Saturday, August 18, 2012

The Oldies - Jukebox Classics

When I was only knee high to a cow's hoof my family moved to a verrrrrry small town up in Northern California. The town is mostly unimportant, but the fact that it was a rural country town is. As such the inhabitants of that small town listened to quite a bit of country. Garth Brooks in the morning, Garth Brooks in the evening, and then another helping of Garth Brooks during our break at school.

Now you may be thinking, ah, it's a country episode. Well check the title again folks. I grew up, not on country but on Jukebox classics. My mother, the egalitarian woman she is, ha! refused to have country played in her home or in the small cafe she owned. She demanded an entire jukebox be put in the shop, not of current 80's rock or pop music but of Malt shop 50's and 60's Motown.

I learned to dance, not to Pat Benatar, but to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, The Supremes, The Angels and 'My Boyfriend's Back.' I cut my eye teeth on The Big Bopper, Little Richard and Dion and the Belmonts, doo-wop'ing my way back in time.

The upbeat poodle skirt pop rhythms of the day were my basis for my love of music. A fun happy bip bop of bouncing energy or a low sultry sway of warm nights to keep you serene. I was young, so I hadn't yet realized that they were almost entirely sexist or misogynistic but the underlying beat gave me steady rhythm to dance to and allowed me to grow accustomed to moving to songs that were both happy as well as catchy.

Sadly as the years went by it became almost impossible not to listen to the words, and as such of my initial love has since passed with many of the songs such as 'Sha-boom,'"Hang on Sloopy" and 'Wishin' and hopin' that have rather unfortunate views on women. But to this day, even though I can't pull off a pencil skirt to save my life, Rockabilly and the Jukebox Classics are still where my heart lies, and I will still pick up my heels and dance with the best of them when they're played.

One of my favorites in particular will always be Jan and Dean, essentially pre Beach Boys before they were famous. 'Little Old Lady From Pasadena,' will always be a song that makes me smile, simply because it's just so cute. But just as that song makes me smile, 'Dead Man's Curve' does not, as Jan was in an particularly bad car accident a couple years after they became a hit, thus keeping them from ever becoming as famous as they should have been.

A fate Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers know all too well with their "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" hit. But a year after it came out Frankie's voice changed, losing that indescribable draw he had as a young boy. Michael Jackson would continue on from his boyhood career with later fame but Lymon, who was black and had the wonderful audacity to dance with a white girl on live TV would not.

And that's my favorites from the fabulous 50's and 60's folks! Check back next week for an all new genre and all new artists!
Left out but not forgotten:

Santo and Johnny
Thurston Harris
Randy and The Rainbows
Sheb Wooley
Lloyd Price
The Monotones
Jackie Wilson
The Four Tops
Danny and The Juniors
Bobby Day

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