We did not have a radio station in Seattle, that would play
Rock & Roll in 1954.
Teenagers would watch the "Hit Parade" on TV in hopes they
would do a Rock & Roll song but that was rare. Then a radio station
called KJR came on the air and the word spread like wild fire, there
was a station that played Rock & Roll.
One of the first big hits in this area, was a song called "Teen
Angel" it told the story of a boy that lost his girl friend in a car
accident. This song caused a big uproar with the church leaders, they
did not like the title of the song.
There were even headlines in the two newspapers, about the
anti-religious song; meanwhile the "DJ’s" at KJR would play the song
after every third record.
We knew the radio station was going to win, then all of sudden,
they stopped playing song, the "DJs" did not say a word, I bet there
was a gag order.
There was a shopping area called "The Junction" about a mile
from my house. There was a record shop that still had sound proof
booths, we would pull a record off a shelf and take in the booth, and
play it. I listened to a lot of music, but did not purchase many
records.
This record shop did not carry any black artist music such as
Chuck Berry or Fats Domino. We had to drive to the central area of
Seattle to a record store on Jackson street to purchase records of the
Coasters, Four Tops etc.
When the discount chain stores came on the
scene such as K-Mart with a huge selection of records, little stores
like the one in the Junction: fell to the wayside.
About five years ago I went to a Chuck Berry concert at the
Puyallup Fair with my wife, daughter and her son. There on the stage
was a 70-year-old man that was bringing the house down, people were
dancing every where, then Chuck Berry, invited the kids on the stage
to dance.
There on the stage was my daughter and grandson dancing next
to Chuck Berry, with a lot of other kids, long live Rock & Roll.
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