Something in the Air

Did you ever read something that astonished you? I recently read an article naming the top 10 acts that shaped rock music. One of those listed was Chuck Berry and the gist of the statement was Berry showed that black musicians could write and perform as well as white artists. That author would benefit from reading Something in the Air. If you do not know that rock and roll originated with white artists covering black music, this book will give you a very detailed account of exactly how that happened. If you do know, you might learn something new; I did.

Here are some things I did not know before reading Something in the Air:

. A Los Angeles clothing shop that catered to black workers bought an hour of airtime at a local radio station. They requested the disc jockey play music that appealed to black listeners.
. The DJ, Hunter Hancock was playing Jazz when he was told he needed to play race music if he wanted to "reach a huge Negro audience".
. The music industry used the term "race music" to denote songs by black artists.
. In 1946 Billboard magazine added a Race Music chart of hits.
. In 1949 Billboard changed the name to Rhythm and Blues.

I also learned:
. How Bruce Morrow got the name Cousin Brucie.
. Bob Dylan was first heard on the radio doing comedy and he had a complete cast of characters for his acts.
. Allen Freed died at age 43 having been ruined due to his involvement with payola.
. Dick Clark owned a record company, but was not found guilty when disc jockeys were indicted in the payola scandal.
. The Top 10 Hit lists hung in record departments were made up by DJs, not based on scientific study or the Billboard charts of best selling singles.
. Why, even today, radio stations constantly replay the same songs over and over again everyday.

Something in the Air is not all about 1950s and the origins of rock 'n roll. Fisher takes readers on a journey back in time to the origins of radio and continues the story up to present time Internet radio. Fisher knows radio; he writes a weekly column "The Listener" for the Washington Post about music, radio and culture. What is not clear to me is which generation was shaped by rock n' roll music.

Published by Random House in January 2007 the book is destined to be a hit. It will to appeal to nostalgic baby boomers who "remember when rock was young"; those who came of age when FM radio was a daring alternative to bland AM stations; anyone interested in the DJs that influenced talk radio and shock jocks; trivia buffs and young people wanting knowledge of the acts that shaped rock 'n roll music. You can read an excerpt from the book and learn more about the author online at Marc Fisher dot com. Something in the Air is available online at Random House for $27.95.