It's rock, but not as we know it (Rock! Rock! Rock! (DVD))

Member Name: cswann

Product:	Rock! Rock! Rock! (DVD)
Date:	04/11/04 (442 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A few good songs

Disadvantages: A lot of bad or uninspiring music, Terrible acting, Terrible plot

Alan Freed is the man who’s credited with inventing the phrase rock and roll.
He was a white disc jockey from Cleveland who in 1951 ‘stole’ the term from black music (actually he took it from a song called “My baby rocks me with a steady roll”), but the terms had cropped up often in the blues, and rhythm and blues, and, as we all know now, it was black term for sex.
Freed was a big fan and promoter of rock and roll music, and he certainly made the phrase famous, and did a lot to popularise the music. There is a certain irony in the fact that he probably started using the phrase as a way of making black music more acceptable to white audiences.
By 1956, the bandwagon had well and truly got going, and movies exploiting the music were starting to get churned out.

“Rock rock rock” wasn’t the first movie to feature the ‘new’ music – although it came out in 1956, the same year as “Rock around the clock”, the latter was made earlier that year. Incidentally Alan Freed appears in both movies. He really was integral to ‘rock and roll’ at the time.

Historically, for any fans of rock and roll music, or popular music generally, this movie is important, but here are some words of warning:

- The rock and roll that’s featured in the movie is, for the most part, very feeble and It’s a very, very sanitised version of some of the exciting music that was around at that time.
- The acting is very bad – from just about everyone who appears in it.
- Theirs is a very bad, inconsequential plot
Anyone who watches music movies is very used to the bad acting and the bad plot, so I can almost even forgive those things!

The only real reason to see “Rock rock rock” is for the music clips – and, to be honest, only a few of those are worth seeing.
- The Moonglows, who feature twice
- The Flamingos, who, like the Moonglows, were a black doowop vocal group.
- Chuck Berry – only one appearance, but “You can’t catch me” is a classic song. As a Bruce Springsteen fan, hearing this song, I realised how much he had ‘borrowed’ from Berry in his “State Trooper” song. Berry sings lyrics like “in the wee wee hours” and “it was the state patrol” and I had to go and listen to the Nebraska album straight after watching the movie.

And really the rest is half-baked twaddle.
The Connie Francis numbers are quite sweet, although Connie Francis herself doesn’t appear in the movie – Tuesday Weld mimes to her voice.

With a title like “Rock rock rock” there should be performers like Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard – sadly not. Still, thankfully there’s no Bill Haley.

Here’s a list of songs from the movie:
I Never Had A Sweetheart - Connie Francis
2. Things Your Heart Needs - Teddy Randazzo
3. Rock Pretty Baby – Ivy Shulman
4. Rock 'N' Roll Boogie – Alan Freed’s Rock n Roll band
5. I Knew from the Start - The Moonglows
6. You Can't Catch Me - Chuck Berry
7. Would I Be Crying? - Flamingos
8. Big Beat – Jimmy Cavallo’s House Rockers
9. Thanks To You - Teddy Randazzo
10. We're Gonna Rock Tonight - The Three Chuckles
11. Little Blue Wren - Connie Francis
12. Rock, Rock, Rock – Jimmy Cavallo’s House Rockers
13. Lonesome Train - Johnny Burnette
14. Over and Over Again - The Moonglows
15. Tra La La - LaVern Baker
16. Ever Since I Can Remember – Cirino and the Bowties
17. Baby, Baby - Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers
18. I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent - Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers
19. Won't You Give Me A Chance - The Three Chuckles
20. Right Now, Right Now – Alan Freed’s Rock n Roll band

“Rock pretty baby” deserves special mention, I think – it’s possibly the most excruciatingly bad piece of cinema I’ve ever seen. There’s a contrived introduction, then someone’s baby sister starts to sing – in the middle of a park, with some male backing singers. The young girl singing is no Shirley Temple, has no rhythm, though she has obviously been instructed to move around a bit, and overall the number is worse than just dull, it’s embarrassingly dull.

Tuesday Weld, who has appeared in many movies since (including “Author author!, Looking for Mr Goodbar”) is probably the best actor in it, which isn’t saying much – all the performances are wooden and unconvincing. People burst into song as part of the conversation.

It’s a very slow movie – and doesn’t really capture much of the energy of rock and roll music. In the version I saw, much of the timing in the miming is out, not so bad on its own, but the handclapping is also out of rhythm – which doesn’t help you to enjoy the music at all. Frankie Lymon’s sections especially suffered with this – I think I would have enjoyed thse otherwise.

Overall, I woulddn’t recommend anyone to buy it. See it on TV if you get chance, though - for Chuck Berry and the doowop bands.

DVD - £12.99 on amazon.co.uk

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