Steve Chapple & Reebee Garofalo's `Rock'N'Roll Is Here To Pay' Book Revisited: Part 3

In their 1977 book, Rock'N'Roll Is Here To Pay: The History and Politics of the Music, Steve Chapple & Reebee Garofalo recalled the pre-1977 history and politics of the U.S. corporate rock music industry in the following way:

"Shortly after their introduction to America in 1964, the Beatles re-released such classics as `Roll Over Beethoven' by Chuck Berry, `Twist and Shout' by Isley Brothers, Barrett Strong's `Money', the Shirelles' `Boys', `Long Tall Sally' by Little Richard. Similarly, the Animals brought back Ray Charles's `Hit the Road Jack' (written by Mayfield) and Sam Cooke's `Shake'. The Rolling Stones did Rufus Thomas's `Walking the Dog,' `Hitchhike' by Marvin Gaye, a number of Chuck Berry tunes including `Carol', `Talking About You', and `Around and Around'...

"...The Beatles along with the dozens of other English groups that quickly followed them were...more marketable than the black artists they imitated....Black acts in general showed a sharp decline on the singles chart from an all-time high of 42 percent in 1962 to 22 percent in 1966...On the album charts, only 3 of the Top 50 LPs for the year 1964 and 1965 were by black artists...Virtually the only black music on white radio, during this period, was produced out of Motown...It is hard to imagine Eric Clapton being...criticized for playing blues guitar if he were not making millions off his music, while the bluesmen whose licks he copied are starving to death...

"In the early sixties women became a recognized trend in rock'n'roll for the first time. Female vocal groups...began to hit the top of the charts. In addition to the Orlons, the Crystals, the Sensations, the Chiffons, the Essex, the Ronnettes, and the Jaynettes, there were the Shangri-Las and the Dixie Cups, and the Motown groups--the Marvelettes, the Supremes, and Martha and the Vandellas...

"...The female vocal groups were pushed from the charts...when the Beatles crashed onto the scene in 1964-65...The...popularity of the Beatles was the single greatest force responsible for the decline of women on the charts in the mid-sixties...In 1969, one of the great years for hard rock, there were fewer women on the year-end single charts than at any time since World War II. The situation for both women album and singles artists was even worse than it had been at the end of 1966, during the height of the British invasion..."

 

Steve Chapple & Reebee Garofalo's `Rock'N'Roll Is Here To Pay' Book Revisited: Part 2

In their 1977 book, Rock'N'Roll Is Here To Pay: The History and Politics of the Music, Steve Chapple & Reebee Garofalo characterized and recalled the pre-1977 history and politics of Rolling Stone magazine and the U.S. corporate rock music industry in the following way:

"Rolling Stone...plays down or ignores any political movements outside of the two party system or not backed by some sector of American business...The magazine could not be as large...as it is without the large volume of music industry advertising it carries...The record companies are linked in with big business in the United States. There are no indications from the parent firms, the separate power of the record divisions within the parent firms, or `youth' businesses like Rolling Stone that any of them will be responsible for, or support, fundamental political change in the United States...

"Big Mama Thornton recorded `Hound Dog' three years before Elvis Presley, and according to her the song sold over 2 million copies. But as to her royalties she says, `I got one check for $500 and I never seen another.' Presley also recorded `That's All Right,' written by Arthur `Big Boy' Crudup. Though the song was a big hit for Presley, Crudup was reputed to have received nothing more than an appreciative plaque from Presley and his manager.

"Another tactic used against black music was `cover versions' of black hits...The Beatles' version of `Twist and Shout' and `Roll Over Beethoven'...cam several years after the originals, but reproduce them note for note with identical vocal style and arrangement...In the 1950s covers were used by major companies to recover the inroads r&b made into the white audience of the time...

"Several dozen songs were...covered by the majors in the early years of rock'n'roll. RCA began by covering `Kokomo' by Gene and Eunice with a version by Perry Como. Columbia covered the same song with a version by Tony Bennett...Mercury's Crew Cuts...did a cover of the Chords' `Sh'Boom' (originally on Atlantic's Cat label) that became the fifth best-selling pop song of 1954. They pillaged the r&b list after `Sh' Boom; covering hits like Nappy Brown's `Don't Be Angry' (Savoy), the Charms' `Gum Drop (Deluxe), and the Penguins' `Earth Angel.' Mercury's Georgia Gibbs covered Etta James's `Wallflower' with a cleaned up version called `Dance with Me Henry.'...Decca used the McGuire Sisters (on their Coral subsidiary) to cover the Moonglow's `Sincerely' (Chess) and made it the #7 best-selling pop song in 1955, along with their cover of Joe Turner's `Shake, Rattle, and Roll.'

