Rock Around the Clock

Re-creating a Night on the Radio - New Years Eve, 1963

By Russ Gifford

Join Russ Gifford and step into the time machine - the destination - New Year's Eve, 1963! We'll relive the hits from 1960 to 1963 to remember the 'second wave' of Rock n' Roll! This session is dedicated to the people that kept Rock n' Roll alive after the people that broke down the door in the 1950s had largely left the stage!

We will remember Rock's forgotten years before the Beatles arrived. We will spend time with teenage troubadours, folk minstrels, and girl groups galore! From Dion to the Shirelles, Bobby Vee to the Chiffons, and Gene Chandler to the Angels! Roy Orbison and Ricky Nelson! Ray Charles, Chubby Checker, and let's not forget Dee Clark!

The record companies were pushing hard to create a new Elvis - forgetting that Elvis was ready and willing to take back the stage! Yet something new sounding like something gold were Peter, Paul, and Mary spinning tales, leading the rising folk groups that were making their way up the charts and into your hearts! We won't overlook the singers that weren't Rock - but dominated the airwaves anyway! Marty Robbins, anyone? Jimmy Dean? Johnny Horton? All had their moment on the dial during these great years! Join me to hear the doo wop dreamers and all the screamers! This is the History of Rock, Part 2: 1960 to 1963.