THE ROCKIN 50's Part 2

Music was a big part of the 50's.  Rock was starting in a big way.  We teenagers listened to the black music stations on the radio for probably the same reason that today's teenagers listen to rap, .... because it ran our parents crazy.  The music business saw the trend and rolled out records by folks like the very white Pat Boone with his version of rock or rhythm and blues for the white folks with little success.  We were listening to Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Bo Diddly among others.  Black groups like "The Platters" were selling big with the slow stuff and ballads.  Then folks like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, and Buddy Holly, came on the scene and helped to integrate rock music.

Records had been 78 rpm (Revolutions per minute.) and then they came out with 33 1/3 rpm LP (Long Play) albums and then the birth of the 45.  The 45 had a much bigger hole in the center that the previous versions and had a single song on the front and back. This allowed records have a hit on one side and the "Flip Side" could be a dud and still sell well.

Well, I have probably told you more than you wanted to know about this but you were able to read all of this history totally for free!

A little known fact is that Elvis and I were in the army together.  Of course, he was in Germany and I was in Georgia but we were in the same army at the same time.  Elvis never had the privilege of meeting me but he and my cousin's husband were in the same unit in Germany and he knew and spoke very highly of Elvis as a person.  He said that Elvis was a regular guy and never paid anyone to take his guard duty or KP duty as many other GI's did even though he certainly could have afforded it.  (Yeah, I did once so I could come home for the weekend and see my sweetie.)

I was walking through the bus station in Augusta, GA in uniform and this little old lady asked me if I was in the army.  I told her yes and she said that her grandson was in the army and mentioned his name and she asked if I knew him.  I told her that I didn't but it was a big army.  Lots more army stuff later.

You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going, because you might not get there.
Yogi Berra 
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