I Don't Sound Like Nobody: Remaking Music in 1950s America

325 Pages·2010·3.64 MB·English

by  Albin Zak

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I Don’tSound Like Nobody

I Don’t Sound Like Nobody
remaking music in 1950s america
• •
Albin J. Zak III
The University of Michigan Press • Ann Arbor
Copyright © by Albin J. Zak III 2010
All rights reserved
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
cPrinted on acid-free paper
2013 2012 2011 2010 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise,
without the written permission of the publisher.
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zak, Albin.
I don’t sound like nobody : remaking music in 1950s America /
Albin J. Zak III.
p. cm. — (Tracking pop)
Includes bibliographical references, index, and discography.
ISBN 978-0-472-11637-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-472-02454-4 (e-book)
1. Music—United States—20th century—History and criticism.
2. Music trade—United States. I. Title.
ML200.5.Z35 2010
781.640973’09045—dc22 2010014120
• for Leo Treitler •

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 • Records on the Radio 9
2 • Shifting Currents in the Mainstream 43
3 • Hustlers and Amateurs 76
4 • Crossing Over 110
5 • Surface Noise 143
6 • “Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll” 170
7 • New Traditions 204
Epilogue 238
Notes 243
Bibliography 265
Records Cited 275
Index 287
Photographs following page 142

Acknowledgments
I’ve been at this project for several years during which I’ve amassed debts
to many individuals and institutions. Early ‹nancial support came in the
form of grants from the University of Michigan School of Music Faculty
Research Fund and the University of Michigan Of‹ce of the Vice Provost
for Research. University of Michigan Senior Vice Provost Lester Monts
provided further invaluable assistance. I also received generous support
from the Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music, which
took me to London at the invitation of Nicholas Cook to present some of
my research at the inaugural Art of Record Production conference. One
of my research projects involved reading a couple of decades’ worth of
Billboard, which kicked off with some very helpful initial indexing by
Stephanie Heriger. I am grateful to the university libraries and librarians
at Michigan, Harvard, Columbia, Memphis (Tennessee Valley Collec-
tion), Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany, along with the New York Public Li-
brary and the great cooperative known as Interlibrary Loan, for access to
sources and all-around helpfulness. I would single out in particular Daryl
Bullis at the University at Albany and Charles Reynolds at the University
of Michigan, whose above-and-beyond research assistance was matched
only by their cheerful collegiality.
Many writers—critics, scholars, biographers, historians—have kindly
given of their time and expertise. For their many tips and insights, I thank
Bruce Jenkins, Dave Marsh, Jas Obrecht, Joel Selvin, Colin Escott, Susan
Schmidt Horning, Walt Everett, John Covach, Richard Carlin, and Marv
Goldberg. Conversations early on with recording veterans Jim Dickin-
son, Larry Levine, Dave Gold, Stan Ross, Roland Janes, Earl Palmer,
Cosimo Matassa, and Carol Kaye gave me a tangible connection to the
time I wanted to write about. These interviews were a key step in bring-
ing the book’s vast, diffuse topic into focus. Nourishing talks with friends
and colleagues are vital in the otherwise solitary research and book-writ-
ing process. Thanks to Alex Stewart, Travis Jackson, Andy Flory, John
Howland, Nancy Newman, Matt Malsky, Michael Long, Serge Lacasse,