NY Times Article

Small mention in today's New York Times. Abridged article appears below.

'Always Magic in the Air': Leaders of the Pack
By JIM WINDOLF
Published: October 30, 2005

Rock 'N' ROLL died toward the end of the 1950's, when Elvis Presley got his G.I. buzz cut, Little Richard found religion, Chuck Berry was arrested, Buddy Holly died in a plane crash and Jerry Lee Lewis drove his fans away by taking his 13-year-old cousin as his bride (while still married to his second wife). The music that replaced the supercharged version of rhythm and blues made by those men was polished and faintly ridiculous, but it ruled the airwaves until the Beatles set things aright by scaring off all rock 'n' roll pretenders with their primitive-seeming mop-top energy.

The author has little patience for the "authenticity" argument. Citing two current acts who have recorded Bacharach-David songs, he writes, "However disparate their music, Clay Aiken and the White Stripes are equally pop." In the same vein, he notes that Presley himself scored No. 1 hits with songs ("Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock") written by Leiber and Stoller, and that, early on, the Beatles recorded Goffin-King's "Chains." Later British invasion bands, who, myth would have it, put an end to the Brill Building style, also made hits from material cranked out at 1650 and 1619 Broadway.