Episode 3: Nifty 50's

Spotify playlist: Nifty 50's

This week we go back in time to the Rock & Roll hits of the 1950's.

Transcript

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Welcome to Mixtapes of Today, Episode 3. I am your host, Suze Jones. This week we are going to hop in the DeLorean and go back in time to the Nifty 50s. The 1950s was a revolutionary decade for popular music with a variety of genres. But this mixtape this week is going to highlight rock and roll, where it began. Feel free to check out my Nifty 50s playlist on Spotify. Rock and roll began to dominate popular music starting in the mid-1950s, with origins in a variety of genres, including blues, rhythm and blues, country, and pop. Major rock artists of the 1950s include Elvis Presley, Buddy Hawley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and so many more. Rock and roll quickly spread to much of the world. Its immediate origins lay in a mixing together of those various styles of music, where rock and roll became its own genre. It also helped the electric guitar become the dominating instrument in popular music starting in the 50s. And the decade also saw the release of the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing the rhythm and blues music for a multiracial audience and is credited with first using the phrase rock and roll to describe the music. Over the following decades, rock and roll would touch a variety of genres and sub-genres, all under the umbrella of rock music. Rock is the dominant musical genre through the 20th century. Here are 10 tracks I pulled from a multitude of rock and roll songs that came out in the 1950s. Track 1. Jail House Rock performed by Elvis Presley. Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the king of rock and roll, he is widely regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 20th century. Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1935. His family moved to Memphis, Tennessee when he was 13. He began his music career in 1954 at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. Jailhouse Rock was written by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. RCA Victor released the song on a 45 RPM single on September 24, 1957, and as a 78 RPM single in the UK as the first single from the film of the same name's soundtrack EP. It reached the top of the charts in the US and the top 10 in several other countries. The song has been recognized by the Grammy Hall of Fame, the American Film Institute, and others. Rock Around the Clock, performed by Bill Haley and his Comets. Bill Haley and His Comets were an American rock and roll band formed in 1947 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group recorded nine top 20 singles, one of which was number one and three that were top ten. The single Rock Around the Clock was the best-selling rock single in the history of the genre and maintained that position for several years. It was recorded in 1954 for American Decca. The song is ranked number 159 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Chuck Berry, born in 1926, was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He was nicknamed the father of rock and roll, and he defined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with songs such as Maybelline, Roll Over Beethoven, Rock and Roll Music, and Johnny Be Good. Johnny Be Good was released as a single in 1958 and it peaked at number two on the Hot RB size chart, and number eight on its pre-Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song remained a staple of rock and roll music, and the song appears in several movies. One would be the American Graffiti soundtrack album, where it uh featured several songs from the decade. Another pop culture reference was when a cover version was in the film Back to the Future in 1985, when lead character Marty McFly, played by actor Michael J. Fox, performed it at a high school dance when he mistakenly traveled back into time into the 50s. Johnny Be Good has been recorded in cover versions by a wide variety of artists in different genres. Trap 4. Jerry Lee Lewis, born in 1935, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. Nicknamed The Killer, he was described as rock and roll's first great wild man. A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1952 at Casimo Matassa's JM studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, and early recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. He later became known for his chart-topping country music records from the 60s and the 70s. Great Balls of Fire was recorded in 1957 on Sun Records and featured in the 1957 movie Jamboree. It was written by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer. The Jerry Lee Lewis 1957 recording was ranked as the 96th greatest song ever by Rolling Stone and sold 1 million copies in its first 10 days of release in the United States, making it one of the best-selling singles at that time. Performed by Buddy Hawley. Charles Harden Hawley, born in 1936, known professionally by his stage name, Buddy Hawley, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas during the Great Depression, and learned to play guitar and sing alongside his two siblings. Hawley made his first appearance on local television in 1952, and the following year he formed the group Buddy and Bob with his friend Bob Montgomery. In 1955, after opening once for Elvis Presley, Hawley decided to pursue a career in music. Hawley's recording sessions at Decca were produced by Owen Bradley. Hawley was unhappy with Bradley's musical style and control in the studio, so then Hawley went to producer Norman Petty and Clovis Newton Mexico and recorded a demo of That'll Be the Day, among other songs. That'll be the Day topped the US and UK single charts in November 1958. Buddy Hawley terminated his associate with the Crickets to go back on tour. Performed by Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers. Franklin Joseph Lyman, born in 1942, was an American rock and roll rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, dancer and composer. He was best known as the Boy Soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll duo op group, The Teenagers. The group was composed of five boys, all in their early mid-teens. The Teenagers' first single, 1956's Why Do Fools Fall in Love, was also their biggest hit. It reached number one on the RB chart, number six on Billboard's Pop Singles Chart, and number one on the UK singles chart in July. Many renditions of the song by other artists have also been hit records in the US, including versions by The Diamonds in 1956, The Beach Boys in 1964, and Diana Ross in 1981.

