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Chapter 4
American Bandstand, Teen Idols, and Race Lines (1957-1961)
Outline
I. Repackage, sanitized rock and roll
a. Cover versions
i. Pat Boone
ii. Bill Haley
iii. Racial undertones
iv. Authenticity
II. Squeaky-clean teen idols
a. Pat Boone
i. Little Richard
ii. Fats Domino
b. Bill Haley
c. Dick Clark
i. Sending a wholesome image out to TV viewers
d. “Schlock rock” pop music performers
i. Fabian
ii. Frankie Avalon
III. Corporate America joins rock and roll
a. The Brill Building
i. Neil Sedaka
ii. Paul Anka
IV. Musical families
a. The Everly Brothers
i. “Wake Up Little Susie” banned in some areas
b. Ricky Nelson
i. Promoted as a respectable Elvis Presley
V. Surf music
a. Southern California
i. Themes of affluence and consumption
b. Feature film Gidget popularized surfing
c. Instrumental guitar music
i. Dick Dale
ii. Link Wray
iii. The Ventures
iv. Duane Eddy
d. Surf rock gains national prominence
i. Beach Boys
ii. Jan and Dean
VI. Technology
a. The Fender Stratocaster electric guitar
i. Pickups
b. The Fender Showman amplifier
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c. The reverb unit
VII. R&B cross-over appeal
a. Chuck Berry
b. Little Richard
c. Etta James
VIII. Doo-wop
a. Origins on New York City streets
b. Emphasis on vocalizing and harmony
c. Early models
i. The bird groups
d. The one-hit wonders
e. Exploitation of young talent
IX. Motown
a. Berry Gordy, Founder
b. Motown business structure
i. Hitsville U.S.A. studio
ii. Jobete Publishing
iii. ITM talent management
iv. Tamla and Motown labels
v. In-house training for artists
vi. In-house song writers
c. Smokey Robinson
d. Assembly line efficiency
e. Slogan: The Sound of Young America
f. The Motown groups
Suggested Activities and Discussion Topics
1. Cover songs. Compare Little Richard’s original “Tutti Frutti” with Pat Boone’s
sanitized version. Which version will satisfy even the most cautious advertising
customer?
2. Dick Dale. Dale mimics the sounds of surfing with the guitar: The chicka-chicka-
chicka sound he makes on the Fender Stratocaster mimics the sound the surfer hears
when he his surfboard is enveloped by a wave—in the “tube” —and he places his finger
on the wall of the wave. Dale kept pet lions: They roared every evening at sundown, and
another of his sound effects was meant to imitate that sound. His rapid picking style
perhaps reflects his middle-eastern family influence. His use of reverb was novel at the
time. Dick Dale is the player who strung his guitar upside down. Many mistakenly think
this was Jimi Hendrix, who occasionally played a right-handed guitar left-handed.
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3. Compare Dick Clark’s Bandstand program to today’s MTV. Advertising has much in
common: Clark sold chewing gum—MTV sold Skittles. The difference is sexual
frankness in lyrics. Where does frankness come from? Answer: The lower middle class.
American parents wanted to shield their children from distasteful frankness. Is this
perhaps the reason for objections to black r & b, or was it something more insidious, such
as skin color?
4. Doo wop groups. These groups used voices in lieu of instruments. The deepest voice
provided the bass. The highest voice, often a falsetto, provided the lead. The remaining
voices provided rhythm and harmonic accompaniment. Rehearsals were often
impromptu street corner gatherings.
5. Motown. Three striking elements in the ascendancy of Motown:
• Founder Berry Gordy adapted Detroit car-makers assembly line methods to his
production strategy. He had separate departments for songwriting, artist
development, choreography, and poise.
• His most important goal was to cross over into the mainstream (white) audience.
• He accomplished this with good stories and good beats, and he avoided black
sounds and signatures in the music.
Chapter 4 – Suggested Listening
Artist
Song / iTunes Preview
Representative Style
Pat Boone
“Tutti Frutti”
Sanitized (White) pop cover
Fats Domino
“Blueberry Hill”
New Orleans R&B; note his
expressive vocal
Everly Brothers
“Wake Up, Little Susie”
Sometime banned due to
suggestive lyrics; vocal duo
Neil Sedaka
“Breaking Up is Hard To
Do”
Classic teen fodder;
Julliard-trained pianist
Paul Anka
“Diana”
Teen fluff; he later
produced My Way
Rick Nelson
“Hello Mary Lou”
A ‘respectable Elvis’
image; guitar great James
Burton
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Dick Dale
“Miserlou”
King of the Surf Guitar;
rapid picking, upside-down
stringed guitar
Link Wray
“Rumble”
Primitive, moody and very
influential
The Ventures
“Walk Don’t Run”
Definite surf band; format
model for 4-man bands
Duane Eddy
“Rebel Rouser”
On the Dick Clark roster
Beach Boys
“Surfin’ U.S.A.”
Surf craze band with Four
Freshman-style vocal
harmony arrangements
The Four Freshmen
“Day By Day”
Beach Boy Brian Wilson
copied their sophisticated
vocal harmony style
Jan and Dean
“Dead Man’s Curve”
Surfing and cars themes;
irony of true-life crash
injury