I have a CD full of '60s tunes. I loved Jerry Lee Lewis.

last year at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake Iowa and he did not disappoint. I still feel that Jerry Lee's 'Live at the Star Club' from 1964 is the greatest live album of all time. Energy to burn!

I had never heard that one before so thank you for sharing!

What a blast from the past.. Hot Damn that's great stuff

But I do prefer the Chords original better.

Chuck was supposed to perform this year at the Winter Dance Party in Clear Lake but had to cancel and was replaced by Pat Boone! I don't recall being more disappointed but Chuck is still one of my favorites.

Looked like the Lawrence Welk Show.

One of the prettiest tunes ever penned

... close

very very close

beautiful music of which this one is a great example.

This is an incredible video.

50s had the most beautiful women in my opinion.

Summer of '63.
I was a lifeguard.
The Beach Club, Myrtle Beach, SC.

I got incredibly drunk (but still somehow functional) on PJ (Purple Jesus*)
Jumped up on the stage with Bo and just DANCED!
He was laughing and good natured about it.
No security back then.

*PJ - A 'cocktail' mix of about half-and-half of grape juice and Everclear 180 proof grain alcohol.
How it got it's name: (on my seeing a batch mixed up) "What is this shit?"
"Taste it."
"Well, it's purple.
Took a sip.
"JESUS!
PJ

LOL at the PJ story!

And THAT changed my life forever.

JFK, Vietnam, MLK, RFK etc

By the time Sha Na Na appeared at Woodstock in 1969, the 1950s seemed more like 100 years ago instead of 10. (disclaimer that I wasn't yet born in the 1960s)

BTW thank you for your service. That last blast was a real duezy!

The base went into lockdown.
Rumors flew.
It was the Cubans.
The Russians.
Bad times.

Your mis was cosidered good when you could throw a match at it and it would catch. (((shudder)))

Wish I had danced with Bo Diddly!

In the 50s and early 60s it was optimistic, mostly in a major key and used whole chord progressions, all things that make one feel good. Over time even the "happy" songs sound less so, have more minors and dischord.

So your ears aren't deceiving you. And yes, I'm a fan. But I listen to lots of things. I was heavily influenced at a young age by the New Orleans R&B crowd, like The Meters and The Dixie Cups, which were a segment of that early Rock and Roll. And I love Rockabilly too.

My goodness how about a Fats Domino record on the old tube player!?! How about Lloyd Price 'Lawdy Miss Clawdy'? About as beautiful a song as you'll find.

I've heard doo-wop music as being the opposite of the blues in that doo wop songs are about being happy going steady with your best girl instead of 'my baby's left me.' Whatever the reason, this music does make me happy.

I do like a lot of different music such as: 20s jazz, 40s rnb, western swing, 40s, 50s country, some bluegrass and 60s-present rock-n-roll with at least SOME connection to the original. But that first era is what really trips my trigger.

Probably least of all for the doo-wop or overly saccharine stuff though. Here's a few that get my blood pumping:

Love the golden age of guitar-driven instrumentals, surf music and related hot rod culture.

It is amazing what guys like Dick Dale, Link Wray, Larry Collins, Cliff Gallup, the guy in the Johnny Burnette Trio etc were doing with the guitar way back then! Are you familiar with the Collins Kids song 'Hot Rod?' I am still hoping to someday own a '57 Chevy!

We are dying to get Chubby Checker at the Winter Dance Party this next year!! I'll be crossing my fingers until they announce the line-up in October.

He was waaay ahead of his time and was taken far too soon. Such a shame that he isn't remembered more.

Really dig his buddy Gene Vincent as well.

1952, so I basically grew up with the music of the 50s and 60s.

Some of my favorites...

"Blue Moon" by the Marcels

"The Stroll" and "Little Darlin" by the Diamonds

"It's Now or Never" and "Such a Night" in 1960 by Elvis...

For starters...

I first loved this music as a child in the 1970s. Songs like Blue Moon, Hound Dog, Little Darlin, Splish Splash etc all seemed geared to my young ears.

How about this gem from the early sixties?!

.
.
.
My GF in college (around late-80's -- I was a VERY late-bloomer) was a huge fan of it. Once, she
bought us tickets to see "The Golden Boys of Rock n Roll" -- Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Bobby
Rydell.
.
Though we were the same age, our musical tastes were about 15 years apart.
.
Oh, GEEEEZZZZ!!! The freakin' golden freakin' boys of rock n roll. Well... I really REALLY like this
woman (she's still "the one that got away&quot . I'll go and I'll pretend like I'm having a good time.
.
.
.
I had a fucking BLAST!!! Those guys were incredible and it was the fantastic Valley Forge Music
Center (sadly, now defunct) -- an 1100-seat theater-in-the-round without a bad seat in the joint.
.
.

