I remember going to see “The bridge on the river kwai”, and “Old Yeller”, and yes I cried at the end. I will always watch “The Bridge on the river Kwai” when it’s on, But to this day I have never dared to watch “Old Yeller” again. I’ve told the story my children and my grandchildren and to my knowledge nether one of them have watched it. We didn’t have much knowledge of the album charts back then but I was aware of most of the singles that was around, especially the new Rock’n Roll songs. I used to sit with my sister every Saturday morning from 09.00 till about 2pm just listening to all the new music released at this time. These have been and still are my fondest memories growing up. Thanks again Steve for another wonderful presentation.
I agree about both "Bridge.." and "Old Yeller." If I happen to come across "Bridge..." on TV, I'm inevitably drawn in and will watch it to the end. We had the "Old Yeller" soundtrack album when I was a very little kid. My mom explained the story to me, so I knew what I was in for the first time I saw the movie. I only watched it once because it's too sad for me to get any enjoyment from. I've probably mentioned it before, but I really envy you getting to hear those great rock 'n' roll records when they were new. What a fantastic time for new music! Thanks, as always, for the great feedback, John!
Being a mere 10 years old I would have to say Whole lotta shaking going on was the first rock n' roll song that got my attention. It made my legs do things I did'nt think they were capable of doing.
What a great song to get you started on rock 'n' roll! Watching Jerry Lee's performance of the song on The Steve Allen Show when putting these episodes together showed me that time hasn't diminished it's "punch." Always great to hear from you, Don! Thanks!
Interesting Paul Anka tidbit (and bear with me because I post so much in different places I may not even remember if I posted this here before)-Anka was in Montreal for a press conference in 2006 (the year is very significant in relation to the year being profiled) to promote IIRC a swing album, and I was asked to attend. Most of the reporters asked about the album, but I had a very different question in mind. I asked Anka (I knew this already) if he owned his 1957-62 ABC-Paramount songs. He confirmed this was the case. Then I pointed out that the next year was 2007, the 50th anniversary of Diana, which meant that in Europe, any fly by night CD company could put out the song without his permission (not many artists in the '50s owned their masters, fellow ABC-Paramount artist Ray Charles did as well) and compensation that he would normally get for licensing the song out. I asked Anka what he was going to do about it. He told me he was speaking to his lawyers. Then he muttered something under his breath which sounded to me very much like "thanks for ruining my day." Well, sadly, many years were ruined for Anka because fly by night CD companies were able to put out ALL of his 1957-62 ABC-Paramount material. IIRC this lasted until 2014, when the great Cliff Richard leaped into action and helped put a stop to this situation, at least for the next 20 years. Here's a story about it: www.theguardian.com/media/2011/sep/12/musicians-copyright-extension?INTCMP=SRCH. Of course, it's almost all irrelevant now, in a way, because of music streaming and the sad fact artists get a pittance from streaming companies, and make most of their money from touring or, more recently, selling their catalogs and all copyrights. Oh, and by the way, your Ed Wood reference cracked me up.
Thanks for a great story and some great info, Joel! I had heard that Paul Anka owned his publishing (and what a huge financial advantage it afforded him in comparison to artists of similar stature who didn't.) Good job on asking him what I'm sure was the most relevant and interesting question of the press conference (even if he didn't seem pleased to be reminded about the situation!) Sincere thanks, Joel, for taking the time to pass this along! It's very interesting, much enjoyed and appreciated!
Thank you, Steve , for correctly presenting the artists who recorded , “ That’ll Be The Day “ , as The Crickets . I can’t tell you how many times that I’ve explained that there was never an act billed as Buddy Holly & The Crickets . No one knew , ( … at least outside of Lubbock ) , who Buddy Holly was until the slightly later release of , “ Peggy Sue “ . Even then , we didn’t associate that record with The Crickets . There simply was no film and few appearances for the nation to see the group . Even though he inspired me to play guitar , it was years before I learned how Buddy got that unique sound to open “ That’ll Be The Day “ . I had missed the few TV appearances, so it was after the advent of the internet that I discovered that Buddy placed a capo on the 5th fret of his Fender Stratocaster . It was simple when one learned the trick ! ( I never would have known to watch for The Crickets appearance on “ Arthur Murray’s Dance Party “ , to see them play live !
