fats domino

there was a '50s nostalgia and revival when i was a wee lad in the 1970s.  TV sitcoms and variety shows like happy days and sha na na were high rated weekly romps of life in the '50s.  Also on TV were documentaries that examined the rise of rock&roll, teen life in the 1950s, fashion and so on.  i remember that there was great alarm in the larger culture by greaser subculture and the pernicious ruin caused by rock music.  we forget how worried parents, teachers and other authorities were about the roiling changes in youth culture and the sounds their music made.  it scared the shit out of society.

but i loved it.  i was a wannabe greaser.  i guess i still am.  i think punk rock was a gesture to the grand greaser subculture.  and i loved early rock&roll, esp. rockabilly, like gene vincent and eddie cochrane, and the wild percussive piano styles of jerry lee lewis and fats domino. 

bloody hell.  fats domino died yesterday at the age of 89.  the world is quickly losing its great artists of the 20th Century.  fats was one of those greats.  but nailing him down as a 20th Century artist is unnecessarily narrowing his impact and his sound.  fats domino's sound is, to my ears, timeless.  his music was -- is -- like the fonz was, simply cool, and cool is forever.

below is a clip from a 1957 newsreel of fats domino interviewed that i first saw on TV in one of those nostalgic documentaries when i was a wannabe seven or eight year old greaser.  fats is asked if he thinks rock&roll is the source and cause of teenage riots.  listen to his answer.  it is an ars poetica.

grease for peace