ITT: /mu/ in 1954
>>130964523Guys, the Mitch Miller thread's up!
>>130964531you can't bump your own thread, OP
>>130964555Watch this, Trips boy
What is this strange POC noise and what is it doing in my top 20?
HOL UP, so you be tellin me that Elvis Presley nigga is….a YTBOI???
>>130964601Couldn't be sure either but he mentioned his high school on a radio show so figured he was white.
>>130964619Patti, really, I'm sorry we underestimated you back in '48 but you're kinda starting to get carried away with things by now. Now take your latest million seller and get out from my sight.
Banned from US radio, then released in the UK and goes straight to #1. The Brits inherited rock and roll before we even had it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxYo-gP6sk8
>>130964647>Now take your latest million seller and get out from my sightMercury's not letting up on their ATM machine and there's more big hits yet to come although '54 was probably her absolute apex of popularity, just before the rock era started.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQAewxbjzMs
Attention: Do not play POC records in jukeboxes, places of business, etc. This non-musical jungle noise serves only to turn our young people into crazed sex fiends. Thank you from the White Citizens Council of Birmingham.
Hi.
>>130964692This slaps.>>130964789This however does not.
>>130964789oh, fuck you, Eddie. just...just...fuck you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sft2A4KdzY4
>>130964593although its whitened cover was a bigger success this came in almost explosively in the summer of 54 in between all the orchestral mainstream pop records
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3j1c1nY3a4
>>130964531Looking forward to this one
After nine years it's good to be back. Almost felt like giving up and becoming a secretary somewhere for a while.
>>130964825Why?
>>130964963https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C7SzKv2uLUI gotta laugh at this song because it's so totally a male songwriter's wishful thinking.>implication that any IRL woman would be satisfied with a pat on the head and being told she looks nice instead of expensive bling
>>130964974Good to see Frankie back after the catastrophe that was SADWF.
>>130964974Frank, man, I'm sorry things didn't work out. Really though...
>>130964974Yeah, I’m thinking he’s back.
>Cuckgau admitted this was the first record he ever boughtHa, we knew it all along.
Something's really brewing up down in Memphis fellas
>>130964989He's in a better place now, Mitchell. Which is not singing "Come On A My House" and songs like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyxYwIcs-EEYes, there was a Speedy Gonzalez song long before the Pat Boone one. It's oddly enough not near as tasteless as his was either.
>>130965002at least he was honest. i mean, Frank Zappa bullshitted and claimed he was listening to obscure R&B tunes at 13 when he probably just had a Perry Como record or something.
>>130965048https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TCakAC_PAIThe A-side. Just an average ballad. The candy girl really didn't record much this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3aV9Ux-RvIThe other Kitty, also hailing from Decca.
>>130965175did that come before or after Patti Page's version? i don't remember.
damn you clara
>>130965207that's nothing considering the mucho many Tennessee Waltz covers from 3 years ago and people will continue to cover it later on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rHqV3YMTP8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG5Brc9KrS8This is Jo's last really big hit IIRC.
>>130965313Technically yes this was released in the fall of 54 but it charted mainly in early 55 so I don't count it for the purposes of this thread.
This was the last year where the "old" pop was still dominating the charts before the rock era begins next year.
>>130965360These albums suck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DTCDNK8iYYyes it's Albert's first single, on Parrot and his voice sure did sound a lot different in 54
>>130965368It's all background music to get drunk to.
>>130965351Nuts to you too, Teresa.
>>130965394Her "only" good album according to her which I disagree
>>130965420>Her "only" good album according to her which I disagreeThat totally having nothing at all to do with the fact that it was her biggest seller and she made the most money from it.
>>130965431Jazz albums were never big sellers, a couple thousand copies was typical.
>>130964965probably because Eddie Fisher is absolute ear rape?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSK5cmM7tNUthis is my favorite version of this song. actually most of the cover versions came later and i think theirs was the only one for a while.
Some West coast cat named Chet Baker beat out Nat King cole for Downbeat's best vocalist award
Fortunately he hasn't met Randy Wood yet.
there's this little 12 year old shithead in Queens named Bob Christgau. if you see him kick his ass.
