Alan Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965), also known as Moondog, was an American disc jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll. His career was destroyed by the payola scandal that hit the broadcasting industry in the early 1960’s. (More from Wikipedia)
Chuck Berry also starred in two early rock and roll movies, Rock Rock Rock (1956) and Go, Johnny, Go! (1959, with the film name taken from a line in “Johnny B. Goode”). In the latter film, Berry appeared with the early rock and roll DJ and impresario Alan Freed. I believe I saw Go, Johnny, Go! many years ago, and I recall (perhaps incorrectly) that Berry was the only African-American in the whole movie, though he never looked out of place.
Chuck Berry had previously been a part of Alan Freed’s touring “Biggest Show of Stars for 1957” that had a truly amazing lineup: Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, LaVern Baker, Eddie Cochran, the Spaniels, the Drifters, Clyde McPhatter, Paul Anka, Frankie Lymon, and others.
* * *
Ritchie Valens released just two 45’s but still showed incredible versatility. His first, “Come On, Let’s Go” is now regarded as a straight-up rock and roll classic, but it failed to chart. Writing in 1998, Billy Vera recalls “first hearing [“Come On, Let’s Go”] on Alan Freed’s TV Dance Party, a local New York equivalent of Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. It was a record which really grabbed my teenaged ears. I had never heard anything quite like it. It had a much ‘thicker’ sound than anything by Elvis, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent or even Eddie Cochran. For thickness, the only thing that came close was Bo Diddley.”
(June 2013/1)
* * *
Bobby Darin took his first hit song, “Splish Splash” to #3 in the nation, and it was a major boost for his career.
This was in the days of the “payola” scandals, where disc jockeys and others were secretly paid under the table to promote and play particular songs so that they would become hit records. Once a practice that was winked at, the traditional music establishment began a crusade against payola in an attempt to derail the newly popular rock and roll music, and it very nearly worked. Major figures who were caught up in the scandal included Alan Freed, one of the country’s most prominent DJ’s who played a major role in popularizing rock music (and is one of several who claimed to have coined the term “rock and roll”), and Dick Clark, though he was more cooperative in the investigations and was able to preserve his reputation (not to mention his job).
(April 2015/1)
