martes, 17 de febrero de 2009

Chicle rock

A mediados de los años 60 en los Estados Unidos la prosperidad económica hacía posible que no solo los jovenes pudieran comprar discos y entradas para conciertos sino que también los pre-adolescentes fuesen capaces de hacerlo. Los promotores discográficos vieron el filón y se decidieron a aprovecharlo sin ningún escrúpulo. Para entonces el rock and roll original, el rockabilly, el du-duá e incluso la música más edulcorada de los teen-idols era algo pasado, algo que los chavales de menos de 13 años consideraban propio de sus hermanos mayores o incluso de sus padres. Por otra parte se consideraban demasiado maduros para oir melodías infantiles por lo que había que buscar algún escalón intermedio. Así pues, desde 1967 más o menos, aparecieron una serie de grupos que, basandose en ritmos del rock and roll más simple mezclado con canciones para niños, llenaron ese hueco. Serían conocidos como grupos bubblegum (chicle), tanto por sus ritmos pegajosos y empalagosos como por la costumbre de los pre-adolescentes de la época de mascar chicle sin parar, así como porque aparecían cromos de estos grupos en los paquetes de chicles como publicidad habitual. Eran de apariencia inofensiva pero tras unos coros angelicales, una música bailable límpida y unas letras aparentemente inocentes se escondían muchas veces dobles significados de índole sexual (las constantes referencias a comidas como piruletas, mermelada o miel muchas veces iban por otros caminos). Realmente, y a pesar de la calidad de algunas de estas canciones, este tipo de música fue totalmente controlada por las empresas discográficas (fueron los productores Kasenetz y Katz los que propusieron el nombre del sub-género) e incluso por las fábricas de chicles que subvencionaban grupos a cambio de que ellos promocionaran sus productos, deshaciendose de ellos tras cualquier éxito como si fueran pañuelos de papel (la mayoría de ellos solo duraban un single). Un caso extremo es el de 1910 Fruitgum Company, una banda cuyo nombre lo dice todo. Lo que es más, en ocasiones esas bandas ni existían como tales, sino que eran músicos de estudio que grababan una canción bajo un nombre para el momento y luego los ponían a trabajar en otro grupo, este es el caso de Ohio Express, formado por componentes de Fruitgum Company y otros grupos. Otros de los grupos no eran sino actores de un programa de televisión a los que ponían a tocar (a veces aparentaban tocar y un músico de verdad lo hacía por detrás), bueno, más que un programa de verdad eran larguísimos anuncios publicitarios de zumos, chicles o frutas. Así es como se hicieron famosos grupos como los Banana Splits (creados por Hanna-Barbera) o los Monkees. El colmo de la caradura eran ya Los Archies (su éxito "Sugar sugar" es el más representativo del sub-género) que eran en teoría unos dibujos animados. Claro, era imposible verlos en actuaciones en directo pero a los niños se les podía engañar facilmente. Lo increible es que también triunfaran entre los mayores, bueno, no tanto, muchas de sus canciones son realmente buenas. El grupo menos artificial y el único con cierta independencia respecto de sus creadores fueron los Lemon Pipers, cuyo tema "Green tambourine" había sido el primer número uno del chicle rock en 1968. El chicle rock es, en definitiva, un sub-estilo y una forma de producción circunscrito exclusivamente (en esos años) al capitalismo salvaje estadounidense ya que mientras tanto, en Europa, lo que triunfaba era el radicalmente opuesto independiente garaje rock. De todas formas al otro lado del charco, con la llegada de los años 70, todos estos productores sin escrúpulos no desfallecieron cuando el bubblegum rock se iba quedando anticuado y crearon algo más acorde con los tiempos, el más blando, bailongo y comercial bubblegum pop (chicle pop), con grupos esta vez si reales pero también creados artificialmente y controlados totalmente por esas compañías. Ahora lo que les pareció más vendible era que esas bandas fueran compuestas por niños, y a ser posible hermanos. Así es como aparecen los Jackson Five, la Familia Partridge y los Osmonds (la verdad es que vista comercial no les faltaba). Pero pronto la aparición del glam rock (al que en cierta medida influyó el bubblegum), mucho más agresivo, desterraría a todos estos al retiro. De todas formas estas prácticas canallescas de las industrias discográficas y otras firmas comerciales continuan sin interrupción, con música de mucha menos calidad y de forma mucho más vergonzosa (recuerdese el escándalo de los Milly Manilly esos), siendo las grandes compañías televisivas las que siguen creando y manejando a su antojo a las nuevas estrellas (vease Operación Triunfo, Factor X o engendros similares) a cuyo lado los músicos del bubblegum rock, títeres o no, eran unos verdaderos genios.