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I took my troubles down to Madame Root.

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Track 7. Love Potion No. 9 performed by The Clovers. The Clovers are an American rhythm and blues doo-wop vocal group who became one of the biggest selling acts of the 1950s. The group was formed at Armstrong High School in Washington, D.C. in 1946. As the Four Clovers, the group started to appear at local amateur music shows in 1948. After being heard on an amateur radio show, a record sales distributor who became their manager led to the first recording session. Like Jailhouse Rock, Love Potion No. 9 was written by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller in 1959, and that was a top 30 hit. In the LP release, at the ending of the song, the Clovers used alternate lyrics, which was used in the American graffiti soundtrack, and also featured in the movie of the same name, Love Potion No. 9, in 1992. Track 8, La Bamba, performed by Richie Valence. Richie Valens, born in 1941, was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Valance was brought up hearing traditional Mexican mariachi music as well as flamenco, guitar, RB, and jump blues. He expressed an interest in making music of his own by the age of five. Balance was encouraged by his father to take up guitar and trumpet and later taught himself the drums. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valence had several hits, most notably La Bomba, which he had adapted from a Mexican folk song. Valence transformed the song into one with a rock rhythm and beat, and it became a hit in 1958, making Valance a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement. He also had an American number two hit with Donna. Eddie Cochran, born in 1938, was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran was involved with music from an early age, playing in the high school band and teaching himself to play blues guitar. In 1955, Cochran formed a duo with the guitarist Hank Cochrane, and became known as the Cochran Brothers. When they split the following year, Eddie began a songwriting career with Jerry Cape Hart. Summertime Blues is a song co-written and recorded by Cochran and Cape Hart and was released in August of 1958. It peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 29th of that year. It has been covered by many artists, including being a number one hit for country music artist Alan Jackson, and scoring notable hits in versions by Blue Cheer, The Who, and Brian Setzer, the last of whom recorded his version for the 1987 film La Bomba, in which he portrayed Cochrane. Track 10 and the final track for this episode Tootie Fruity, performed by Little Richard. Born Richard Wayne Pennerman in 1932. He was known by his stage name Little Richard. He was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Referred to as the architect of rock and roll, Richard's most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s when his charismatic showmanship and dynamic music laid the foundation for rock and roll. Two DeFruity was written by Little Richard and Dorothy LeBrostri and recorded in 1955, which was Richard's first major hit. Its refrain was a verbal rendition of a drum pattern imagined by Little Richard. The song introduced several of rock music's most characteristic musical features with the presence of a loud volume, powerful vocal style, and distinctive beat and rhythm. Those are the 10 tracks we have for this week's mixtape for the 5050s. Before wrapping up this episode, I wanted to touch briefly on a particular date in history that became known as the day the music died. This phrase was popularized by singer-songwriter Don McLean in 1971. On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Hawley, Richie Valance, and the big bopper J.P. Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. Hawley and his current band at the time were playing on the winter dance party tour across the American Midwest. To avoid a long bus ride between venues and poorly heated tour buses, Hawley charted a plane after performing in Clear Lake to reach their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota. Richardson, known as the Big Bobper, suffering from the flu, swapped places with another band member taking his seat on the plane, while Valance won a seat from a coin toss. Shortly after takeoff, in wintry conditions, the Beechcraft Bonanza crashed into a field, killing all four on board. This tragedy will forever be known as the day the music died, because it was a major loss of up-and-coming musical artists and the possibility of the music they might have continued to bring to the world. Their music has influenced rock and roll through the following decades, and it continues to shape the music of today. Hope you enjoyed the list this week. Please check out the Spotify playlist, link in the description. Thanks for listening to Mixtapes of Today. We will be back next week. Talk to you soon.