Thanks for the feedback and for noting, too, the different billing between "The Crickets" and "Buddy Holly." I've read a couple of Holly biographies over the years and I'm still not sure I understand the reason for the different billings. As you point out, people wouldn't necessarily connected the two names, especially in those days, when info was so hard to come by. It seems to me like using two names would have "diluted the product." (Of course, we can see from the chart placements that it ended up working out okay!) Thanks too for the info on how Buddy got that guitar sound! Always a pleasure to hear from you, Beanie!
@@thebeachboysbasementwithst6444 I think it had to do with Norman Petty getting paid as producer and manager for two different entities . Petty got composer credit on most of Buddy’s original work in return for studio time and production work which was common at the time . Consider though , that he received royalties for life while Buddy perished two years later . Further , he denied Buddy monies that were genuinely owed which forced the young singer to sign on to the “ Winter Dance Party “ tour at the beginning of 1959 . Norman was a weasel , but damn , he had great musical sense and made fabulous records .
@@beanie226 Thanks for the follow-up, Beanie! I think you're right about Norman Petty getting paid for two different entities. That guy seemed to know all the angles! I think your assessment of him is spot on!
So many memorable comments and mentions in today's episode, Steve...album cover designed by Ed Wood..."cretinous goons"..."ooo-lah-lah"...Brigette Bardot...Monolith Monsters? All reasons why your shows are so enjoyable! ;)
To hear about what they were saying in 1957 about rock and roll was interesting as I'm not even sure if today's music would called Rock and Roll. Those films you featured in this video like Bridge over the river Kwai and Old Yeller are forever classics! Great video Steve!
That's an excellent point, Usualmike! The definition of "rock 'n' roll" changed, and expanded SO much over the following years, especially with the advent of the Beatles, that it obviously came to include a lot of music that probably wouldn't have been thought of as "rock 'n' roll" at the time. Thanks, as always, for the thoughts and feedback!
a) Hmmm, could a certain movie mentioned here have rested in the subconscious minds of Al Jardine and Mike Love independently for the next 14 years and ended up as Track 1 on a certain ecologically minded Beach Boys album? b) The first comic books I ever bought were Harvey Comics, I even distinctly remember that a Casper the Friendly Ghost was the first one I bought. That soon extended to Little Dot, Little Lotta, Little Audrey, Hot Stuff and Sad Sack, which I enjoyed very much. Never saw the movie, though.
I hadn't thought of the movie title in connection with the Beach Boys' song. Figuring that, at the ages they were in 1957, Mike and Al were probably taking in the movies as well as the music, it seems like that really might have been the source of the lyric and title. Your memory of "Casper" in Harvey Comics has me trying to remember the first comic books I ever had. I'm pretty sure it was "Scrooge McDuck." A little later on, I remember getting a lot of "Golden Key" comics, including "Boris Karloff's Thriller." (I never watched the TV show it was based on, but the comic book covers always had spooky looking scenes that made me want them.) Thanks for passing that along, Joel!
Nice job on singing "Chances Are" and "My Special Angel" and you did a good Sinatra impression too! Raintree County has always fascinated me. It was only ever released on VHS and I've been looking for a copy out of curiosity as it's so rare. It's not supposed to be very good though. Sayonara is a good film but James Michener's original novel is much better! Actually my favorite book of his. Some good movies here too, Paths of Glory is my favorite Kubrick film and Witness for the Prosecution ranks very high on my Billy Wilder list. Monolith Monsters is really fun too. You have to admit that old B-movies were more than willing to get creative! Great job as always!
Thanks for the feedback, BB! As always, your film knowledge is astounding. I've never seen Raintree County. I love both "Paths of Glory" and "Witness for the Prosecution." I definitely love "Monolith Monsters" too, though my feeling for that one might have more to do with memories of watching it on weekend "Creature Features" as a kid than it does with the movie itself. Thanks again, as always, for the great feedback, BB!
Awesome stuff Steve! I am always looking for music and movies to check out. I just might have to look into that Monolith Monsters movie. I'm surprised how many top albums were from movies. I assume part of the reason was that rock n roll was just getting started and not everyone had a television, so movies were still a very big form of entertainment. That's just a guess though. Anyway, So much Great stuff. Thanks as always.
