The Birth of Rock & Roll

Buddy Holly started a pop "revolution" in that he wrote and arranged his own songs.  The entire 60s music scene would be different without Buddy's trailblazing.

An interesting contribution (IMO) to the conversation...

History of Rock & Roll - The 1950s (Special Edition)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c00_2wAuL7Q

bonus tracks...

Little Richard - Long Tall Sally / Tutti Fruiti - 1956....live... (note Bill Haley in the audience)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u-ihWoRC4w

Chuck Berry's iconic Belgium TV performance - 1958.....live (complete)..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhoyMlX5avU

I had to check on that. Wikipedia thinks it was the other way around. Forgive me if you knew that. My brain isn't firing on all cylinders yet. The cat woke me up to show me what she left on my living room carpet. Also, forgive my reposting of one of your videos. I was tired when I put my post together and forgot about it.
Wikipedia - "Surfin' U.S.A." is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys credited to Chuck Berry and Brian Wilson. It is a rewritten version of Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" set to new lyrics penned by Wilson and an uncredited Mike Love."

Yeah, it was supposed to have been a joke. Forgive the cat, it knows not what it does.

I haven't a clue about Tipper Gore's suggestions or Frank Zappa's response.

The Beach Boys could play the early surfin' an car songs but Brian Wilson's conceptions far exceeded there instrumental abilities.  I'm pretty sure the Beach Boys (with the possible exception of Carl who played just a little)  barely played at all on Pet Sounds.  Even the Beatles, whose instrumental talent is unquestionable, when they put out Sgt. Pepper (in response to Pet Sounds) were already getting too highly complex for a 4 man group.  it might be interesting to realize the Roger McGuinn (or Jim McGuinn, however he went by at the time) was the only Byrd member to play on their first single, Mr Tambourine Man (as well as on the flip side). McGuinn had been a studio musician himself and was up for the task. By the time they put out Turn, Turn, Turn, I think they were all playing.  David Crosby, who played rhythm guitar for the Byrds, was one of the reasons Neil Young was enlisted to play with CSN. Crosby was notoriously a mediocre guitarist who thought he was a good guitarist (his ego problems are what got his expelled from the Byrds).  The only real instrumentalist in CSN was Steven Stills, so Young was brought on board mainly to fill that instrumental void. 

I did mention Buddy Holly and the Crickets along with several others as one of the significant early acts to follow on the heels of Bill Haley and Elvis

You should add the the name "Beatles" is a play on "Beat" and "Beetles" and the "Beetle" part is a play on "Crickets,"  Holly's band.

Thanks. That video isn't only informative, it's really fun to watch. J.T. Curtis is a quite talented musician as well as a charismatic guide.  He also brought a lot of things to light. I forgot all about Bo Diddley. In the video his band in 1956 had the same line up as the Beatles, drums, lead, rhythm and bass guitars.  I really like that he emphasized Otis Blackwell, a forgotten name for the most part while the inclusion of Big Mama Thorton and Ruth Brown really added spice. 

At the end he even says, "Let's face it, the 1950s were the birth of Rock and Roll."

Tipper Gore was one of the creators of the Parent's Music Resource Center. Frank Zappa testified before Congress, criticizing this group's efforts to censor music lyrics. Zappa's remarks have been included in collections of great American political rhetoric, such as https://www.amazon.com/Our-Own-Words-Extraordinary-Speeches/dp/0743410521

https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/frankzapparockmusiclyrics.htm

"McGuinn and McGwire just a-gettin' much higher

In L.A.,  You know where it's at."

Thanks! 
So many things... I listened to Frank Zappa's cogent and coherent testimony, interspersed with humor (as opposed to say, Sen. Gorton's condescending, rather hateful, close-minded comments).  I looked up  the PMRC on wiki to get an overview. In the wiki page they mention that this member-less (as Zappa poignantly noted) committee was formed under and emboldened by the ultra-conservative presidency of Ronald Reagan, which struck me as strange since Al Gore, and presumably his wife too, is a Democrat.  Oddly, just before getting into this, I had been watching part II of the series @RussBell linked to in #64. In this video there's a clip of Reagan, I think meant to be funny, denouncing Rock & Roll in a rather scary manner.  It gave me a glimpse into the times. I was only 11 when all this was going on. I don't even remember Reagan other than as a name.  
Actually Zappa's comments (they were followed by testimony from John Denver and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister) rightfully bring up the issue of government acting as judges of morality- I couldn't think of a worse judge, well, maybe I could but you get the point- and imposing the moral beliefs  of a few on the many with little or no regard.  I guess nobody learned anything from Joe McCarthy.  As best as I can determine, eventually the record companies voluntarily used parental advisory stickers  on album they deemed unsuitable for children.

McGuinn was about 8 mile high while Maguire was approaching the eve of destruction.

Thanks for the music.

Hi Wayne!

Going back to the Frank Zappa testimony yet again... this was in 1985. One of the interrogators, I couldn't hear his name, brings up Mitch Miller (who, it seems, was popular with these Capitol lifers) apparently to elicit laughs from the peanut gallery:

Senator ?: I must confess I never heard any of your music to my knowledge.
Zappa:  I'd be more than happy to recite my lyrics to you.
Senator ?: Can we forgo that?
Zappa: I'll bet you never heard of the Mother's of Invention.
Senator ?: I have heard of Glen Miller and Mitch Miller. Did you ever perform with them? (a little hard to understand).
Zappa: In fact I took music lessons in grade school from Mitch Miller's brother.
Senator ? : That's the first sign of hope we've had in this [unintelligible].

Mitch Miller hadn't been around, other than an for one reunion show in over a decade and Glen Miller (presumably) died in 1944.  
Back when Rock and Roll was kick-starting itself in the early 1960s, Mitch Miller go in his little dig with: "It's not music, it's a disease."   This seems to be the vantage point of most of the interrogators but in 1985 Rock or Rock & Roll had been around for 30 years.  Go figure.

Maybe these senators should have listened to Leonard Bernstein:

    Mitch Miller had a 1 hr TV show once a week. I think he was the pre-cursor to Lawrence Welk.  It may not have had anything to do with Rock & Roll but there was a musicians' union strike from 1942 to 1944. Musicians could make & play music during that time,....they just couldn't record. The strike was about the royalty rates on recordings. The Recording Industry Association of America came into being in 1952