Ch 3

• Chapter 3

  The Demise of Rock and Roll and the Promise of Soul
• Introduction

  1. By the end of the 1950s, many of the important figures of rock and roll’s first wave were out of the music business, but the industry had come to realize the importance of the youth market

  2. Rock historians debate the quality and importance of the rock music made after the first wave, but before the Beatles

  3. This chapter surveys the styles that comprised the youth market in the early 1960s
• Splitting Up the Market


  By 1960, it became evident that there were at least two distinct youth markets: former rock and rollers, and their younger siblings
• The Adults in the Room

  “Brill Building” was both a place—a building housing music publishers in Manhattan—and a label applied to the methodical way companies such as Aldon Music produced songs; teen idols and girl groups were the principal artists performing Brill Building material
• Teen Idols for Idle Teens

  1. Starting in the late 1950s, record companies sought out attractive young men who could be marketed to preteen and teenage girls

  2. Teen idols recorded for both major and independent labels and were successful on both the pop and rhythm and blues charts

  3. The pop recorded by teen idols is sometimes labeled bubblegum music
• The Dance Craze, American Bandstand, and “The Twist”


  1. American Bandstand was a television show devoted to teen pop, and it featured teens dancing to hit records and lip-synced performances by musical guest stars

  2. Much of the focus of American Bandstand was on dancing, and it initiated a craze for named dances, such as “The Twist”

  3. Shows like American Bandstand and movies starring musicians reinforced the idea of a national youth culture, and also helped to make rock and roll acceptable to adults
• Folk Music and the Putting Away of Childish Things

  1. College-age listeners helped to make folk music into a popular “alternative” style

  2. Folk music had some popularity in the 1940s and early 1950s, but the left-wing political position of many folk artists caused problems for them during the Red Scare; during the early 1960s, after the folk revival began, many folk musicians were again more openly political

  3. The populist character of folk music attracted many of its listeners

  4. Before the rise of folk music, calypso was briefly popular in the United States

  5. Album sales are a better measure of folk musicians’ success than singles

  6. Two sides of the folk music market emerged: one exemplified by musicians like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and rooted in folk literature, the other exemplified by the Kingston Trio and more oriented toward the pop market

  7. In the early 1960s, a folk group called Peter, Paul, and Mary surpassed the Kingston Trio as the most commercially successful folk-pop group; the trio was also embraced by the folk community

  8. Folk’s image of sincerity and authenticity was largely constructed by the music industry

  9. Both folk music and Brill Building pop were crafted to appeal to specific age groups
• Ambitious Pop: The Rise of the Producer


  1. The role of the producer shifted from a mostly organizational role to a specialist in charge of shaping the sound of a record

  2. Producers began to experiment with ways to make records more musically sophisticated, and they moved away from the idea that a recording should faithfully represent a live performance
• Leiber and Stoller with the Coasters


  1. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were an important songwriting team in early 1950s rock and roll, and they took more control over the recording process than was typical at the time

  2. Leiber and Stoller were hired to produce records for Atlantic, but maintained their rights to work with artists on other labels, making them some of the first independent producers

  3. Working with the Coasters, Leiber and Stoller created “playlets,” or songs that told a story; even though Leiber and Stoller were white, many of their playlets for the Coasters dealt with topics in black culture

  4. Two examples of early playlets recorded by the Coasters are “Smokey Joe’s Cafe”
• Leiber and Stoller as independent producers


  • Some of the first independent producers
• Leiber and Stoller's approach to record production

  1. Control over the Coaster’s records

  2. Musicians free to make changes

  3. Many aspects of the arrangements written in advance of recording
• Leiber and Stoller blended a range of musical styles in their records
• Girl-group records produced ambitious pop music
• “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” dealt with the topic of deciding whether or not to engage in sexual intimacy
• Producers in the Brill Building

  1. Other songwriting teams following Leiber and Stoller’s approach to record production

  2. Working with female vocal groups

  3. Shifted creative control from performers to producers
• Popular female singers prior to girl groups

  • Connie Francis
  • Connie Stevens
  • Annette Funicello
• Solo singers in the early 1960s

  • Little Eva
  • Mary Wells
  • Lesley Gore
• Girl groups in the Brill Building system

