"Before Elvis, there was nothing."

>"Before Elvis, there was nothing."

sums up the typical boomer attitude which was used to put down pre-rock pop and anything else not considered cool enough by guys like Cuckgau despite a lot of great music being dismissed out of hand

Attached: 689822.jpg (1097x1600, 642.78K)

The funny part is that they introduced elements of India classical/folk music into their own songs, and I'm pretty sure that hindustani music existed before Elvis.

Lennon is just revealing his pleb status, he was trailer trash scum after all

As some of you might know music between big band swing and rock-and-roll was in a bit of a rough transitional phase with a lot of anodine pop that dominated the charts for a good 7-8 years. Record labels were looking for young new stars in the early 50s because Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters were getting old and Frank Sinatra was also seen as washed up before his Capitol comeback. also he was like 35 and seen as a bit old to appeal to teen girls anymore.

In that spirit they were digging up a lot of 20-something singers (the generation born from 1926 to 33) who were too young to have been part of the big band era. this included on the male side guys like Tony Bennett, Eddie Fisher, Guy Mitchell, and Johnny Ray, and on the female side you had Teresa Brewer, Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page, Joni James, Eydie Gorme, the McGuire Sisters, etc. in a lot of cases the labels were hoping to find the next Sinatra or Andrews Sisters in this group of young talent.

was that before or after he insulted the Turtles singer so badly while he was drunk that he broke down in tears and quit music forever?

there was also the meme that 1959-63 constituted a void of teen idols and novelty songs and had nothing of any value in it

The big thing that happened with rock-and-roll was that the vaudeville/Tin Pan Alley kind of songwriting became obsoleted. Some of it might be due to the rise of Nashville in the 50s which created a "third" big center of music production in the US to compete with NYC and LA. Also the young generation of NYC/LA pop songwriters like Lieber/Stoller, Goffin/King, David Gates, etc were writing songs that dispensed with the Tin Pan Alley format. While Nashville had a strong pop presence in the late 50s-early 60s the British Invasion saw them kind of retreat back to the country charts.

what was the "image" of the main record labels in the 50s? as i can figure, something like follows:

>Columbia
Snooty af. They were the epitome of the posh Northeastern blue blood aesthetic and were fond of abusing orchestral string goop. It's also significant that Mitch Miller signed Johnny Horton and Marty Robbins although he didn't especially like country.
>Capitol
At the time they were the only major label in LA. They were posh and uptown like Columbia, though being in LA their aesthetic was more rooted in movie soundtracks than Broadway and they also seemed to attract country singers who couldn't get a contract in Nashville like Merle Travis. Later on Capitol became known for that David & Bacharach/Jimmy Webb brand of California pop goop.
>Mercury
Postwar upstart. Mitch Miller started there before he was at Columbia, and they got big out of the gate with Patti Page and Vic Damone. They kind of ran out of gas by the British Invasion era though.
>Dot
Part of the Nashville machine. Most famous for being Pat Boone's label and they also seemed to attract washed up people like the geriatric late 50s-early 60s Mills Brothers.
>RCA
Probably the most musically balanced label since they were really a technology company for whom recording was just one of their many businesses.
>Coral
Seemed to be big on chintzy novelty songs and singers--their roster included Teresa Brewer and the McGuire Sisters and Liberace. They fizzled out in the early 60s though.
>Decca
They had a hard time transitioning out of the 78 era as they struggled to replace all their aging stars like the Andrews Sisters with fresh young talent. In the late 50s-early 60s they went pop country and had renewed success with Brenda Lee and Patsy Cline, but ran out of gas again when the British Invasion started and went through another dark age until MCA began in the early 70s.

though record collectors may appreciate that non rock pop can often be found cheap while you pay through the nose for a beaten to hell Dale Hawkins 45 that some 14 year old owned back in the 50s. you could easily build a complete collection of Eydie Gorme or Joni James records for pennies. also their owners were mainly adults who took better care of their stuff.

interesting compilation CD of late 60s-early 70s songs. a lot of them are adult contemp/pre-rock singers trying to stay relevant and sing about the social upheaval of the time. it does also prove there was more to music in that era than the usual rock staples like "Gimme Shelter" and "Revolution" you've all heard a million times.

Attached: 71hCe3+sx5L._AC_SL1205_.jpg (1200x1205, 165.6K)

you spelled "white" as "boomer," that's weird

lal dude implying modern blacks care about 50s black music at all. if they even heard of Fats Domino at all they'd just be like "wut? that's some shit my grandma listens to."

You're retarded. White people loved Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, etc

What about jazz
It was only teenagers who were listening to all the pop schlock mentioned in this thread

He's literally just talking about his own perspective as a kid growing up in post war england, it's not hard to understand

Jazz was what the "hip" young adults in the 50s-60s were into, bohemians, artiste types, college students who read Sartre. That was Miles and Coltrane's audience.

Funny you say this while using racist 50s terminology like "blacks"

He would've been thirteen when Elvis hit it big to put it in perspective. I was in fifth grade when Soulja Boy came up and that's when everyone my age suddenly started caring about music. It's not that uncommon.

There's a fun story of John discovering Little Richard for the first time and being astounded that black people made rock and roll too.

Lennon was born in December 1940 so he was 15 when Elvis blew up in '56.

i agree it was easier to impress British people with black music since Americans already knew about it and couldn't be wowed as easily. Buddy Guy talked about this, he said the British got into blues first because you couldn't sell Americans a hamburger when they already one.

I mean, yeah to a certain extent that was true and there were some male singers who blatantly imitated Sinatra, but plenty of others like Johnny Ray (often considered a halfway between rock-and-roll and crooning) had their own style.

How much of that got across the pond though? If Lennon was raised in America his statement would be less defensible.

The proper response would have been to punch John in the face and walk out of there.

That sentiment was more prevalent in the US than in Britain. John’s generation was raised on shot like music hall and trad jazz long before rock and roll came along, and it was more ingrained in the culture there, so the British boomers were more open to expressing those influences. The American critics seemed to have a more idealized and ideological conception of rock.