62 min listen
Episode 15: Slouching Towards Bethlehem
ratings:
Length:
86 minutes
Released:
Mar 6, 2018
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
An impressionistic look at the interplay of Rock N Roll and Culture in Los Angeles during the latter half of the 1960s. There are familiar elements: storytelling, critical discussion and commentary, and lots of Rock N Roll attitude. But this one is different from most of our previous RNRAP offerings.
Released:
Mar 6, 2018
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (34)
Episode 4: The Change of the Guard: The Sixties are about to begin and we’re feeling the change of the guard. We briefly recap the first Golden Age of Rock N Roll: 1956 to 1959. A lot happened, and fast. Too fast to last. We skid perilously into a new decade. As we open the sixties, all the big players are offstage, and a lot of folks are saying Rock N Roll is dead. We open in a police station in St. Louis, and Chuck Berry is in big trouble with the law. We detail Chuck’s legal fight to its conclusion in early ’63. We also catch up with the disc jockey Alan Freed, who is going through some legal problems of his own—legal problems that are part of a larger story. We take a look at the state of mainstream popular music in 1960. It’s grim. But the R&B charts are looking good, lots of great songs and artists. Black America is reasserting itself musically. We will get to that…but first, Rock N Roll is about to become BIG Business. So we unpack that a little bit, and devote a big part of the by Rock N Roll Archaeology