El "Sugar sugar" de los Archies. Aunque no os lo creais no lo tocan estos personajes sino unos músicos de estudio que están grabando encima de los dibujos.

5 comentarios:

CZ dijo...

Hola Jesús, vaya colección de farsantes estos del sonido chicle.
Como anecdota te diré que en León hubo un grupo de mediados de los 80's "Los Atrevidos", su lider era Manu Ortega que a su vez era el bajista del grupo Rockabilly "Olaf y Los Insolventes". Pues este elemento decia que el sonido de Los Atrevidos era "Chicle Duro", ya te puedes imaginar las risas. Por etiquetar que no quede.
Un abrazo

Johnny Hughes, author of Texas Poker Wisdom, a novel dijo...

Thanks for honoring the old music and my friends. Here is a history you might like.

Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Joe Ely, and the Cotton Club
by Johnny Hughes.com

Elvis Presley was leaning a against his pink, 1954 Cadillac in front of Lubbock's historic Cotton Club. The small crowd were mesmerized by his great looks, cockiness, and charisma. He put on quite a show, doing nearly all the talking. Elvis bragged about his sexual conquests, using language you didn't hear around women. He said he'd been a truck driver six months earlier. Now he could have a new woman in each town. He told a story about being caught having sex in his back seat. An angry husband grabbed his wife by the ankles and pulled her out from under Elvis. I doubted that.
Earlier, at the Fair Park Coliseum, Elvis had signed girl's breasts, arms, foreheads, bras, and panties. No one had ever seen anything like it. We had met Elvis' first manager, Bob Neal, bass player, Bill Black, and guitarist Scotty Moore. They wanted us to bring some beer out to the Cotton Club. So we did. My meeting with Bob Neal in 1955 was to have great meaning in my future. I was 15.

The old scandal rag, Confidential, had a story about Elvis at the Cotton Club and the Fair Park Coliseum. It had a picture of the Cotton Club and told of Elvis' unique approach to autographing female body parts. It said he had taken two girls to Mackenzie Park for a tryst in his Cadillac.

Elvis did several shows in Lubbock during his first year on the road, in 1955. When he first came here, he made $75. His appearance in 1956 paid $4000. When he arrived in Lubbock, Bob Neal was his manager. By the end of the year, Colonel Tom Parker had taken over. Elvis played the Fair Park Coliseum for its opening on Jan. 6., with a package show. When he played the Fair Park again, Feb. 13th, it was memorable. Colonel Tom Parker and Bob Neal were there. Buddy Holly and Bob Montgomery were on the bill. Waylon Jennings was there. Elvis was 19. Buddy was 18.

Elvis' early shows in Lubbock were:
Jan 6th 1955, Fair Park Coliseum. Feb 13th. Fair Park, Cotton Club April 29 Cotton Club June 3: Johnson Connelly Pontiac with Buddy Holly, Fair Park October 11: Fair Park October 15: Cotton Club, April 10, 1956: Fair Park. Elvis probably played the Cotton Club on all of his Lubbock dates. He also spent time with Buddy Holly on all his Lubbock visits.

Buddy Holly was the boffo popular teenager of all time around Lubbock. The town loved him! He had his own radio show on Pappy Dave Stone's KDAV, first with Jack Neal, later with Bob Montgomery in his early teens. KDAV was the first all-country station in America. Buddy fronted Bill Haley, Marty Robbins, and groups that traveled through. Stone was an early mentor. Buddy first met Waylon Jennings at KDAV. Disk jockeys there included Waylon, Roger Miller, Bill Mack, later America's most famous country DJ, and country comedian Don Bowman. Bowman and Miller became the best known writers of funny country songs.

All these singer-songwriters recorded there, did live remotes with jingles, and wrote songs. Elvis went to KDAV to sing live and record the Clover's "Fool, Fool Fool" and Big Joe Turner's "Shake Rattle and Roll" on acetates. This radio station in now KRFE, 580 a.m., located at 66th and MLK, owned by Wade Wilkes. They welcome visitors. It has to be the only place that Elvis, Buddy, Waylon, and Bill Mack all recorded. Johnny Cash sang live there. Waylon and Buddy became great friends through radio. Ben Hall, another KDAV disc jockey and songwriter, filmed in color at the Fair Park Coliseum. This video shows Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Elvis, Buddy and his friends.

Wade's dad, Big Ed Wilkes, owner of KDAV, managed country comedian, Jerry Clower, on MCA Records. He sent Joe Ely's demo tape to MCA. Bob Livingston also sent one of the tapes I gave him to MCA. This led to a contract. Pappy Dave Stone, the first owner of KDAV, helped Buddy get his record contract with Decca/MCA.

