Thread by @bryanbehar

Did you know there was a week when Chuck Berry had the number 1 song in US, Elvis Presley was number 2, and Rick Nelson was 7? And this wasn’t 1957. It was October... 1972! Thus began my daylong deep dive into the the 50s Rock and Roll Revival of the 70s.

stereogum.com/2035317/the-nu…

The deep-dive included usual suspects like American Graffiti, Grease, Happy Days, Sha Na Na @ Woodstock, Elvis comeback special. But also included the Richard Nader revival shows that started at Felt Forum but grew to sell out Madison Square Garden.

I was even shocked to learn that there are other people equally obsessed with the topic who best me to it. Bless them. scrammagazine.com/2016/02/25/yes…

Here’s another fascinating essay, not by me, on the proliferation of pre-Beatles nostalgia and revivalism in the 1970s.powerpop.blog/2018/10/16/the…

Did you also know that in 1971, KOOL FM in Phoenix became the first station to program an Oldies format? Prior to that, stations only played current hits of the day. And besides some syndicated packages, this was 1st station to find value in pre 1964 nostalgia.

Or that Barry Hansen, in 1968, prior to adopting the Dr. Demento moniker, was the first person to release an oldies collection entitled Doo Wop.

Also in ‘68, Frank Zappa released a satiric send-up of early rock and roll love songs with Cruising with Ruben & the Jets.

And the end of 1968 brought the Elvis Comeback Special. It was the King’s 1st live performance in 7 years. It was the highest rated show of that year. And it marked a rerun of Old Elvis, playing his 12-13 classics. In contrast to both Movie Elvis & his late 60s musical peers.

And the pre-British Invasion rock and roll progenitors besides Elvis also began waging their comebacks around 68/69. Like the release of decidedly un-1968 Fats is Back by Fats Domino.

What could be more anachronistic or symptomatic of a burgeoning re-examination than Sha Na Na at Woodstock in 1969?

Based on the success of the 69 and 70 NYC shows, Richard Nader put together massively successful early rock and roll packages nationwide.

In the 70s, Lennon released Rock and Roll, covers of his early rock influence. Ringo covered You’re 16. The Beach Boys Endless Summer basically pretended their career Pet Sounds on never happened & reveled in their pre-65 “safer” heyday.

As discussed elsewhere, Capitol capitalized on 50s nostalgia craze, releasing Rock ‘n’ Roll music. This collection focused only on Beatles 50s style rockers, ignoring experimental Beatles. Even used 50s iconography like juke boxes and malt shops that apparently made band irate.

Happy Days, Grease, and American Graffiti weren’t the only pieces that paid homage to 50s greaser and hot rodder culture. Here is The Lords of Flatbush from 1974 about 1958. Today’s equivalent would be a movie about 2005.

Another example of the nostalgia craze: A full side of the Carpenters 1973 Now & Then is devoted to a medley of pre-British Invasion pop.

Here’s one of the spearheads of the fifties revival- The Broadway musical, Grease. First appearing in 1971, it’s story about Rydell High was set in 1959. Only 12 years earlier! But seemingly worlds from the present cultural strife and “heavy” music of the era.

What purportedly blew up the nostalgia mania was the massive success of American Graffiti, both the film & the soundtrack. Although set in 1962, the film was decidedly late 50s in spirit as were many of the featured songs on the 3 million selling soundtrack.

If memory serves, the unexpected success of American Graffiti also revived interest in TV’s Happy Days which had been a failed back door pilot on ABC’s Love American Style. I might have the chronology wrong, but I’m too tired to verify. 😎

Other 70s examples of 50s fetishism included Don McClean’s American Pie about the day the music died. The Buddy Holly Story that Gary Busey was Oscar nominated for. And mid 70s number ones by pre-64 icons Frankie Valli and Neil Sedaka.

And to tie this all together, Rick Nelson wrote Garden Party, the top ten single we began with, about appearing at one of Richard Nader’s early Rock and Roll revival shows.

And finally, the Toronto Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival of 1969. One of the first gigs to mix modern heavy acts like John Lennon & Alice Cooper w oldies legends like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, & Gene Vincent.

And here are the Four Season, inexplicably back at number one, in March of 1976. They had last hit number one w Rag Doll in 1964. Though Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You was a solo Frankie Valli #2 in 1967.

Similarly, 1974’s Having My Baby was Paul Anka’s first number one since Lonely Boy in 1959.

And 1974 was also sweet to a Neil Sedaka comeback. His chart success dried up by ‘64. Then beginning in 74, he hit number 1 with Laughter in the Rain & Bad Blood. Plus he wrote 1975’s biggest single Love Will Keep Us Together by Captain & Tennille.

And even Elvis Presley still had two top 20 singles in the US. In 1974. It wasn’t all Grand Funk Railroad, folks.

As one of you kindly reminded me, there was also the mini-trend of 70s teen idols doing early 60s covers. Like Donny Osmond covering Steve Lawrence.

And Shaun Cassidy even more famously covering The Crystals.