Let me know if you check out "Monolith Monsters." It's pretty much a "re-tread" of Universal's earlier "big monster in the desert" film, "Tarantula" but the effects are pretty cool. I think you're right that, even with television, movies were still a bigger form of entertainment than they are today which probably accounts for the number of hit soundtracks. (Interestingly, researching 1957, I kept finding that BOTH movies and television were reporting big downturns in viewership that year. I never came across a theory as to why.) Thanks, Michael!
The world was certainly changing in 1957 as in previous generations here in UK when Boys left school, they were considered Adult and were simply carbon copies of their Fathers and would often follow them to work in the factories or wherever father worked and they would also dress like them, in short there were no teenagers until now and you could argue that this goes back to Queen Victoria after Prince Alberts death when we were all expected to mourn forevermore , giving us Brits a rather repressed appearence to the rest of the world , but....... By november 1952 we had our first record chart, though it could hardly be called a record chart as most of it was Sheet Music, designed i guess for people to buy and play on a piano or something and this led to skiffle , which was a home made music, usually played on household items like washboards and even vaccuum cleaners i kid you not. Non of this was as bad as it sounds as this music was fast and furious and Lonnie Donigan was the King of Skiffle and one of his records was " I wanna go Home " later covered by the Beach Boys as " Sloop John B ". You might also look out for Nancy Whiskey " Freight Train " .. All this led to Fashion as Teenagers now started following fasihon and as i have mentioned before, along came the Teddy Boys , which i have previously described, but all this was now changing culture here in UK as the new Teenagers were now following Music , Fashion and rebelling against the old fashioned system of being cloned as younger versions of their Fathers. It was the same for Girls too ie, being clones of Mum and expected to stay home and look after the house . As the music industry was now changing , a lot of our home grown Rock n Roll artists were just starting and were looking at American artists for inspiration and there was a Coffee Bar in outer London called the Three I`s and whilst you sat and drank your coffee or Coke, young hopefuls would entertain and this is where its claimed that the rather tamer British Rock n Roll began with the likes of Adam Faith,, Tommy Steele, Heinz and Cliff Richard and the Drifters , later changing from the Drifters to the Shadows for obvious reasons. and by 1957 these acts had become established but American music still dominated our chart, though it was records now that were in the majority of sales as opposed to the sheet music and it was the American Rock n Roll Records that teenagers were either buying or covering and as previously stated, Liverpool was way ahead of the rest as they were treated to American R%R way before the rest of us and we all enjoyed what they had learned from those records from 1964 onwards , but all that was to come.........
Great stuff, as always, Chris! I never thought of the famous "English reserve" going back as far as Victoria and the death of Albert. It certainly makes sense! From the skiffle music I've heard, I can understand its appeal. I think the "homemade" aspect of it might have been the most lasting influence of all; having shown young player, including the future Beatles, that you could "do it yourself." (In fact, I have a theory that the "do it yourself" ethic demonstrated by the Beatles was one of the most influential ideas of the second half of the 20th century; It certainly inspired the formation of thousands of "garage bands," and I think it also influenced people in deciding "We can stop pollution," "We can stop the war," "We can build a better world," and many other "grass roots" efforts. I get the feeling that the outlook that ordinary people can make positive change really goes all the way back to skiffle.) Thanks so much, too, for the information on the Three I's Coffee Bar. In the US, we mostly missed that early wave of British rock 'n' roll and it's interesting to have some info on how it started. Have a great week, Chris!
Your series on 1957 seems to be going along swimmingly. My Fair Lady, Film Encores and Oklahoma were in Dad's record collection. He's deceased, or I'd ask him why he didsn't have the Glenn Miller band LP, as he was a fan, but never had any Miller music on vinyl, only on those scratchy breakables 78's. Stan Freberg surely must have been one of those artists who was hopeful rock would fade, as he'd released a parody album in 1956, "A Child's Garden of Freberg," on which he & the troupe performed send-ups of Heartbreak Hotel, Sh-Boom, Day-O, Rock Island Line, and The Great Pretender. I was only five, but the sound effects were funny without knowing the greater contexts. th-cam.com/play/PL2MUeXM3i2jIeuLvjS-T9VIuw1vdFz2x3.html
Very cool to know your Dad had those albums! It's been fun (and educational) researching those albums which I never really knew about before. Ever since putting these together, it seems like I constantly come across the albums from these episodes in the "budget" bins of used record stores. (At the very least, I'm happy to know something about what I'm looking at now!) Thanks for the link to Stan Freberg! I knew some of his work, like "St. George and the Dragonet," but hadn't heard his rock 'n' roll parodies before. (From the sound of it, I think there's no doubt that you're right: he wasn't a fan!) Thanks, as always, for the great feedback, Bill!
