Fwd: Re: top-40 in 1957

[A Joseph Ross]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: top-40 in 1957
Date: 	Sat, 31 May 2014 00:41:11 -0400
From: 	A Joseph Ross <joe@attorneyross.com>
Organization: 	Law Office of A. Joseph Ross, J.D.
To: 	Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>



I listened mostly to WCOP at that time, and I heard it quite often. I
have three WCOP survey sheets, but they aren't from that time frame, but
I've never heard of any such ban in Boston, and I don't know who would
have banned it.

For that matter, what was so risque' about it anyway?  They fell asleep
and missed curfew.  They were probably out pretty late.  Yes, they
literally slept together. But if you actually sleep together, you're not
doing the things that people usually mean by "sleeping together."
(Kinda Like Isaac Asimov's remark that people say they're going out
together when they really are staying in together.)


On 5/30/2014 2:08 AM, Donna Halper wrote:
> 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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-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D.| 92 State Street| Suite 700 | Boston, MA 02109-2004
617.367.0468|Fx:617.507.7856| http://www.attorneyross.com


-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D.| 92 State Street| Suite 700 | Boston, MA 02109-2004
617.367.0468|Fx:617.507.7856| http://www.attorneyross.com