| ‘We steer clear o fanything suggestive, ’ ‘ Bill Haley declared as the battle raged over the lyrics of |those newfangledrhythm-and-blues- based pop hits. Haley’s version of ' ‘Shake, R a ttle and R o ll’ ‘ was one o f the tunes in question, since it happened to be sweeping the nation. Of course, most ofthe good stufffrom the lyrics o fBig Joe Turner’s original rendition had been removed or changed - lines like ' ‘Well, you wear low dresses/The sun comes shining through/I can’t believe my eyes/That all this belongs to you. ’ ’ As Haley explained, ‘ ‘We take a lot o fcare with lyrics because we don’t want to offend anybody. The m usic is the m ain thing. ’ ’ He was right about the music: it was the way he played the tune that made ‘ ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ ’ a landmark success. Haley was BOBBY “ BLUE” BLAND trying to streamline the beat, to make it easy for an audience to dance, clap and sing along. In songs he composed himself, like “Crazy, Man, Crazy, ’ ’ Haley deliberately used simple BOBBY BARIN phrases o fteen slang to g et his message across better. Haley had hit the road at age nineteen with a country and western combo called the Downhomers. He then became musical director o f the Saddlemen, performing on the air with them in a regular gig at a Chester, , radio station. He tried to bring d ifferen t sounds into the Saddlem en’s m usic, attempting to blend, in his words, ‘ ‘country and western, Dixieland and the old-style . ’ ’ In 1952, the Saddlemen released ‘ ‘’ ’ on the Essex label, with little impact. In 1953, having released a few more singles and changed the band’s name to Bill Haley and His Comets, Haley came up with “Crazy, Man, Crazy,” which made the pop charts, becoming in effect the world’sfirst successful record. Haley and the band were immediately signed by Decca R ecords. At the Comets’ first Decca session, they cut ‘ ‘, ’ ’ which generated scant interest atfirst. Theyfollowed with ‘ ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’'; it cracked the pop Top Ten in July 1954 and stayed in the Top Twentyfor three months straight. It wasn’t until' ‘Rock Around the Clock’ ’ was chosen fo r the soundtrack o/The - a well-meaning 1955 film about conditions at a city high school, which caused outrage in the press and pandemonium in the theaters - that the song became a worldwide smash, a rallying cry for the young and the restless and a none-too-subtle hint that the times they were a-changin’. The song inspired a movie o fits own thefollowing year, Rock Around the Clock, thefirst teen-oriented musical, which promised ‘ ‘the whole story o f rock and roll’ ’ but was, in fact, short on plot and long on appearancesfrom Haley and the Comets, who lip-synced nine numbers, including ‘ ‘Mambo Rock’ ’ and ‘ ‘See You Later, Alligator. ’ ’ Rock Around the Clock made H aley a star in , causing genuine riots and eliciting disapproving commentsfrom the queen herself. (Haley capitalized on his U.K. popularity with a 1957 tour.) A second musical, Don’t Knock the Rock, repeated the mostly musicformula. “The kings o frock, ” as a movie poster said, were ‘ ‘rollin’ back to the screen. ’ ’ Haley, who continued to perform in the BILL HALEY Sixties and Seventies, died o fa heart attack in Born July 6th, 1925 1981. By that time, ‘ ‘Rock Around the ClockJ ’ Highland Park, hadfound its way back on the charts more than D ied February 9th, 1981 once and had sold an astonishing 20 million Harlingen, copies worldwide. BY MARTY OSTROW

SEYMOUR STEIN CALLED me one morning last month. six or seven new titles, tell them that they were getting an “ Marty,” he said, “ you were at C ash B o x when the whole rock exclusive and beg for regular play. Then I would drive over to the and roll era began to develop. At the time, C ash B o x captured the record shop in town, tell them this was getting heavy play and sell essence of what was happening in our industry. Coyld you do a them a box right out of the car. feature for our Hall of Fame program on the role C ash B o x played ‘ ‘The rest of the country was blanketed by sending a box or two in the early development of rock and roll?” of the new singles to my indie distribs and then getting on the Seymour was right. C ash B o x did play an important role in the phone and threatening the distrib that he’s gonna lose the line if he growth of rock and roll. To understand how, let’s step back a third doesn’t break all seven singles in his area. ” of a century to the early Fifties and see what the record business