@@thebeachboysbasementwithst6444 We had a teacher in 8th grade who played parts of his later LP, "SF Presents the United States of America." It's on YT; absolutely a hoot!
Have read that when Sinatra wanted Elvis to make an appearance on his 1960 television special (The "Welcome Back, Elvis" special, taped in Miami about a week after Elvis got out of the Army), Parker used Sinatra's past criticisms of Rock music to drive up the price for Elvis's appearance, which I think was $150,000 for appearing on screen for only about 10 minutes. On TH-cam, a clip of Pat Boone appearing on Perry Como's television show, with them singing each others songs, then singing together, can be found. Enjoy the movie the Monolith Monsters (the "Monsters" being giant rock formations). Check out the Rev. Jimmy Snow's song the "Rules Of Love". For someone preaching against Rock music, it sounds surprisingly Pop/Rock to me . . . There's also a TH-cam video of Snow talking about whether a solar eclipse (which happened six years ago, when his video was taped) signaled the end of the world. Apparently, it didn't.
Interesting info on the 1960 "Welcome Back Elvis" special! I certainly thought of Sinatra and Elvis appearing together on it when I came across those comments. (I noticed that Sinatra hedged his bets a little by saying "the bulk of rock and roll" and "the vast majority of...," so he could always say, "I didn't mean you" if he met a rock 'n' roller he wanted to get along with.) I checked out the Boone/Como duet after reading your comment. It's really enjoyable and kind of similar to what we'd get with Frank and Elvis on that special in 1960. I'll check out "Rules of Love." (From your info about Jimmy Snow, I'm beginning to get the idea he's a guy who's spent 70 year looking for some way to get attention. Gotta give him credit for tenacity, I guess!) Thanks, Robert!
@@thebeachboysbasementwithst6444 I thought the same thing (How similar the Boone/Como appearance together was to the later Sinatra/Presley appearance in 1960, as far as how the two talked with each other, than sang each others song, then ending in a duet together). Wonder if Sinatra got the idea from Como? Also on TH-cam, there's posted either a 1965 or 1966 special that happened on either Shindig or Hullabaloo, celebrating Elvis's 10th anniversary in the music business. The special has a bunch of other artists singing Elvis songs, like Brenda Lee and Glen Campbell. The segments with Glen Campbell remind me of the segments in Elvis's 1968 comeback special, where he's walking around singing "Guitar Man". Jimmy Snow is the son of Country singer Hank Snow. When you pull up "Rules Of Love", another TH-cam post will probably pop up, showing a photo of Jimmy standing next to Elvis. Both are looking at the camera, Jimmy with a big smile on his face, while Elvis (Not really smiling, but he does have his arm around Jimmy's shoulder). Looks like the photo was taken in the 1950s. Wonder if Elvis was aware or had seen film footage of Jimmy criticizing Rock music, or "The Beat!"
@@robertzastrow4648 Thanks for the follow-up, Robert! Great info! I didn't know about the "Elvis 10th Anniversary" show (which, nowadays, seems like a hilariously short period of time where Elvis is concerned.) I'll check it out!
@@thebeachboysbasementwithst6444 The Elvis 10th anniversary special was broadcast on a Shindig episode in 1965. It only goes for about a half hour (Think that was Shindig's running time for its episodes). It's been posted on TH-cam by Salvatore Cento.
I remember going to see “The bridge on the river kwai”, and “Old Yeller”, and yes I cried at the end. I will always watch “The Bridge on the river Kwai” when it’s on, But to this day I have never dared to watch “Old Yeller” again. I’ve told the story my children and my grandchildren and to my knowledge nether one of them have watched it. We didn’t have much knowledge of the album charts back then but I was aware of most of the singles that was around, especially the new Rock’n Roll songs. I used to sit with my sister every Saturday morning from 09.00 till about 2pm just listening to all the new music released at this time. These have been and still are my fondest memories growing up. Thanks again Steve for another wonderful presentation.
