How Rock n Roll Changed The World Part One By Michael Bangar

This posting has been revived due to its popularity.

This blog has its own music historian and this article is more for readers who may not be familiar with rock n roll, its high-jiving and skirt-flaring activities. 

A voracious reader, Michael Bangar is here again with a new series explaining the 'influence' of 60's music and the personalities that came with it. 

Thank you, Mike.

How The British Music  Invasion Of The 1960's Changed Rock and  Roll and Pop Music Forever. Part One.

Hi Andy! 

I just want to share with blog readers my version of this phenomenon.

It was the 1950's and most of us were probably in school. Those who owned radiograms (Hi-Fi sets in today's terms) were quite well-off. Most of us grew up listening to the radio and the radio stations were Radio Singapore and Radio Malaya, broadcasting in our four languages. 

Some even owned Rediffusion sets (if you recall, those cute rectangular shaped black audio-box sets with a built-in speaker). Rediffusion had The Silver Network in English (few hours in the morning were allotted daily for the Malay listeners) and The Golden Network in Chinese (a few hours were also allotted daily for the Indian listeners ). TV only arrived on our shores in 1963! When it did, the screen was 19 inches square and pictures in black and white. 

 A Reddifusion set (earliest cable) and a Radiogram that spins vinyl.

The music coming out of these contraptions, being played by the DJ's from that period, are classified as standards. Songs by American artistes included Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Loius Armstrong, Perry Como, Johnny Ray, Andy Williams, Vic Damone and Frankie Lane and the female artistes were Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, Debbie Reynolds, Jo Stafford, Cleo Laine, Kaye Starr, even Marilyn Monroe. There were many more.

In the year 1955, a new kind of beat music was slowly sweeping across the USA. It took the youngsters by storm. They were all dancing to the beat. A young DJ named Allan Freed was watching all this action. In his mind, he dreamt it up: all these kids are rocking and rolling to this music. And that was how it came about - the phrase Rock and Roll. 

Illustration only. Pop singers from the 50's onwards.

This new music landed on our shores in  1956. I had just started school. Primary One to be exact, at Telok Kurau Primary School in Lorong J, Telok Kurau Road. Almost all of the young kids on this side of the world, including myself was suddenly taken over by Rock and Roll. 

To some extent with some of us, our school work took a back seat. I used to cut out and even collect photos and features of these new music stars from newspapers and magazines.

First to arrive here via vinyl records (78's and a bit later 45's and 33's I remember) were Pat Boone, Bill Haley and His Comets, Ricky Nelson, Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, etc. The King, Elvis Presley took a little longer. But when he did - he came upon us like a ton of bricks. Wow!

Illustration only. Pop singers from the 50's onwards.

All of a sudden, our airwaves were invaded by songs like Love Letters In The Sand, Rock Around The Clock, Poor Little Fool, Be-Bop-A-Lula, Peggy Sue, Summertime Blues. And then The King attacked us with Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog, Teddy Bear, Jailhouse Rock and the list goes on. 

Then Great Britain gave us their rock and roll stars: Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde, Frankie Vaughn, Billy Fury and a year or so later Cliff Richard accompanied by His Shadows. What A Time It Was! Life was never the same for me after that.

Somehow they were all Caucasian artistes. Their music was classified as Rock and Roll. The African-American artistes like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Ray Charles and Bo Diddley didn't quite make it big time over here. Their music was classified as Rhythm and Blues. But they were a huge influence across the Atlantic and in Great Britain especially. 

Illustration only: Pop singers during the era Michael Bangar discussed.

There were also Blues Artistes like Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, BB King, Buddy Guy and Freddie King. They were the heroes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Spencer Davis Group, The Searchers, Gerry And The Pacemakers, Freddy And The Dreamers. These were artistes that were involved in the so-called Great British Music Invasion of the mid-1960's that changed popular music forever.

Over in the USA in the mid-1950's, the people in charge were not too pleased with the arrival of this new music categorised as Rock and Roll (calling it the black men's music and even the music of Satan) and tried their best to suppress it even to the point of destroying it. They didn't like the way the young were absorbing the music and grooving to the rhythm and the beat. So, when Rock n Roll was sweeping the US, they went on a rampage to destroy the first generation of rock and roll stars. 

The Big Bopper, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens were killed when their plane crashed into a mountainside.

They charged Jerry Lee Lewis and eventually imprisoned him for marrying his 13-year-old niece (daughter of his bassist). Chuck Berry was also jailed for income tax evasion. Worried that he might be next Little Richard (Richard Penniman) took up religion and became a pastor. He also threw all his jewellery into a river. 

Meanwhile, in a more positive endeavour, Ricky Nelson took a step back away from the spotlight. The King: Elvis Presley was drafted into the military and sent away to Germany. A few years later, when he returned he had tamed down and lost a bit of his raw rock and roll edge.

Twenty Flight Rock

In 1957 Eddie Cochran (above) was killed in

 a sports car accident. Video from Heppest of the Hep.

In 1957 Eddie Cochran, just like James Dean, was killed in a sports car accident. Then in 1959 while on a concert tour, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper were killed when their plane crashed into a mountainside. Almost all of the first. generation rockers were out of action. 

Prime movers to this notion were the heads of religious organisations and church leaders. They were of the opinion that this music is corrupting and will eventually destroy all American youth. How wrong they were. 

Looking at it now and how it has turned out, even church hymns and songs have incorporated the new rhythm into their music. So the music management in the US created this new breed of pop of stars who were clean-cut and wholesome. Very marketable and they took over the pop music scene. 

Illustration only: Top pop groups from the 60's

These good-looking, well-groomed stars were Frankie Avalon, Fabian Forte, Brian Hyland, Johnny Tillotson, Bobby Darin, Bobby Vee, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Vinton and others. Which a while later made Jerry Lee Lewis give his famous quote,  "Suddenly there were a whole lotta Bobbies !"

An exciting five-piece band to come on the scene during that time were The Beachboys and their surf music. They had a string of hits. Then in 1962 Chubby Checker came along with The Twist and started a new dance craze. He had a string of hits too. 

So while real and exciting first-generation rock and roll was watered down in the US, across the Atlantic in the UK it made a great impact on the young English people. Through records, movies and television the British were influenced by what is now termed Classic Rock and Roll.

Chubby Checker with his big hit, Let's Twist Again. Video: easylyricsong3609.

Meanwhile, in the year 1957 in the US, The Ventures started the guitar instrumental band trend with their first hit Walk Don't Run. The following year, Britain gave us the stylish Shadows with their red Fenders who filled the British stage and hit the world with Apache (now voted The Best Guitar Instrumental Song Of All Time). They became stars in their own right. 

Prior to their success, they were known as the backing band for one Cliff Richard (now Sir Cliff) who gave the world his first big hit Move It, followed by Please Don't Tease, Living Doll, Travelling Light, and many other popular numbers.

Disclaimer:
This article has been written directly from an SMS received and no references have been made to prove that the information provided is true. Mr Michael Bangar is an avid reader and article has been written in good faith. I welcome comments from readers. 
Andy.

Read Part 2:
https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.sg/2018/03/rock-and-roll-60s-hits-by-michael.html

Read other Michael Bangar Memory Bank Articles:
https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.sg/search/label/Michael%20Bangar

The Ventures and The Shadows.

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