A Simple Question: Who is the Most Influential 50s Rocker?

Karen: Which 50s  rocker has proven to be the most influential? And why? (Don't feel limited to the candidates below.)

Discuss: The King

Doug:  The 36th anniversary of the passing of Elvis Presley was a week ago.  I don't know that we've ever discussed the King of Rock 'n' Roll on this blog.  Today's the day.

Doug:  For those of you who saw today's headline and came here expecting to discourse on all things Jack Kirby... well, I tricked you!  Also, hold onto your Ben Affleck comments until  tomorrow when Karen opens up the BAB potpourri pot!  It's the weekend, kids -- enjoy!

BAB Classic: We're Talkin' Song Covers

NOTE:  This post was originally published on October 7 2010.  I decided to run it again since I'm sure we can generate a little more conversation than we originally shared three years ago.  For example, a couple of songs have come to mind lately -- I prefer "Always On My Mind" by Elvis Presley over the more famous Willie Nelson cover.  I have also enjoyed Elton John's version of "Pinball Wizard" over the original Who track from Tommy; the Smithereens cover of the same song really doesn't add anything.  Your turn now (again).


Doug: Karen and I have been discussing off and on how we've become quite comic-centric around here. While that's not a bad thing -- your comments speak to the interest that our audience has in those types of things -- we used to do much more music and movie/tv themed posts. So, with a nod to the past (I guess), let's open it up to a music genre that I like to store on my iTouch -- multiple versions of the same song.

Do you have some songs in mind where you think a cover version improved on the original? How about the other way around? Do you have a song or three on your mp3 player where you've stored several different versions?

Just to kick it off, I like Joe Cocker's version of With A Little Help From My Friends over the Beatles' original recording. I like the pace better, and I can't help but see two things when I hear Cocker's version -- John Belushi's send-up on Saturday Night Live, and the intro. to the The Wonder Years. So when I was writing this, I tried to think of other songs that I have -- Van Halen's version of You Really Got Me beats the Kinks', and the Clash has done my favorite performance of I Fought the Law -- as compared to the Bobby Fuller Four and the Bryan Setzer Orchestra.

Whatcha got?

Doug (now):  Diggin' this cover of the Turtles' "Happy Together", as heard in the trailers for The Great Gatsby.

5 Pop Christmas Songs to Love

Say, there -- how about your favorite recording artists getting in the holiday spirit? Nothing screams commercialism like a pop star or group mining some old yuletide standbys. I've included links to the sound samples from http://www.amazon.com/ in case you've never heard the version of the songs I'm mentioning. Here are five I really like:

1. Merry Christmas, Baby by the King of Rock 'n' Roll Elvis Presley

It truly doesn't get any better than this, and that's why it's at the top of the list. Elvis at his bluesy best. This one really picks up steam as it goes along, and finishes quite well. A true standard.

1. 2. Little Saint Nick by the Beach Boys
   

A little sappy, but a nice little toe-tapper, sing along (how about the Run, Run Reindeer part of the chorus?) -- always, always seems to get stuck in my head after I hear it. Standard Beach Boys from the era, but what's wrong with that?

3. Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town by the Jackson 5

Little Michael just a'wailin' is what makes this song special. It's the familiar arrangement, but really amped up by Michael's vocals. This comes from their early era, back in the days of ABC, I Want You Back, etc.

4. Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon

A much better effort than Paul McCartney's Christmas effort, Wonderful Christmas, which gets a little tired after a very short time. Lennon manages to squeeze his mission for world peace into his Christmas offering. The children's chorus really sends his point home with emphasis.

5. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by U2

Recorded right after the band scored mega-big with their live/studio combination Rattle and Hum album, this song is one of the true highlights of the very first A Very Special Christmas compilation. It's upbeat, Bono's vocals are great, and it's, like several listed before, a toe-tapper

Honorable Mention: Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid

I love this song, and to this day can pick out the various artists singing. While USA For Africa's recording We Are the World was equally important in terms of the talent assembled to play/sing, I just like this song better. It still evokes memories of those days when big time world issues were at the forefront of our MTV news, and giving was encouraged by our superstars.

Moments Frozen in Time

Doug: A few weeks ago I was discussing the passing of Michael Jackson with the incoming freshmen I was teaching in my summer school world history class. I told them that at the age of 14, it was an event they might later mark their lives by -- where they were and what they were doing when they heard the word of the King of Pop's untimely passing.

Folks a little bit older than me often remark that they can recall exactly where they were on the day they heard that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas, Texas. While that was a few years before my time, there are several events (some a bit more serious than others) from which I can mark time in my life. I'd like to discuss a few from my childhood, and I'd invite you to leave a comment for those moments in your life that remain vivid in your memory.

