On This Day – Don’t Knock The Rock
Oct 12, 2011 On This Day
On this day in 1957 (no I don’t remember it) A film called “Don’t Knock The Rock” opened.
In the late 50s and during the 60s rock was regarded with suspicion (to say the least) by the establishment. As a consequence films trying to show the positive side of real rock and blues tried to make rock ‘comfy and non threatening. Some Hopes.
This film was in that tradition. The star was Alan Dale, and the plot is pretty flimsy. AD is a rock star who returns to his hometown to rest. He is dismayed to discover that the responsible adults have banned Rock & Roll in the local theatres. To show that Rock is a positive thing he enlists his friend Alan Freed to show that Rock is A Good Thing. Not so much the plot thickens as the plot sickens. Anyway, film makers wanted to cash in on Rock in those days and this type of rubbish plot was common.
I can not help thinking of some film in the 60s during which one of the characters shouts “Hey Kids! Why don’t we put on a show?” The kids then clean up an old theatre, put on the show, and prove that Rock is A Good Thing……. I ask you, urgh.
Back to Don’t Knock the Rock. It also included the usual suspects, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Dave Appell, and the Applejacks. Perhaps the most interesting of the acts to take part in the customary show in the film were The Treniers. They were a teen beat combo, as Zappa might have said, R&B when R&B was R&B. They recorded some fantastic stuff that certainly helped lay the foundations for Rock and Roll. Their Rock-A-Beatin’ Boogie still stands up. It was written by Bill Haley, but none the worse for that.
Tags: alan freed, Bill Haley & His Comets, classic rock music, love rock music, On This Day, real rock and blues, rock and blues, the treniers
On This day – The Payola Scandal Made Public
Oct 6, 2010 On This Day
On This day in 1958 Billboard ran an article attacking the practice of accepting money to play certain records on the radio. The term used was ‘payola’ a combination of ‘pay’ and ‘victrola’ (Victrola was a line of phonographs originally introduced by RCA Victor in 1906 that continued until 1970).
The article went on to say “payola, that under-the-turntable device whereby record companies win plugs and influence disc jockeys, is fast growing into a monster that may yet destroy its creators. According to key record execs, jockey payola is so widespread that it’s no longer possible to measure its effectiveness.”
The scandal would grow and ultimately it would destroy the career of the most famous DJ of them all Alan Freed. Strangely, although the practice was rife Freed was the only high profile DJ that was prosecuted. In November 1959 he was served with a subpoena to appear in front of the New York DA.
He was asked by WABC, for whom he worked, to sign a statement that he had not been paid to play plug records. In response Freed said that he had only received money for acting as a consultant for various parties, not for pluging records. He was sacked both his radio and TV shows.
I have some sympathy for Freed. He was a scapegoat, especially when you remember that he was charged with something that was not illegal until 1960 although his offences happened in 1959. When the trial came to court Freed pleaded guilty to 26 charges and was fined $300 with a suspended sentence. Hardly a huge penalty but his career was ruined. He died in 1965 broke, unemployed and suffering from cirrhosis of the liver.
On the other hand, some of the practices at the time were very suspect. For example, Freed had co-writing credits on ‘Mayballene’ the Chuck Berry song, he never had a hand in writing it. The point is that as co-writer he received royalties from plays and sales. That gave rise to a conflict of interest for him. To play it (and others) on his very popular show or not?
Obviously, there is no questionable methods used to promote songs or artists these days……………..
Tags: alan freed, chuck berry, love rock music, On This Day, payola, real rock and blues, rock and blues
