2024-01-29

Monday, January 29th, 2024

To change one's life, start immediately, do it flamboyantly, no exceptions.

— William James

MUS106 Lecture 9: Rock Hiatus

• music industry’s objections against rock
  • ”Payola” - “Pay to Play”, i.e., favors were required for radio play - independent labels had to bribe DJs to be played on the radio
    • independent labels (most famous early rock artists) vs big corporate labels (Big 6)
    • In 1960, Congress investigated commercial bribery (in the form of cash and songwriting credit)
      • focused on indie labels & rock DJs
      • scapegoat: Freed
      • Freed: Dick Clark
• first-wave rock hiatus: many individual innovators exited the industry
  • 1957: Little Richard quits rock to enter ministry
  • 1958: Jerry Lee Lewis was boycotted on radio after press learns of his pedophilia (marries 13-year-old cousin)
  • 1958: after “Elvis the Pelvis”, Elvis Presley enters the army
  • 1959: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Big Bopper die in plane crash
  • 1960: Chuck Berry convicted under Mann Act
  • 1960: Congressional Payola hearings
• what does music industry want
  • stability & predictability
  • control (big 6 were losing control to indie labels)
  • money
• artists begin forming groups
• ”Doo-Wop”
  • main pop form in 50s
  • nonsense syllables
  • 4-6 singers
  • originated from Black vocal groups
  • complex harmony
  • ”Sh-Boom” (1954) by The Chords
    • chart ranking: R&B 2nd, Pop 9th
  • ”Sh-Boom” (1954) cover by Crew Cuts
    • chart ranking: pop 1st
    • whitewashing
  • Doo-Wop progression (a.k.a. Heart and Soul progression, ice cream chord changes, 50s progression)
    • I-vi-IV-V
    • ubiquitous
• girl groups
  • popularized in early 1960s (only as backup in 50s)
  • why? post-WW2 optimism, innocense
  • music was produced by people from the Brill Building
    • NYC
    • popular music “factory”
    • professional industry insiders
  • The Shirelles: pop success
    • ”Will You Love Me Tomorrow”
      • 1st time a girl group got 1st on the pop chart
      • one night stand from the perspective of woman, but with refined lyrics & rhyme scheme so that it could be played in the radio with massive success
• Phil Spector: producer
  • from LA - shifts music industry westward
  • ”Wrecking Crew” - studio orchestra and band
  • wall of sound: saturated (all frequencies), detailed, layered recordings
  • control freak!
  • 2009 murder conviction (killed his girlfriend), died in prison (2021)
  • wanted to turn songs into “little symphonies for the kids"
  • "Be My Baby” recorded by Ronettes, produced by Phil Spector
• The Crystals
  • ”He is a Rebel”
    • Phil Spector didn’t like the original recording, asked The Blossoms to record it, but attributed to The Crystals
    • Lead singer Barbara Alston from The Crystals couldn’t perform it, so she was replaced by the lead singer from The Blossoms
• rock hiatus
  • brill building
  • wall of sound
  • Motown
  • surf rock
• Motown: name of an independent label that was so influential that it became a genre
  • epitomy of refinement
  • interested in everybody (no specific target audience?)
  • founded by Berry Gordy Jr in 1959 & Detroit
  • originally called “Tamla Records”, and created 28 sublabels / “imprints”, one for each purpose (e.g. political, pop - Motown, LGBT, etc) so that each one’s brand image is not affected by others
  • a different version of Brill Building - writers, producers, musicians, etc
  • ”assembly line” for songs
  • Funk Brothers
    • studio band for Motown from 1959-72
    • played on more #1 hits than Beatles, Elvis, Rolling Stones, etc combined
    • created arrangements on the fly (head arrangement)
  • The Supremes
    • 17 appearances on Ed Sullivan Show
    • most popular group in Motown
  • The Temptations
    • Motown’s first Grammy Winners (1969)
    • “My Girls”