I agree about both "Bridge.." and "Old Yeller." If I happen to come across "Bridge..." on TV, I'm inevitably drawn in and will watch it to the end. We had the "Old Yeller" soundtrack album when I was a very little kid. My mom explained the story to me, so I knew what I was in for the first time I saw the movie. I only watched it once because it's too sad for me to get any enjoyment from. I've probably mentioned it before, but I really envy you getting to hear those great rock 'n' roll records when they were new. What a fantastic time for new music! Thanks, as always, for the great feedback, John!
Being a mere 10 years old I would have to say Whole lotta shaking going on was the first rock n' roll song that got my attention. It made my legs do things I did'nt think they were capable of doing.
All real Americans dig “ The Killer “ !
What a great song to get you started on rock 'n' roll! Watching Jerry Lee's performance of the song on The Steve Allen Show when putting these episodes together showed me that time hasn't diminished it's "punch." Always great to hear from you, Don! Thanks!
I just noticed the Man theme in the background, cool!
Good eye spotting this weeks theme, Raymond! Well done!
Interesting Paul Anka tidbit (and bear with me because I post so much in different places I may not even remember if I posted this here before)-Anka was in Montreal for a press conference in 2006 (the year is very significant in relation to the year being profiled) to promote IIRC a swing album, and I was asked to attend. Most of the reporters asked about the album, but I had a very different question in mind. I asked Anka (I knew this already) if he owned his 1957-62 ABC-Paramount songs. He confirmed this was the case. Then I pointed out that the next year was 2007, the 50th anniversary of Diana, which meant that in Europe, any fly by night CD company could put out the song without his permission (not many artists in the '50s owned their masters, fellow ABC-Paramount artist Ray Charles did as well) and compensation that he would normally get for licensing the song out. I asked Anka what he was going to do about it. He told me he was speaking to his lawyers. Then he muttered something under his breath which sounded to me very much like "thanks for ruining my day." Well, sadly, many years were ruined for Anka because fly by night CD companies were able to put out ALL of his 1957-62 ABC-Paramount material. IIRC this lasted until 2014, when the great Cliff Richard leaped into action and helped put a stop to this situation, at least for the next 20 years. Here's a story about it: www.theguardian.com/media/2011/sep/12/musicians-copyright-extension?INTCMP=SRCH. Of course, it's almost all irrelevant now, in a way, because of music streaming and the sad fact artists get a pittance from streaming companies, and make most of their money from touring or, more recently, selling their catalogs and all copyrights. Oh, and by the way, your Ed Wood reference cracked me up.
Great info here , thanks Joel.
Thanks for a great story and some great info, Joel! I had heard that Paul Anka owned his publishing (and what a huge financial advantage it afforded him in comparison to artists of similar stature who didn't.) Good job on asking him what I'm sure was the most relevant and interesting question of the press conference (even if he didn't seem pleased to be reminded about the situation!)
Sincere thanks, Joel, for taking the time to pass this along! It's very interesting, much enjoyed and appreciated!
Awesome! Glad to hear you did another 1957 episode! Thanks Steve!
Glad to know it was enjoyed! Thanks, Frank!
Thank you, Steve , for correctly presenting the artists who recorded , “ That’ll Be The Day “ , as The Crickets . I can’t tell you how many times that I’ve explained that there was never an act billed as Buddy Holly & The Crickets . No one knew , ( … at least outside of Lubbock ) , who Buddy Holly was until the slightly later release of , “ Peggy Sue “ . Even then , we didn’t associate that record with The Crickets . There simply was no film and few appearances for the nation to see the group .
Even though he inspired me to play guitar , it was years before I learned how Buddy got that unique sound to open “ That’ll Be The Day “ . I had missed the few TV appearances, so it was after the advent of the internet that I discovered that Buddy placed a capo on the 5th fret of his Fender Stratocaster . It was simple when one learned the trick ! ( I never would have known to watch for The Crickets appearance on “ Arthur Murray’s Dance Party “ , to see them play live !
Thanks for the feedback and for noting, too, the different billing between "The Crickets" and "Buddy Holly." I've read a couple of Holly biographies over the years and I'm still not sure I understand the reason for the different billings. As you point out, people wouldn't necessarily connected the two names, especially in those days, when info was so hard to come by. It seems to me like using two names would have "diluted the product." (Of course, we can see from the chart placements that it ended up working out okay!)
