Philadelphia, Detroit, and Liverpool - Dancin' in the Streets

Rock 'n Roll was doomed to fail. It presented to the young people of American and the rest of the world an attitude of rebellion, sexuality, rejection of traditional values, fashion, and language. Coupled with the undeniable fact that it mingled the races in ways unseen before, it seemed to the "powers that be" a very dangerous element that needed to be stamped out. By 1958, it was pretty much over. That is to say, "pure" Rock 'n Roll was driven off the airwaves. In its stead was a more controllable form of "young people's" music - kind of like Rock 'n Roll like a Joe Louis is kind of like a chocolate eclair . . . it was close but all the power was taken out. With a very few exceptions, the radio was jammed packed with pabulum  made palpable.

But all was not lost. There was still vibrant music on the airwaves. In fact, Rock 'n Roll became the standard music - not the hard, wild, and rebellious Rock 'n Roll of Elvis and Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, but most definitely a different mode than the "safe" music it replaced. Out of the urban centers came groups and singers who pushed this "teen" music. Among the leading pioneers were Lieber and Stoller, two songwriters that produced many of the hits of the day.

Like Tin Pan Alley of the turn of the century, New York became the epicenter of this music. The Brill Building in NYC cranked out song after song after song. It was like a music factory, with songwriters working in small cubicles, knocking off songs and giving them to producers who turned them over to singers, almost like an assembly line.

One of the most innovated and creative of these producers was Phil Spector, a young man who created his own unique sound he dubbed the "wall of sound." His tunes were epic, huge productions, sometimes with upwards of twenty musicians in the same room, all miked and then mixed down to mono.

 At the same time, in Detroit, in a little studio called Hitsville, U.S.A., young Berry Gordy was developing a pop music empire. What makes Motown so powerful - aside form the clean productions, infectious sounds based on the call and response of Gospel music, the slick choreographed presentations, and the immense talent of his roster of singers and groups - was the fact that it truly was music listened by both races with equal fervour. On the Motown label were the words "The Music of Young America" and that it was. in an odd sort of way, Berry Gordy is as important in the civil rights movement as many of its leaders black music was scary anymore.

On the West Coast of America, young surfers and other teenagers were looking for a sound that reflect their lives. Out of Hawthorne, California came three brothers, a cousin, and a friend, all inspired by the the sweet harmonies of groups like the Four Freshman and the Crew Cuts but fueled by the beats and drive of Chuck Berry, came the Beach Boys.

However exciting this music was, across the ocean, a new explosion was erupting, one that would shake the world. fueled by the events of the day - the JFK assassination in particular - the Beatles were storming England and about to conquer America and the world. 

The Beatles unleashed a floodgate of other bands - both from England and America - and pop music is still very much influenced by this wave.

Here are a few artists/bands in performance from the period . . .