Gimmickry and popular music have been interwoven since the beginning. For reasons I don’t quite understand, I can watch cheesy television and movies in large binges but when the fromage factor enters the musical world, I tend to become a bit of a music snob, so if it ever seems at times like I am getting on a high horse, it’s because I probably am.[1]
Pop music also reflects fads, be it musical or anything else in the pantheon of pop culture and in 1956 that was what most people thought Rock and Roll was, a fad. As such, we have our first song to hit the top with the words “Rock and Roll” in the title and it is coincidentally the first novelty song that will be discussed.
There is a good chance that you are not familiar with the “Rock and Roll Waltz” or even Kay Starr for that matter. Frankly, I was barely aware of her myself but as I looked more into her career, I found myself wearing my music snob costume less and less as the music she would not become famous for in her early years was far superior in comparison to what she would strike gold with.[2]
Starr was an accomplished jazz singer and no less than Billie Holiday paid her the ultimate compliment when she said that she was “the only white woman who could sing the blues.” I tried to come up with a modern analogy, but I am writing this in the mid 2010’s where there are quite a few white people who can rap, but there is nothing I can think of that comes close.[3]
She would foray into the pop music of the day and in 1951, she would have a monster hit called “Wheel of Fortune” which had the musical barometer not changed so drastically would have likely been considered a classic today. That was Starr’s first number one hit, her second was the song was “Rock and Roll Waltz”, which despite the first half of the name, was anything but Rock and Roll.
This is not so much a knock on Starr, as she, like so many others in early 1956 she didn’t know that Rock was here to stay. Lyrically the song discussed what was presumably that of a teenage girl coming home from a date catching her parents’ dance to a rock and roll record, but doing so in the style of a waltz, which was the only style of dance they knew.
Musically, the song did not reflect Rock at all, and was actually in a waltz style (though it did have a decent bass line) and while it was a cute song about generation gaps, it may have caused future issues for Starr. While the song was tongue in cheek, depending on your point of view, the song appeared to trash the burgeoning Rock and Roll movement. Now why I don’t think that was Kay Starr’s, or even the song’s intention, it didn’t matter. The song, which talked about a generational gap, now placed the thirty something Starr on the wrong side of cool and likely by no coincidence, she would never come close to this level of success again.
Video may have killed the Radio Star, but Rock and Roll would eventually kill Kay Starr.[4]
Other Notable Songs that charted but did not go to number one in this time period: March 2, 1956 – March 23, 1956
3/17/56: Devil or Angel by The Clovers did not chart on the Top 100 but did go to #3 on the R&B Chart.
3/17/56: I’ll Be Home by The Flamingoes did not chart on the Top 100 but did peak at #5 on the R&B Chart.
[1] I am going to ask you to remember that, as that will happen often here.
[2] Here is my favorite example from this century; The Black Eyed Peas, who put out far superior efforts prior to Fergie joining the group, though not very many people bought their albums. The same was true for Starr, only Stacy Ferguson had nothing to do with her selling out.
[3] Congratulations white people. We have come a long way since Vanilla Ice, but no, Iggy Azalea does not count.
[4] Yes! I worked in the Buggles twenty five years early!
Comments powered by CComment