0:00:02 > 0:00:05For a teenager in '50s Britain, everything was different.
0:00:05 > 0:00:09They had rationing, national service, they didn't have much money.
0:00:09 > 0:00:15But they did have the baddest, maddest, most dangerous pop singers ever.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18# Warden threw a party in the county jail... #
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Rock'n'roll was the greatest influence since Jesus Christ.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25They were trouble, and your mother didn't like it.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28The birth of rock'n'roll just came snaking out of his hips.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31Fantastic! It just touches nerves all over the place.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Everybody got real wild.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36Every parent's worst nightmare at the time.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38They were new, noisy and nasty.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42Our parents hated it, which made it even better.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45They came from nowhere, and that's brilliant!
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Punk didn't have the same impact.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53They changed the world. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the kings of rock'n'roll.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56# Keep on knocking but you can't come in
0:00:56 > 0:01:00# Keep on knocking but you can't come in
0:01:00 > 0:01:02# Keep on knocking but you can't come in
0:01:02 > 0:01:05# Come back tomorrow night and try it again
0:01:05 > 0:01:08# You said you love me and you can't come in
0:01:08 > 0:01:11# You said you love me and you can't come in woooh!
0:01:11 > 0:01:13# You said you love me and you can't come in
0:01:13 > 0:01:17# Come back tomorrow night and try it again woooh! #
0:01:24 > 0:01:31Rock'n'roll is a river of music which has absorbed many streams - rhythm and blues, jazz, ragtime,
0:01:31 > 0:01:36cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs, all have contributed greatly to the big beat.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40MUSIC: "Shake, Rattle And Roll" By Big Joe Turner
0:01:40 > 0:01:44# Get out from that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans
0:01:46 > 0:01:49# Get out from that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans
0:01:51 > 0:01:53# Well roll my breakfast... #
0:01:53 > 0:01:56I was working at a paper mill, I left school at 15.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01I was an apprentice glove-cutter, and they'd play music all day.
0:02:01 > 0:02:02And all of a sudden, Rock Around The Clock came on.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05# One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock rock
0:02:05 > 0:02:08# Five, six, seven o'clock, eight o'clock rock... #
0:02:08 > 0:02:10I went "Jesus, what is that?"
0:02:10 > 0:02:13# ..We're going to rock around the clock tonight... #
0:02:13 > 0:02:17That record went round the world and turned the world on its head.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19# We're gonna around... #
0:02:19 > 0:02:23That rock'n'roll jive stuff was so infectious!
0:02:23 > 0:02:28Whip the girls in the air and show their knickers, the guys loved it
0:02:28 > 0:02:32but the most dangerous thing most parents had seen was the Can Can.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38That was the point at which the jail burst open.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41# ..We're gonna rock gonna rock around the clock tonight... #
0:02:41 > 0:02:45I think rock'n'roll is a symptom of the young people.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48Asserting their right to do as they see fit.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53The weird thing was the man who kicked all this off was a boss-eyed
0:02:53 > 0:02:56country musician who looked more like your dad than your dad did.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59But looks aren't everything, there's timing too.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01'The liner, Queen Elizabeth, glided in sedately enough.
0:03:01 > 0:03:07'It was Southampton that was rock'n'rolling at the arrival of Bill Halley and his Comets.
0:03:07 > 0:03:13'Here on a tour of Britain, Bill left for London, and soon that train was rocking over the rails!'
0:03:13 > 0:03:19When he came here, it was the biggest thing that ever happened.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23# Giddyup, giddyup, we rock'n'roll the whole night through... #
0:03:23 > 0:03:25You're used to this sort of thing, aren't you?
0:03:25 > 0:03:29Well, we often have people come to meet us,
0:03:29 > 0:03:33but this was the most enthusiastic reception I've ever seen.
0:03:34 > 0:03:35Bill Haley was the first one
0:03:35 > 0:03:41that British people had ever seen doing rock'n'roll music.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43He was the first one who came over here
0:03:43 > 0:03:46to Britain to do it.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49I thought that kiss curl was a little strange!
0:03:49 > 0:03:52Unfortunately, Bill Haley looked like the family grocer.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55But the music was fantastic, really great.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59Bill had made country records.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04He'd discovered rhythm and blues, but it was the combination of white music and black music, that did it.
0:04:04 > 0:04:10- Do you get a lift yourself when you hear rock'n'roll?- Yes, John.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14It makes me feel sort a happy... and I enjoy playing it very much.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17It's an exhilarating type of music, I'd say.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20# See you later alligator... #
0:04:20 > 0:04:28We had no idea that Bill Haley's Comets would be a worldwide famous band.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31We were just there to make a living.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35GIRLS SCREAM AND SHOUT
0:04:35 > 0:04:40Every show was sold out, and they'd line up, four abreast.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43It was just awesome times.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46ALL: We want Haley!
0:04:47 > 0:04:51I've spoken to the guys in the band over the years,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55they said when they went by train,
0:04:55 > 0:05:00there were people all along the lines, and it was a big thing.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04When it came to getting Bill Haley tickets, I was desperate.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08We took the morning off school. It was just magical to go there.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12We had bad tickets in the back of the upper circle of the Regal, Edmonton.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15And we heard, # On your marks boom boom
0:05:15 > 0:05:18# Get set boom boom Now ready, ready, go!
0:05:18 > 0:05:19# Everybody... #
0:05:19 > 0:05:22And the curtain opened on a new life.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26# ..Hot as a coal Hot dog buddy, well bless my soul
0:05:26 > 0:05:30# I'm a-rockin' Rocking on down the line
0:05:30 > 0:05:32# Hot dog, birdy birdy
0:05:32 > 0:05:34# Hot dog all the time
0:05:34 > 0:05:37# I got a shape like a lizard Legs like a frog... #
0:05:37 > 0:05:39To me it was worth it.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44I know that teachers at the time strongly said, "you'll regret this,
0:05:44 > 0:05:47"and you may regret it the rest of your life.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49"If you miss something at school, you'll never catch up with it again"
0:05:49 > 0:05:52But when I went to that concert,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56they could have caned me every day for a month, I'd have done it again.
0:05:56 > 0:06:02When Bill and the Comets toured in 1957, the kids went wild, despite the greengrocer image.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04But maybe it wasn't so surprising.
0:06:04 > 0:06:10Kids in England had nothing - no fashion, no music, it was all
0:06:10 > 0:06:14blokes in white suits singing through megaphones and stuff.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16# I'm the happy chappy
0:06:16 > 0:06:18# Who makes you wanna smile
0:06:18 > 0:06:20# I make music just for you
0:06:20 > 0:06:22# And I go skiddle-iddle-boo-boo-boo... #
0:06:22 > 0:06:24# Hi love love love hi li hi lo hi left
0:06:24 > 0:06:28# Hi li hi lo hi love love love hi li hi lo hi left... #
0:06:28 > 0:06:33MOUTH ORGAN MUSIC PLAYS
0:06:40 > 0:06:45They couldn't go anywhere, couldn't go to the pubs,
0:06:45 > 0:06:51and as soon as the boys were 18, straight in the Army, they still had conscription.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54It was pretty sad.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Rock'n'roll was delinquents' music.
0:06:57 > 0:06:58Delinquents equated to teenagers,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01therefore rock'n'roll equals teenagers.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04It was almost a lull before the storm.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09Because when rock'n'roll did hit, people like me were so blown away.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11MUSIC: "Rock-A-B Eatin' Boogie" by Bill Haley and the Comets
0:07:13 > 0:07:19Rock'n'roll was flashy and trashy, colourful, exciting, and...American.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23America was a richer country and didn't have the problems of the war years that we did.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26So they picked themselves up a lot faster.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30After the war, they found new, exciting things in cars and music.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35And it looked a lot more colourful to us from over here.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38# See you later, alligator
0:07:38 > 0:07:40# After a while, crocodile... #
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Teenagers tried to copy America as much as possible,
0:07:43 > 0:07:48through their clothes, hair, music and...all sorts of things, actually.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50What do you call that exercise?
