[78-L] MOR in the '50s

Mon Jan 11 08:49:44 PST 2010

It is interesting, indeed, to note that as far as most radio stations are concerned, the MOR era lasted until the Beatles broke down all the barriers in 1964. Rockabilly and R&B were still niche programming, despite Elvis, "Blue Suede Shoes," and even "Rock Around the Clock." Mainstream pop music was still Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Sing Along with Mitch, Percy Faith, and Frank Sinatra. I think the folk revival became more mainstream than rock in the late 1950s, with songs like "Tom Dooley" and "Banana Boat (Day-O)" climbing the charts. How many true rock 'n' roll records WERE hits until the Beatles? Look at 1958, for example. Here are the top 10 charting songs, according to Whitburn:

At the Hop - Danny & the Juniors (rock 'n' roll)

It's All in the Game - Tommy Edwards (ballad)

The Purple People Eater - Sheb Wooley (novelty)

All I Have to Do Is Dream - Everly Brothers (ballad)

Tequila - The Champs (instrumental novelty)

Don't - Elvis Presley (ballad)

Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) - Domenico Modungo (Italian ballad)

Sugartime - McGuire Sisters (pop vocals)

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands - Laurie London (British boy singer/spiritual)

The Chipmunk Song - David Seville (Xmas novelty)

1959 is no better:

Mack the Knife - Bobby Darin (hopped-up showtune)

The Battle of New Orleans - Johnny Horton (country)

Venus - Frankie Avalon (smarmy teen pop)

Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price (R&B)

The Three Bells - The Browns (Nashville country pop)

Lonely Boy - Paul Anka (smarmy teen pop)

Come Softly to Me - Fleetwoods (soft MOR pop)

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - Platters (Doo-wop pop)

Heartaches By the Number - Guy Mitchell (pop cover of country song)

Sleep Walk - Santo & Johnny (instrumental)

That makes one bonafide rock 'n' roll song to make #1 in two years. I think that the strides rock made in 1956-57 were defused due to the absolutely unbelieavble run of bad luck its leaders had in the next two years: Elvis (drafted), Jerry Lee Lewis (ostracized due to marrying his 13-year old cousin), Carl Perkins (debilitated by a near-fatal auto accident that killed his brother), Chuck Berry (guilty of violating the Mann Act), and Buddy Holly (dead in Iowa).

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will have you believe there was a tidal wave of rock hitting the world in the late 1950s, but as far as radio and record sales went, music went sleepily on its way. The influence was churning beneath the surface - Elvis and Chuck Berry had marked effect on the Beatles as they were growing up - but the initial stages of rock 'n' roll were really just a blip on the screen compared to what the Beatles did.

