I had made the choice to share 80 stories that I thought that the grandkids needed to know about life as seen through the fading eyes of an old man. This is not the same as telling stories that they want to know. Why not invite them to ask their questions? By putting together these two non-conflicting perspectives, telling and asking, we could have a more meaningful balance.
Grandchild ask: “I was wondering what pop culture was like growing up in Braidwood. Music, movies, dancing, sports, any sort of background you can give us to how it was back then with these kinds of things.”
My Music in the 1950s
I will stick with music for right now since many grandkids asked similar questions. But first a little background on my introduction to music. It is obvious that the grandkids are in love with their special music and musicians, going to concerts and downloading music. I will tell you right now, kids, that I loved my music just as passionately as you love yours.
Even though my parents didn’t have much money, they felt that it was necessary for me, my sister, and my brother to take music lessons at an early age. I started trumpet at about age 10 and continued lessons through high school. Learning to read music laid the foundation and appreciation for “… an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.” (Music dictionary)
Luckily, my trumpet lessons coincided with the advent of a new kind of music that arrived on the scene in the 1950s. And it was different from anything I had ever heard before. Radio stations continued to play music my parents liked but I found other stations that played this new sound.
I was a 15-year old sophomore in high school (1955) when I started listening to a radio station in my bedroom late at night instead of doing homework. That radio station, WLAC, was in Nashville but the signal was clear late at night in my hometown, Braidwood. The type of music they played was beginning to catch on with some of my friends. It would be called “rock & roll.” But none of my friends ever listened to this unique station.
WLAC featured musicians, usually Black, who later became quite popular and were copied by White singers. But listening to Fats Domino, James Brown, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, I was mesmerized and then journeyed to the Joliet record store and bought their 45 rpm records, playing them over and over again. Here are some samples: (Sorry for some of the YouTube commercials.) Of course, I only heard the music and didn’t see any of the videos you can now see below.
Some Examples
Fats Domino (Ain’t that a shame): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6JZW7zMDfY
I couldn’t understand why mom and dad didn’t like Fats, but I kept playing his records on my new turntable. They didn’t seem to care for Little Richard or Chuck Berry either.
Little Richard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbHC54c4AR4
Chuck Berry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLV4NGpoy_E
In the meantime, though, other kids like me became big fans of this music. But I would still hear my radio station play artists that no other kid seem to know about. Like this next one, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82cdnAUvsw8
The WLAC disc jockey that I liked was John R who also read the commercials. One commercial was especially interesting because the company sold baby chickens. Listen to one of John R’s spots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5Xr0CRVT6k
One type of music that my parents and I agreed on and enjoyed was the crazy music of Spike Jones. He attacked popular and classical music (including opera) in a way that nobody else did. His television show in 1951 displayed the kind of music that was totally disrespectful…and fun.
Classical and Jazz
As more White singers, like Elvis Pressley, began copying this style of music, I shifted over to light classical music and musicals. Music that told stories and created images in my mind while expanding my listening repertoire. I still purchased currently popular songs, but orchestral music had so much more depth and satisfaction. Special favorites, like Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Copland, were played loudly on my new hi-fi while I pretended to be the conductor.
By the time I was in college, I further extended my music interests to the jazz musicians like Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Ahmad Jamal, and Benny Goodman. All are considered icons in the music world and were available on long play vinyl albums. (Still have many of them.)
Hope this gives you an idea of the “sounds of the 1950s” and some of my musical preferences when I was young. It still amazes me that we can now download music at the press of a button. No need to go to a record shop, pick out an album, go to a sound booth, and try it out. It would take me hours to make a choice once a month and go home and play it over and over.
Next letter to grandkids will respond to your question: “What were/are some of your biggest surprises in life?”
Sincerely,
Grandpa K (aka “Poppy”)
“I am the innovator. I am the originator. I am the emancipator. I am the architect of rock ‘n’ roll!”
Little Richard
Braidwood Beginnings 