>>130965633Yes that's a very early Hal David writing credit on there. All things said this is not one of her worse records compared to real atrocities like "You'll Never Get Away."
>>130965692You're not fooling me, Amy.
It's a big bad new name in pop, but mostly bad.
>>130965500Bennett's albums pretty much get creative freedom, but Mitch Miller insisted on producing his singles and many of them he never did live.
>>130965736Capitol had a well-earned rep in the 50s as an uptown label for yuppie listeners and they did not indulge in housewife pop or schlock records. This can be because they were a true independent label and not a subsidiary of a larger media company like Columbia or RCA were.
>>130965788this year is Clooney's climax as a pop star before she stops putting out pop records
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T45e9EzFFHQThis has a harpsichord on it which had a funny story surrounding it. Supposedly Mitch Miller and Percy Faith found the harpsichord in a locked closet in the CBS studio and had to jimmy the lock to get it open, and afterward it featured on a number of records.
>>130965728all 70s-80s cockrock records owe their existence to this
There's a lot of Miles this year, admittedly still on 10" discs that have about 25 minutes of runtime.
>>130966190the 12 inch LP doesn't appear until next year
>>130965394as you will see, this later got reissued on 12" with some new cuts
>>130964619She still has four more top ten hits ahead, including one as late as 1965, but Pattimania was mostly in 1950-54 after which she starts giving way to rock. Strong label and radio support kept her going a long time, but she wouldn't be a first-rank pop star again whose releases were eagerly anticipated.
>>130965728this sounded like fucking death metal compared to the mainstream of pop in 54
>>130965633>type this into Youtube>get recommended Eric Clapton's Bell Bottom Blues insteadlol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phS7BfOfTOY
>>130965736
>>130965329Many of the big hits in 54 were being made by people who were relative geezers (in pop music years anyway) like Como, Day, Stafford, Starr, etc all ex-big band singers and had been recording artists since before WW2. The younger ones like Fisher and Page were mostly more of the same as well. Change had to come from outside the conservative, complacent ASCAP labels.
>>130966403Frank had the heavy hitters on here with Someone to Watch Over Me and One for My Baby
>>130966461you would kind of expect that though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ENXNEzBm8s
OHW of the year. lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKMr32LMB6k
Bunch of noise. Who's gonna buy this thing?
>>130965002https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiueIiFJdN8she very obviously copies Patti Page's vocals especially her vibrato
>>130966606recorded at Decca's Manhattan studio on April 12, 1954 but it attracted no attention until Blackboard Jungle picked it up later in the year
I swear I'm not of gommie, FBI. Please don't beat me up.
>>130966653The article means what it means, she was the youngest major pop star at the time and the first one born in the 30s. That was arguably a lot of her appeal at the time and she held that title until Connie Francis emerged later in the decade.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1xJCNYNDboAnd so it begins. The soon to be very hot sport of whitened R&B covers. To be fair this isn't that bad and does have that "warm summer night" vibe, but probably because Neal Hefti's jazzy arrangements were preferable to Dick Jacobs's big band blare.
>>130965207The main Decca label was used for more classy uptown records while they delegated Coral to housewife pop.
>>130966753Well fuck, I pulled that song up and it recommended this. That's '56 though so off-topic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7tXqQSYM88If you can call this "R&B" but not as if any of the major labels in the 50s actually know how to do that. He can sure thing though, give him that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re2max0ozDcWell, Neal, you tried but Mitch and Mitch's little buddies here made this thing unsalvageable. 3/10 record.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CikEbEtnBcEOf course.
>>130966840Their one great record. The rest were painful and in no way comparable to the original songs they covered.
WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYELIKE A BIG PIZZA PIE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK4VAyb85j4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad7c-F2PbeESammy's breakout hit which is a cover of the Rosemary Clooney tune.
