Audience and market: looking for the next Elvis

Rock enters a relative quiet. Merchants still hunt for the next Elvis, while quieter changes take shape inside the business.

Welcome to Chapter 3 of the rock-history course.

The period ahead is 1960 through late 1963 / early 1964. You may recall our work on 1955–1959/60: rock’s first wave—Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly—and the closing question that rock had hit trouble. Many stars slipped from view; rock went dormant.

Then comes 1960–1963—often cast as rock’s dark age. Merchant control of the industry dominates; rock turns into dull product. Yet interesting new styles also form; later the British Invasion will rewrite the map. We will cover that early-1964 movement in later lectures.

Before calling this era gold autumn or hard winter, we need the industry’s internal ecology. Styles cross and fuse. A keyword of the period: hunting for the next Elvis. Between 1955 and 1959 the trade saw a teen music market take shape and sensed its scale. As stars faded, finding the next giant became urgent. Where do you find someone as singular and successful as Elvis? The industry tried many things—throwing stuff at the wall to see what stuck.

Here are some of the throws. The Brill Building model rose to dominate pop: a return of the songwriter/performer split that belonged to the pre-rock era. Brill Building names both a place and a strategy—pros write hit-potential songs; companies launch new teen acts. Next we will cover girl groups and teen idols, and how the music is designed to court teens and maximize that market. We will also track the rise of the record producer. Producers existed before, but only now do they truly control the record and make sounds that could not have been heard live. Leiber and Stoller and Phil Spector are central. We will also talk about teens aging up: Elvis-era high-school kids are older now; many lean toward folk—a more serious music for a more mature youth market. Sweet soul and surf music also begin here; if you treat this as rock’s golden stretch, both styles matter. We will revisit rockabilly too—I promised a closer look at the Everly Brothers and Ricky Nelson.

Next section: we start with the Brill Building model.