0:07:50 > 0:07:55It's rock'n'roll and we're rocking tonight!
0:07:55 > 0:07:58But it could have been a nightmare.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Rock Around The Clock was only 15 minutes away from never existing,
0:08:01 > 0:08:03dumped in favour of a novelty song called Thirteen Women -
0:08:03 > 0:08:09And Only One Man In Town, brought in by Bill Haley's producer, Milt Gabler.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13He had his own song, Thirteen Women - And Only One Man In Town,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15which was flat as a fart.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17Nice song, but flat as a fart.
0:08:17 > 0:08:24And then when that was all finished, he said, "OK, now do that rock thing you're gonna do."
0:08:24 > 0:08:28That was his attitude about Rock Around The Clock.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31# We're gonna rock around the clock... #
0:08:31 > 0:08:37But the real fire was lit by a nine-year-old American blasting it out in his bedroom.
0:08:37 > 0:08:42His dad, actor Glen Ford, was having a meeting about a film downstairs.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44Most parents would say, "turn that bloody noise down,"
0:08:44 > 0:08:47but instead, Peter Ford gave his dad an idea.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51That's the song! That's the song I want in the movie!
0:08:51 > 0:08:55And he made arrangements to get it and put it in the film.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57And then it became a worldwide hit.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00# The clock strikes two, three and four
0:09:00 > 0:09:03# If the band slows down we'll yell for more
0:09:03 > 0:09:05# We're gonna rock around the clock tonight
0:09:05 > 0:09:07# We're gonna rock rock rock till broad daylight... #
0:09:07 > 0:09:13Because we could hear it on big speakers for a change, instead of silly little radio speakers,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16it really hit you, the rhythm was fantastic.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22Riots? Dogs? For Rock Around The Clock?
0:09:22 > 0:09:26Given that we think it's quite tame now, and a nice song,
0:09:26 > 0:09:30and we think of Happy Days, and we think of the Fonz
0:09:30 > 0:09:36rather than smashing up things, when the movie came out, people tore up seats in the auditoriums.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39# ..We're gonna rock rock rock till broad daylight
0:09:39 > 0:09:42# We're gonna rock, gonna rock... #
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Not everybody reacted the same way.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49I thought, "Why?" Surely the film's not that bad.
0:09:49 > 0:09:55It wasn't just in the two and nines either. Bill Haley's concerts were just as lively.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59Some of the things that happened, like the riots in Germany,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02the kids when we played...
0:10:02 > 0:10:05- ..They wanted to dance... - They were standing in the aisles
0:10:05 > 0:10:10and we started playing and this all started happening.
0:10:10 > 0:10:17They were dancing and the police came and tried to quiet them down - they didn't want to be quieted down.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20They wanted to do what they felt.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24Rock'n'roll was exciting.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28It was a way to let off steam, it was a boom to cinema seat manufacturers.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31But it was a bit more than that too.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35It moved from, "children should be seen and not heard"
0:10:35 > 0:10:41to the kids going, "we WILL be seen, and we bloody well will be heard!"
0:10:41 > 0:10:43So, if Bill Haley, the singing greengrocer,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47could produce this sort of reaction, what would happen if you added something else into the mix?
0:10:47 > 0:10:52Something like, oh, I don't know, sex?
0:10:52 > 0:10:55MUSIC: "Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis Presley
0:10:55 > 0:10:56Elvis was the king.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59# Warden threw a party in the county jail
0:10:59 > 0:11:03# The prison band was there and they began to wail
0:11:03 > 0:11:05# The band was jumping... #
0:11:05 > 0:11:10Elvis had the voice - the most beautiful voice you'll ever hear.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12He was an instant star.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16# Everybody in the whole cell block... #
0:11:16 > 0:11:23One word - sex. A damn sexy artist that projected it across all - white, black, everyone.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27The birth of rock'n'roll came snaking out of his hips.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32# ..Crying all the time Well, you ain't never caught a... #
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Everything's happened to me so fast in the last year and a half,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40so I'm all mixed up, I can't keep up with everything that's happening.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48The girls loved him. The boys too, I suppose, really.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50But they wouldn't admit it.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56The first night that I laid eyes on Elvis Presley,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59was just an experience I'll never ever forget.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02I really think it was love at first sight.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06And he asked me to go out after the show,
0:12:06 > 0:12:11and my friend, Glenda, I was with, said, "you lucky dog! So lucky!"
0:12:15 > 0:12:17He just had that charisma.
0:12:19 > 0:12:20Loved being Elvis Presley.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25He said to me one time, "Can you go into restaurants and that?"
0:12:25 > 0:12:28I said, "If you go unannounced."
0:12:28 > 0:12:35And he said, "I can't" and I said, "you won't with that white suit on! "You look like Elvis Presley!
0:12:35 > 0:12:38"You have to try and dress down."
0:12:38 > 0:12:43"Yeah, right." He was like, "Mmm-hmm." But he didn't want to!
0:12:43 > 0:12:45And why should he?
0:12:45 > 0:12:49In 1955, Elvis was 20 years old and having the time of his life.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52We were working in Dallas
0:12:52 > 0:12:57and there was about 35,000 maybe 40,000 people there.
0:12:57 > 0:13:02And these kids were screaming so you couldn't hear nothing nobody said.
0:13:02 > 0:13:08And I leaned over to Scotty and I said, "This boy's gonna make it."
0:13:08 > 0:13:10# Well that's all right, Mama
0:13:10 > 0:13:12# That's all right for you... #
0:13:12 > 0:13:18Bill Haley may have pushed rock'n'roll screaming into the world, but Elvis made it rock.
0:13:18 > 0:13:24He seemed to have it all - good looks, a quiff that defied gravity, and a truly revolutionary sound.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28# ..Anyway you do... #
0:13:28 > 0:13:32His music pulled together the country and gospel he grew up with,
0:13:32 > 0:13:37and the rhythm and blues he heard from his neighbours in Mississippi.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40He was poor white trash.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42These were the days of segregation.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47They lived right by the black neighbourhood, so all his influences came that way.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52Elvis' quest for rock brought him to Sun Records in Memphis, and label boss Sam Phillips.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Sam Phillips was always saying,
0:13:55 > 0:13:59"Get me something different." "I wanna hear something different."
0:13:59 > 0:14:03Elvis said he'd come to Sun to make a record for his mum's birthday.
0:14:03 > 0:14:09But when Phillips heard him, he knew he was on to something, and pulled Elvis back into the studio.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12They were all packing up to go, when they got jamming.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16He went, # That's all right, Mama That's all right for you... #
0:14:16 > 0:14:19They went, "Hang on, guys, just do that again!"
0:14:19 > 0:14:25So again, it's that moment that becomes fateful.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30He was always very proud of the fact that he had a big range
0:14:30 > 0:14:32and he could sing anything.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39He just loved to perform. I think that really was his life.
0:14:40 > 0:14:46They didn't know what to think about him. They thought he was black.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49And then saw him on TV and said, "Oh, that's a white guy!"
0:14:49 > 0:14:53- Just one moment. - Hello, Elvis.- Hello?
