It wasn’t you or any of your posts I was quoting, Bill (whart). See a few posts above for the specific reference to the Brill Building by another contributor.
The claim that the period between the disappearance of Elvis and the appearance of The Beatles was devoid of good music was started in the late 60’s by Jann Wenner in his Rolling Stone Magazine, and is complete and utter bs. While pure 50’s Rock ’n’ Roll did go out of style after Elvis was drafted, Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash, Jerry Lee Lewis was blackballed, Little Richard found God, and Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins turned Country (all of which the major label record company and music publishing men were delighted to see happen---they had lost control of the business when the small independent labels---who owned most of the popular Rock ’n’ Roll artists---started getting all the record sales), and Fabian, Pat Boone, and Bobby Rydell-type singers (whom the record companies could control, unlike the above Rock ’n’ Rollers) were being pushed by the likes of Dick Clark, there was still a lot of great music being made in the years 1958 to 1962.
Do I really have to remind us all of The Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, The Beach Boys, Paul Revere & The Raiders (very under-rated, a great band), The Ventures (and all the other surf bands and guitarists), Booker T & The MG’s, Del Shannon (whose comeback album in the 80’s was produced by Tom Petty), Chuck Berry (his recordings continued to be released even as he faced his upcoming trial and eventual incarceration), as well as a lot of great urban Pop music by Phil Spector (loved by John Lennon and, especially, Brian Wilson), The Drifters, The Shirelles, The Four Seasons, Patti LaBelle, Darlene Love, Clyde McPhatter, and many, many others?
Remind yourself of the kind of music that was hugely popular in the early 60’s by spinning "On Broadway" by The Drifters. The song, an absolute masterpiece, was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil while sitting at a piano in a cubicle in.....the Brill Building. Nick Lowe has recorded a great version of "Halfway To Paradise", a killer song from the early 60’s, written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin while sitting at a piano in a cubicle in.....the Brill Building. The version of the song that gives me an out-of-body experience was recorded by Laurel Aitken. As good as Pop gets!
A lot of the music of this period was recorded and intended for radio airplay, and was released on 7" 45 RPM singles. It’s target audience was teenagers, most of whom owned not a single LP (or 78 ;-). Budding musicians and hardcore music fanatics (guilty) were the only teenagers buying LP’s, and then mostly of The Beach Boys and Surf groups/bands. One demographic buying a lot of LP’s were the teenager’s college-attending older brothers and sisters, who were being courted by the post-Beatnik Folk artists, one of whom---from Hibbing Minnesota---became probably the most influential songwriter (for better or worse) of the second half of the 20th Century. One thing that DID drastically change with the British Invasion was the meteoritic rise of the 12" LP format. The challenge for artists then became how to get enough material (good songs) to fill an entire disc. That challenge remains unsuccessfully answered by most artists (and entertainers) to this day!
