Classic Rock Music Monday

The stuff that now passes as "music", particularly rock 'n roll, leaves me cold. So, to start off the week, here's a video of a classic rock artist.  

To start off this week is the late, great Roy Orbison with "Mean Woman Blues" from 1963. The first video is the original studio version and then a live version from 1972 in Australia.

From Wikipedia:

Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as operatic, earning him the nicknames "The Caruso of Rock" and "The Big O". Many of Orbison's songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male rock-and-roll performers chose to project machismo. He performed while standing motionless and wearing black clothes to match his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses.

Born in Texas, Orbison began singing in a rockabilly and country-and-western band as a teenager. He was signed by Sam Phillips of Sun Records in 1956, but enjoyed his greatest success with Monument Records. From 1960 to 1966, 22 of Orbison's singles reached the Billboard Top 40. He wrote or co-wrote almost all of his own Top 10 hits, including "Only the Lonely" (1960), "Running Scared" (1961), "Crying" (1961), "In Dreams" (1963), and "Oh, Pretty Woman" (1964).

 

 

Sun Records Selling Elvis Presley's Contract Was A Smart Move

Above, an autographed photo of Elvis Presley at Sun Studio. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Nowadays, $35,000 does not seem like too much money to sell a rising star's record contract to RCA Victor, but that was the amount Sun Records' Sam Phillips sold Elvis Presley's contract for.

In interviews over the years, Sam Phillips said he never regretted selling Presley's contract. 

Far Out Magazine (U.K) has posted an article on how that tidy sum made Phillips a wealthy man. 

It begins with:

John Lennon once said, “Before Elvis there was nothing.” You’d imagine that inventing everything, at least in Lennon’s words, comes with a hefty price tag. Unfortunately, for Sun Records, it’s a story akin to Newell’s Old Boys having to sell Leo Messi to Barcelona: when the big guys come a-knocking, you just have to answer the call and take what you can get. The $35,000 fee might not sound like a lot in retrospect but taking a risk on a fledgling talent changing the world and holding out for more was too perilous. 

We all know what happened to Elvis’ finances at the hands of Colonel Tom Parker, but what of Sun Records’ side of the story once ‘The King’ left the building and signed for RCA? Well, if you adjust the figure for inflation, the deal scored the little Memphis music mogul, Sam Phillips, a tidy $389,000—it might not make you a tycoon, but it could snap you up a fine country home. 

Above, a display at Sun Studio. Sam Phillips is on the right. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

To read more, go here. 

Jerry Lee Lewis, R.I.P.

Above, Jerry Lee Lewis and the rest of the Million Dollar Quartet are enshrined
 at the Sun Studio soda fountain in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The last member of the "Million Dollar Quartet" at Sun Records died yesterday.

Jerry Lee Lewis had a controversial life but managed to rise in esteem in his later years.

WREG in Memphis reported:

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Jerry Lee Lewis, the last surviving member of the Million-Dollar Quartet at Sun Studio, has passed away at the age of 87, his publicist confirmed Friday.

The music world is mourning the loss of a Mid-South man being called one of the greatest entertainers and piano players ever. For decades, Jerry Lee Lewis was known to fans simply as The Killer for his songs and the way he rattled the ivory. It was a musical ability that he knew was a gift. 

Friends and fans say nobody played the piano like Jerry Lee. Even as a kid, his piano teacher found that out the hard way when Jerry Lee gave him a lesson on how music should be played. 

His music would take him from his home in Louisiana to Memphis to record at Sam Phillip’s Sun Studio. This was the place where Jerry Lee would make records and history with one hit song after another. His first big hit was called “Crazy Arms.”  

Later, as a part of the Million-Dollar Quartet at Sun Studio along with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins, he turned vinyl records into gold. 

To read more, go here.