0:14:53 > 0:14:59Elvis had the sound, he had the image, he also had a pair of trousers with a life of their own.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01He was in Mississippi doing a show,
0:15:01 > 0:15:06and the girls standing in front of him saw his pant legs shaking.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09And they started screaming.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13It wasn't the legs moving as much, it was the pants moving.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19And Elvis turned to Scotty More, the guitar player,
0:15:19 > 0:15:22and said, "what are they screaming about?"
0:15:22 > 0:15:26Scotty More said, "I don't know, but keep it up!"
0:15:26 > 0:15:33The local girls went crazy. One lept on stage and the cops had to stop her jumping on his blue suede shoes.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35They just love him to death!
0:15:36 > 0:15:38'When you quake when you sing,
0:15:38 > 0:15:43'is that an involuntary response to the hysteria of your audience?"
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Er...
0:15:46 > 0:15:49I'm aware of everything I do, but it's just the way I feel.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53He'd do all his leg movements, then go, "Hah!"
0:15:53 > 0:15:57He shocked a lot of people. He was the first person to be shocking.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00# Well, since my baby left me
0:16:00 > 0:16:03# I found a new place to dwell... #
0:16:03 > 0:16:08The old world found Elvis "getting jiggy wi' it" quite scary.
0:16:10 > 0:16:16He got a lot of bad press in America cos they said he was like a burlesque act, bump and grind.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21It was like one of these strip dancers in a strip joint.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23Whatever it might have looked like,
0:16:23 > 0:16:28Elvis was a traditional Southern boy who spoke softly and loved his mum.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33His mother would say, "Son, don't worry about it, you're not doing anything wrong."
0:16:33 > 0:16:36If his mother said it was right, it was right, no matter what they said.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41# ..They get so lonely They could die
0:16:41 > 0:16:43# As the bellhop's tears... #
0:16:43 > 0:16:50It took me a long time to realise how authentic he was, and how truly great he was.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55The minute he got in front of a microphone, he came alive.
0:16:56 > 0:17:03There's a melancholy in his voice which makes it bittersweet and that's what makes it an interesting voice.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10I can remember when we used to buy our 12" vinyl
0:17:10 > 0:17:16and they used to wrap them in shop paper, and I used to tear the paper off outside and dump it in a bin.
0:17:16 > 0:17:22I wanted everyone to say, "He's got Elvis's new album!" I wanted to be recognised as a fan.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24# ..I could die
0:17:24 > 0:17:27# W-ell. #
0:17:27 > 0:17:30SCREAMING AND APPLAUSE
0:17:30 > 0:17:36Even listening to Hound Dog now, the opening words, without music,
0:17:36 > 0:17:40is like a flame is soaring into the sky.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43# You ain't nothing but a hound dog... #
0:17:43 > 0:17:47Now Elvis was underway, there was no stopping him,
0:17:47 > 0:17:49with classic single following classic single.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53Some were new songs, and some were R'n'B covers like Hound Dog,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56originally a hit for Big Mama Thornton.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00"We got a big hit." I said, "You're kidding!"
0:18:00 > 0:18:03He said, "Hound Dog," I said, "Big Mama Thornton?"
0:18:03 > 0:18:08He said, "No, some white kid named Elvis Presley," I said, "Elvis who?"
0:18:08 > 0:18:12It was too fast, it was kind of nervous,
0:18:12 > 0:18:17and, you know, it didn't have the feel that Big Mama's record had.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21# You ain't nothing but a hound dog
0:18:21 > 0:18:24# Been snoopin' round my door... #
0:18:24 > 0:18:27So we were disappointed,
0:18:28 > 0:18:33but after it sold about seven million, eight million records,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36we began to see the merit of it.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39# Well they said you was high class... #
0:18:39 > 0:18:42If he can do it, I can do it, too.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45If Helen of Troy launched 1,000 ships,
0:18:45 > 0:18:50then Elvis launched a lot more hips, yeah, even into the Home Counties.
0:18:50 > 0:18:57And suddenly all us schoolboys were getting the Brylcreem, curving the hair up and slicking it back
0:18:57 > 0:19:01and trying to look like Elvis. I even tried using lard once.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04It looked good, but smelt unbelievable.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11You never had your collar down, it always came up.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13You became someone else.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18So, screaming girls, screaming boys come to that, thousands hanging on
0:19:18 > 0:19:21your every move, it was a complete change in the way audiences behaved.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25Nobody's lives would ever be the same.
0:19:25 > 0:19:31Kids would not hurt you intentionally, but they didn't know how much power they had in masses.
0:19:31 > 0:19:37They could knock another child down or knock us down, and then stomp on you, just go over you.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39They didn't mean to do it but it happened.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42I'd get scratched when we went through mobs.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47People grabbing at you, tearing off his clothes, it was just unreal.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52That's why we went out in the middle of the night - to avoid crowds.
0:19:52 > 0:19:58Everybody else was sleeping, we were out trying to make do and have fun and party.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02He was a victim of his fame.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04# Warden threw a party in the county jail
0:20:04 > 0:20:07# The prison band was there and they began to wail... #
0:20:07 > 0:20:13There must have been an easier way, and there was - hurray for Hollywood!
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Rock'n'roll and the movies made a perfect partnership in the '50s.
0:20:16 > 0:20:23Movies were bigger then, the threat from TV wasn't as great, there was no such thing as video and whatever.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26It was probably the only way you could see your artist.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31But working in films had its trial and tribulations.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36His first trip to Hollywood to do Love Me Tender, they made some crowns
0:20:36 > 0:20:41for his teeth but they were just temporary, he couldn't eat with them.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44He'd give me his teeth to hold during dinner or whatever.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49I didn't have a pocket, "What am I gonna do with the teeth?"
0:20:49 > 0:20:54I stuck them up in here and let 'em hang out and I looked like a vampire.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57It's just the beast in me.
0:20:57 > 0:21:04And then they put mascara on his eyes, and that brought out these deep-set eyes.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06He liked the look and kept it.
0:21:06 > 0:21:13He felt pale when he went out in public, if he didn't have on his movie make-up.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17It was the wildest thing - he had on make-up, I didn't!
0:21:17 > 0:21:21# Please take another chance and let me
0:21:21 > 0:21:25# Let me have another dance
0:21:25 > 0:21:29# With yo-o-o-u. #
0:21:29 > 0:21:34You couldn't go any higher or get any bigger than Elvis.
0:21:34 > 0:21:41He represents somebody that flew fast, high and absolutely aflame.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46My music changed my life. It stopped us being poor,
0:21:46 > 0:21:51but that's an inevitable thing, but I didn't do it to stop being poor.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56I did it cos I wanted to look and sound and sing like Elvis. Simple, pure and simple.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00# To a heart that's true... #
0:22:00 > 0:22:04You know, you always remember your first love...
0:22:04 > 0:22:08My first love was Elvis Presley and how can you forget him, even today?
0:22:08 > 0:22:14# Baby, it's still you I'm thinking of. #
0:22:21 > 0:22:28John Lennon said if you were to change the name of rock'n'roll, you may as well make it "Chuck Berry".
0:22:29 > 0:22:33Chuck Berry took the guitar and gave it life, gave it purpose.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37# We're back up in the woods among the evergreens... #
0:22:37 > 0:22:41Chuck Berry, like all those guys, was a one-off.
0:22:41 > 0:22:49The framework of rock'n'roll music, the guitar breaks, the grooves, that wouldn't exist without Chuck Berry.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51# Go! Go, Johnny go! #
0:22:51 > 0:22:58Genius is reflected in his lyrics, his music, his dress, the dance he invented...
0:22:58 > 0:23:00This is his originality - his art.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02# Johnny be good... #
0:23:02 > 0:23:05When I was in first or second grade,
0:23:05 > 0:23:10and the class goes, "My dad's a fireman, cool."
