8/7/14
Pop music - New markets/new directions
• With many rock-and-roll idols missing (Elvis-army, Buddy Holly- killed in a plane crash, Chuck Berry-jail, Little Richard-rejected rock-and-roll for the church, Jerry Lee Lewis-married his 13 yr. old 3rd cousin), Dick Clark and Don Kirshner created a new set of idols that would be acceptable to a larger audience • Large record companies began to profit on the new popularity of rock-and-roll but wanted to avoid the backlash • 1956 - Dick Clark takes over Bandstand in Philadelphia - popular TV show with teenagers dancing to popular music • 1957 - becomes national show - American Bandstand • AB became a huge success – Clark was a clean cut, well-spoken “respectable” person – Kids on the show were to follow a strict dress code which did not reflect the typical teen clothing – Any sexual references in music or from the host was eliminated
Teen Idols • Dick Clark created teen idols for his show that would be wholesome and clean cut so as not to offend a national audience
• With television as the medium, image becomes as important, if not more important, than singing talent
• Rock had become so much a part of pop culture that anyone with some talent and with no sense of the roots of rock and roll could be promoted as a rock and roll teen idol
• The idea of a white artist with the “boy-next-door” wholesome good looks was meant to counter the image of the rebellious urban black musician or the unsophisticated poor southern artist
• Themes in songs moved away from the raw sexual undertones in R&B to the more acceptable and innocent themes of teen love.
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Frankie Avalon Fabian “Teacher’s Pet”
Doo-Wop • Originated on the streets of New York • Mostly poor young African American males singing harmony • Doo-Wop phenomenon swept country, hundreds of other groups appeared • George Goldner started recording doo wop groups with some success – established Gee records and signed Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers • Soon groups of young white singers began to form as well
Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”
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Don Kirshner
• Payola scandal was success for ASCAP and songwriters again dominated pop music • 1958 - Don Kirshner founded Aldon Music to capitalize on the doo wop trend by hiring new young writers, many who had worked with the Doo-Wop groups, to produce romantic pop lyrics and music for a young teen audience • Kirshner convinced some of the record companies to produce the music produced by his writers with the African-American female pop groups becoming popular at the time • Success of Kirshner and Aldon Music Inc. helped to permanently establish pop music as a teen phenomenon
Don Kirshner and The Girl Groups
The Shirelles The Crystals “Will You S ll Love Me Tomorrow” “Da Doo Ron Ron”
• Phil Spector (“wall of sound”) became the signature sound of many of the all female groups – Used multiple instruments, using 2 guitarists, 2 drummers etc. and inserted an echo system to create a “wall of sound”
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Don Kirshner and The Girl Groups
• Phil Spector (“wall of sound”) became the signature sound of many of the all female groups – Used multiple instruments, using 2 guitarists, 2 drummers etc. and inserted an echo system to create a “wall of sound”
Phil Specter
Mugshot 2003
In court - 2006 1960s
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