Thanks too for the info on how Buddy got that guitar sound! Always a pleasure to hear from you, Beanie!
It is amazing that the Crickets made albums under the name Buddy Holly and as the Crickets, and Even a single as Ivan. A great band.
@@thebeachboysbasementwithst6444 I think it had to do with Norman Petty getting paid as producer and manager for two different entities . Petty got composer credit on most of Buddy’s original work in return for studio time and production work which was common at the time .
Consider though , that he received royalties for life while Buddy perished two years later . Further , he denied Buddy monies that were genuinely owed which forced the young singer to sign on to the “ Winter Dance Party “ tour at the beginning of 1959 .
Norman was a weasel , but damn , he had great musical sense and made fabulous records .
@@raymondgill9796 Definitely a great band! (I loved the Ivan single too!)
@@beanie226 Thanks for the follow-up, Beanie! I think you're right about Norman Petty getting paid for two different entities. That guy seemed to know all the angles! I think your assessment of him is spot on!
So many memorable comments and mentions in today's episode, Steve...album cover designed by Ed Wood..."cretinous goons"..."ooo-lah-lah"...Brigette Bardot...Monolith Monsters? All reasons why your shows are so enjoyable! ;)
Hearing you put it like that, it does seem like I covered an awful lot of ground this week! I guess late '57 was an "eclectic" time! Thanks, Chris!
To hear about what they were saying in 1957 about rock and roll was interesting as I'm not even sure if today's music would called Rock and Roll. Those films you featured in this video like Bridge over the river Kwai and Old Yeller are forever classics! Great video Steve!
That's an excellent point, Usualmike! The definition of "rock 'n' roll" changed, and expanded SO much over the following years, especially with the advent of the Beatles, that it obviously came to include a lot of music that probably wouldn't have been thought of as "rock 'n' roll" at the time. Thanks, as always, for the thoughts and feedback!
@@thebeachboysbasementwithst6444 It has "expanded" so much that disco and "country" artists have even entered the RRHOF.
@@burlingtonbill1 Excellent point, Bill! Thanks!
a) Hmmm, could a certain movie mentioned here have rested in the subconscious minds of Al Jardine and Mike Love independently for the next 14 years and ended up as Track 1 on a certain ecologically minded Beach Boys album? b) The first comic books I ever bought were Harvey Comics, I even distinctly remember that a Casper the Friendly Ghost was the first one I bought. That soon extended to Little Dot, Little Lotta, Little Audrey, Hot Stuff and Sad Sack, which I enjoyed very much. Never saw the movie, though.
I hadn't thought of the movie title in connection with the Beach Boys' song. Figuring that, at the ages they were in 1957, Mike and Al were probably taking in the movies as well as the music, it seems like that really might have been the source of the lyric and title. Your memory of "Casper" in Harvey Comics has me trying to remember the first comic books I ever had. I'm pretty sure it was "Scrooge McDuck." A little later on, I remember getting a lot of "Golden Key" comics, including "Boris Karloff's Thriller." (I never watched the TV show it was based on, but the comic book covers always had spooky looking scenes that made me want them.) Thanks for passing that along, Joel!
Nice job on singing "Chances Are" and "My Special Angel" and you did a good Sinatra impression too! Raintree County has always fascinated me. It was only ever released on VHS and I've been looking for a copy out of curiosity as it's so rare. It's not supposed to be very good though. Sayonara is a good film but James Michener's original novel is much better! Actually my favorite book of his. Some good movies here too, Paths of Glory is my favorite Kubrick film and Witness for the Prosecution ranks very high on my Billy Wilder list. Monolith Monsters is really fun too. You have to admit that old B-movies were more than willing to get creative! Great job as always!
Thanks for the feedback, BB! As always, your film knowledge is astounding. I've never seen Raintree County. I love both "Paths of Glory" and "Witness for the Prosecution." I definitely love "Monolith Monsters" too, though my feeling for that one might have more to do with memories of watching it on weekend "Creature Features" as a kid than it does with the movie itself. Thanks again, as always, for the great feedback, BB!
Awesome stuff Steve! I am always looking for music and movies to check out. I just might have to look into that Monolith Monsters movie. I'm surprised how many top albums were from movies. I assume part of the reason was that rock n roll was just getting started and not everyone had a television, so movies were still a very big form of entertainment. That's just a guess though. Anyway, So much Great stuff. Thanks as always.