0:23:10 > 0:23:14"My dad's a policeman." "Well, my dad's the king of rock'n'roll."
0:23:14 > 0:23:18Not half, he wasn't,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21but the poet laureate of teenage America was already 30
0:23:21 > 0:23:24with a jail term behind him by the time rock'n'roll came a-knockin'.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26# Studying hard and hoping to pass... #
0:23:26 > 0:23:32He ended up in Chicago where blues legend Muddy Waters took him under his wing.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37The door Chuck ended up banging on belonged to Chess Records.
0:23:37 > 0:23:43The next day he went to my father, and when he said Muddy Waters sent him my father brought him in.
0:23:43 > 0:23:44He played two songs.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47When they heard the second one,
0:23:47 > 0:23:53they looked at each other, my father and uncle, because we were very aware
0:23:53 > 0:23:57that different, unusual, unique sounds
0:23:57 > 0:24:01were very popular to the Black community.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03We weren't even thinking white.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07# You just started doing the things you used to do... #
0:24:07 > 0:24:11Maybe they weren't, but what Chuck had was a plan, and a cunning one.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13The road to success was modern and fashionable,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17but Chuck's songs were full of farm animals and girls called Ida Red.
0:24:17 > 0:24:24A make-over was needed, and Ida Red became Maybelline, renamed for a brand of mascara.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28In those days, radios had buttons you pushed for each station.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33He was compulsively pushing the buttons and listening for our records.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35Suddenly, he pushed a button and then came Maybelline by Chuck Berry.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39He looked at me and said, "Wow! "We're on WIME. We've got it!"
0:24:39 > 0:24:43Because they never played black music, and when Chuck Berry broke,
0:24:43 > 0:24:50many of the disc jockeys in American radio stations didn't realise he wasn't white.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54When they found out he was black, a lot of them pulled the record.
0:24:57 > 0:25:03We only had one station that blacks could be heard on from a certain time.
0:25:03 > 0:25:09Blacks couldn't even drink water from the same water fountain that the whites did.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13We couldn't walk into the front door of a restaurant to get food.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16They'd put a rope in the auditorium
0:25:16 > 0:25:21and put whites on the one side and blacks on the other - they never met.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25Chuck resented that. He was a black man in America prevented from doing things.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Chuck wrote about things he couldn't ever be part of -
0:25:28 > 0:25:31he was the ultimate outsider, looking in and taking notes.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36The frustration he felt was transformed into songs about teenage angst, opening up a whole new world.
0:25:36 > 0:25:43You all remember Maybelline - the young man with the guitar who couldn't catch her with his car?
0:25:43 > 0:25:48Well, here is with a new automobile - Chuck Berry and You Can't Catch Me.
0:25:48 > 0:25:54Chuck's brilliance was he understood he could play to a black audience
0:25:54 > 0:25:58but what he was aiming for was white teenage America.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05# I bought a brand-new air-mobile
0:26:05 > 0:26:09# Custom-made, 'twas a Flight De Ville
0:26:09 > 0:26:13# With a powerful motor and some hideaway wings... #
0:26:13 > 0:26:19Chuck Berry was into the psyche of white teenagers, he wasn't writing for black ones.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22I don't know how he knew it,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25maybe he had a couple of teenage white girlfriends.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30At that time, it would have had to have been a big secret.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32He knew what he was doing.
0:26:32 > 0:26:38He knew that if he kept playing to everybody as opposed to one particular group, that rock'n'roll
0:26:38 > 0:26:44as we knew it then and as it is today would be where it was.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48When they start playing rock'n'roll,
0:26:48 > 0:26:53and white folks started listening to it that was instant integration.
0:26:53 > 0:26:59Because then, there were whites coming down into the black community just to hear the music.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02# ..Down in Louisiana 'cross to New Orleans... #
0:27:02 > 0:27:06Chuck Berry influenced certainly all the great guitarists today.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08# ..A log cabin made of earth and wood
0:27:08 > 0:27:10# Where lived a country boy named Johnny Be Good... #
0:27:10 > 0:27:13They say he only has four or six chords.
0:27:13 > 0:27:20I said, "Yeah, but the combination of those chords... is the foundation of rock'n'roll."
0:27:20 > 0:27:22# Go, Johnny go, go! #
0:27:22 > 0:27:26Everyone's ripped off that riff many times over.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31The crazy thing about that one particular riff in Johnny Be Good
0:27:31 > 0:27:35is that it's gone on for over 50 years now.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37I hear the Chuck Berry double riff.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41"Uh-oh! You stole that from Johnny Be Good."
0:27:41 > 0:27:44"Uh-oh! I know that song." You can't fool me!
0:27:44 > 0:27:50At the start when he's going, er...
0:27:50 > 0:27:54That played on the guitar sounds really exciting.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04The other thing about Chuck is his words have a certain metre to them
0:28:04 > 0:28:08that almost the words make you wanna dance.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13# I'm gonna write a little letter gonna mail it to my local DJ
0:28:13 > 0:28:16# It's a jumpin' little record that I want my jockey to play... #
0:28:16 > 0:28:19# ..I want my jockey to play... #
0:28:19 > 0:28:22Just hearing the words on their own gets you going.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25# Riding along in my automobile... #
0:28:25 > 0:28:27His lyrics are so natural.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32No Particular Place To Go is about a guy and a girl going for a ride, they want to go for a walk
0:28:32 > 0:28:36because the moon's out, and he can't get the safety belt off.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40The seat belt gets stuck so they have to drive on,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43he's all aggravated and they still can't get the safety belt loose.
0:28:43 > 0:28:48It's about what could have happened to anybody and probably did happen to thousands of kids.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Actually, Cliff, I think it's about sex.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54# So I told her softly and sincerely... #
0:28:54 > 0:28:58Nobody had ever written about 20th-century life about cars
0:28:58 > 0:29:03and about jet planes whizzing over freeways night and day.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06# With no particular place to go. #
0:29:06 > 0:29:09# Sweet little 16
0:29:09 > 0:29:12# She's just got to have
0:29:12 > 0:29:15# About a half a million... #
0:29:15 > 0:29:19Sharp words, sharp tunes... Sharp suits?
0:29:19 > 0:29:21You'd never seen anything like it.
0:29:21 > 0:29:27The suits... the way he performed, like the old duck-walk thing he did,
0:29:27 > 0:29:31and that guitar playing which was really rough and raw
0:29:31 > 0:29:34and slightly out of tune, too.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37The first time I remember seeing him on stage,
0:29:37 > 0:29:39I was awe-struck - like wow!
0:29:39 > 0:29:44My dad is on national television, wow!
0:29:44 > 0:29:47He's playing the guitar that I just saw him buy.
0:29:47 > 0:29:52He knew how to get the audience up, and keep them there.
0:29:52 > 0:29:57And once he got 'em up, and he did the duck-walk, he didn't have to work any more.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08A real example of Chuck Berry is when they sent the Voyager
0:30:08 > 0:30:11to space, they put a disc on it with Beethoven and Bach
0:30:11 > 0:30:18and Shakespeare and representing rock'n'roll was Chuck Berry with Johnny Be Good.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21# Johnny be good tonight, go go
0:30:21 > 0:30:25# Go Johnny go, Go, go, go, Johnny go... #
0:30:25 > 0:30:29Will there be something that is as cool as rock'n'roll? Well...
0:30:29 > 0:30:36Personally, with what my father does... I don't think so, but I'm biased, all right?
0:30:45 > 0:30:47Rock'n'roll has got to go.
