HOW THE BEATLES DESTROYED ROCK ’N’ ROLL other books by elijah wald Josh White: Society Blues River of Song: A Musical Journey Down the Mississippi (with John Junkerman) Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerrillas Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues The Mayor of MacDougal Street: A Memoir (with Dave Van Ronk) Riding with Strangers: A Hitchhiker’s Journey Global Minstrels: Voices of World Music How the Beatles Destroyed Rock ’n’ Roll AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC ELIJAH WALD 1 2009 1 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. oxford new york Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto with offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2009 by Elijah Wald Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wald, Elijah. How the Beatles destroyed rock ’n’ roll : an alternative history of American popular music / Elijah Wald. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-534154-6 1. Popular music—United States—History and criticism. I. Title. ML3477.W35 2009 781.640973—dc22 2008042265 ROCK IT FOR ME Words & Music by Kay Werner and Sue Werner As sung by Ella Fitzgerald © Copyright 1938 (Renewed) Words & Music, Inc., New York, NY Used by Permission “Rock the Joint” written by Harry Crafton, Henry (Doc) Bagby, and Wendell (Don) Keene Published by Andrea Music (SESAC) Lyrics reprinted with permission of Andrea Music and www.oldies.com (1-888-My-Oldies). 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper dedicated to the memory of jeff mclaughlin, whose support and criticism helped me so often over the years, and whose presence in this book and in my life is sorely missed. This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1 Amateurs and Executants 13 2 The Ragtime Life 25 3 Everybody’s Doin’ It 36 4 Alexander’s Got a Jazz Band Now 49 5 Cake Eaters and Hooch Drinkers 60 6 The King of Jazz 71 7 The Record, the Song, and the Radio 84 8 Sons of Whiteman 97 9 Swing That Music 111 10 Technology and Its Discontents 126 11 Walking Floors and Jumpin’ Jive 138 12 Selling the American Ballad 150 13 Rock the Joint 166 14 Big Records for Adults 184 15 Teen Idyll 199 16 Twisting Girls Change the World 213 17 Say You Want a Revolution . . . 230 epilogue: The Rock Blot and the Disco Diagram 248 Notes 255 Bibliography 281 Index 291 This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This is an exciting time to be writing about popular music. A fl ood of insightful, well-researched books and papers is transforming our view of the past, and the Internet has provided unprecedented access to recordings, documents, and schol- ars around the world. I cannot possibly acknowledge everyone whose work infl u- enced and educated me over the course of this project, but I want to emphasize that I had a lot of help. I am pleased to have unearthed some interesting and unfamiliar tidbits and hope I convey some of the surprise I felt as my preconceptions were overturned, but I am following in the footsteps of a century of predecessors, many of whom were able to look at the evidence in greater depth and at closer hand, and I am very conscious of following the trails they blazed. In the past two years I have talked and corresponded with dozens of historians, critics, and collectors, read hundreds of books and articles, and listened to thou- sands of recordings. It was a rich and fascinating process, and the names that fol- low are only a small sample of the people to whom I owe a debt for their eff orts, aid, and advice. I must give special thanks to the friends and colleagues who read parts of my manuscript, suggesting changes and catching my errors, and especially to M atthew Barton, whose breadth of knowledge never ceases to amaze me and who gave thor- ough notes on the whole damn thing. Also Lynn Abbott, Daphne Brooks, Ken Emer- son, Robert Forbes, Reebee Garofalo, Bernard Gendron, Peter Guralnick, Keir Keightley, James Kraft, and Ned Sublette, as well as Susan McClary, whose encour- aging words were much appreciated. One of the great pleasures of this project was that it gave me an excuse to con- tact people whose names or work were familiar to me, as well as to look up some