O
ON TOPIC
1954 1961 1967
Elvis Presley was a 19-year-old
truck driver who sang blue grass
and country ballads. Sam Phillips
was a producer of Sun Records.
Phillips had a dream: “If I could find
a white guy that sang like a black
guy, I would make a million dollars.”
He paired Elvis’ look with the
Chicago blues standard That’s All
Right Mama — and a global
sensation was born. The Miracles’ Shop Around was
the first hit bearing the Tamla
Motown imprint. The pop-soul
label owned by Berry Gordy and
operating from downtown Detroit
p ro d u c e d m o re t h a n 1 0 0
singles for a variety of artists
including Stevie Wonder and
The Temptations. Arguably the Beatles’ most ground-
breaking album, Sgt. Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club Band drew a
definitive line between the past
a n d t h e f u t u re , a s a l b u m s
overtook singles. Change was in the
air, as The Beatles helped shape a
period in which the single bowed
down to the artistic statement of
the album.
ELVIS RECORDS THAT’S ALL
RIGHT MAMA
According to Rolling Stone, “it was
Elvis who made rock ’n’ roll the
international language of pop”. His
recordings, dance moves, attitude
and clothing came to be seen as
embodiments of rock ’n’ roll.
THE BIRTH OF MOTOWN
It was perhaps the sound of the
female groups, The Supremes,
The Ronettes and The Crystals,
that helped them define the pop
decade more than any other label.
THE BEATLES RELEASE SGT. PEPPER
In four years, the band transformed
themselves from lovable ‘moptops’
into avant-garde musicians. Up until
then, even the pop groups who
were taking artistic risks did so
inside the pop format of three- to
four-minute songs featuring strong,
obvious melodies.
A new aspirational standard was set
for what pop albums could be.
“People played it a bit safe in
popular music,” McCartney said in
a 1992 BBC interview. “But that’s
when we realised you didn’t
have to.”
102 // Future Talent