Another disc jockey at KDAV was Arlie Duff. He wrote the country classic, "Y'all Come." It has been recorded by nineteen well-known artists, including Bing Crosby. When Waylon Jennings and Don Bowman were hired by the Corbin brothers, Slim, Sky, and Larry, of KLLL, Buddy started to hang around there. They all did jingles, sang live, wrote songs, and recorded. Niki Sullivan, one of the original Crickets, was also a singing DJ at KLLL. Sky Corbin has an excellent book about this radio era and the intense competition between KLLL and KDAV. All the DJs had mottos. Sky Corbin's was "lover, fighter, wild horse rider, and a purty fair windmill man."

Don Bowman's motto was "come a foggin' cowboy." He'd make fun of the sponsors and get fired. We played poker together. He'd take breaks in the poker game to sing funny songs. I played poker with Buddy Holly before and after he got famous. He was incredibly polite and never had the big head. The nation only knew Buddy Holly for less than two years. He was the most famous guy around Lubbock from the age of fourteen.

Niki Sullivan, an original Cricket, and I had a singing duo as children. We cut little acetates in 1948. We also appeared several times on Bob Nash's kid talent show on KFYO. This was at the Tech Theatre. Buddy Holly and Charlene Hancock, Tommy's wife, also appeared on this show. Larry Holley, Buddy's brother, financed his early career, buying him a guitar and whatever else he needed. Buddy recorded twenty acetates at KDAV from 1953 until 1957. He also did a lot of recording at KLLL. Larry Holley said Niki was the most talented Cricket except Buddy. All of Buddy's band mates and all of Joe Ely's band mates were musicians as children.

Buddy and Elvis met at the Cotton Club. Buddy taught Elvis the lyrics to the Drifter's "Money Honey". After that, Buddy met Elvis on each of his Lubbock visits. I think Elvis went to the Cotton Club on every Lubbock appearance. When Elvis played a show at the Johnson Connelly Pontiac showroom, Mac Davis was there. I was too.

The last time Elvis played the Fair Park Coliseum on April 10,1956, he was as famous as it gets. Buddy Holly, Sonny Curtis, Jerry Allison, and Don Guess were a front act. They did two shows and played for over 10,000 people. Those wonderful I.G. Holmes photos, taken at several locations, usually show Buddy and his pals with Elvis. Lubbock had a population of 80,000 at the time. Elvis was still signing everything put in front of him. Not many people could have signing women as a hobby.
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Many of the acetates recorded at KLLL and KDAV by Buddy and others were later released, many as bootlegs. When Buddy Holly recorded four songs at KDAV, the demo got him his first record contract. It wasn't just Lubbock radio that so supportive of Buddy Holly. The City of Lubbock hired him to play at teenage dances. He appeared at Lubbock High School assemblies and many other places in town.

Everyone in Lubbock cheered Buddy Holly on with his career. The newspaper reports were always positive. At one teenage gig, maybe at the Glassarama, there was only a small crowd. Some of us were doing the "dirty bop." The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal had photos the next day showing people with their eyes covered with a black strip. Sonny Curtis mentions that in his song, "The Real Buddy Holly Story." When Buddy Holly and the Crickets were on the Ed Sullivan show, the newspaper featured that. The whole town watched.


Buddy was fighting with his manager Norman Petty over money before he died. They were totally estranged. Larry Holley told me that Norman said to Buddy, "I'll see you dead before you get a penny." A few weeks later, Buddy was dead. When Buddy Holly died in a plane crash, it was headline news in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Over 1000 people attended the funeral on February 7, 1959. Buddy was only twenty-two years old. His widow, Maria Elena Holly, was too upset to attend. The pall bearers were all songwriters and musicians that had played with Buddy: Niki Sullivan, Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Sonny Curtis, Bob Montgomery, and Phil Everly. Elvis was in the Army. He had Colonel Tom send a large wreath of yellow roses.
In 1976, I was managing the Joe Ely Band. They had recorded an as-yet -to-be-released album for MCA Records. I was in Nashville to meet with the MCA execs. They wanted Joe to get a booking contract and mentioned some unheard of two-man shops. Bob Neal, Elvis' first manager, had great success in talent managing and booking. He sold his agency to the William Morris Agency, the biggest booking agency in the world, and stayed on as president of the Nashville branch.

I called the William Morris Agency and explained to the secretary that I did indeed know Bob Neal, as we had met at the Cotton Club in Lubbock, Texas when he was Elvis' manager. He came right on the phone. I told him the Joe Ely Band played mostly the Cotton Club. He said that after loading up to leave there one night, a cowboy called Elvis over to his car and knocked him down. Elvis was in a rage. He made them drive all over Lubbock checking every open place, as they looked for the guy. Bob Neal invited me to come right over.