It’ll take a much longer essay to answer “why.” But Vietnam, Watergate, Kent State, campus unrest, drug culture & psychedelic or acid music likely all fueled nostalgia for safer, cozier pre-counter cultural late 50s/early 60s. Now, every generation is nostalgic for earlier eras.

Not quite the same, but the Hollies biggest smash was in 1974. Obviously, they hit post-Beatles. But other than Beatles-Who-Kinks-Stones, none of the British Invasion 1st wave were still relevant by the late 60s.

We’ve subsequently had La Bamba and Great Balls of Fire (not to mention Backbeat, Rocket Man, Bohemian Rhapsody). But pre 1978’s Buddy Holly Story, I don’t remember example of a rock & roller being considered worthy of a big screen hagiography.

So if people in the early 70s were so unsettled by social & cultural dislocation that they were nostalgic for the late 50s, what does it say about me that, in 2021, I’m clearly nostalgic for the 50s revivalism of the 1970s? Oy veysmir.

Plus, we could do an entire essay on Springsteen trying to recreate Spector’s wall of sound & the feeling of Crystals records. And the Ramones trying to recapture & recontextualize early rock n roll/girl group/ surf music. Lot of post 75 was about rediscovering pre 64.

Another sub-topic: how forgotten early rock and rollers were by 1960. Chuck Berry. Little Richard. Fats Domino. Bill Haley. Jerry Lee Lewis. Carl Perkins. Gene Vincent. Eddie Cochran. All essentially forgotten but for Elvis. That’s how quickly pop culture was moving.

1960: Elvis is back from the army. He still had number ones. But other than he and the Drifters, nobody from fifties rock and roll was still topping the Hot 100. In 1960! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_B…

A recent podcast I heard suggested that teens in the late fifties no longer would listen to rock and roll as they turned 20 in early 60s. Too juvenile & teen. This opened market for folk craze of early 1960s-for those who aged out of rock & roll.

By ‘78, you had biopics based loosely on Alan Freed.

You had Grease the movie. With a new number one single by Frankie Valli as the theme. And appearances by Frankie Avalon, Edd Byrnes, Sid Caesar & Eve Arden. Pre-Beatles era was rehabilitated and celebrated.

Even Animal House, another ‘78 release was set in ‘62. And the soundtrack featured Sam Cooke, Bobby Lewis, and Paul & Paula.

By ‘79, you had the Wanderers set in ‘63. This soundtrack was loaded with 4 Seasons, Dion, Angels, Shirelles, Contours, Ben E. King.

Even Lenny Kaye’s essential Nuggets compilation was part of this nostalgic rehabilitation, as he was the first to assemble and give importance to largely forgotten garage/ proto-punk numbers of the mid to late 60s.

Beyond the aforementioned covers & career resuscitations, how about 70s hits done in decidedly un-modern 50s rockabilly style. Here’s Billy Swan’s I Can Help. It went to number one in July 74. The album included Don’t Be Cruel & Shake Rattle & Roll covers!

Before that, in 1970, Dave Edmunds took his cover of Smiley Lewis’ 1955 I Hear You Knocking to Number 1 in the UK & Number 4 in the US.

Also in 1970, you had CCR covering Roy Orbison’s Ooby Dooby after covering Suzie Q the year earlier. In fact, their sound had way more in common w 50s rock n roll than with the acid rock prevalent at the moment. More Roy than Iron Butterfly or Vanilla Fudge to be sure.

As a fan of early 80s rockabilly, namely the Stray Cats & the Blasters, this revival felt unique— a separate throwback to 50s rock n roll— and not an extension of the seventies-long fascination with fifties culture.

Then there was the embrace of pre-Beatles rock & rock icons by the new breed of 70s rockers. Springsteen wrote this song that became a smash for Gary US Bonds in 1981.

Jackson Browne went to number 20 w his cover of Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs’ 1960 hit Stay.

And beyond playing Woodstock, Sha Na Na also got their own hit syndicated tv show that ran for 4 seasons.

Listening to Sha Na Na now. Post Beatles on Ed Sullivan, it’s inconceivable to imagine anyone dressed as greasers in leather playing rock & roll. That’s ‘64. So by ‘69 @ Woodstock, their attire had to be played for comic shock value.

The Beatles, Ringo in particular, were irked that this hits package tried marketing them as a 50s rock combo, essentially whitewashing anything Rubber Soul & beyond. Capitol did same with Beach Boys & Endless Summer. Only featuring safer “oldies.”

We’ve already covered Lennon’s 1975 Rock and Roll album. His 1980 #1 comeback single Just like Starting Over was done in a faux Elvis/ Orbison style. And in the Stripped Down version, he’s even heard saying “This one’s for Gene & Eddie & Elvis & Buddy.”

Lennon in 1975 doing early rock and roll covers, including That’ll Be the Day, Stand by Me, Ain’t that a Shame, and Do You Want to Dance. Literally everyone was hearkening back to pre Beatles era. Even Beatles.