SHARKFORUM: OPINION WITH TEETH

I was discussing the state of the music world with my pal Nick. We’re at another crossroads because of the technology; some are waiting for the real devil to please stand up so they can cut a deal, but I’m just as confused as usual. Nick seems pretty anxious about it all, but compared to me he’s got a lot more eggs in his basket, and heck, I have to watch my cholesterol anyway.

So what I thought I’d do here in these shark infested waters is take a long hard look at the music world; what’s good, what’s bad, what’s ugly, where we’re going, where we’ve been. I’m going to take it in parts, by decades, because I’ve got a short attention span. So, here we go. It seems like yesterday……..

Historia de la musica rock as it pertains to me- part one: The Fifties

Caroline Kennedy and I were both born in the Sputnik year, 1957. I was named for Ricky Nelson. Jack Kerouac was staying up all night. The hits in 1957:

Elvis- All Shook Up

Jerry Lee Lewis- Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On

Chuck Berry- School Days

Buddy Holly- Peggy Sue

The Diamonds- Little Darling

I don’t remember anything; my parents didn’t listen to much rock ‘n roll. According to them, my mom used to love Johnny Ray who would croon and cry and made the girls cry and swoon, and my dad sang along with Sinatra in the kitchen. I did find a pile of cracking 78s in a trunk once that included Bill Haley and the Comets and a very cool singer named Al Hibbard; they did love music. You can see what was good about the fifties- talent, talent, and more unbelievable talent. There was however, plenty wrong. For one, racism meant that black artists would never gain the fame or money of white artists. Joe Turner wrote Shake, Rattle, and Roll; Bill Haley made the money. Big Mama Thornton wrote Hound Dog; Elvis made the money. The industry marched out Pat Boone to placate nervous parents. Alan Freed’s rock n roll television show was yanked off the air because Frankie Lyman danced with a white girl. Freed was on the payola take. The labels gave the singer a little money up front, but took the profits that poured in. Artists had to hit the road every night, and felt rich because they had the fancy cars and screaming girls, but they did not own their songs. In the meantime the seeds were being sown for the sixties; those young Brits were paying attention. I was dirtying my diapers. Next: The Sixties/ garage music (yay) the drum solo (nay) I buy my first record.