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Vestiges of the 50s

continuation of two basic trends of the 50s: rockabilly & soft rock (not as much R&B-influenced mainstream rock)

rockabilly

• Everly Brothers
• Roy Orbison
• Ricky Nelson
• Johnny Cash

soft rock

• Elvis' 60s material
• Pat Boone
• teen idols: Bobby Vee, Bobby Vinton, Bobby Rydell, & Neil Sedaka
• pop-style instrumentals: Percy Faith, David Rose, Lawrence Welk
  • The only #1 instrumental reminiscent of the 1950s rock instrumental was "Telstar" by the Tornadoes ... 1^st British group to have a #1 hit on the US charts

Roy Orbison

rockabilly style

like Holly, bucked the rock "image"

• not very good looking, hidden behind a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses

with the glasses	without the glasses
Roy Orbison with the Traveling Wilburys

Notice Orbison's plaintive high tenor vocals

Only the Lonely

(#2 in1960)

Pretty Woman

 

 

Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons

soft rock style

high falsetto voice, backed with solid, tight vocal harmonies

Sherry

(#1 in1962)

Big Girls Don't Cry

(#1 in 1962)

(#1 in 1963)

Comedian George Carlin commented that "Frankie sings '... walk like a man, talk like a man' ... but sings it like a woman." An apt description of the singer's use of high falsetto.

Other Trends:

more female solo singers

novelty hits continue into the 60s:

• Kyo Sakamoto's "Sukiyaki" (sung in Japanese)
• Sister Luc-Gabrielle (The Singing Nun & 4 of her "sisters"), singing about "Dominque," the founder of the Dominican order

The Tokens

The Lion Sleeps Tonight
(#1, 1961)

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