Elvis Presley at Sun Records: the "Hillbilly Cat"
Owner Sam Phillips started Memphis Recording Service in 1950
Specialized in recording black blues musicians and singers
Joe Hill Louis
Jackie Brenston and the Delta Cats 1951 rhythm & blues hit, "Rocket 88"
Phillips licensed his recordings to other rhythm and blues labels
Modern Records in Los Angeles
Chess Records in Chicago
Started Sun Records in 1952 as his own real record label recording more blues artists
Rufus Thomas
The Prisonaires (a singing group from the Tennessee State Penitentiary)
Elvis came in to record a demo recording in 1953
In 1954 Phillips asked him to record a couple of songs that needed a vocal:
"It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You" and "I'll Never Stand in Your Way"
Nothing happened with those, but Phillips decided to see what Elvis could do
Asked guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black to work with him and try things
Phillips was an easygoing person and let musicians loosen up while he rolled tape
By July 1954 they finally came up with something
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right (Mama)"
B side was Bill Monroe's bluegrass song  "Blue Moon of Kentucky"
Phillips took it to Memphis disk-jockey Dewey Phillips to play on his Red, Hot, and Blue radio show
Phillips liked it and played it a lot of times
Elvis and the other two musicians went on tour to promote the record
They played the Grand Ole Opry (not received well)
They were received well on the Louisiana Hayride show
At first, Elvis was billed as a country and western performer
Elvis had several regional hits recorded at Sun
The biggest deal in the history of popular music up to that time
In 1955 Elvis took on a new manager, Colonel Tom Parker
Parker arranged a deal with RCA in Nashville to bring Elvis to a national level company
Sam Phillips needed money to keep Sun Records going
Parker set up a deal for RCA to buy Elvis's contract from Sam Phillips: $35,000
Also included was a $5,000 bonus for Elvis in back royalties
Sam Phillips put the money into the label and a radio station he'd purchased
Put Sun Records into the process of cultivating rockabilly artists
Carl Perkins
Didn't use his guitar for the first time
Stage moves were noticeably sexual
In the middle of the song he cut the tempo in half and thrust his hips in a very sexual way
This was a popular show, and a large audience saw this and was shocked
National press were highly critical and unkind
He appeared on the Steve Allen Show in a tuxedo
On Sept 9, 1956, he appeared on the season premiere of the Ed Sullivan Show
He was at that point the biggest music star in America
Already working on his first movie (Love Me Tender)
Paid $50,000 for three appearances
TV cameras showed him only from the waist up
Why would Sam Phillips sell Elvis's contract?
Independent labels had to pay everybody up front before a record was released for sale
Labels, sleeves, and the manufacture of the records themselves had to be paid for
Distributors paid for records shipped to them only after the records had been sold
There would be a delay of weeks or months before a producer got paid for records sold
Eventually ongoing sales helped balance things out
A big hit record is a financial puzzle for small independent labels
They struggled to keep going until the money arrived
Elvis's polarity had put a huge strain on Sun Records
Sam Phillips took advantage of Elvis's impending contract expiration
By selling the contract he could invest back into the label
Rockabilly at Sun Records after Elvis
Carl Perkins: guitarist-vocalist from Tennessee
"Blue Suede Shoes" went to number two on the pop charts in 1956
Covered by Elvis on RCA
First million-selling record for Sun
"Honey, Don't"
Lyrics were less clever than Chuck Berry's but conveyed youthful frustrations and hopeful longing
Like Berry, Holly was a model of the successful songwriter-performer
An important point is the influence on the Beatles who took this idea to unimagined levels in the 1960s
The Day the Music Diedthe two major setbacks that severely threatened rock and roll
At the end of the 1950s, the most important and influential artists were out of the picture
In 1958 Little Richard left to become a Seventh Day Adventist minister
Elvis received his draft notice and went to Germany in September 1958
May of 1958, the British press reported Jerry Lee Lewis's marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin
Buddy Holly's plane crashed on February 3, 1959
In 1959 Chuck Berry was charged with violating the Mann Act
Transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes
Overturned on appeal
In December 1962 Freed pleaded guilty to taking bribes
He only received a six-month suspended sentence and a $300 fine
The publicity caused all radio stations not to want to hire him
Box 2.1  Reading the Chart Numbers
The Billboard chart is the reference for this book
The rhythm and blues chart is represented by the letter "r" followed by the position and the year
(r3, 1955) means that a song reached number three on the rhythm and blues chart in 1955
The pop chart is represented by the letter "p" followed by the position and the year
(p4, 1958) means that a song reached number four on the pop chart in 1958
The country and western  chart is represented by the letter "c" followed by the position and the year
(c6, 1957) means that a song reached number six on the country and western chart in 1957
British chart positions are represented by the letters "uk" followed by the position and the year
(uk3, 1955) means that a song reached number three on the British chart in 1955
Doo-wop and crossover