>>130966921>Davis was driving his new '54 Cadillac in downtown Los Angeles on November 19 when he collided with a delivery truck at an intersection and was thrown forward. His left eye was impaled on the protruding steering wheel hub and he lost the eye, having to wear a glass prosthetic for the rest of his life. The Cadillac steering wheel was changed on 1956 models to remove the protruding hub, although GM gave no explanation for the change.
https://youtu.be/nVGt-qNQ4Os?is=1nvM2EvoL0OFL4wf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqecjMVNZKY
>>130966938figures. some celebrity gets injured so they modify the steering wheel. if that had been my grandparents or something back then nothing would have happened because they were just low income nobodies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZKZf-GSiZg
>>130966996She also did the best cover of Teach Me Tonight.
>>130967015>>130966996both destined to go far too soon, although in Billie's case it was honestly pretty expected
>>130966170there was also Vera Lynn's cover, which was a relatively rare US hit for her. it's more mannered/tasteful/European whatever. that is to say blander.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5d9rTL0Fp0Their other 54 hit, a revival of the old Louis Armstrong instrumental from 1927, now with lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le0b0qmrA4EThis record represents a nadir of housewife pop and Coral releases in general. The McGuire Sisters and two forgettable hacks in one of the era's corniest ever records.
>>130966570A lot of people covered that, although Sinatra should have tried it a little sooner than fucking 1984.
>>130967207Oh Jesus, they actually have a photo of this thing being recorded. Also...>description. Let's not get carried away here, buddy.
>>130967247nice leather skirt, Eileen. also since this was recorded in 53 her and Desmond would have been the bigger established names since the McGuire Sisters hadn't had a hit yet at that point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebGNmVGEBxcThey could still get away with that title in 54? Also Youtube censored the song name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPas18nwZmU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qVjRzTex8UA new label and redemption soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n4a_CCCoPA
Oh no, not this fucker. At least it didn't chart and he doesn't have much success in the early days.
>>130967394https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQeQSyckA3Y>still thinks it's 1946 or somethingSidney, this singing style has been out of fashion for a number of years now. How do we break that to you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGsNWciUBAYAlso his future honey and well ok this isn't that bad. She was alright when she held back and wasn't trying to demonstrate her eight or whatever octave range, but when she was run for the hills.
Rosemary Clooney and Teresa Brewer are the waifu b8 of the industry, guys. Don't be fooled!
>>130965394Bit too much movie music with the arrangement here. She also sounds like she's channeling the ghost of Edythe Wright.
>>130967469>Bit too much movie music with the arrangement here. She also sounds like she's channeling the ghost of Edythe Wright.Or Patti Page if she had a speech impediment.
>>130967469Christy in most of her interviews came off as kind of a crotchetcy boomer who stopped caring about new music after about 1953.
>>130967500That's the flip side of >>130967450. She didn't have any success with those early Coral discs and moved to ABC in 56, strangely right as Steve-O was signing with Coral so he could make fake rock-and-roll and have his first significant hits.
>>130967512he was always a crooner type and didn't want to actually be covering "Party Doll" anyway so as soon as he went to ABC in 59 he immediately reverted back to Sinatra imitations
>>130964523This year my grandparents got married
>>130966570Cuckgau wrote a whole essay on TMT which was strange and you wouldn't think it was his kind of song. He was 12 when that was a hit but he said he didn't actually recall hearing it on the radio at the time.
>>130967545There's a bazillion versions of Teach Me Tonight, the first one was from some literally who named Janet Brace in 53. Youtube recommends the DeCastro Sisters below James Taylor and Phoebe Snow for some bizarre reason (Snow's version is pretty bad, don't listen to that one). As has been mentioned, Sinatra recorded it on L.A. Is My Lady, but he was old as shit by then and the result was underwhelming. Teresa Brewer also did on Softly I Swing her last ever new recorded material in the early 90s. Again she should have not waited until she was 60 to do the song. Probably wouldn't have been that good in her prime anyway, but not as bad as what we got.
An off year for Georgia, nothing she had out in 54 charted, That mistake will be corrected next year and pretty painfully.
>>130967594https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRETlLkrhN0I wouldn't have played this if I was a DJ either. Her R&B cover hits next year are nowhere near as lame as this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ccdfs5ZLtwMitch Miller's latest project. Proves his general ineptitude in picking singers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-hAIyMlfgs
>>130967608His LPs started to get truly interesting with his move to Columbia in 56 and the releases of Blue Rose and his Newport album
>>130967667>comment sectionThat's the truth alright.