Because the hits in each area were sO v a r i e d B o x was like then, in the period when R&B, country and indie-label developed a series Of regional R&B charts known as the Hot pop were all beginning to rub shoulders with one another. Charts, reporting weekly on the Top Ten R&B singles in the At the time, pop stations aimed their programming at a white twelve cities that had the heaviest R&B sales, audience, playing such artists as , Dinah Shore, It was this feature that eventually made C ash B o x important. In Rosemary Clooney and Doris Day. But each city with a significant the early years, songs like “ ,” by Faye Adams, and black population had at least one station that featured another type “ Sixty Minute Man” ’ by.Billy Ward and the Dominoes, would of pop music, playing Jimmy Reed, , , rise to the top of these charts - in every city - and never be heard by Fats Domino, , James Brown and Chuck Berry. any white people other than those music junkies who tuned into B illb o a rd was the leading music trade paper. And since the R&B stations. This material was never even considered for a pop major labels were making most of the big noise in the industry, cover at that time. Then, over a short span of a year or two, Bill they were getting most of B illb o a rd ’s editorial space. Haley covered Joe Turner’s “ Shake, Rattle and Roll,” Perry C ash B o x was known at the time as the jukebox operator’s Como covered Gene and Eunice’s “ Ko Ko Mo,” Pat Boone publication. We had a big section dealing with trade news about covered Fats Domino’s ‘*Ain’t That a Shame,” the McGuire jukeboxes and coin machines. We got involved in music when our Sisters covered the Moonglows’ “ Sincerely,” the Crew Cuts subscribers began requesting a chart of the records that were covered the Chords’ “ Sh*-Boom,” and the Fontane Sisters cov­ getting heavy play on the nation’s jukeboxes. ered Otis Williams and the Chârms’ ‘ ‘Hearts of Stone. ’ ’ C ash B o x started a weekly Top Ten jukebox chart, based on And since nothing awakens interest among record-industry weekly phone calls to leading jukebox operators . While Compiling people like a new, steady source of hit material, the major labels, this, we were often told that the most profitable locations were the music publishers, radio stations and songwriters all developed a taverns in black neighborhoods. keen interest in the C ash B o x Hot Charts. Occasionally, we asked the white operators how they chose At this point, radio was still totally divided, with pop covers records for the jukeboxes in the black areas. They often said being played onlf On white radio and the original R&B versions something like this: “ One of the Negro kids in my stockrooin and being played only on black radio. Then along camé , one of my drivers tell me what to get. They listen to this R&B stuff who, more than any other single individual, changed the face of day and night. I don’t know good from bad when it comfs to R&B. radio. He Would play a pop version of â hit, followed immediately You guys at C ash B o x oughta compile a list of the best R&B by the original R&B version of the same song. The R&B sound records on the jukeboxes like you do for the pop records.” became more acceptable to the white ear. Soon the white market In our desire to cover some aspect of music in greater depth than began to prefer the original versions. It wasp’t long before little B illb o a rd - r and in the hope that it would result in increased independent record manufacturers were coming up with one big advertising revenue - we decided to cover the R&B area more pop or rock and roll hit after another. thoroughly and develop a Top Ten R&B chart. During this series of events, the C ash B o x staff was called into a We went to the independent distributors who handled the R&B meeting to resolve a dilemma. A record called “ Gee,” by the labels and got a list of key retail shops in black areas. These Crows, oh George Goldner’s Rama label, had been riding high on distribs also gave us a rundown of one-stops (subdistributors who the R&B charts. Then it began to get heavy reports out of the white sold records to jukebox operators, candy stores, shoeshine parlors record shops. Although the word was not yet in the record-industry and so forth). lexicon, we were experiencing the first “ crossover” record. When we started surveying these outlets, we found that the hits We resolved the problem by keeping the record on the R&B varied greatly from city to city. What was Top Teh in New Orleans chart and by