The Teen Market: From Bandstand to Girl Groups History of Rock and Roll Chpt. 3.

The Teen Market: From Bandstand to Girl Groups

History of Rock and Roll Chpt. 3

Lost Idols

• Elvis – in the army

• Jerry Lee Lewis – 13-year-old cousin scandal

• Buddy Holly – Tragically killed

• Little Richard – joined a religious sect

• Chuck Berry – arrested and standing trial

The Booming Teen Market

• Record sales in 1950 skyrocketed from $189 million to $600 million in 1960

• Mail-order clubs replaced stores

Record Labels

• 5,000 Record labels competed for a share of the market

• 4 major labels racked up about 75% of total sales– RCA Victor – Columbia – Decca – Capitol

Dick Clark

• Marketing Genius • Born in upstate New York in 1929• Attended Syracuse University • Studied advertising & radio • 1951: part time announcer for WOLF• Worked with his father, station manager at WRUN • Accepted a job at WFIL in Philadelphia

Philadelphia Bandstand

• Showcased local high school students dancing to popular hit records.

• At first didn’t understand rock and roll

• “The more I heard the music, the more I enjoyed it; the more I enjoyed it, the more I understood the kids…I knew that if I could tune into them and keep myself on the show, I could make a great deal of money.”

From Philadelphia to America

• Bandstand was nationally televised as American Bandstand, on August 5, 1957

• 67 stations • 8 million viewers • 90 minutes every weekday and 30 minutes on

Monday night • 150 teenagers in the studio audience

American Bandstand

American Bandstand

Dick Clark & American Bandstand

• Bandstand brought a respectability to rock-and-roll that had not existed with the suggestive, greasy rockabillies.

• Dick Clark portrayed a prim, clean-cut image

• Dancers mirrored that image

• Strict dress code enforced

No Sex on Band Stand• Refused to say

“going steady” • Banned the Alligator

and Dog dances because they were “too sexy”

Dick Clark

Dick Clark brings in the new year

April 18th, 2012

Clark’s Creations

• Fabian – a lip-synching Elvis look alike • Frankie Avalon – trumpet playing regular on

American Bandstand • Bobby Rydell – a teenage version of an Italian

crooner • Chubby Checkers – popularized an

international dance craze: “The Twist”

The Twist

• “you put one foot out and pretend you’re stubbing out a cigarette butt on the floor with the big toe. At the same time, you move your hands and body as though you’re drying every inch of your back with an invisible towel. That’s the twist.”

The Twist Craze

• Twist With B.B. King • The Isley Brothers • Twist and Shout • Twist with Bobby Darin • Sam Cooke’s Twistin the Night Away • Twistin with Duane Eddy

Other dances

• Hucklebuck • The Pony • The Limbo • The Fly • The Fish • The Bristol Stomp • Mashed Potato

The Payola Investigation• “play for pay” • Started with an admittance to accepting answers in

advance as a contestant on NBC’s “Twenty-One” quiz show

• CBS eliminated all quiz shows – Quiz Kids– Stop the Music – The $64,000 Question (most popular show in America)

• NBC canceled: – Tic Tac Dough – The Price is Right

Payola Investigation Cont.

• Spread to the music industry with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) against Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)

• Protected artists who wrote their own music • Also to limit broadcast stations from playing

only rock-and-roll and to prevent them from not playing it at all.

Payola Investigation Cont.

• Also went after disc jockeys who received payment for playing records.

• Dick Clark was called “the top dog in the payola field” and his investigation was called “Clarkola”

• In 1960 Clark went before the House committee and plead not guilty and was found as such.