ROCK AND ROLL WHAT A HISTORY

This week, January 8, 2010 our weekly speaker John Gregory gave us a history of the musical genre:  Rock and Roll.

John Gregory grew up in Pasadena and has been an Arcadia resident for 32 years. He was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, then an executive for two public TV stations: KCET in Los Angeles and KOCE in Orange County. John formed his own PR firm, Gregory Communications, in Arcadia in 1983 and specializes in coaching executives on public speaking. John obtained his bachelors and master’s degrees in journalism from Northwestern University, served in the Army with the 82nd Airborne Division, and met and married an airline hostess named Elaine. John and Elaine have three married children.

Four years ago, John got the bug to write a book on rock n’ roll history and wound up with a 496-pager whose title describes what’s inside: “Making Music: Unique Ways Songs Became Hits.” John presented a few excerpts from the music of the last fifty years ranging from early rock and roll to bossa nova to hard rock.  The audience gleefully shouted out the names of the songs he played and after each song, John would give a little background about the writers, producers and performers.

Mr. Gregory emphasized that songs are created using metaphors, or symbols on which to base the title or content.  So for instance, the term “Fire” appears in numerous songs written between 1955 and 1999.  As an example he cited “Light My Fire” by Van Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix’ “Fire”.  Another common metaphors found in  songs is the word, “candle”.  An example of the use of that word is “Candle in the Wind” by Elton John, which was issued initially to honor Marilyn Monroe and then at the request of Princess Diana’s family to have a song written for her after passing and to help her charitable foundation.  “Candle In the Wind” was re-written to reference Diana and subsequently sold 14 million copies and produced over $33 million dollars for her favorite charity.

In talking about the Rock and Roll Industry, he cited what was the first rock and roll song, Rocket 88”, which however had little impact on the burgeoning rock and roll industry.  Another song that had a major impact was “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets.  Yet, this was not the progenitor of the industry, it was a song with the quirky title, “Maybelline” by Chuck Berry.  Chuck Berry gave rise to the guitar instrument as a factor in the music and interestingly, the title of the song came from Berry picking up a discarded Maybelline container off the floor.

Payola played a big part in which songs became headliners and best sellers.  Alan Freed made a fortune for three years, before the Feds put a stop to him.

Another big hit was “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley.  The origin for this song came from a suicide at a hotel and really propelled the rock and roll industry to a multi-million dollar status.

The song “Peggy Sue” by Buddy Holley and Crickets started off with the title, “Cindy Lou”.  It became “Peggy Sue”, when the band’s drummer asked Buddy Holley to write a song about his estranged girl friend, Peggy Sue.  The song, “Cindy Lou”, then became “Peggy Sue”.

Mr. Gregory gave a history of the Bossa Nova initial hit, the “Girl From Inpanema”, which was based on an attractive girl walking by Antonio Carlos Jobim.  Saxophone player Stan Getz was invited to Rio Di Janero to hear this song, he recorded it and the rest is history.

Mr. Gregory finished up talking about local talent who performed songs that became famous, Kim Carnes from San Marino, Van Halen, and Sherryl Crow are examples of local performers who wrote critically acclaimed songs.  Mr. Gregory’s book on 690 songs was on each table for purchase.  It was a fun program.