placing the same record on the pop chart. Needless to often never made it onto the Top Ten in L.A. This was because say, this opened a Pandora’s box of discussions and arguments on these small R&B labels were seldom in control of their own the proper way to compile the total volume from both charts. destinies. They may have had just one national promotion man (if Similar problems of categorization developed out of the country- they had one at all). They shipped their records to some thirty music area when and,, later, the Everly Brothers - different independent distributors and had to hope that these indie both originally regarded as country acts - got heavier acceptance distribs would get excited! about a new release. ,, in the pop area than they did in country. Promotion in the early days of R&B was very crude. The late I remember a series of meetings during the late Fifties at which Leonard Ghess related his modus operandi in the early years Of we discussed whether a record should be reviewed in pop, R&B or Chess Records: country, or in all three, or in two of the threei We even discussed “ When I had six or seven new records, I would press up as doing away with the R&B section altogether, because we didn’t many 78s as I could fit in the trunk, front seat and back seat of my want to limit a record to only one audience when we couldn’t tell car and would head out from Chicago to my distributor in from the sound who it would appeal to. Shreveport, Stan Lewis. I would head through the back roads and Of course, our confusion at C ash B o x reflected the changes that drive through every black area, looking for transmitting towers. I were taking place in music and in society. It was a privilege to be would walk into these little R&B stations (most of which never able to cover from its inception - and to contribute to - one of the saw record-company people), give them a free copy of each of the most creative music periods in our history. COUNTRY WIHHERS '* * 8 m , « M OF “THE CASH BOX ! « w i n n e r s o f

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5ÏC0R0TH6 NORMAN ORLECK, AsssdMe Edits» l « * « e r i Prahehly ihr hoilr.1 Hhutoni have programed . MARTY OmtOW. Asssdsts Editor rnlprtnlnmml basine*» today marginal bu»in«-ws (bey CISSIB Omit’ Worn*«'* Editor © HI ley. HeV certainly causing the ptuim «■ I enterprise* fat | T. TORTOSA, C h J 3 T $ b a « k8 dtemcat, get linn H* widest prat coverage, , , roi*siF, tainutm Atr And aa far a* influente p n , ■ RUNO DUTKOWSKY, An Direnar drawing Use largest audience», and dcftnilely ittonh todayy create stars faster than almost selling Into of record«, ’ ------other-*— -atcdii— ADVERTISING RATS Ad vt trimotor*'U tuhjm » •f puWiihm. Yet, lt> Iwbibp almostI n niiwwimnational pastimepa ,te.lbera«nll„dl»le,------J indnslry shouldrt1.rfJ,Mw take J S n t o û W f to kneefc Presley. Even people wbo’ve .— ^ijing him — on general pride in the great stars it has created, stars Ht.pir yta/Mud principle*. H *e Bnt what’» worst of nil » pono ou le liecume lop box offici. rarairabcm*M taTJXim XimluftirCbu! «urne to aihrr Hohl.. Jo., ot-lnaal. he» Ä f t 1 M g £ £ £ S people in Ike reenrtl burl* ; HOU.YWOC ness who are knocking him me . few. What Imjirah, eouMn’t be prowl, abonld be boasting about him. (er In.tnnco, nf bavin, u M S e Pera, ' ramht I— null 1 3 r a t m wra e m Ora», who', come lo mprrraut rvra»Me« ! S f X Æ Ï Â t S ^ T Î r a ' .^ S S a '  I6V J S ^ ns big a* any artist .b».V «ootl and air. Í» mUllaa. „( p„p|„ | .PM » Ik —* can be at dm moment- ■ ind be wni created«rented •erae tbeIhr country?manir,? Or ea DerbDoris Dny,IM,, wltowho beebas ! TUB TM CASKCUB tOXBOX ram.m*s„ .*<1. minaut« estaafe ñama*»lira so-la by dm record business. Instead of being *"*i© on tola be theIhe toplap female attractionallronlon lain jÌ Ï 2  prend of tbe fact that the record Industry motion pletora industry? Or an Andy **w£ câSH* *maKm*m ro*eltì"m M * wwt bas dm ability and power to cerate dm hot- GrilQtb, who, as the resali of one record, | iosa' Also Available 6 Consecutive dit* rareired tbe recognition which enabled him .,Wew  » t,TÏASÏ ■ one people In ear heMerae «a «ale, elae« to exploit his actingI ahlHtyability first on BroadwayBroadi ¡J « * CA* " “““•' ' abb Ibe «maral koacbja« Imal bwaaer II ™ *“ ’™V « ■ muMOO piotare? The rcc> appears to be dm fasblonsble thing to do. ■d industry has alsoi produced P ----&Wk’ Í ,v«^Sf • UK PROBLEH ...... X» ««mW la tlm mm THANKS.../ • stenedoo to ns. |R «Agit lobueml «raM, on,I a Jahanie lb ,, «lu *l»l»r«l