I play the oldies all the time because they put me in a good mood.

Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard, etc. are some of my favorite artists of that time.

It's also much better than a lot of the pop garbage that's being aired today.

The saxophone was also prominently featured in that era. Rock-n-roll has suffered having dropped those instruments so long ago IMO.

Flamingoes
Kodaks
Moonglows
Platters

Charlie Feathers
early Elvis
Buddy Holly
Johnny Burnett

Bo Diddley
Chuck Berry
Little Richard
Jimmy Reed

Now you're talkin'!

I caught Terry Johnston's Flamingoes last year- the Doo Wop acts have never disappointed! They did 'Lovers Never Say Goodbye' and that one moment that always gets me on the record really gave it to me live!

Kokaks with the fantastic girl singer Pearl McKinnen. I have the cd with them and Lewis Lymon and the Teenchords. So many of these acts have been forgotten. I am lucky I was able to discover them as I listen to Lewis/ Teenchords and the Kodaks all the time.

Doo Wop has a lot of great uptempo songs that I love but of course it is the ballads that really hit home.

My favorite rockabilly song is Hoy Hoy by Clyde Stacy. I also really love the version by the Collins kids. The Johnny Burnett Rock-n-roll trio played some seriously hard rockin' stuff back then. A far cry from '16 Candles.'

Of the straight rock-n-rollers, Little Richard is my favorite. A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-wop-bam-boom! I wanna be happy and forget about my troubles and nobody is better at it than LR.

Thanks for sharing your favorites with me!

Pearl McKinnon's work with the Kodaks.

She sounded so much like Frankie Lymon that after Frankie died, the Teenagers hired her for a time to sing lead for them.
All three groups are wonderful but the song Oh Gee Oh Gosh is my favorite and I don't think Pearl got a writer's credit either.

They were great regardless of tempo. Runaround Baby is another great uptempo song. Then they had the dreamy ballads too!

Frankie and Co are my favorites and I have seen some footage of the Teenagers with Pearl. I think that there is only 1 surviving Teenager left

So many of the great artist of those days got ripped off by crooked record people. Frankie's story is a sad one. IMO he was the best singer and dancer of all the 50s rock-n-rollers and that includes Elvis!

that set him apart.

I'd like to mention the Spaniels as one of my favorites. Pookie Hudson was a great singer and very influential with the soul music-to-come. Gerald Gregory, their bass, had one of the deepest and most resonant voices in Doowop also.

Glad you started this thread!

I am losing my breath just thinking about that song. Just another place and another time.

Clyde McPhatter was a major talent with a great voice who had a sad ending.

in DC and living on the streets and Aaron Neville found him and helped him get straightened out.
Aaron Neville has always gone out of his way to say that Hudson not only influenced his style but that Aaron tried to copy Hudson and came up with his own unique way of singing.

Speedo Earl from the Cadillacs had a similar story. He was a janitor at a school when someone found him and I think they wrote a book about him. So many of the 1950s stars fell on hard times over the years.

And then you have fake groups going around making the money they should have!

Many Doowop singles had a fast side and an uptempo side and often the side - to me anyway - that didn't become a hit was preferable to me.

Shimmy Shimmy Ko ko Bop had the great Just Two Kinds of People in the World on the flip; and Blue Moon had the Doowop classic ballard Goodbye to Love.

One of my favorite songs is Oh Rose Marie by the Fascinators.

Here's a clip of Bill Haley from the late 70s in England. Not Haley's best performance but I love how all the Ted's treat Bill like royalty! Around this time, Bill Haley was playing dive bars in America. The English have always embraced our American 1950s rock-n-rollers. Perhaps that is why their bands have been so successful ever since.

His early stuff was killer. And the Fab Four was hugely influenced by 50's American rock and roll so I have a appreciation for it. And Buddy Holly is great as well.

In the early 60s, many American rockers from the 50s couldn't get arrested in the USA, so they went over to England where they were treated like Gods. There is still a huge Teddy Boy subculture over there that is far more devoted to 50s American rock-n-roll than we are in the USA.

I have always wondered if it was the UK's appreciation for the original rock-n-roll (and RnB, Blues etc) that made their bands more successful than our post 1950s rock bands. Our bands were always reacting to the Brit Invasion while the Brits made it look easy because they had a far superior understanding of American blues and rock-n-roll etc.

They are one of my favorites too.