0:30:47 > 0:30:53If I hung out with Jerry Lee Lewis, I'd avoid mentioning his 13-year-old wife.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03He's been a naughty boy over the years, apparently.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07# You know what I am Whoo! #
0:31:07 > 0:31:14- It's other-worldly, it could be the dark side. - I'm pretty sure it's the dark side.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21It's cooler up here.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24He had one foot in heaven and one foot in hell.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27# Well, shake, baby... #
0:31:28 > 0:31:33He don't care if he hits a bad note or anything.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35Doesn't bother him a bit.
0:31:35 > 0:31:40He thinks everything he does is great and because of that it is.
0:31:42 > 0:31:49I got myself a rock'n'roll singer, rock'n'roll country singer
0:31:49 > 0:31:55rock'n'roll country and western rhythm and blues singer, a stylist...
0:31:55 > 0:31:58# Jerry's got the blues by the horn
0:31:58 > 0:32:00# Yeah and I ain't fakin'
0:32:00 > 0:32:03# I got the whole lotta shakin' goin' on... #
0:32:03 > 0:32:05And what a stylist he was.
0:32:05 > 0:32:12The man they call The Killer came from Louisiana, born into a family of true believers.
0:32:12 > 0:32:18It was never said at my house if Jerry could make a hit
0:32:18 > 0:32:23with his music, it was always WHEN Jerry makes a hit with his music.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27# The news is out
0:32:28 > 0:32:33# All over town... #
0:32:34 > 0:32:38It didn't take long for Jerry's precocious talent to surface.
0:32:38 > 0:32:44Jerry was about eight years old at that time, and he just walked over to the piano and started playing it.
0:32:44 > 0:32:49A lot of people don't believe that, but that's how talented Jerry Lee Lewis is.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52# ..Should leave, but then... #
0:32:52 > 0:32:55It wasn't an easy life for the young Jerry Lee.
0:32:55 > 0:33:00They moved time and time again and were just very poor.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04And when you're very poor, and you live in the South,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08religion is one of the things that will give you solace.
0:33:11 > 0:33:16He was playing in church but he was starting to boogie things up.
0:33:17 > 0:33:22They had this song and they wanted him to sing it like this...
0:33:22 > 0:33:27# There are some things
0:33:27 > 0:33:31# I may not know... #
0:33:31 > 0:33:35And my brother would do it like this...
0:33:35 > 0:33:39# There are some things I may not know... #
0:33:39 > 0:33:44And that's what got him into trouble at Bible school.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47I liked his version of it better!
0:33:52 > 0:33:58We gathered dozens and dozens of eggs and my daddy sold those eggs
0:33:58 > 0:34:03to get the money to buy the gasoline to take my brother up to Nashville.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05He was turned down in Nashville,
0:34:05 > 0:34:11and he came through Memphis and Jack Clement made a tape for Sam Phillips.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14I played a tape for Sam and he loved it,
0:34:14 > 0:34:20and before it ever got to the singing he stopped it, and said, "Now, I can sell that."
0:34:20 > 0:34:24But what Sam didn't realise was that Jerry was not controllable.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27Jerry did what he wanted to do.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29And what Jerry wanted to do was make a big hit.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32He did a Whole Lot Of Shakin'.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36One take, no dry-run, nothing. That was it.
0:34:39 > 0:34:44Once a Whole Lot Of Shakin' came out, then it was just explosive.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49He went from making this 200 a night to thousands.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52So he was like, "Look at this!
0:34:52 > 0:34:55Look at me! "I've arrived!"
0:34:55 > 0:35:01We were living in this shack one day, and we had nothing,
0:35:01 > 0:35:05and then suddenly, Jerry bought us this brand-new Fleetwood Cadillac.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14We went to Doris' Dress Shop in Faraday, Louisiana,
0:35:14 > 0:35:18and we bought all the clothes they had. We had boxes of clothes.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20It was fantastic.
0:35:20 > 0:35:26And as Jerry got bigger, more and more of the world went looking for that pumping piano.
0:35:26 > 0:35:31We were going through Pontypridd and a Whole Lot Of Shakin' came on.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37My friend said, "Is that what you're talking about?" I said, "Exactly."
0:35:37 > 0:35:40# Shakin'... #
0:35:40 > 0:35:46And if you thought the songs were wild, then wait until you saw the stage shows.
0:35:46 > 0:35:53In one song he stood up and kicked the piano stool away which became his trademark.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55He's flicking his hair around...
0:35:55 > 0:35:58He was jealous of all the guitarists.
0:35:58 > 0:36:05He was on the same bill as Chuck Berry and was on before him - to outdo him he set fire to his piano
0:36:05 > 0:36:10at the end of his set so it was almost impossible for Chuck Berry to follow him.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12# You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain
0:36:12 > 0:36:15# Too much love drives a man insane
0:36:15 > 0:36:18# You broke my will but what a thrill
0:36:18 > 0:36:21# Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire... #
0:36:21 > 0:36:25Great Balls Of Fire was Jerry's next huge hit,
0:36:25 > 0:36:31and the religious imagery wasn't lost on the Bible school dropout - caught between heaven and hell.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33# Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire... #
0:36:33 > 0:36:40I remember Sam saying that rock'n'roll is the greatest influence since Jesus Christ,
0:36:40 > 0:36:44and Jerry Lee saying, "Rock'n'roll is of the devil!"
0:36:44 > 0:36:49- 'You can save souls!'- 'No! NO!
0:36:49 > 0:36:53How can the devil save souls?
0:36:53 > 0:36:58What are you talking about?! I have the devil in me!'
0:36:58 > 0:37:03Sam said, "Well if you think it's the devil's music, don't do it."
0:37:03 > 0:37:06He said, "I'm saying that's what I was taught to believe."
0:37:06 > 0:37:09I'm Christian-minded,
0:37:09 > 0:37:12but I'm not living it. Now I regret that I don't.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16I regret that I haven't, that I know I should have.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20# You better listen to me, sugar All the cats are at the high school rockin'... #
0:37:20 > 0:37:22Preachers preached against it.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25"It was the devil, it was the devil's music."
0:37:25 > 0:37:28# Got everybody hoppin' Everybody boppin'
0:37:28 > 0:37:30# Boppin' at the high school hop... #
0:37:30 > 0:37:33There's people that'll stand up against it.
0:37:33 > 0:37:38There's people that will feel the fear of God, that will say it's wrong, it's sick...
0:37:38 > 0:37:40# I been movin' at the high school hop
0:37:40 > 0:37:43# Well, everybody's boppin'... #
0:37:43 > 0:37:48What style of music would make people go, "We're gonna ban it.
0:37:48 > 0:37:54"We're gonna burn the records, and we're going to arrest people who play it." That sounds ludicrous now.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56# Yeah, check out the heart beatin' rhythm
0:37:56 > 0:37:58# And my feet are movin' smooth and light... #
0:37:58 > 0:38:01They were told to tone it down.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04The stuff was too wicked, too wild.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06# I've been rollin' at the high school hop
0:38:06 > 0:38:08# I've been movin' at the high school hop... #
0:38:08 > 0:38:12It's you, teenager! You're involved, you're sunk,
0:38:12 > 0:38:17you're pulled down, you're forsaken by the devil.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22Adding fuel to the fires of sin was the fact that in 1957, Jerry,
0:38:22 > 0:38:26not divorced from his first wife, married his 13-year-old cousin.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29He said, "Girl, I loved you the first time I laid eyes on you."
0:38:29 > 0:38:31And I said, "What?"
0:38:31 > 0:38:36Now, being a 13-year-old girl, idolising this man...
0:38:38 > 0:38:41..what are you gonna do?