Let me know if you check out "Monolith Monsters." It's pretty much a "re-tread" of Universal's earlier "big monster in the desert" film, "Tarantula" but the effects are pretty cool. I think you're right that, even with television, movies were still a bigger form of entertainment than they are today which probably accounts for the number of hit soundtracks. (Interestingly, researching 1957, I kept finding that BOTH movies and television were reporting big downturns in viewership that year. I never came across a theory as to why.) Thanks, Michael!
The world was certainly changing in 1957 as in previous generations here in UK when Boys left school, they were considered Adult and were simply carbon copies of their Fathers and would often follow them to work in the factories or wherever father worked and they would also dress like them, in short there were no teenagers until now and you could argue that this goes back to Queen Victoria after Prince Alberts death when we were all expected to mourn forevermore , giving us Brits a rather repressed appearence to the rest of the world , but.......
By november 1952 we had our first record chart, though it could hardly be called a record chart as most of it was Sheet Music, designed i guess for people to buy and play on a piano or something and this led to skiffle , which was a home made music, usually played on household items like washboards and even vaccuum cleaners i kid you not.
Non of this was as bad as it sounds as this music was fast and furious and Lonnie Donigan was the King of Skiffle and one of his records was " I wanna go Home " later covered by the Beach Boys as " Sloop John B ".
You might also look out for Nancy Whiskey " Freight Train " ..
All this led to Fashion as Teenagers now started following fasihon and as i have mentioned before, along came the Teddy Boys , which i have previously described, but all this was now changing culture here in UK as the new Teenagers were now following Music , Fashion and rebelling against the old fashioned system of being cloned as younger versions of their Fathers.
It was the same for Girls too ie, being clones of Mum and expected to stay home and look after the house .
As the music industry was now changing , a lot of our home grown Rock n Roll artists were just starting and were looking at American artists for inspiration and there was a Coffee Bar in outer London called the Three I`s and whilst you sat and drank your coffee or Coke, young hopefuls would entertain and this is where its claimed that the rather tamer British Rock n Roll began with the likes of Adam Faith,, Tommy Steele, Heinz and Cliff Richard and the Drifters , later changing from the Drifters to the Shadows for obvious reasons. and by 1957 these acts had become established but American music still dominated our chart, though it was records now that were in the majority of sales as opposed to the sheet music and it was the American Rock n Roll Records that teenagers were either buying or covering and as previously stated, Liverpool was way ahead of the rest as they were treated to American R%R way before the rest of us and we all enjoyed what they had learned from those records from 1964 onwards , but all that was to come.........
Great stuff, as always, Chris! I never thought of the famous "English reserve" going back as far as Victoria and the death of Albert. It certainly makes sense! From the skiffle music I've heard, I can understand its appeal. I think the "homemade" aspect of it might have been the most lasting influence of all; having shown young player, including the future Beatles, that you could "do it yourself." (In fact, I have a theory that the "do it yourself" ethic demonstrated by the Beatles was one of the most influential ideas of the second half of the 20th century; It certainly inspired the formation of thousands of "garage bands," and I think it also influenced people in deciding "We can stop pollution," "We can stop the war," "We can build a better world," and many other "grass roots" efforts. I get the feeling that the outlook that ordinary people can make positive change really goes all the way back to skiffle.) Thanks so much, too, for the information on the Three I's Coffee Bar. In the US, we mostly missed that early wave of British rock 'n' roll and it's interesting to have some info on how it started. Have a great week, Chris!
I can’t believe you missed a chance to break out your Mike Love impression while discussing “Don’t Go Near The Water” 8:31
Damn! I did miss it! (Kicking myself now!) Thanks for the comment and for the laugh, 74 74!