>>130967709Blue Rose was a collab with Rosemary Clooney as you may know, it was also her first actual LP that wasn't a greatest hits comp.
>>130967667>what if we took "Skokiaan", "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania", and also threw in a line or two about coal mining because that's what Corey's dad did for a living, and mashed them togetherThat ought to solve any mystery of why white kids started listening to R&B instead of this.
>>130964965Worst male pop vocalist of this period without any question.
>>130969617this was actually released in 54 not 53 like i thought. Discogs claimed 53 but the site is an asspull of sorts because they list records by year of recording not year of release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6enJYluQv0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YGlpjbfcV0What if a reverse white pop to R&B cover? :^)
>>130970053ha ha it would sure be a shame if someone did a horrible mainstream pop cover of this one right?
HELP HELPI’M STUCK IN 1954WHAT DO I DO
>>130970053btw this was a fraud job here, Alan Freed falsely claimed a writing credit on this song
>>130970322Freed had been accused of fraudulent writing credits on songs, but Harvey Fuqua said he did in fact co-author "Sincerely."
>>130969617This as you may know was an old pop standard from 1931 originally recorded by Rudy Vallee. It was one of those Depression-era gallows humor songs. Morgan's version was a minor hit peaking at #23 on the Billboard.
>>130970446https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVfdcejnDd0Her Doris Day impersonation aside, this is pretty edgy.
>>130970297Eat a Jell-O salad? Report your neighbor for being a communist because he's wearing a red tie? Listen to Perry Como?
>>130964807>This slapsthe Crew Cuts' cover version sure doesn't
>>130970726god even knows how she lived to 86 with the kind of life she lived. it shouldn't have been possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksfUG6zHBgcWait for another two years when he does simulated rock-and-roll.
>>130964523"Well golly be gee, Becky Sue. Wanna come down to the malt shop with me? They have this hep new record 'Shake, Rattle, and Roll' in the jukebox."
>>130972328well actually no the kids running the shop put that record in the jukebox but the owner told them to take it out because he didn't want any leather-jacketed hoodlums in there. he also made them take out a Billy Ward and the Dominoes record. enjoy your Don Cornell records instead.
>>130970726O'Day was addicted to drugs, probably molested as a kid, got busted for drug possession, had more abortions than Stevie Nicks (and back when they weren't so easy to obtain), was homeless for a period in the 70s...freaking insane.
>>130969617https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4lK8v5AakYHer slow songs were never as good as the fast ones.
>>130974274Like a lot of interpretive singers Jaye was the type who only delivered when she liked the material. Sinatra was no different. She was obviously not inspired by this mediocre housewife pop tune the way she was with LIJABOC (Doris Day probably would have loved it).
>>130969617https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcCNr8GyvVMThe flip side of this record.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEd_lQ__hgAThe other J. Morgan who as you remember lived to 101.
>>130965147>>130969617>doo-wop backing vocals creeping into mainstream pop by this point
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0eQyVaiBDA
I can't stop to listen this space slop.
>>13097478154 marked the start of her recording career in America after becoming a sensation in Paris.
>>130974781apparently a lucky name as far as guaranteeing absurd longevity, Jaye still being with us in 2026
>>130965835there's a video of her performing Hey There live in the early 80s, suggesting she didn't totally disavow all of her pop hits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdtXeLbtJf4After five top ten hits over the previous year Joni has nothing major out in 54. She'll be back in 55, but one wonders if this was intentional and MGM didn't deliberately ease off the gas this year to prevent the public from getting burned out on her.
>>130970297Stay well away from your mother
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmp4V6py0CI
>>130975632yeah as he said >>130974840
lmao'ing at you westoidshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=009zNAH8_E0
>>130965152Decca's country division was their most profitable outfit in this time, which may not speak well for the state of pop music then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae4b8g2xIUcNot hard to understand why it took a decade for her to have anything chart at all with this kind of dire material.
