top-40 in 1957
Donna Halper
dlh@donnahalper.com
Fri May 30 02:08:53 EDT 2014
So, I am trying to disprove a very durable myth. A number of websites,
and even a couple of books claim that "Wake Up Little Susie" by the
Everly Brothers was banned in Boston. I grew up here, and I absolutely
remember hearing it on the radio. I've checked various newspapers
(given that a number of radio and music critics back then absolutely
hated rock and roll, if the song got banned, you'd think someone would
have mentioned it)-- but there was no mention that I could find in the
Globe, Herald, Traveler, or several others. No mention in Broadcasting
magazine either, and Billboard repeatedly showed that the song was
selling in Boston record stores. But what really makes me think the
story is a myth is that I found some old surveys that show WCOP played
the song. I also found weekly newspaper reports of what the top disc
jockeys were playing-- these appeared in the Traveler and the Record
American, and they continued to report airplay from WHDH's Bob Clayton's
(his show, "Boston Ballroom," was very influential back then). Do any
of you have Boston radio surveys from October 1957, the month the song
went to #1? My guess is that the more conservative stations like WBZ
did not play it, and there might have been some negative commentary
about the song by the Boston Archdiocese--the Catholic Church had a lot
of influence and I vaguely recall they had a list of songs, movies and
books considered not okay for Catholics. But I am not finding any
evidence the song was in fact "banned in Boston."
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