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White bucks vs. blue suede shoes [message #6682] Sat, 08 April 2006 23:53 Go to next message
lon is currently offline  lon
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Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (2nd Degree)
The talk show On Point had a special on 50's music with
the author of a new book on Fabian, Peggy Lee and a few others...
oh yeah Tommy Sands. Was he one of the Mouseketeers before he
went into the teenage Vegas lounge act thing? I still remember
a recording of his called "Old Oaken Bucket." In case you don't
remember TS he looked like Jay Leno's handsome brother if Leno
ever had such a thing.

Well the talk on the show was about the value of the sweet
pop music of the 50's and early 60's before the advent of
the Elvis style rock n roll. Was it just something to be forgotten
due to embarrassment or did it have a kind of value of it's own?


I have a different take on it. As an avid Trek and science fiction fan I think that I am a victim of living out an alternate time
line.

In the timeline that should have happened, Bobby Rydell would have
led a big band like Brian Setzer does today-- Setzer who plays
much of the same music but particularly that of Gene Vincent
and a lot of dynamite originals would have jacked up the r&b
sound but maintained the big band swing format.

Well, what we got instead was "How Much is That Doggie in The Window?"
and on a good day "26 Miles".


The name of the book is "Great Pretenders" Prob'ly worth a
read but I'm not sure I can trust the author who is
under 30.



Re: White bucks vs. blue suede shoes [message #6683 is a reply to message #6682] Sun, 09 April 2006 12:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Manualblock is currently offline  Manualblock
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Illuminati (13th Degree)
Hey Lon; That is an interesting POV. If this is your premise; that there was some sort of lingering Big Band fan base that would have morphed into a merge between rockabilly and swing if it wasn't for guys like Bobby Rydell or say Paul Anka. Am I getting this right?
And are you saying the consumers of music were manipulated into the supporting of 50's schlock music?
How did the returning vets from WW 2 and Korea who drove the recorded music scene of that era play into this scenario?
And why swing? Why not say they would have created a genre' comprised of the combination of Country and pop?

Re: White bucks vs. blue suede shoes [message #6684 is a reply to message #6683] Sun, 09 April 2006 14:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
lon is currently offline  lon
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Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (2nd Degree)
I'm not saying there is any conspiracy in this, I'm
saying "in a better world" this would have been the case.

Big bands had a long run and the history of the period
says that economics drove the big bands out of the spotlight
in favor of small combos like Nat king Cole. The Jump Jive and
Wail music of R&B was just buried in the racism of the time.


According to the author, the CW craze could have started up
at that time with the popularity of Frankie Lane and "Mule Train".
Franky Lane is one of the featured artists in the book.
The book talks about all these novelty songs like they were
from another planet. Then a caller came in and referred
to those records produced by radio disk jockeys of reports
of aliens landing and clips from other pop tunes of the
day. I can't think of the guy who made those.


I think it's just the notion on the part of the author of
the incomprehensibility of that much different _stuff_
on the radio. Anyone under thirty has been brainwashed
into the playlisting of formatted radio.


Elvis and the rest of the crop were likely the result of
enough small record players in the hands of kids playing
45's that cost less than a dollar playing music that their
parents hated.

It was odd that during the report, no mention was made of the
current musical "Hairspray" for instance, or the John Waters
film itself, or Crybaby or a whole ream of films about
songwriters, gangs and groups of the period.


On the band thing, there's always been a big question in my
mind about that. If GI's were returning to the land of wealth
and prosperity then there should have been a base for
supporting bands and orchestras.


Wait. TV.




Re: White bucks vs. blue suede shoes [message #6685 is a reply to message #6684] Sun, 09 April 2006 18:07 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Manualblock is currently offline  Manualblock
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Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (13th Degree)
Regarding the GI thing; look at the baby boom and when it started; that should explain why no large arena big band venues remained.
The Elvis thing I think was an attempt to cash in on the R&B music in a safe way. That music carried a lot of baggage so here comes Elvis; a nice clean cut kid who loves his mom.
Now the interesting part here is the rise of jazz clubs in the 50's. How many young guys went to university on the G.I. bill; a lot. They made that whole smokey club atmosphere possible by patronising those places.
If you think of radio and it's developement; you have to track the rise of advertising and the marketting juggernaut that was unleashed on us begginning in the 50's. The end of the depression and return of G.I.'s with combat pay and cheap mortgages.
I am sure any graduate studies in pop culture major could explain this all to us.

Re: White bucks vs. blue suede shoes [message #6686 is a reply to message #6685] Sun, 09 April 2006 18:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
lon is currently offline  lon
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Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (2nd Degree)
This is an unrelated topic but there is a current book out
about those cheap mortgages and GI Bill loans.


It's called "When Affirmative Action was White"




Re: White bucks vs. blue suede shoes [message #6687 is a reply to message #6686] Sun, 09 April 2006 20:01 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Manualblock is currently offline  Manualblock
Messages: 4973
Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (13th Degree)
Is that a book with some reality?

Re: White bucks vs. blue suede shoes [message #6688 is a reply to message #6687] Sun, 09 April 2006 22:14 Go to previous message
lon is currently offline  lon
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Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (2nd Degree)
Was written up in a trusted source: The Nation.




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