"Pat Boone...built his reputation...by covering black rhythm and blues tunes. His label, Dot, was the most successful company at the practice. Boone recorded `Ain't That A Shame' (Fats Domino), `i Almost Lost My Mind' (The Harptones) and `Tutti-Frutti' (Little Richard), among others."

Did` Folk Capitalist' Musicians Make Big Money By Ripping Off Non-Commercially-Created Folk Songs in 1950s and 1960s?

Most African-American and white working-class people and rural folks, who either collectively built anti-corporate movements for radical democratic change and economic equality in the USA or collectively created most U.S. folk songs prior to the late 1950s, never made a lot of money from either their Movement work or their writing of non-commercially-motivated folk songs, which generally reflected the anti-capitalist sentiments and concerns of the Movement.

Yet some "folk capitalist" and commercially-oriented musicians in the late 1950s and early 1960s apparently made a lot of money from their involvement in the commodification of folk music by for-profit U.S. corporate music industry vinyl record production and distributions companies, like Capitol Records, etc. In his 2013 book, Folk Music USA: The Changing Voice of Protest, Ronald Lankford Jr. recalled what happened, for example, after the Kingston Trio recorded "Tom Dooley;" and their version of a traditional folk song about the hanging of a convicted murderer was aired by some radio station DJs in the USA:

"...`Tom Dooley' started generating thousands of dollars in royalties each week...[Kingston Trio members] Guard, Shane and Reynolds discovered that you could make $30,000 [equal to over $240,000 in 2018] a week from the royalties of one folk song...By December of 1959, the Kingston Trio had 4 albums on the Top Ten chart at the same time, giving the green light to major labels...: Folk music could be obscenely profitable...The commercial record labels...confused the public by promoting pop-folk as the real thing...

"...Popular folk performers made money faster than their accountants could find tax shelters to hide it in...The Kingston Trio...averaged between $8,000 and $12,000 [equal to over $65,000 to over $97,000 in 2018]  per show and another $6,000 [ equal to over $48,000 in 2018] per week in record sales, netting...$1.7 million in 1962 [equal to over $13.8 million in 2018] and accounting for 12 percent of Capitol's annual sales. The Limeliters tagged behind, making...$3,000 to $5,000 [equal to over $24,000 to over $40,000 in 2018] per week, though they tried to make up the income gap by singing...for Ford Motor Company and Folger's Coffee. Peter, Paul and Mary received $30,000 [equal to over $240,000 in 2018] after signing with Warner...By 1961, folk music...was...something you invested in like stocks and bonds...The Limeliters...turned `Things Go Better With Coke' into a...hit, and attempted to convince the public of the rich flavor of L and M cigarettes. The Kingston Trio...donned sailor suits and boarded a whaling yacht to sell 7-Up...Schlitz paid the Journeymen $25,000 [equal to over $206,000 in 2018] for a year's worth of jingles, while American Express...also engaged the group to cut an ad..."

Paul Robeson's November 5, 1951 Conference for Equal Rights for Negroes in the Arts, Sciences and Professions Speech Revisited

In a November 5, 1951 speech to the Conference for Equal Rights for Negroes in the Arts, Sciences and Professions, U.S. protest folk singer and civil rights/anti-war movement activist Paul Robeson said the following:

"One great creation, modern popular music, whether it be in theatre, film, radio, records--wherever it may be--is almost completely based upon the Negro idiom. There is no leading American singer, performer of popular songs, whether it be a Crosby, a Sinatra, a Shore, a Judy Garland, an Ella Logan, who has not listened (and learned) by the hour to Holiday, Waters, Florence Mills, to Bert Williams, to Fitzgerald, and to the greatest of all, Bessie Smith. Without these models, who would ever have heard of a Tucker, a Jolson, a Cantor?....

"...Whence stems even Gershwin? From the music of Negro America joined with the ancient Hebrew idiom. Go and listen to some of the great melodies. Here again is a great American composer, deeply rooted, whether he knew it or not, in an African tradition, a tradition very close to his own heritage.

"I speak very particularly of this popular form. This is very important to the Negro artists, because billions, literally billions of dollars, have been earned and are being earned from their creations, and the Negro people have received almost nothing.

"At another stage of the arts there is no question, as one goes about the world, of the contribution of the Negro folk songs, of the music that sprang from my forefathers in their struggle for freedom--not songs of contentment--but songs like `Go Down Moses' that inspired Harriet Tubman, John Brown, and Sojourner Truth to fight for emancipation...

"...What heartbreak for every Negro composer! Publishing houses taking his songs for nothing and making fortunes...

"...You know, the people created our art in the first place.

"Haydn with his folk songs--the people made it up in the first place...

"So, in the end, the culture which we deal comes from the people..."