As a kid, my sister and I spent a few summers with our aunt and uncle and family in the Chicago suburbs. My aunt was a stay-at-home mom, so she had the time (and resources) to take us and my cousin on excursions. What I also found to be very cool was the 7-11 that was a block down the street from their house -- a store to which I was able to walk by myself at the ripe old age of 9. I recall my aunt giving me money that I used to purchase Amazing Spider-Man #150 at that store in August of 1975, but the next comic she bought me was even cooler! Not too far from their home in St. Charles was an indoor amusement park that had just opened in Bolingbrook. The park was known as Old Chicago -- you can read more about it at http://www.defunctparks.com/parks/IL/oldchicago/oldchicago.htm.

She took the three of us there one day and we just had a blast! I'd been to several carnivals before, but had never been on a rollercoaster.

After, we went outside the amusement area to the old-fashioned shopping center to enjoy some ice cream. As there was a store with a comic spinner rack visible through the window, she shelled out another quarter so I could buy Daredevil #127! Funny how I can envision that like it was yesterday!

You may recall the days before there were such things as comic shops and Internet sales -- that's right, chasing all over God's creation for that elusive new release. In April 1977, Avengers #161 was such a book for me. I went to two Osco Drug Stores, a couple of other pharmacies that I knew sold comics -- everywhere I could think of. I got desperate, so I opened up the Yellow Pages to see if there were any hobby shops or other places I might have overlooked. I came across a book store named "Mickey's Books and Novelties". Now as far as my youthful mind knew, a "novelty" was another way of saying "that cheap crap you get in a goodie bag at some other kid's birthday party". So I asked my mom to drive me across town, because when I had called, Mickey told me that he indeed sold comics.

When we got there, mom dropped me off in front and pulled around to the side. I faced down the sign on the front door that said "No one under 18 admitted" and went on in. This was serious business and I was not to be denied. Sure enough, through the thick smoke and incense, I spied the awesome George Perez cover you see above and snatched it from the spinner rack. Took it to the counter and paid for it and left without incident. Now, and the store is still in the same location, were I to re-enter today with a bit more of a "worldly mind/awareness", I'm sure I would have noticed that there was certainly a reason no chubby-cheeked 11-year old with a paunch and bushy hair was supposed to be in that store. But I honestly didn't notice anything other than the new treasure I left with.

The first really significant death I recall happened on August 16, 1977 when the King of Rock 'n' Roll died at his Graceland mansion. I had been certainly aware of Elvis' music and even at the age of 12 I appreciated him as a pop culture icon. I vividly remember being in the side room on the main floor of my aunt's house when the news came across the small black and white television I'd been watching. I was stunned, as I'm sure most were when they got word.

The last several events take me to high school and beyond, and are certainly, like the passing of Elvis Presley, a little more serious than the day I got this-or-that comic book.

As a high school freshman, I'd become very interested in popular music -- all kinds. From the just-fading disco movement to soft rock like the Carpenters to hard rock to what was probably just then becoming known as "classic rock" -- I liked it all. So it was with outright shock that, as I readied myself for bed at approximately 9:45 pm on a Monday night (December 8, 1980), Howard Cosell gave the following news flash just before halftime of a game between the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins -- you can see and hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gcdz1IRVoM. John Lennon's death was a shock, and a moment I will never forget.

Later that spring of my freshman year, on March 30, 1981 actually, I had just arrived home from morning track practice (it was spring break) when I flipped on the television to see ABC News anchor Frank Reynolds give the following report, available here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5323392634516821396&ei=xnBiSpyYBpiQqQKKpoSxCQ&q=%22Frank+Reynolds%22+%2B+%22Reagan+shooting%22&hl=en. As I said, the Kennedy assassination was before my time. This was very real, and very frightening to me. I wasn't much into politics at this time, so to me Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States of America -- and you don't mess with the United States. I watched the coverage the remainder of the day.

I was a sophomore in college on January 28, 1986 when a friend told me in the student union of Burgess Hall shortly after my 8:00 am class was over that the space shuttle Challenger had blown up after take-off earlier that morning. This was as shocking to me as the Reagan shooting had been those years earlier. The image seems as fresh today as it did 23 years ago. Each time there is discussion of problems with the shuttle, delayed launches, etc., my mind goes back to that day all those years ago.

I think the last event I'll comment on is burned in the minds of almost all Americans who are older than about the age of 12. It was Tuesday, September 11, 2001. I was teaching my 1st hour class when I walked over to my computer to enter the attendance. There was an e-mail that had just popped up from a friend of mine who taught science in the room below me. It simply said, "Turn on the tv!!" I walked the few steps and did so. The news of the plane hitting the first tower of the World Trade Center was all over. As we watched, transfixed, we saw the second plane hit live. Words cannot express the feeling I had in my gut. Words also cannot express my reaction when some of my students made light of the situation -- to a few, this was like a video game. I assured them in no uncertain terms that it was not. America was under attack. We were instructed over the PA by our principal to leave the televisions on the rest of the morning so that we could be informed; as we live relatively close to Chicago, there was concern that this plague of violence could spread to our part of the country. Of course it did not, but there was alarm then nonetheless. I will never forget that day.