Cary Ginell

> From: mbiel at mbiel.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 02:18:03 -0700
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Frosty the Snowman
> 
> As I was growing up in the mid-50s I listened to classical and MOR
> (middle of the road) but my older sister listened to rock on WMGM and
> WINS. I secretly listened in also. A few years ago I got some
> recordings of those stations from that era and was flabbergasted that
> half of the records played were Perry Como, Rosemary Clooney, Sammy
> Davis Jr, Joan Weber, Nat King Cole, Hugo Winterhalter, Mitch Miller,
> and lots of things that we would call "slow dances" at parties. These
> were the top rock radio stations in the country. Listen to the records
> on Buchanan and Goodman's Flying Saucer from 1956. It is the same mix. 
> The teens WERE buying these records too, not just their folks. We all
> watched Perry Como's TV show -- Dream Along With Me, Letters We get
> letters we get stacks and stacks of letters . . . I think you will find
> a similar mix on Dick Clark's American Bandstand of that era. Even
> Elvis wasn't all rock!
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Biel mbiel at mbiel.com 
> 
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Frosty the Snowman
> From: David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
> Date: Sun, January 10, 2010 11:57 pm
> To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> 
> And I never thought of "So Rare" as a big band record. The posthumous
> Tommy 
> Dorsey band's "Tea For Two Cha Cha" comes closer. Not much else
> though..
> 
> dl
> 
> Cary Ginell wrote:
> > Couldn't, because the CD was programmed for me and I was only to
> write about what was on it.
> > 
> > When I mention "The Big Band Era," I am referring to when big bands
> were the most popular genre of music favored by the general public. By
> the 1950s, that had gone bye-bye. Namby-pamby vocals by the Perry Comos
> of the industry ruled in the early 1950s, giving way to rock 'n' roll by
> the mid-50s. But big bands were long considered passe by the public by
> then and bands didn't monopolize the best-selling charts in the 1950s. I
> think the only big band hit of the 1950s was "So Rare" by Jimmy Dorsey.
> Of course there were great big bands in the '50s - I loved the Basie
> band that featured Neal Hefti compositions and arrangements. Terry
> Gibbs' Dream Band was probably the most exciting kick-ass band of them
> all, starting in 1959. And Quincy Jones continued with some great big
> band charts in the 1960s. But big band music had become niche
> programming by this time.
> > 
> > Cary Ginell
> > 
> >> Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:19:49 -0500
> >> From: dlennick at sympatico.ca
> >> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> >> Subject: Re: [78-L] Frosty the Snowman
> >>
> >> No need to duck, Cary..I was just rereading your great liner notes
> to the Naxos 
> >> "Birth of Rock and Roll" CD, although I don't think you credited
> Haley with 
> >> bringing Rocket 88 over at that time.
> >>
> >> And many big bands were still playing good music well into the
> fifties. Woody 
> >> Herman did some great stuff while his "Mars" label existed, the
> Sauter-Finegan 
> >> Orchestra proved big bands could have fun, Ellington and Basie could
> still draw 
> >> a crowd even though they were both treading water..
> >>
> >> dl
> >>
> >> Cary Ginell wrote:
> >>> The Big Band era did not end in 1942. It was still the dominant
> form of popular music until at least the late '40s. I would put the big
> bands' last gasp at the 1948 Petrillo ban, but Chuck Cecil's Swingin'
> Years takes it as far as "Rock Around the Clock," which really put the
> final kabosh on it. 
> >>>
> >>> As for "Sh-Boom," it's a common mistake to say that was a rock 'n'
> roll record. It was not. It helped usher in doo-wop as a major sub-genre
> since it was the first R&B song in that style that "crossed over" (i.e.
> having a white group - the Crewcuts - cover the original black version
> by the Chords). In my opinion, the first rock 'n' roll record had to be
> a white cover of a black record in the jump/R&B style that was prevalent
> then. I know that there are as many opinions on this as there are
> records, but for my money, it was Bill Haley's 1951 cover (Holiday) of
> Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88" (Chess). Brenston's record is given credit
> as the first rock 'n' roll record by many pseudo-historians, but this
> was an R&B boogie record. It took a white hillbilly artist covering it
> that gave black music the credibility it needed to cross over. That's
> what Elvis became famous for 3 years later, but Haley was the first to
> do it. OK, I'll duck now while everyone chimes in.
> >>>
> >>> Cary Ginell
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> Two fairly simple facts! First, after the c.1942 demise of the
> "big band
> >>>> era," the record industry had NO useful idea of what would be the
> next
> >>>> big thing! "Rock'n'roll" was just starting to emerge; beyond that,
> we
> >>>> were given innumerable attempts at "dialect" ("Oh, Mein Papa" et
> al)
> >>>> as well as meaningless attempts to create "standards" ("Tennessee
> >>>> Waltz," "Shrimp Boats," usw.!)
> >>>>
> >>>> Second, "Rudolph..." suggested there was a HUGE untapped market
> >>>> for Christmas/holiday tunes! The theoretical audience was the
> "under
> >>>> 6" group...or. more accurately, the parents thereof...?!
> >>>>
> >>>> Fortunately for almost ALL of us, 1954 and "Sh-Boom" suddenly
> >>>> brought in a whole NEW musical style...!
> >>>>
> >>>> Steven C. Barr
> >>>> __________________
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