Bob Neal played that, now classic, demo tape from Caldwell Studios and offered a booking contract. We agreed on a big music city strategy: Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, London, and Austin. Bob drove me back to MCA and they could not believe our good fortune. The man had been instrumental in the careers of Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Johnny Rodriguez, and many others. The William Morris Agency sent the Joe Ely Band coast to coast and to Europe, first to front Merle Haggard, then on a second trip to front the Clash. The original Joe Ely Band were Lloyd Maines, Natalie's father, steel guitar, Jesse Taylor, electric guitar, Steve Keeton, drums, and Gregg Wright, bass. Ponty Bone, on accordion, joined a little later. The band did the shows and the recording. The recorded tunes were originals from Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.

However, some of the William Morris bookings led to zig zag travel over long distances to so-called listening clubs. When I complained to Bob Neal, he'd recall the 300 dates Elvis played back in 1955. Four guys in Elvis' pink Cadillac. When Buddy made some money, he bought a pink Cadillac. Joe Ely bought a pristine, 1957 pink Cadillac that was much nicer than either of their pink Cadillacs.

When I'd hear from Bob Neal, it was very good news, especially the fantastic, uniformly-rave, album and performance reviews from newspapers and magazines everywhere. Time Magazine devoted a full page to Joe Ely. The earliest big rock critic to praise Joe Ely was Joe Nick Patoski, author of the definitive and critically-acclaimed Willie Nelson: An Epic Life. After one year, MCA was in turmoil. Big stars were leaving or filing lawsuits. We were told they might not re-new the option to make a second record. MCA regularly fired everyone we liked. Bob Neal thought the band should go to Los Angeles for a one-nighter.

He booked the Joe Ely Band into the best known club on the West Coast, the Palomino, owned by his dear pal, Tommy Thomas. We alerted other record companies. They drove back and forth to L.A. in a Dodge Van to play only one night. Robert Hilburn, the top rock critic for the Los Angeles Times, came with his date, Linda Ronstadt.

The Joe Ely Band loved to play music. They started on time, took short breaks, and played until someone made them stop. Robert Hilburn wrote that Ely could be, "the most important male singer to emerge in country music since the mid-60s crop of Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson." The long review with pictures took up the whole fine arts section of the biggest newspaper in the country. Hilburn praised each of the band individually. He was blown away when they just kept playing when the lights came on at closing time. After that, several major record companies were interested.

The last time I saw Bob Neal was at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco on February 22, 1979. Little Pete, a black drarf who was always around Stubb's Bar-B-Q, was traveling with the band. To open the show, Little Pete came out and announced, "Lubbock, Texas produces the Joe Ely Band!" Then he jumped off the elevated stage and Bo Billingsley, the giant roady, caught him. Bob Neal, the old showman that had seen it all, just loved that.


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This comment originally appears on www.virtualubbock.com Anyone may make copies of this one article or post it on any web site. Thanks to Chris Oglesby and Larry Holley.

Jesus el Rocker dijo...

Gracias Chema por la información, como siempre. Me gustaría oir a esos grupos ¿Hay alguna forma de conseguir material suyo?.
Thank you very much to Johnny Hughes too. Your first hand information about your Lubbock friends and events is very valious and interesting for us. Thanx a lot again.
Confió en que entendais todos lo que el señor Johnny Hughes nos cuenta con gran amabilidad. Él es un conocido jugador de poker que ha escrito varios libros y novelas sobre el tema. También nació y creció en Lubbock por lo que tuvo oportunidad de conocer y trabar amistad con Buddy Holly y algunos de los Crickets, así como ver al joven Elvis en sus actuaciones de allí. Las anécdotas que nos cuenta sobre el Rey y los datos que aporta son suculentos y se lo agradecemos mucho también.
Un abrazo a Chema y a Johnny.

Anónimo dijo...

Ya lo he leído, casi tan impresionante como el chicle que algún guarro dejó en un asiento. No tenía idea de estos chicles aunque sí tenía claro que esta música me da subidón de azúcar y vomitón.
Me ha gustado mucho lo que cuentas sobre Little y Esquerita, pero desde el punto de vista que lo planteas provoca más risa que pene ¿seguro que todo "condicionado" por su "condición" pianístico-sexual? ¿Existe un método patentado para tocar tal y como narras o es sólo un mito? ¿De folckórica a limpilunas pero las del coche? ¿Cómo se reproducen las gambas?

Jesus el Rocker dijo...

Querida comentarista anónima, ¿sabías que a las gambas las llamas a comer y acuden? ¿y que luego da mucha lástima comerselas?
Besos