Mr. Cowan AMU4EI

The end of an era…  By 1959, rock and roll had lost many of its heroes  A huge gap in the market appeared and needed to be filled

Dick Clark  Produced a new crop of idols and a fresh batch of songs for rock starved teens  1957 Clark found photogenic, well-groomed Italian teens, promoted them on his television show  During the late 1950s, rock and roll fans either lost or rejected their heroes  Founded “American Bandstand”

Lost Idols  Little Richard: Renounced his bracelets and wild parties for the ministry of the Church Was supposed to be on a plane that crashed. Walked away from rock and roll after his tour finished “This is it. I am through. I am leaving show business to go back to God. If you want to live for the Lord, you can’t rock and roll too. God doesn’t like it.”

Jerry Lee Lewis  22 year old Lewis married his 13 year old third cousin  “I know lots of people married to 13 year olds”  Marriage caused promoters to cancel 27 shows in 1957  Heckled at his final show  M M

Elvis  In 1958, Elvis entered the armed forces for 2 years  Spent his time in Germany and refused to sing for the army  Met his future wife there  When he was discharged in 1960, he concentrated his efforts on motion pictures and only in 1968 returned to the stage 

Chuck Berry  1959, forced from the music scene by a ruling from a federal court (served time in jail)  14 year old girl accused Berry of transporting her from Texas to St. Louis for immoral purposes 

The Day the Music Died  February 3 rd, 1959  Plane crash carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper crashes in a snow storm  All very young, promising stars

La Bamba

 1) La Bamba  2) Death Announcement:  

Buddy Holly  Born Lubbock, Texas  Career only lasted 1 ½ years  Inspired the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and many more  Chartered the plane that crashed  Hits included: Everyday, Not Fade Away, That’ll Be the Day, Peggy Sue, Oh Boy, Rave On  Listening Log: BPWc BPWc

American Pie  A long long time ago I can still remember how That music used to make me smile And I knew if I had my chance That I could make those people dance And maybe they'd be happy for a while But February made me shiver With every paper I'd deliver Bad news on the doorstep I couldn't take one more step I can't remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride But something touched me deep inside The day the music died A long long time ago

Booming Teen Market  Lots of teens with lots of money to spend  Just needed an excuse to spend it  Record sales in the US went from $189 million to $600 million in less than a decade  Rock and Roll swept not only the nation, but the world (Australia, England, India, Germany  album-sales-data-in-one-handy-chart/ album-sales-data-in-one-handy-chart/  ction=read&artid=615 ction=read&artid=615

American Bandstand  Started out as “Bandstand” in Philadelphia…spread quickly across the nation  150 teens danced to the popular hits of the time on TV  Teens would race home to watch the newest dance crazes  Dance along with the show  Brought a clean cut image to Rock and Roll that didn’t exist before…became more acceptable

Dance Fads  Clarke and American Bandstand marketed a number of dances that became very popular… The Twist The Hucklebuck The Pony The Limbo The Mashed Potato Video Clips: Bandstand BandstandBandstand

The Payola Investigation  Payola = “Pay for Play”  Was an accepted practice in the industry  Began in TV with contestants getting quiz answers in advance for money  Investigations focused on Disc Jockeys who played Rock and Roll  DJ’s were given cars and cash to play certain records over others  Many were fired (Dick Clarke was not)   