0:38:41 > 0:38:45Of course, she is our cousin, but...
0:38:45 > 0:38:48I believe it's our second cousin.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53That would be considered unusual anywhere, except in our family.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57Things came to a head in May 1958 when the newlyweds travelled to Britain for a sell-out tour.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01When I answered the reporter who'd asked, "Who are you, miss?"
0:39:01 > 0:39:04and I'd said, "Oh, I'm Jerry's wife."
0:39:04 > 0:39:08When I saw the reaction on his face, I knew I'd said the wrong thing.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10And he said, "And how old are you?"
0:39:10 > 0:39:16And I thought, "Oh, my God, he's too anxious to know that answer." So I just lied to him and said I was 15.
0:39:16 > 0:39:21Like that would make a big world of difference!
0:39:21 > 0:39:25I thought, "I'm not gonna miss this. I don't care who he's married to."
0:39:25 > 0:39:30So we went, and the audience gave him a terrible time booing him.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33He just played on.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35# I'm a wild one, whoo, yeah... #
0:39:35 > 0:39:37No, I don't regret it.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40The criticism didn't mean nothing to me cos I had enough talent to overcome it.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44I've always done what I wanted to do, as long as I felt it was right.
0:39:44 > 0:39:49To him, because he felt that having sex outside marriage was a sin,
0:39:49 > 0:39:59because he fell in love with his second cousin, he married her, before he had sex with her.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01Five days and three shows later,
0:40:01 > 0:40:07Jerry Lee and Myra were back on the plane, Jerry's career heading for a tailspin of its own.
0:40:07 > 0:40:12The papers reported you were greeted with silence over there, and with cat-calls from the audience.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16- Is that right? - Well, I can't agree with all that.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18It was very nice and very good.
0:40:18 > 0:40:20Were you there, Mrs Lewis?
0:40:20 > 0:40:22I was there but I wasn't at the shows.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24You weren't at the shows?
0:40:24 > 0:40:27Did you notice any sort of reception like that?
0:40:27 > 0:40:30- No, it was a good reception. - When were you married?
0:40:30 > 0:40:32- Pardon?- When were you married?
0:40:32 > 0:40:37- We'll leave our personal questions out of this.- All right. Good luck.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39They didn't want any part of us.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43They pulled Jerry's record off the air, they cancelled TV shows...
0:40:43 > 0:40:5010,000 a night to 250 a night is a pretty big disappointment.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53# Lovin' me, lovin' me right... #
0:40:53 > 0:40:56We were, of course, disappointed.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00There goes our meal ticket.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05Those things that happened to us, will always be us.
0:41:05 > 0:41:10It didn't just happen to one of us, it happened the two of us together,
0:41:10 > 0:41:16it joined us together in history, and that's where we'll always be.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22# Well, I saw Uncle John with bald-head Sally
0:41:22 > 0:41:24# He saw Aunt Mary coming... #
0:41:24 > 0:41:28Little Richard - I'd never heard anything like it.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30# Baby, whoo-hoo... #
0:41:30 > 0:41:33And that was it for me. Hello, rock'n'roll!
0:41:33 > 0:41:36# Yeah... #
0:41:36 > 0:41:40And suddenly this sound came out of the radio, a man singing,
0:41:40 > 0:41:45and I'd never heard the like of it before, it was fantastic.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49When he stepped out, you said, "My God, who is that?"
0:41:49 > 0:41:51# You ran away from me... #
0:41:51 > 0:41:55He left an impression on you at all times.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57# Lucille
0:41:57 > 0:41:59# Please come back where you belong... #
0:41:59 > 0:42:03He sort of "ate" a lyric - he grabbed it and spat it out.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07It was sexual, it was hot, it was rebellious, it was everything.
0:42:07 > 0:42:15It was that breed of rock'n'roll pianist that use their pianos like guitars.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17His music was the perfect mix,
0:42:17 > 0:42:22with his looks, hair, the way he played the piano, his whole act.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24He was a clever, creative artist.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27# I'm ready, ready ready Teddy I'm ready
0:42:27 > 0:42:29# Ready, ready Teddy, I'm ready
0:42:29 > 0:42:33# Ready, ready Teddy, I'm ready to rock'n'roll... #
0:42:33 > 0:42:37I created rock'n'roll, and I didn't even know what I was doing.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41# I'm ready Ready, ready Teddy, I'm ready... #
0:42:41 > 0:42:45Little Richard shocked people. Not only was he black and screaming Lucille...
0:42:45 > 0:42:47# Lucille... #
0:42:47 > 0:42:53..up in your white kids' bedroom, he was practically a drag queen, and it really confused parents.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57It never confused kids. They loved him!
0:42:57 > 0:43:01# You got it, whooo!... #
0:43:01 > 0:43:07The moment Richard stepped on that stage it was like someone turned on a light switch
0:43:07 > 0:43:14and you could feel the love and the energy just sparking from one person to the other, it was a love-fest.
0:43:19 > 0:43:25To the strait-laced sections of the 1950s, Little Richard was a brother from another planet.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28He was loud, he was lewd, and he was black.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33Wildly attractive to the new rock'n'roll audience, but the devil incarnate to a lot of other people.
0:43:33 > 0:43:38Richard used to sing in church with a quartet which was his family's group.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43The Bible was pulverised into these youngsters at that age.
0:43:43 > 0:43:49At the end of a concert, Richard often used to say, "I am the only thing left, I am the king.
0:43:49 > 0:43:56"My music is the healing music, it makes the blind see, the lame walk, the dead rise up..."
0:43:56 > 0:43:58That's Little Richard.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02The wild abandonment of gospel made Richard's records sound
0:44:02 > 0:44:09like speaking in tongues, but what really made them fly was when he let loose his...ambiguous sexuality.
0:44:09 > 0:44:16Richard was looking out of a fourth-floor hotel window, and saw me and sent for me.
0:44:16 > 0:44:21The first thing that I said was, "Does he know I'm a girl?"
0:44:21 > 0:44:26I remember standing in the door, and he was lying on a bed.
0:44:26 > 0:44:32And...there were stars, there were bells, I got dizzy.
0:44:32 > 0:44:37Sex to me was like a smorgasbord, you could pick whatever you want.
0:44:37 > 0:44:42If you wanted it, get it all. That's what I did.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45He just liked to watch all the time, and hang around
0:44:45 > 0:44:48with black strippers and he'd look at them, all this kind of stuff.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52I must admit, he kept Vaseline stocked up.
0:44:52 > 0:44:59When he crossed the excitement of his music with a flamboyant image - equal parts drag queen, stripper
0:44:59 > 0:45:03and monster from outer space, he even startled his own friends.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06Earl Palmer is the most marvellous drummer.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08He sounds like 1,000 drummers.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12But he said when Little Richard came in the studio all dressed up
0:45:12 > 0:45:15with make-up and a pompadour in 1955, they were terrified.
0:45:15 > 0:45:20We looked up and saw him and said, "What the f... is that?"
0:45:20 > 0:45:25We didn't say, "Who is that?", we knew who it was.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28We told Richard about it and he had a big laugh.
0:45:28 > 0:45:33Earl met Richard in 1955, when the Georgia peach fetched up
0:45:33 > 0:45:38in New Orleans to work at one of rock'n'roll's shrines, J&M Studios.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42His first songs were slow, bluesy and not very special, then they went for a drink.
0:45:42 > 0:45:50So they had a break and went to this Dew Drop Inn, which is a place where all the pimps, the...a...
0:45:50 > 0:45:53the prostitutes, the low-down life, all the good-time folks were there.
0:45:53 > 0:45:58Richard loves the spotlight and he went over to the piano and suddenly went....