has been world-wide, and am hs."Tb ’ fact, what the record Indus* m vooM «. an IMb«. try needs is a change------P la.Ia-J- rolnr|df. I E ? Ä £ COREO MOtrtO tu MIDNIGHTERS with he change In sta I palai k. In’. Map bela« unblr H I longer a minor facet . W « Mop knarlifng the pnalara. j ¡¡ fa-ra-lam FOR SELECT»« DS AS THE No. 1 RID HOT pkttra. Our bulmra, bra p m up oed wr r a m An felvhKivi, Presley,Prrara,, whetherM ir a yon | N¡.rairara« d inn to c now ma bke U, ptrar nprall, raaaap .U Ih. Dkr kb ra,lr ar doa-l, b a «raal Ibla« far I tamirakl'" HEARTS 07 STONE I M U 6 » '* fTHM AND BLUES GROUP OF THE YEAR other enwrtahunent field*. Records ara be- tbe record tndostry. Lc«*b devote »be energy I **” Ejt,il \J Choran * «, HBH»«1“ "•"* -Oetu*e 6062 lag enjoyed In millions of hontes every day we would spend in bating the guy to trying : AwaSvSS, and Urn prospects are certain for even greater le develop several more who will sell era- i dmTJin'^wS MMMM“ Í w r m c u V h w m » growth In tbe immediate future. Recotd orda at the pace that be dees. ! Convmit YOU UFSET Ml, »ATT B. 8 Kina i sy ä sisn** (RPM 416S

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¿■ ON T TELL o R WHAT COLD, COLD W PPENED HEART BEST WISHES HOW MANY HOT ICE 1 Roy Milton ^ MORE YEARS? froddio MUcht iSpttithri Tho Howling Wolf WI RE HAPPY THESE RECORDS FOOL, FOOL, l‘M READY 3 O'CLOCK COLD, C O Lll ¡/WISHES FOOL 3 O'CLOCK Muddy Wafers MADE MONEY FOR TOB TUB YEAR BLUES A BLUES HEART Cloron /Che« 1377) W f . B King Dinah Washingt WORK WITH M l ANN« M « < * J J J U hOCMH YiOOO ’ I SEXY W A T * WEEPIN' AND WEEPIN' 1 ANNIE HAD A BABY CRYIN' BOOTED l'M IN THE © •60TT0LETW »5 A MOOD AND CP'"' j ANNIE’S AU N T »ANNIE Q 1 J foscoe Gordon GriH’ 5 5 joA" Mo^•, TW KOtt M t STINGY UTTIE THING 1 /Imperial 53B6) SHE S THE ONE EXCUStVELt 0« EISTMEETEI EY . LAST NI0HT Llttit Wolira J JD ROCK AND ROLL MAGAZINES A Vanishing Legacy BY ALAN BETROCK

IN THESE DAYS of concert films, rock videos, library archives, photographers’ files and tape-recorded interviews, the recent history of rock and roll is well documented and well preserved. But in the early days of rock, before the music was thought to be of lasting value, and before media coverage and technological progress combined to satiate the needs of even the most die-hard rock fans, rock and roll magazines were one of the few places where we could read about the performers we all heard on the radio and on records. Even though many of these publications sold hundreds of thousands of copies, today most have been lost, destroyed or forgotten. Many copies were cut up, as teenagers pasted the photos of their favorite stars on their notebooks or bedroom walls or in their scrapbooks. Others were thrown out when trends or personalities changed or when teenagers “ grew out” of their rock and roll phase. Moist of the rest were used for scrap paper or simply discarded as the years went by. Libraries rarely, if ever, saved rock and roll magazines, and none of them were microfilmed. So today we find ourselves in the situation of trying to reconstruct the music’s history by attempting to build collections of these lost treasures by any means possible. To some this means combing flea markets and finding magazines one at a time, dogeared and faded, sometimes with pages cut out, covers detached dr quirky comments scrawled over the stars’ photos. Others scour secondhand bookstores or magazine stores hoping to find a pile in better shape, albeit at higher prices. Still more pore over mail-order lists or collector-oriented publications for the honor of bidding on magazines that recently have begun to change hands at twenty-five dollars, fifty dollars or even more per copy. And yes, some still dream of finding that elusive warehouse where the precious booty may have lain untouched for some thirty years now - that mint run of Dig, Rock ’n Roll Stars ox Rhythm and Blues - a ll waiting for you at fifty cents per copy. But for most, this latter prospect remains just a dream - mercurial, evasive and heart-rending. Most storehouses are long gone, and those still remaining are more likely to have 40,000 copies of FOR TEENAGERS ONLY AMERICA'S FINEST TEENAGE MAGAZINE

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HOW CHMJNtiN k SHOULD SAISI k THtW K PAKiNTS

COMPUTE UHMO Of WHO’S PAN CLUBS COOL? Th* Cat That W o n xclusive Photos - Intimä U vT», Pu if i or Ivy Ua«uo? FÜLL PAGES OF PICTURES SUITABLE F»R'<

