Sh boom
Sh-Boom is the title of one of the most successful songs of the Doo-Wop era by the Chords from 1954, which is one of the first transitional songs to rock & roll . The recording is one of the first crossover of the Rhythm & Blues from an independent record label that reached the pop charts.
original
Four of the five members of the doo-wop group Chords wrote the song in an old Buick convertible in 1953. Registered composers are Carl Feaster (lead singer), Floyd “Buddy” McRae (tenor), James C. Keyes (tenor) and William “Ricky” Edwards (bass). Brother Claude Feaster (baritone), who was not involved as a composer, also sang. With "Sh-Boom" they took up a youth expression that was popular as a buzzword on the streets of New York. "Hey boy, boom, how are you?" The versatile buzzword appeared in almost every sentence. The combination Sh-Boomsounded like a bomb exploding. Therefore, the song can be assigned a certain time reference, because the US bomb test series reached its peak at the time when a bomb called "Bravo" was dropped from a 45 meter high tower on March 1, 1954.
The intro is sung a cappella in close harmony style. Arrangers Jesse Stone and Howard Biggs with his orchestra gave the ensuing instrumentation only a light beat, while the successful music producers Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler (both formed the management of Atlantic Records ) paid attention to pop approaches. The speaking chorus in the chorus set the song apart from other similar doo-wop recordings. The song, interspersed with enthusiastic scat singing and mixed harmonies, is interrupted by a striking instrumental section, dominated by a tenor saxophone solo played by Sam “the Man” Taylor . Mickey Baker delivers solid guitar work. The recording date was March 15, 1954, when three more titles were created. Sh-Boom required a total of 22 takes to complete the recording.
On April 3, 1954, Atlantic Records announced the founding of the short-lived subsidiary label Cat Records (only 18 singles were released here) with the chords as a "blues quartet", as rhythm & blues was referred to as "cat music" in the south of the USA . With catalog no. 104 the 78rpm single with the anthracite label Cross Over the Bridge / Sh-Boom was released on April 24, 1954. But the radio stations, especially disc jockey Dick "Huggy Boy" Hugg at KRKD in Los Angeles , began to prefer the B-side for airplay . Following the trend, the 45rpm single was launched in June 1954 as Sh-Boom / Little Maiden (with a red label). Both B-sides came from the same recording session. Sh-Boom was one of the first singles with a speed of 45 revolutions per minute.
Sh-Boom became the catalyst for the popularization of rhythm & blues and reached number two on the R&B charts. With fifth place on the pop hit parade , the chords were also the first R&B group to score a Top10 hit in the pop charts and were thus able to place a significant crossover hit. The single sold 100,000 copies within a week of its release, a total of nearly 400,000. She was awarded a BMI award. It was a one-hit wonder for the chords .
Shortly after it was released, the chords had to change their name to Chordcats because another vocal group was right in the dispute over the name. In the follow-up hit Zippity Zum (I'm in Love) (Cat # 109) in October 1954, they were officially called - to the confusion of consumers - Chordcats. Meanwhile, Atlantic Records-owned music publisher Progressive Music had transferred 50% of its rights to Sh-Boom to Hill & Range for $ 6,000 to improve sales of the original.
Cover version of the crew cuts
Mercury Records suggested to the Canadian Crew-Cuts that they record a cover version of Sh-Boom in May 1954 . The group wasn't thrilled, but eventually bowed to the pressure. They were one of the first - if not the first - white group to develop Afro-American rhythm and blues originals for the pop market. For this it was necessary to arrange the song with a big band accompaniment more clearly than a pop song. Orchestra director David Carroll chose a wind-oriented big band instrumentation for his orchestra and instead of the saxophone solo during a cadenza a long bang. The version was voiced in the recording studios of the Universal Recording Corporation (Chicago) by group members John Perkins (lead singer), brother Ray Perkins (bass vocals), Pat Barrett (first tenor) and Rudi Maugeri (baritone).
In the month when the cover version was recorded (May 1954), the original had not yet hit the R&B charts. The smoothed version was published in June 1954 as Mercury # 70404 Sh-Boom (Life Could be a Dream) / I Spoke to Soon . When the original reached the highest position in the charts on July 3, 1954, sales of the cover version rose significantly above the volume of the original. The number one position on the pop charts, which narrowly missed the original, was first reached on August 7, 1954 and cemented for seven weeks. When the Crew Cuts presented the song on Ed Sullivan's show Talk of the Town on December 12, 1954, it had already reached million seller status. The version of the Crew Cuts sold a total of 1.5 million copies by 1955. It was referred to in the professional world as "Sham-Rock", which means adjusted versions of Afro-American originals. Mercury Records subsequently released a variety of white covers of African-American originals.
More cover versions
Only a few performers took up the song. Bobby Williamson published a version on July 24, 1954 (RCA Victor 47-5799), followed by Leon McAuliff (August 7, 1954; Columbia 4-21283) or a parody of Stan Freberg with the Billy May Orchestra (August 26, 1954; Capitol 2929). In 1968 the group The Ethiopians released a rock steady version of the song. The Munich rock'n roll band Spider Murphy Gang adapted the song under the title Sch-Bum ('s Leben is wiar a Traum) and released it as a single in 1985.
Individual evidence
- ^ David Halberstam, The Fifties , 1993, p. 345
- ^ Charlie Gillett, Making Tracks - The Story of Atlantic Records , 1988, p. 96
- ↑ Michael Ruppli / Ed Novitsky, The Mercury Labels: A Discography Volume I , 1945-1956 Era, 1993, p. 438
- ↑ brothers sang in this group too
- ↑ Toronto Star, December 13, 1954
- ↑ The Ottawa Citizen, July 5, 1955, Sh-Boom Boys in Shampoo