Wasn't Rock and Roll supposed to be dangerous and exciting? It's hard to think back to a day where artists such as Elvis, Johnny Cash, and the Beatles were something that parents could be terrified of. It was the outsider's music to start with, the stuff you would see in a bar room filled with hicks and bikers (and often times hick-bikers). Rock and Roll became mainstreamed though, and we lost that sense of danger somewhere. As rock music got more intense and more socially accepted, we forgot how terrifying an assault it could be.
However, yesterday I found the above linked video of the Tielman Brothers playing in 1960. Now I completely understand what parents were afraid of. This is some intense shit. I expect that every girl who saw this live was instantly pregnant with the local ruffian's kid, and that all the boys were engaged in knife fights.
The early rockabilly stuff could get incredibly intense in its performance. Look at these Tielman Brothers videos, or even old Jerry Lee Lewis videos. It's as if lightning is jumping out of everyone's shoes, and they're just shooting around the stage in absolutely no control of what they're doing.
Damnit, we need someone to bring back this kind of intensity. Who's going to step up first?
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