What music do you guys think Bob Hirohata ,Louie Bettancourt,Buster Litton,Buddy Alcorn or the rest of em listened to when they were roamin the streets in their pre 55 Barris built sleds?
Charles Brown,T bone walker, louis jourdan all popular late 40s early 50s maybe evenike turner jackie beresford sang the lead on "rocket 88" The 1st rockn roll song so they say, mike
Every old post war hot rodder and early kustom guy I have ever talked to that was around in those days listend to jazz and country. Few ever say much about R&B. The post 56 crowd were very different from the early guys in many ways...style of cars and music. The later guys seemed more RnR and flashy. And those guys of course are very different from the "where were you in 62" guys. My dad is a 60 grad...he has a good buddy that is a post war hot rodder. My dad liked rock n roll, Bob the older guy hates it. Both were on the hot rod scene in the late 50's and 60's and my dad differs in that he loved the new cars of the time like the 58 Impala slammed on the ground where Bob has had his 34 since he was 13 and still calls those cars late models. Both love cars, both are buds, both very different. My .o2...worthless as always.
That is a interesting question.... Not sure what he, or they would have listened to.. I know that when i'm out working on the 53 i seem to dig old blues tunes.. For some reason that stuff makes me wanna work on a custom, or drive one too .. I guess i'm weird like that.
for guys their age in that era, i would guess be bop or maybe jump blues (jazz subgenres). maybe some rock & roll, but i doubt it. i think that was for punk kids.
I could imagine that...Jazz from that time has class and style just like the cars have although there is no direct connection between this,I know... Bob Hirohata probably was listening to Shao Feng Siu and the Stompin' Rice Madmen...
I imagine that those pre-55 guys liked the early Rock 'n Roll, and some were Jazz fans, but the fact was that all you could listen to in your car was AM radio pop -- shit like "The Tennessee Waltz" or "The one-armed one-eyed flyin' purple people eater". I don't think FM (like jazz stations) or tape decks were available on OEM car radios until the '60s. I'm purposely ignoring the 45-rpm record players that they sold for in-car use -- never knew anybody who had one. That said, I remember that rock 'n roll was big time on late-'50s AM radio, especially if you listened to DJ's like Hunter Hancock or Johnny Otis in LA. I recall being really buzzed hearing Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" while cruising one night, but longing for the day that there would be FM in cars so I could listen to jazz stations...
Yeah I think I saw footage of Hirohata hittin the switches and screamin' "When I'm called off, I got a sawed off, Squeeze the trigger, and bodies are hauled off"
All I can picture is a hooker whistling now....maybe a pimp yelling. I think I'm the one drinking again.....
Check out Charles Brown "Merry Xmas Baby", 1950 release was a big national hit he was big in la at the time.mike
I was going to say the Orioles or early Flamingos (Golden Teardrops ala '53 type stuff) but 00 beat me to it.
Haha....you guys aren't far off. Louis Jordan really is the OG---all his songs were about drinkin' whiskey and beatin' his woman! "Whiskey Do Your Stuff", "Gal You Need A Whippin'", "Put Some Money In The Pot 'cause The Juice Is Runnin 'Low" etc... Marcy
that's funny, thanks rick i laughed out loud........i'm still laughing, maybe cuz i hear that rap shit all day long........i work in OAKLAND
Something about the beautiful unity of your reply and your avatar made me LMFAO! I think Doo Wop and 'Stax' style blues were more of an East Coast thing-my personal favorites.
I often think they didn't give a shit about what they were listening to... they were car guys, not music guys... They put record players in their cars... not because they liked music, but because it was the latest and greatest thing... You know, the modern day equivelant of a chopped Merc with pipes, caps and T&R, with a record player in the back... is a 2005 Escalade with 22's, air bags and flip down DVD players. Sam.
He probably had to listen to the great unwashed masses asking constantly, "What kind of car is that? Why would you do that? How much did it cost? Is that one of them new Italian jobs?" Either that or NWA..
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