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'N M U JcLntbo m National Geographic than anything else. Despite the odds, the pictures of performers, mainly black, whose work was not widely search goes on. covered in the mass media. The magazine covered jazz, blues, What keeps fans searching, and why do collectors subject R&B, jump, vocal groups and more. The issues of R hythm themselves to endless travels that usually lead to a dead end? Well, a n d B lu e s were erratically distributed and are very difficult to find in the pages of early rock and roll magazines lies the history-of the today. In 1955, Charlton brought us a short-lived title, E b o n y Song music as it happened. We can see who got coverage and why. We P a ra d e, which dealt primarily with some of the more middle-of- can gaze at early photographs printed nowhere else. We can read the-road black performers of the era. Charlton also published H it the first interviews and profiles of the performers, learn about their P a ra d er and Son g H its , both already established magazines that early years, hear anecdotes about their recording sessions and so covered whatever was popular at any given moment. In 1956 the much more. What did they wear, how did they get their first hits, company began to issue Rock ’n’ Roll Songs, which focused where did they play, what were their influences, and how did they mainly on performers that the publishers felt fit the rock and roll see themselves as this new music swirled and raged around them? tag. Besides the usual profiles, stories and pictures, all Charlton These magazines take you back in time, and with the benefit of titles featured song lyrics to popular (and some lesser-known) hindsight, you can try to separate fact from legend and attempt to songs of the era. construct an accurate picture of how things happened and-why the Late in 1955 came D ig , the first publication that saw rock and performers were important. True, we have the records, but these roll as part of a new teenage culture. The magazine tried to be truly publications give us so much more. They help place the music in a trend setting, covering clothes, hair styles, movies and music. D ig historical context that makes it that much more enjoyable. was lively and irreverent, and copies are essential to any study of As there were literally dozens of titles published between 1955 teen culture and fads of the Fifties. In 1957, the publishers of D ig , and 1960, what follows is a brief overview of the twenty or so that I which seems to have been tailored primarily for teen boys, began feel are the most important today. This is based on their historical another magazine, Modem Teen, geared more toward girls. value, their content, their collectibility today and their impact at Modern Teen was less exciting than D ig , and as time went on it the time. devoted more and more space to the teen idols. The only real The field is basically divided into two distinct categories. First competitors to D ig were H ep C a ts and C o o l, both started in 1957. we have the one-shots, magazines that were published only once, They were issued somewhat erratically but were streetwise, hip on a particular performer or theme. One-shots have been around and very informative. They certainly lived up to their titles, as they for a long time, and publishers rush them out to capitalize on a were indeed cool and for hep cats only. In 1958 the two merged as performer or subject that reaches massive popularity but may not Cool & Hep Cats, which became, by the early Sixties, rather tame be around in six months. If it happens that the subject is still and run-of-the-mill. But the first two years, before and after the popular in six months, nothing is lost, because you can always put merger, are close to unbeatable. out a somewhat-updated second one-shot. In the field of pop there Movie Teen Illustrated, one of the most valuable magazines of were one-shots on Tommy Sands, , Fabian and the era, also began publication in 1957. Its early issues concentrat­ Frankie Avalon, Edd “ Kookie” Byrnes, , A m erica n ed mainly on James Dean and Elvis Presley. The magazine B a n d sta n d and the twist. There were three one-shots on Pat featured mostly one-of-a-kind photos, many of which were artful Boone, four on James Dean and several on Harry Belafonte and and poignant. The stories were a bit more serious and knowledge­ the calypso boom. able than most. Rock and Roll Roundup only published four issues But the clear-cut champion of the one-shot was Elvis Presley, (between January and July of 1957), but it offered in-depth stories