0:45:58 > 0:46:00# A-whop-bop-a-loo-bop a-whop-bam-boom
0:46:00 > 0:46:04# Tutti frutti au rutti Tutti frutti au rutti
0:46:04 > 0:46:08# Tutti frutti au rutti Tutti frutti... #
0:46:08 > 0:46:14The producer said, "That's what I want from you." They only had 15 minutes left, the rest is history.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18# A-whop-bop-a-loo-bop a-whop-bam-boom I got a girl her name's Sue... #
0:46:18 > 0:46:22They changed many of the lyrics in his songs, you know.
0:46:22 > 0:46:27Because rhythm and blues lyrics were very suggestive and Richard just kept on singing those
0:46:27 > 0:46:29when he started singing with a little more of a rock feel.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31# She's the gal that I love best
0:46:31 > 0:46:33# Tutti frutti au rutti
0:46:33 > 0:46:37# Tutti frutti au rutti, ooh... #
0:46:37 > 0:46:41You can't think of them being nonsensical, silly sometimes,
0:46:41 > 0:46:45but silly for a reason and the reason was exhilaration,
0:46:45 > 0:46:49This great feeling of stuff happening.
0:46:49 > 0:46:57So you shout, you scream, you babble things that are...you know, it's almost like speaking in tongues.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59# She knows how to love me, yes indeed... #
0:46:59 > 0:47:01Once they tell your voice is black,
0:47:01 > 0:47:05it didn't matter what you were singing, they didn't play you.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07# A-whop-bop-a-loo-bop a-whop-bam-boom... #
0:47:07 > 0:47:12Even cleaned up Richard's Tutti Frutti was still too much for a lot of radio stations to take.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15If you couldn't play the original, what could you do?
0:47:15 > 0:47:17Bring on the white boys.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19# ...au rutti A-whop-bop-a-loo-bop... #
0:47:19 > 0:47:25When I sang his songs that was not my tradition.
0:47:25 > 0:47:31I wanted to capture as much of his feel as I could because I wanted to be faithful to the music.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35# Tutti frutti au rutti Tutti frutti au rutti... #
0:47:35 > 0:47:41Pat Boone covered the record and he came out polished, white boy - offbeat, no time
0:47:41 > 0:47:47and made millions off of it just with the white buck shoes.
0:47:47 > 0:47:52People say your record of Tutti Frutti wasn't as exciting as Little Richard's, no it wasn't,
0:47:52 > 0:47:55because if I'd sounded like him my record wouldn't have played either.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58# A-whop-bop-a-loo-bop a-whop-bam-boom... #
0:47:58 > 0:48:06But gradually, and rather quickly, the kids and their DJs said, "Let's play the original records."
0:48:06 > 0:48:09And the era, then, of the cover record was over.
0:48:09 > 0:48:14They would buy Pat Boone's and put it up on the table and put mine under the table.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17We were in the same house but different locations.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20# Tutti frutti au rutti
0:48:20 > 0:48:22# A-whop-bop-a-loo-bop a-whop-bam-boom. #
0:48:22 > 0:48:26He sang in a completely different way, I used to love Elvis,
0:48:26 > 0:48:32then Little Richard came and I listened to that, there'd be this raucous screaming...
0:48:32 > 0:48:34# Jenny, Jenny, Jenny Won't you come along... #
0:48:34 > 0:48:38Fantastic! It just touches nerves all over the place.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43# Jenny, Jenny, Jenny Won't you come along with me?... #
0:48:43 > 0:48:50Like Elvis, Little Richard had a huge impact in the UK, especially in Liverpool.
0:48:50 > 0:48:56Paul McCartney was asked, "Are you still imitating Little Richard?" He said, "Who isn't?"
0:48:56 > 0:49:04He always says, AS LITTLE RICHARD: 'I taught you everything you knew child.' And it's true, he did.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08- How did you do it?- He was standing in the wing of the stage and I was,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11# Whoo-oh-oh-oh... #
0:49:11 > 0:49:14He said, "Who-who."
0:49:14 > 0:49:20Between 1955 and 1957, Little Richard could do no wrong.
0:49:20 > 0:49:26Every single single was a classic and the concerts - the concerts were something else again.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28Have you ever seen his show?
0:49:28 > 0:49:33Jesus. Little Richard would play that piano with his hands and everything.
0:49:33 > 0:49:38He'd be on top of the piano turning flips, doing everything - jumping off with capes and things.
0:49:38 > 0:49:39# Yeah... #
0:49:39 > 0:49:43We were in Chicago in '57.
0:49:43 > 0:49:48I was introduced as Little Richard's fiance by Richard.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51I mean the kids just had to have a piece of me.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55My dress was all over Chicago.
0:49:55 > 0:50:02I thank God Richard was using capes in those days because that was the only way I could...
0:50:02 > 0:50:06CHEERING AND SCREAMING
0:50:06 > 0:50:09Richard was gorgeous.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11The girl can't help it.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14You see that movie...
0:50:14 > 0:50:16You see my Richard.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19# Good God I'm ready Ready, ready Teddy, I'm ready
0:50:19 > 0:50:24# Ready, ready Teddy, I'm ready Ready, ready Teddy I'm ready ready to rock'n'roll... #
0:50:24 > 0:50:29He is that explosive, that outgoing...
0:50:29 > 0:50:36And er...his ambition is that you pay attention to no-one but him.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39So when he's performing he's the centre of the world.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43# Ready, ready Teddy I'm ready, ready ready to rock'n'roll. #
0:50:48 > 0:50:52# There you go inviting Here am I will you... #
0:50:52 > 0:50:56He was influential in a lot of subtle ways.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58He wasn't overtly sexy like Elvis.
0:50:58 > 0:51:00There was this instant appeal to a lot of guys
0:51:00 > 0:51:04because he looked like he could be, literally, the guy next door.
0:51:04 > 0:51:09Immediately that must give everybody who wears glasses or has pimples a chance.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13Yeah, it helps if you're really good-looking
0:51:13 > 0:51:19and that also helped with the girls but with Buddy the girls even love him too with his glasses on, so.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22I know that because I had to shoo them away a lot.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25# ...a-crying... #
0:51:25 > 0:51:29But importantly he was one of the first of the rock'n'rollers to write his own songs.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31# I've thrown away my nights... #
0:51:31 > 0:51:33Every single was a smash.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37Peggy Sue was a classic. It didn't matter what he looked like.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43Nowhere was safe from rock'n'roll and there weren't many places
0:51:43 > 0:51:49more nowhere than Lubbock, a dry, dusty city on the Texas plains.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51That was where Charles Buddy Holly came from,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54ending up, a geeky-looking teenager with bad teeth and his own band.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58Heaven alone knows what they did when the music stopped.
0:51:58 > 0:52:03We were a bunch of guys in west Texas that played all kinds of music
0:52:03 > 0:52:06mostly country and a bit of swing.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11And we'd go round and play dances and when they opened a new garage
0:52:11 > 0:52:15they'd have a truck and we'd play on it.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18We'd play for the opening of a pack of cigarettes.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22# Maybe baby... #
0:52:22 > 0:52:27His parents were very, very poor. They didn't have enough money.
0:52:27 > 0:52:33When you start playing rock'n'roll you make 5 a night instead of 40 cents stacking groceries.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36- Where do you come from Lubbock, Texas?- Yes.
0:52:36 > 0:52:37You go to school down there?
0:52:37 > 0:52:42- We did until we got out of school. - Then you played together?- Yes.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45Buddy could've been a steel worker or driven cattle,
0:52:45 > 0:52:49except one day Elvis Presley came to town and changed everything.
