Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Singers And Their Influences

Every Wednesday this summer, we're offering a quick course in early rock 'n' roll. Your professor will be Tom Moon, NPR contributor and author of the book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. These overviews, mostly from the 1950s, are not intended to be comprehensive, but to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below.

by Tom Moon

The young rock singers of the 1950s picked up tricks of the trade from all corners, but primarily from the world of rhythm and blues: Elvis Presley was a huge Jackie Wilson fan, while Buddy Holly and others idolized the smooth delivery of Sam Cooke. And then there's Ray Charles, who taught everybody.

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4:06 PM ET | 09- 9-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Teen Idols

by Tom Moon

Every Wednesday through the summer, we're posting/offering quick, introductory-level surveys of elements of rock 'n' roll from the 1950s. These overviews are not intended to be comprehensive -- they're designed to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below.

THIS WEEK: TEEN IDOLS

Rock 'n' roll went from zero to 100 mph in a blink. As a result, the nascent genre became a prospector's paradise, rife with entrepreneurs and marketing wizards seeking to cash in on the craze.

Those business types transformed clean-cut, earnest, marginally talented kids into megawatt sensations -- teen idols who ruled magazines and often went on to big careers in beach movies. The hype trail those Svengalis blazed endures today: Their promotional playbook has helped launch The Osmonds and New Kids on the Block, N'Sync and The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus. And let's face it, where would rock 'n' roll be without The Jonas Brothers?

Like today's pitch-corrected teen dreamboats, the stars of the '50s -- including Fabian, Bobby Rydell and Frankie Avalon -- were often derided as fabulous-looking but barely passable singers. Yet some of them did have talent: Here's the super-smooth Frankie Avalon, who started out playing trumpet, singing his 1959 smash "Venus."

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4:11 PM ET | 09- 2-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Give The Piano Man Some

by Tom Moon

Every Wednesday this summer, we're offering a quick course in early rock 'n' roll. Your professor will be Tom Moon, NPR contributor and author of the book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. These overviews, mostly from the 1950s, are not intended to be comprehensive, but to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below.

THIS WEEK: Give the Piano Man Some!

The guitar wasn't always the supreme rock 'n' roll instrument. During the 1950s, guitarists had competition from a bunch of unruly, irreverent piano players. Some of these musicians exhibited great refinement -- think about the calm, lilting pulse Fats Domino put behind "Blueberry Hill" -- and others were distinguished by their harsh pounding "technique." Arguably the most exciting of them: the Georgia-born whirlwind known as Little Richard, who sent devastatingly precise electric shockwaves of rhythm shooting through the piano.

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2:19 PM ET | 08-12-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: The Songwriters

by Tom Moon

Every Wednesday this summer, we're offering a quick course in early rock 'n' roll. Your professor will be Tom Moon, NPR contributor and author of the book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. These overviews, mostly covering music from the 1950s, are not intended to be comprehensive, but to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below.

THIS WEEK: SONGWRITING

Haters had a field day during the first decade of rock 'n' roll. Almost as soon as it appeared, the sensation was derided as animalistic and uncouth, the reckless expression of uncontrolled hormonal urges.

That's only part of what makes the music great. The performers had to have something to sing, and in the early days, the lucky ones snagged tunes that were as streamlined as a 12-bar blues and blessed with glowing, irresistible melodies. An astounding stack of those tunes (including "Jailhouse Rock," "Hound Dog," "On Broadway" and "Yakety Yak") were written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the powerhouse tandem that brought cunning wit and sharp production values to "that crazy kids' music."

Here's one key breakthrough, "Hound Dog," which was recorded by Big Mama Thornton a few years before Elvis Presley covered it. Check out the young Buddy Guy on guitar:

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3:07 PM ET | 08- 6-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Dance Craze!

Every Wednesday this summer, we're offering a quick course in early rock 'n' roll. Your professor will be Tom Moon, NPR contributor and author of the book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. These overviews, mostly of music from the 1950s, are not intended to be comprehensive, but to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below.

THIS WEEK: DANCE CRAZE!

by Tom Moon

You could chart the early history of rock 'n' roll based just on dance crazes -- those electric but silly-looking fads that popped up seemingly weekly, and often disappeared just as quickly.

Some crazes endure because the performance of a song is so strong. That's the case with Chubby Checker's version of Hank Ballard's "The Twist," a massive hit in 1960. Even if you never saw the dance on YouTube (or its 1950s corollary, American Bandstand), you know how to do it after you hear the song once.

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11:54 AM ET | 07-29-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Sun Records

Every Wednesday this summer, we're offering a quick course in early rock 'n' roll. Your professor will be Tom Moon, NPR contributor and author of the book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. These overviews, mostly from the 1950s, are not intended to be comprehensive, but to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below...

THIS WEEK: Sun Records

That Elvis Presley guy? Okay, sure, he's plenty important to the history of rock 'n' roll. Even if his first great contribution -- bringing the blues, hillbilly music and boogie together -- happened by accident, while he was goofing around on Arthur Crudup's "That's Alright Mama" during an otherwise-unsuccessful 1954 recording session. But he's not the only reason we give thanks for Sun Studios and Sun Records, and founder Sam Phillips.

Not long after Presley's incendiary blast hit local airwaves in Memphis, Sun became the center of the rockabilly universe, the source for that hard-charging and addictively irreverent sound. Among the young talents drawn to the studio were Carl Perkins, whose single "Blue Suede Shoes" (released Jan. 1, 1956) was already a hit when Presley covered it.

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1:30 PM ET | 07-22-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: The Piano Pounders Of New Orleans

by Tom Moon

Every Wednesday this summer, we're offering a quick course in early rock 'n' roll. Your professor will be Tom Moon, NPR contributor and author of the book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. These overviews of music, mostly from the 1950s, are not intended to be comprehensive, but to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below.

This Week: The Piano Pounders of New Orleans

A small but fervent group of devotees argues that rock 'n' roll truly begins in the late 1940s, with the emergence of the pioneering wildman of New Orleans piano, Henry Roeland Byrd, a.k.a. Professor Longhair.

The slippery-fingered pianist and singer once described his approach as a mixture of "rumba, mambo and calypso," and that's just scratching the surface: There's also plenty of New Orleans backbeat grease, some boogie-woogie and more than a touch of the blues in it. As is true of every early rock breakthrough, the styles Byrd appropriates are ultimately less important than the feeling. His irreverent spirit makes the music intense and infectious.

Professor Longhair's first release, New Orleans Piano, contains tracks recorded in 1949 and 1953. Alas, there's little archival video from that era. But here's Fess a few decades later, performing "Tipitina," an enduring original from that initial release, with The Meters.

Read more, after the jump...

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11:07 AM ET | 07-15-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Doo-Wop

by Tom Moon

Every Wednesday through the summer, we're posting quick introductory-level surveys of elements of rock 'n' roll from the 1950s. These overviews are not intended to be comprehensive; instead, they're designed to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below.

THIS WEEK: Doo-Wop

As PBS viewers know, doo-wop is eternal. Perhaps because it's so effusive, or perhaps because it so poignantly immortalizes the joys and torments of being a teenager in love. The voices, four or five of them together, swoop like stunt pilots in formation. They rattle off crazy-sounding nonsense syllables -- "doo wop" being just one of many rhythmic vocal expressions. They specialize in effortlessly airborne messages of love, yet borrow some moves and exhortations from the classic gospel quartets.

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That's one of the first big doo-wop hits from 1956, with songwriter Frankie Lymon, then 13, singing lead. (As with many songs of the era, there's an authorship dispute about who helped Lymon with the song.)

Read more after the jump...

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9:21 AM ET | 07- 8-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Chess Records

by Tom Moon

Every Wednesday this summer, we're offering a quick course in early rock 'n' roll. Your professor will be Tom Moon, NPR contributor and author of the book 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. These overviews, mostly from the 1950s, are not intended to be comprehensive, but to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below...

THIS WEEK: The Proto-Rock Blues Titans of Chess Records

Of the semi-sacred locations where rock and roll first erupted, two stand out: Producer Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service, where Elvis Presley's voice was first captured on tape; and the Chicago-based Chess Records, home of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and a superheated brand of urban blues that amounts to the rhythmic "source code" for rock and roll.

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10:39 AM ET | 07- 1-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Jump Blues

by Bob Boilen

Every Wednesday this summer, we're offering a quick course in early rock 'n' roll. Your professor will be Tom Moon, NPR contributor and author of the book 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. These overviews, mostly from the 1950s, are not intended to be comprehensive, but to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below...

THIS WEEK: JUMP BLUES

by Tom Moon

Way before the "official" dawn of rock 'n' roll, the rock 'n' roll spirit was on the loose in America -- as jump blues, the loose party music known for its risque lyrics and ferocious horn solos.

Jump erupted in the late 1940s, and was hugely popular through the '50s -- it's the direct link between swing, with its brassy shouted choruses and spry rhythms, and rock 'n' roll. One of its prime movers, the saxophonist and bandleader Louis Jordan, got his start playing in big bands -- it was no problem for him to transfer the jitterbugging energy of the big bands to smaller, more employable combos. Then, crucially, he added a dollop of showmanship: On hits like 1950's rollicking "Saturday Night Fish Fry," Jordan reels off preposterous comic narratives, his casual phrases propelled along by the urbane, hard-swinging rhythm section. Here's one of his iconic shouts, "Caldonia."

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Others came at jump blues from different angles. The Kansas City belter Big Joe Turner was fluent in the blues and boogie. Turner's undeniable, steamrolling sound contains all the essential ingredients of rock 'n' roll. Among his triumphs is the first-ever hit on "Shake, Rattle and Roll," in 1954.

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ESSENTIAL LISTENING
Louis Jordan and His Tympani Five: "Saturday Night Fish Fry," "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie," "Caldonia."
Big Joe Turner: "Shake, Rattle and Roll," "Flip, Flop and Fly."

EXTRA CREDIT
Wynonie Harris: "Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well," "Good Morning, Judge."
Roy Brown: "Good Rockin' Tonight."
Roy Milton and His Solid Senders: "The Hucklebuck."

DISCUSS
Compare three versions of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" -- those recorded by Big Joe Turner, Bill Haley and the Comets and Elvis Presley. Is it possible to tell where jump blues ends and rock 'n' roll begins? Do any of the latter-day jump-blues "revivals" catch the spirit of the music? (Points off for anyone who begins his or her response with the solo work of Brian Setzer...)

NEXT WEEK
Chess Records and its Proto-Rockers: Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, etc.

9:52 AM ET | 06-24-2009 | permalink

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