Frank Zappa on the Steve Allen Show - (1963)

Much has been written and said about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Beatles legendary first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. But, eleven months before that occasion, Steve Allen was already looking for the next big musical sound. In this March 4, 1963 broadcast Mr. Allen looks on as Frank Zappa, later of the Mothers of Invention, plays a pair of bicycles with drumsticks, proving that percussion can be found anywhere.

And, as if that isn't enough to impress the audience, he then proves that a bicycle’s handlebars can also be used as a wind instrument. The result on the audience is comical, and Mr. Allen is, of course, making sport of the whole thing. But watch Frank Zappa.

Throughout the whole ordeal; which at times it must have been; he has a gleam in his eye, as if he can already see and hear the future direction which pop music will take in just a few more years. Those discordant sounds emanating from the bicycles are the birth cries of a new genre of music called Heavy Metal. 

The cacophony of sound made on the Steve Allen Show that night would pale in comparison to the later sounds of super groups such as The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Cream. But, listen closely; you can hear the train of musical change coming in this unique performance by Frank Zappa. He was a most unusual man…

Jimmy Page - 1957 Skiffle Music

I ran across this gem on You Tube.(Where else?) Jimmy Page, along with 3 of his freinds, just as thousands of other British teenagers in the late 1950's, were influenced by the sounds of Lonnie Donnegan and Buddy Holly. This was a type of music which they were able to play easily, and without much formal training. It was called "skiffle" music. It often included a washboard along with the upright bass. Lonnie Donnegan had launched the whole sound in 1956 with his hit "Rock Island Line." That record would be the impetus for John Lennon to buy a guitar. It appears that Jimmy Page was hit with the same idea. This music was more acceptable to adults in Britian at the time, who had witnessed, only 2 years earlier, the riots which accompanied Bill Haley and the Comets on their "Rock Around the Clock" Tour.

This clip is from the Huw Wheldon variety show on BBC. At the time, England had only 2 stations, and the content was strictly controlled. Rock was not entirely welcome. But there was an innocence about "skiffle" that made it acceptable to the masses. Even parents enjoyed watching their kids play in these bands, which performed at most church functions, or "socials", as they were called at the time. The Beatles, appearing as The Quarrymen, made their first public appearance, at such an event around the same time as this clip from the Huw Wheldon Show.

The most interesting thing about this video for me is the bemused way in which Mr. Wheldon handles the interview portion with the boys. He is surprised that they seem to have no musical ambitions. They all wanted to be biologists of some sort. Glad they chose music instead!