Your series on 1957 seems to be going along swimmingly. My Fair Lady, Film Encores and Oklahoma were in Dad's record collection. He's deceased, or I'd ask him why he didsn't have the Glenn Miller band LP, as he was a fan, but never had any Miller music on vinyl, only on those scratchy breakables 78's. Stan Freberg surely must have been one of those artists who was hopeful rock would fade, as he'd released a parody album in 1956, "A Child's Garden of Freberg," on which he & the troupe performed send-ups of Heartbreak Hotel, Sh-Boom, Day-O, Rock Island Line, and The Great Pretender. I was only five, but the sound effects were funny without knowing the greater contexts. th-cam.com/play/PL2MUeXM3i2jIeuLvjS-T9VIuw1vdFz2x3.html
Very cool to know your Dad had those albums! It's been fun (and educational) researching those albums which I never really knew about before. Ever since putting these together, it seems like I constantly come across the albums from these episodes in the "budget" bins of used record stores. (At the very least, I'm happy to know something about what I'm looking at now!)
Thanks for the link to Stan Freberg! I knew some of his work, like "St. George and the Dragonet," but hadn't heard his rock 'n' roll parodies before. (From the sound of it, I think there's no doubt that you're right: he wasn't a fan!) Thanks, as always, for the great feedback, Bill!
@@thebeachboysbasementwithst6444 We had a teacher in 8th grade who played parts of his later LP, "SF Presents the United States of America." It's on YT; absolutely a hoot!
@@burlingtonbill1 Thanks for letting me know about that one, Bill. I'll check it out!
Have read that when Sinatra wanted Elvis to make an appearance on his 1960 television special (The "Welcome Back, Elvis" special, taped in Miami about a week after Elvis got out of the Army), Parker used Sinatra's past criticisms of Rock music to drive up the price for Elvis's appearance, which I think was $150,000 for appearing on screen for only about 10 minutes. On TH-cam, a clip of Pat Boone appearing on Perry Como's television show, with them singing each others songs, then singing together, can be found. Enjoy the movie the Monolith Monsters (the "Monsters" being giant rock formations). Check out the Rev. Jimmy Snow's song the "Rules Of Love". For someone preaching against Rock music, it sounds surprisingly Pop/Rock to me . . . There's also a TH-cam video of Snow talking about whether a solar eclipse (which happened six years ago, when his video was taped) signaled the end of the world. Apparently, it didn't.
Interesting info on the 1960 "Welcome Back Elvis" special! I certainly thought of Sinatra and Elvis appearing together on it when I came across those comments. (I noticed that Sinatra hedged his bets a little by saying "the bulk of rock and roll" and "the vast majority of...," so he could always say, "I didn't mean you" if he met a rock 'n' roller he wanted to get along with.) I checked out the Boone/Como duet after reading your comment. It's really enjoyable and kind of similar to what we'd get with Frank and Elvis on that special in 1960. I'll check out "Rules of Love." (From your info about Jimmy Snow, I'm beginning to get the idea he's a guy who's spent 70 year looking for some way to get attention. Gotta give him credit for tenacity, I guess!) Thanks, Robert!
@@thebeachboysbasementwithst6444 I thought the same thing (How similar the Boone/Como appearance together was to the later Sinatra/Presley appearance in 1960, as far as how the two talked with each other, than sang each others song, then ending in a duet together). Wonder if Sinatra got the idea from Como? Also on TH-cam, there's posted either a 1965 or 1966 special that happened on either Shindig or Hullabaloo, celebrating Elvis's 10th anniversary in the music business. The special has a bunch of other artists singing Elvis songs, like Brenda Lee and Glen Campbell. The segments with Glen Campbell remind me of the segments in Elvis's 1968 comeback special, where he's walking around singing "Guitar Man". Jimmy Snow is the son of Country singer Hank Snow. When you pull up "Rules Of Love", another TH-cam post will probably pop up, showing a photo of Jimmy standing next to Elvis. Both are looking at the camera, Jimmy with a big smile on his face, while Elvis (Not really smiling, but he does have his arm around Jimmy's shoulder). Looks like the photo was taken in the 1950s. Wonder if Elvis was aware or had seen film footage of Jimmy criticizing Rock music, or "The Beat!"
@@robertzastrow4648 Thanks for the follow-up, Robert! Great info! I didn't know about the "Elvis 10th Anniversary" show (which, nowadays, seems like a hilariously short period of time where Elvis is concerned.) I'll check it out!
@@thebeachboysbasementwithst6444 The Elvis 10th anniversary special was broadcast on a Shindig episode in 1965. It only goes for about a half hour (Think that was Shindig's running time for its episodes). It's been posted on TH-cam by Salvatore Cento.
@@robertzastrow4648 Thanks!