  Pop style and mainly African American singers equaled consistent crossover success for girl group music
• Phil Spector's approach to production

  1. Wall of Sound involved recording a large number of instruments in a small space

  2. Using reverb to create a wash of blended sounds
• Important Wall of Sound Hits

  • The Crystals’ “Da Doo Ron Ron”
  • The Crystals’ “Then He Kissed Me”
  • The Ronnettes’ “Be My Baby”
• “Be My Baby” features staggered entrances of instruments that create an aural impression of grand scale
• Girl group music was both blatantly commercial and some of the most ambitious rock and roll of its time
• Sam Cooke transitioned from gospel music to pop
• Artists who recorded sweet soul

  • The Drifters
  • Ben E. King
  • Nat King Cole
  • Johnny Mathis
• The Drifters were two different vocal groups who recorded sweet soul for Atlantic
• Ben E. King’s performance of “There Goes My Baby” with The Drifters shows the influence of Sam Cooke’s singing
• “There Goes My Baby” demonstrates Leiber and Stoller’s eclectic musical influences
• Ben E. King was fired from The Drifters in 1960, and Leiber and Stoller produced him as a solo artist
• The Drifters’ successful records influenced other performers
• By 1960, the music of rockabilly artists such as Elvis had become country-influenced and adult-friendly
• Leiber and Stoller’s eclectic musical influences


  Ben E. King was fired from The Drifters in 1960, and Leiber and Stoller produced him as a solo artist
• The Drifters’ successful records

  Influenced other performers
• Rockabilly Popsters


  By 1960, the music of rockabilly artists such as Elvis had become country-influenced and adult-friendly pop
• The Everly Brothers

  1. Came from a country music background and became popular following their hit “Bye Bye Love” in 1957

  2. Many of their early hits were written by Boudleaux and Bryant and recorded with studio musicians in Nashville; the songs show influences of both country and rhythm and blues and have lyrics that address teenage love

  3. The most distinctive features of their sound are their close harmony and straight-tone singing in the high end of their vocal ranges
• Roy Orbison

  1. Released four records with Sun before moving to Monument and producing a string of hits between 1960 and 1965

  2. Wrote most of his own songs and had a wide range of stylistic influences; developed a ballad singing style in which he frequently used his falsetto voice
• Ricky Nelson

  1. Son of entertainers Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard; began his career playing himself on the radio and subsequent television show series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet; at age seventeen, he began making solo records

  2. Did not write his own music and performed material patterned after Elvis Presley and other stars of the era

  3. The development of rockabilly in the early 1960s shows both the influence of Brill Building practices and connections to the first wave of rock and roll
• Surfin’ USA: It’s Just Good, Clean, White-Suburban Fun


  1. The Beach Boys grew up in Los Angeles, had eclectic influences, and had their first regional hit in 1961 and their first national hit the following year; remained popular even as the Beatles dominated American pop

  2. Until 1964, stuck to a surf music formula, with vocals drawing on doo-wop, girl group, glee club, and jazz music; instrumentals heavily influenced by Chuck Berry

  3. Influenced by the production methods of Phil Spector, and the group’s leader Brian Wilson started producing their records; modeled “Don’t Worry Baby” on the Spector-produced “Be My Baby”

  4. Differences between “Don’t Worry Baby” and “Be My Baby”

  5. Jan and Dean had surf music hits and worked closely with the Beach Boys until the two groups’ record labels objected; Wilson continued to do more creative and ambitious work as a producer
• Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar


  Dick Dale and the Del-Tones pioneered an instrumental surf style featuring the guitar
• Duane Eddy and the Ventures


  Produced instrumental records; prior to this, most rock and roll had focused on vocal performances
• Narrative Lyrics Run Amok: The Splatter Platter

  1. Teenage Romanticization of Death; songs on the topic of teenage death released between 1959 and 1964

  2. Songwriters Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and George “Shadow” Morton began writing the song “Leader of the Pack” together

  3. “Leader of the Pack” tells the story of the death of a motorcycle hoodlum in the style of a Leiber and Stoller playlet

  4. Jan and Dean had a hit in this vein, “Dead Man’s Curve” about a car crash; two years later, Jan was involved in a serious auto accident