0:52:49 > 0:52:54When Elvis came we thought, "What a way to attract girls."
0:52:54 > 0:52:58# That's all right That's all right... #
0:52:58 > 0:53:03I first saw Elvis, he'd played the Fair Park Coliseum which was the big venue in Lubbock, Texas.
0:53:03 > 0:53:10The next day after Elvis left town, well we started to playing Elvis songs. We became Elvis clones.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13# Well, it's one for the money Two for the show
0:53:13 > 0:53:16# Three to get ready Now go, cat, go... #
0:53:16 > 0:53:21He had something that you didn't realise at the time. He was him.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24He always said to me,
0:53:24 > 0:53:30"A lot of people tried to get me not to wear glasses on stage,
0:53:30 > 0:53:36"I want them to love the music and if they love my music, I come second."
0:53:36 > 0:53:41If you looked from his shoulders up, you'd think surely this is Buddy Holly's accountant.
0:53:41 > 0:53:47From the shoulders down, guitar low, strat...rock'n'roll.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49# Oh... #
0:53:49 > 0:53:51He was ground-breaking.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54He was making things different.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56# All my love All my kisses
0:53:56 > 0:53:58# You don't know what you've been missing... #
0:53:58 > 0:54:01He felt rock'n'roll had a short lifespan, if it didn't move forward.
0:54:01 > 0:54:07# That the world can see That you were meant for me. #
0:54:07 > 0:54:09They'd try anything.
0:54:09 > 0:54:14We didn't have access to tom-toms and bongos and congas.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18- # I'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be- Ta ta tum tum...- #
0:54:18 > 0:54:23There were interested in their sound and spent days getting it right.
0:54:23 > 0:54:28# We're all right so I'm being foolish
0:54:28 > 0:54:30# Well all right... #
0:54:30 > 0:54:34Little Richard was a favourite of ours. He'd say "Well, all right.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37- "Let's get this on, all right." - Well, all right.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39ALL: All right.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41That's where that song came from.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45He did that on everyday and we were working on that
0:54:45 > 0:54:48and he was teaching us the songs.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52So the songs flooded out of him in no time and they were great songs.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55Everything was grist to Buddy's mill.
0:54:55 > 0:55:02There was nothing that was out of bounds. It was so dangerous to say somebody's the first about anything
0:55:02 > 0:55:06but from their own view they weren't copying anybody else.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08This was them in this situation.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11# If you knew Peggy Sue
0:55:11 > 0:55:14# Then you'd know why I feel blue
0:55:14 > 0:55:16# A-bout Peggy
0:55:16 > 0:55:19# My Peggy Su-u-ue... #
0:55:21 > 0:55:23We had so many songs and everybody
0:55:23 > 0:55:27started to believe their parents, like, "This is not going to last."
0:55:27 > 0:55:33We said while this stuff is selling we better get all we can as they're going to quit doing this next month.
0:55:33 > 0:55:35Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37Six classics in a year isn't bad.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40Also on board manager and producer Norman Petty.
0:55:40 > 0:55:44He helped them in the studio but he kept a firm grip on the cash as well.
0:55:44 > 0:55:50One of the things I saw was that they never signed contracts. They always put their hand on the bible.
0:55:50 > 0:55:54Another rock'n'roll first - the first wife to have doubts about the management.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57Petty still had his hands on the purse strings
0:55:57 > 0:56:01and he jerked the band strings too. But Buddy wanted control too.
0:56:01 > 0:56:07He treated us like kids but we didn't have to be treated like kids.
0:56:07 > 0:56:14We wanted to get our own money and so they just told Alan Freed, "Hey, give us the money this time."
0:56:14 > 0:56:17So they paid us in cash and I went back to the room.
0:56:17 > 0:56:22They said, "Here's how we split it up. We throw it on the bed and everybody gets as much as they can."
0:56:22 > 0:56:25"That's our split."
0:56:25 > 0:56:28# Well I love you gal... #
0:56:28 > 0:56:31We had a very tough time trying to get our money.
0:56:31 > 0:56:36I realise that Norman Petty was taking advantage of the kids.
0:56:36 > 0:56:41Buddy and the boys planned to move to New York but at the last minute
0:56:41 > 0:56:44Norman Petty persuaded the Crickets to stay in Lubbock.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46# Heartbeat, why do you... #
0:56:46 > 0:56:50Norman convinced them not to come to New York saying,
0:56:50 > 0:56:54"They're going to eat you alive - those New Yorkers."
0:56:54 > 0:56:57The last time we talked to Buddy,
0:56:57 > 0:57:02we were sitting out front of the studio and they said,
0:57:04 > 0:57:09"It may not work in New York and if it doesn't we'll get back together."
0:57:09 > 0:57:13New York, new wife, no money, no mates but he had to do
0:57:13 > 0:57:18what a boy had to do and headed out on a winter dance party.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20At that time, I was pregnant.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24I had my suitcases out the door when they were leaving.
0:57:24 > 0:57:30I said, "No, no, you have to take care of our baby and it will be
0:57:30 > 0:57:34"just two weeks, you'll be back before you know it."
0:57:34 > 0:57:36There wasn't to be a happy ending.
0:57:36 > 0:57:41When the plane crashed in snowy conditions Buddy was killed. He was just 22.
0:57:41 > 0:57:43# A long, long time ago
0:57:44 > 0:57:51# I can still remember how that music used to make me smile... #
0:57:51 > 0:57:54I didn't believe it. I said, "No, that's impossible.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57We were trying to call him last night.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01"He was going to call us back. We were waiting for the phone call."
0:58:01 > 0:58:05# ...for a while... #
0:58:05 > 0:58:09We was more sad when Buddy was killed that we hadn't been hanging out and you look back and say,
0:58:09 > 0:58:17"Why did we...this was such a dream come true and we all just got nuts!"
0:58:19 > 0:58:22# One more step... #
0:58:22 > 0:58:26One of his dreams that he always kept saying is,
0:58:26 > 0:58:31"I'm doing my music and I want my music to be remembered."
0:58:31 > 0:58:33His dream has come true.
0:58:33 > 0:58:40# The day the music died. #
0:58:42 > 0:58:47# All my love, all of my kisses You don't know what you've been missing
0:58:47 > 0:58:49# Oh, boy When you're with me, oh, boy
0:58:49 > 0:58:55# The world can see That you were meant for me. #
0:58:58 > 0:59:03By the end of the '50s, it looked like your parents might have been right all along.
0:59:03 > 0:59:06Buddy was dead, Elvis was in the army, Chuck Berry was in jail,
0:59:06 > 0:59:14Jerry Lee was in disgrace and Little Richard had found God, again, and Bill Hailey was still your dad.
0:59:14 > 0:59:16But once the tiger had got out of the cage, it was pretty difficult
0:59:16 > 0:59:24to get it back in again and in the caverns of Liverpool, something stirred.
0:59:24 > 0:59:25# Oh, baby
0:59:25 > 0:59:30# Yeah, oh, baby Who-o-o
0:59:30 > 0:59:31# Baby
0:59:31 > 0:59:35# Having some fun tonight
0:59:35 > 0:59:38# I saw Uncle John with long, tall Sally
0:59:38 > 0:59:40# He saw Aunt Mary comin' and he ducked back in the alley
0:59:40 > 0:59:42# Oh, baby
0:59:42 > 0:59:45# Yeah, oh, baby
0:59:45 > 0:59:46# Who-o-o
0:59:46 > 0:59:51# Oh, baby Having some fun tonight. #
0:59:51 > 0:59:55Subtitles by BBC Broadcast - 2004 E-mail us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk