Wasn't rock'n'roll a lot more fun when there was something naughty about it? Now the generation that went nuts over Elvis and Little Richard and then the Beatles is the geriatric set. All of the guitar gods wear hearing aids.
I really wish that every new bunch could have the thrill that we all shared disregarding our parents' demands that we limit our input of pop culture in order to avoid fire and brimstone.
Of course my mom strayed from the role a bit. She introduced me to the art form and the life. Even at the end, while she pretended to regret that I never amounted to anything, she always let me know that she was filled with pride over my music. To quote somebody, "Thank God for mothers with no better sense than mine."
Talent? Overrated in my opinion. It's on every street corner. Looking for your fifteen minutes that Andy promised you? Create a look that changes everything and build it around an outrageous hairdo that no one can ignore. This is Esquerita. He was wildly talented. His hairdo caught the eye of Richard Penniman who was going by the moniker, Little Richard. Oh yeah, he was wildly talented, too. When I first read Esquerita's claims that Richard had borrowed the look I was appalled. Then I heard Mr. Penniman gushing about Esquerita and saying that he had borrowed the idea of the look from him.
Next thing you know little Bobby Zimmerman from Hibbing, Minnesota has become Bob Dylan. He had always wanted to be Little Richard. Well, up until he decided that he wanted to be Woody Guthrie. By the release of Highway 61 Revisited there was the hairdo again. This time he hit it out of the park and he was famous. No, he was a legend.
You see, originality is not the key here. We all saw Moe Howard's pudding basin coiffure long before we saw newsreel footage of the Beatles on Jack Paar. No, it has more to do with attitude and putting that look out there.
I don't need to provide any kind of complete list to make my point here. For me and lots of others rock'n'roll got a kickstart from Bill Haley. Rock Around the Clock was magic but that spit curl was other worldly. Of course Elvis threatened all western civilization with sideburns and a ducktail.
Is this sexist? Marilyn was the blonde, right? Jayne just went blonder. It's all across the board, all over the map, all through history. Einstein, Gorgeous George, Angela Davis, Yul Brynner, Jerry Lewis, Jesus.
Yeah, my showbiz advice: get a ruthless agent. First, though: get your hairdo right.
Give us peace on earth and end this dreadful, dreadful war.
Wasn't rock'n'roll a lot more fun when there was something naughty about it? Now the generation that went nuts over Elvis and Little Richard and then the Beatles is the geriatric set. All of the guitar gods wear hearing aids.
