The History of Rock & Roll, Volume 1 by Ed Ward

Author:Ed Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flatiron Books

chapter twelve

1960: OLDIES, NEWIES, AND PAYOLA

Two faces of the new pop enjoy adult beverages: Jackie Wilson and Bobby Darin.

(Donaldson Collection/photo by PoPsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

In the last weeks of 1959, Atlantic released a single by Ray Charles. “I’m Movin’ On” was a country tune, originally recorded by Hank Snow in 1950, but it wasn’t surprising that Charles would know it; early in his career he’d found himself stranded in Seattle, where the only musical work he could get was as a pianist with a country band, and besides, in those days there was no black radio to speak of, and plenty of black Southerners gathered to listen to the Grand Ole Opry when its broadcasts came on. But, whether intentionally or not, the record had a message: in 1960, Ray Charles would be moving on, to a new contract that Atlantic couldn’t—and wouldn’t—attempt to match, from ABC-Paramount. He was guaranteed $50,000 a year, the ability to pick his own material (and his own publishing firm for original and contracted material), and a 75–25 split with Paramount on royalties; only a record company that had a huge network and a major film studio behind it could afford to take a mere 25 percent. Atlantic had been outbid on Elvis, and now they’d been outbid on a star they’d brought to prominence through hard work and support during the hard times. Business was business, though. It was just that Atlantic would have to find a new star of Ray Charles’s magnitude—a tall order. For the moment, though, they still had great stuff by him in the can, and would leak it out bit by bit during the year.

Nor was Brother Ray the only star looking for greener pastures; virtually unnoticed in Billboard’s back pages on December 14 was a short review of a record titled “The Mashed Potatoes” by Nat Kendrick and the Swans. Kendrick, it transpired, was James Brown’s drummer, and James, touring incessantly while waiting for another hit, was becoming as well known for his instrumental numbers like “Night Train” as he was for his vocals. One night at the Palms of Hallandale, a major stop for the band in a Miami suburb, they watched as every single person on the dance floor did an odd dance, seemingly grinding out a cigarette on the floor with one foot while gyrating to the beat. During the break, a fan told them it was the mashed potato, the latest dance craze, and everyone in Florida was doing it. The band worked up an instrumental that you could do the mashed potato to, and James provided encouragement and verbal interjections and learned how to do the dance. As they headed back to Cincinnati to record, they saw other audiences doing it; it was a bona fide trend, and James and the Famous Flames were right on top of it. Syd Nathan, though, hated the number and refused to record it. Well, then, James had something up his sleeve: Henry Stone, a former

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.