"Poor Rock 'N Roll" - This song caused some problems!

Poor Rock ‘N Roll

It was the night of May 3, 1958 at the Boston Arena. A concert like any average Rock ‘N Roll concert hosted by DJ Alan Freed full of teens. This concert however took a turn for the worst, it broke out into a riot. This whole event led to the inspiration of “Poor Rock ‘N Roll”, a song released on the small “KLIK” label from New Haven, Connecticut; performed by the talented vocal group: The Nobles. The entire song explains the events of the night, and upon it’s release, it upset Alan Freed VERY much. Parents and even some senators had hated Alan Freed, this incident was such a big deal that they went after him. Alan was charged with inciting a riot, and quit his job as a DJ. Not only did he get into trouble with the riot, he got caught up in the “Payola Scandal” and was arrested and imprisoned. Payola is the illegal practice of payment by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio, where the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. The two owners from Klik records, Marty & Tom were already on not so good terms with Alan Freed, so when this record was released under their company, he was absolutely furious. Marty & Tom had sent Alan a copy of “Poor Rock ‘N Roll” to play over the air which added fuel to the fire. They had asked Alan to “break their record,” meaning to play it for the first time. Upon cueing the record up, on live air he says “You want me to break your guys’ record?” He then snapped it, and you could hear it break on the air. A few months after this incident, Marty & Tom bumped into Alan Freed, Mo Levy, and a few other guys. Mo ran a very large and successful label called: Roulette Records; Alan & Mo Levy were cahoots. This incident took place at “The Brill Building” (hugely famous musical building in New York; housed several label offices and recording studios) when Alan & Moe were leaving George Goldner’s office and heading out in the elevator. George was yet another very influential music entrepreneur and ran several successful record labels, including “Gee” and “Rama” records. As they bumped into Marty & Tom, guns were pulled out, but nothing bad happened. All in all, the song, “Poor Rock ‘N Roll” caused problems for Alan, and Klik records. The May 3, 1958 show at the Boston Arena was the beginning of the end for Alan, who called himself the 'Father of Rock 'N Roll.' Though these events are long past, the legend and the vibes of the night are still present with this immortal song!

Hear: "Poor Rock 'N Roll"

(The words to this song are very hard to understand, included below are the lyrics to better understand and enjoy it)

"Well rock and roll is on its way.. Let’s all wave goodbye. It happened in Beantown, and that is not a lie

He cried and he cried, but it didn't do no good. For only a rock and roller, could have understood

They say that there was trouble, but we don't know the score. I can tell you people, there'll be no more

The band was movin and groovin, the feather in a role, there almost was a riot, but The Monarchs slammed the door

(unison) dim dim the lights, dim dim the lights, dim dim the lights, so we can have some fun

dim dim the lights, dim dim the lights, dim dim the lights, lets have some fun

He cried and he cried, but it didn't do no good. For only a rock and roller could have understood.

No more shada daddas. Yip yips by the score.. Come on rock and rollers, get on off the floor

(unison) dim dim the lights, dim dim the lights, dim dim the lights, so we can have some fun
Poor Rock 'N Roll, poor Rock 'N Roll, poor Rock 'N Roll"

(Group photo of The Nobles)

Many thanks to PJ Noce for the lyrics, and the back story that inspired me to write this post.