|
|
The Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Music Played by Biggest Rock 'n' Roll Groups This Side of Heaven!
Show One: "Rock, Rock, Rock!"
Made in 1956, this small-scale look at the new phenomenon of Rock & Roll takes a page from the books of many of the big scale musicals made by Hollywood studios. Like them, the musical performances more than make up for the thin plot or any weak dialogue. The biggest bonus is the last half of the film is all music, when Alan Freed brings his show to the hero's prom. Before the advent of music videos promoting record sales, this film is essentially a 76-minute commercial for the top Rock 'n' Roll and R&B artists of the decade. Starring Alan Freed (at the peak of his power as the man who coined the term "Rock 'n' Roll") it also marks the screen debut of Tuesday Weld - her singing was actually the angelic voice of Connie Francis. On Screen performances include those from Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, The Johnny Burnette Trio, LaVern Baker and The Freed Band.
Show Two: "The Alan Freed Story"
The dean of rock music historians. Michael Ochs, describes the innocence of the early Alan Freed concerts when 500f the audience was black and 50% white. He chronicles the rise and fall of Freed as the voice of Rock 'n' Roll and the payola scandal the ended the deejay's career. Veteran musician Red Halloway speaks of America's narrow-mindedness when radio stations across the country decided to destroy records of this Rock and R&B music they considered to be damaging to the morals of American's teenagers. Cornelius Grant, Motown's Music Director for Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells and The Temptations, credits Alan Freed with giving legitimacy to R&B by taking it to the mass music market, dubbing it Rock 'n' Roll. Singer Bobby Vinton describes how records were turned into hits in the early days of the Rock Era.
In 1986 Alan Freed was among the original Inductees to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. In 1991, Freed received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
