1958 Overview

     Admittingly, I am not as knowledgeable with the history of these pre-British invasion, pre-classic rock years. In fact, that is one of the reasons why my original radio show, "Holding Down The Rock" went only from 1963 till the late 70's. Still, enough is known about this period of music for me to do a personal overview of it. 

     If 1954-1956 were the birth of early rock and roll and rockabilly with Elvis, Bill Haley, and Chuck Berry as kings, then 1957 and 58 saw its popularity continue to bloom with new artists showing up on the scene. Although these years were when the backlash to rock and roll caused the genre to be scorned and treated as, "Devil's Music". As a result, this is where the "Sappy Ballad" really started to emerge as well. The "Safe" alternative to that rock and roll. 

     Nowadays it's laughable that rockabilly and rock and roll were looked at this way. A song like "Rumble" by Link Wray and his Ray Men was banned by so many stations due to their fears of the song causing a riot. (You could almost say THIS was proto-punk!) This year in rock music also had classics by such greats as: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Everly Brothers. There were songs such as Danny And The Juniors' "At The Hop" and Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance?" (Allegedly featuring a teen-aged Jerry Garcia on guitar!). In R&B and Blues, we had Bo Diddly, and the late great Ray Charles. Not to mention a certain John, Paul, and George recorded their first songs this year as the Quarry Men...

     Due to the Billboard Hot 100 not being initiated till mid 1958, this year will probably have the least number of #1 songs I review. Regardless, to quote Ritchie Valens, "Come on let's go!" -                

First Up - Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool",                            

                                  See you next time - Dr. Rock