 "The performers who sing this music communicate with us," explains a 14-year-old New Jersey girl. "The lyrics are stupid, and repeat themselves. But when I watch shows like Hullabaloo, I get overwhelmed." Hullabaloo is an hour-long potpourri of frenetic rock 'n' roll, dancing and singing. NBC put it on prime network time last fall as a fill-in until it could find something better - and it proved the surprise hit of the season. Shindig, ABC's big rock 'n' roll show, started as a half hour, quickly went to an hour, and will be on twice weekly next fall. There are at least 20 locally produced imitators. In almost every city the radio station with the biggest rating is the one that fills it's time with the "Top Forty" records. And the music has changed the whole face of the recording industry. During the 1930s three companies dominated the business. Today there are hundreds, thousands, nobody knows how many. Some are born overnight with one record, die quickly when the kids reject the next release. More than 800 records are turned out each week; perhaps six will really catch on. "Nobody can make us buy something we don't believe in," says a New York girl. |
Adults find it hard to appreciate the music because they do not understand it's purpose. It is not music to listen to, as they once listened to Sinatra and Como. "It's music to move to, music to live by," said a Brooklyn girl between shrieks at a rock 'n' roll show. A cop came up and told her to sit down. "Sit down?" she screamed. "Why are you so sadistic? You're just jealous because you didn't have anything like this when you were young!" The big sound is mostly sung by groups whose members, astonishingly young, are almost all under 25. On the next pages, LIFE presents up-to-the-minute favorites.  Herman The 17-year old boss of a five-man group called the Hermits, Herman finds singer Vikki Carr cuddling up at a show. A native of Manchester, whose real name is Peter Noone, he sings with a Lancashire accent, has the biggest current hit in the U.S., Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter. |