who had thirteen different magazines devoted exclusively to him, and interviews, as well as interesting photos, often in color, a most of which sold between 500,000 and 1 million copies each - rarity for the early rock and roll magazines. It also had features on quite amazing sales when you think of all the other books, black artists, and its demise was a significant loss to the field. The magazines and merchandise related to the Elvis phenomenon. The same company gave us Teenage Rock and Roll Review, the first one-shots had such titles as Elvis Answers Back, The Amazing issue of which came out in October of 1956. This publication was Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley Speaks, Elvis Presley in Hollywood, pretty good, but as time went on the editors seemed to try to show Elvis in the Army, Elvis: His Loves and Marriage and E lv is how safe and clean-cut rock and roll was. The title was later Presley: Hero or Heel? They are filled with little-known facts changed to Teenage Review and finally just to T een a g e, but by that about Elvis, photos of Elvis in concert and on television, candid time (late 1957), the magazine’s squeaky-clean outlook made it shots and articles that often have an interesting editorial slant. pretty forgettable. Other notable one-shots include Rock ’ri Roll Battlers (1956), The other two magazines of the era worth mentioning are ’T een mainly devoted to Elvis, Bill Haley and Pat Boone, and R o ck ’n ’ and 16. ’T een began in 1957 as a pretty hip magazine, but It R o ll R iv a ls (1957), featuring the weird mix of Elvis, Tab Hunter, became filled with rather boring fiction and clean, fluffy features Pat Boone and Tommy Sands. In the fall of 1956 came R o ck ’n on such subjects as fashion and dating. Still, the early issues are Roll Jamboree, one of the first integrated rock publications. A worth tracking down. Debuting in May of 1957,16 was the final great magazine, it featured profiles of Alan Freed, LaVem Baker, significant publication of the era. Early issues were devoted Clyde McPhatter, , and many others. heavily to James Dean and Elvis Presley. In the first two years, the R o ck ’n R o ll S ta rs began as a one-shot but was so successful that it magazine was published erratically and the editorial focus ultimately had three issues, roughly one each in 1956, 1957 and changed often. But in the late Fifties, the magazine latched onto 1958. Like Rock ’n Roll Jamboree, it was integrated; along with the coming teen-idol boom and rode that wave to its crest, the usual array of big names, it had features on some often- becoming one of the few publications that had the power to make overlooked performers, like Frankie Lymon, Ruth Brown, (and sometimes break) stars. While most Fifties mags were gone Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, the Cadillacs, Andre Williams and Ivory by 1960,16 was able to go with each changing trend, from early Joe Hunter. In 1957 came Rock ’n’ Roll Yearbook, which is rock and roll to the British Invasion and beyond. Although over the notable for its coverage of regional stars and lesser-known years it became rather lightweight, being geared primarily to performers. Also in 1957 came a square-bound soft-cover mass- young girls, it was certainly important and trend setting, and its market book-magazine called Who’s Who in Rock ’n’ Roll, which early issues are packed with good photos and information. is the most complete publication devoted to early rock. There are P H ’ve outlined only the most significant of the magazines that pictures and bios of more than 200 performers, including the stars, came and went in rock’s early days. They are invaluable artifacts the one-hit wonders and the also-rans. It’s a veritable encyclopedia of Fifties music and culture. As we honor tonight’s inductees, we of its era and is a must for fans and collectors. shouldn’t forget the importance of these publications. They too The second major category of early rock magazines is the had to fight their way to the top, often in the face of heavy continuing publications. Of these, the seminal magazine has to be opposition, and many battled to preserve rock’s energy and Rhythm and Blues, a Charlton publication that first appeared in integrity and to spread the word about performers and their music. 1952. Predating the rock and roll explosion by several years, it^was They deserve a mention in tonight’s celebration of the Rock and unmatched in tracing rock’s R&B roots, with profiles, stories and Roll Hall of Fame.