Subject: 
            60s rock WI, Part One WAS Re: Bad Like Jesse James: John Lee Hooker, POTUS
       Date: 
            Sun, 08 Jul 2001 01:36:37 GMT
       From: 
            beathotel@loop.cahm (Dr. Johnny Yen )
Organization: 
            no importa un bledo
 Newsgroups: 
            soc.history.what-if
 References: 
            1 , 2 , 3


On Thu, 05 Jul 2001 22:00:38 GMT, gbob@netdevil.com (G. Bob)
wrote:

>Swaggart no longer preaches rock and roll and blues as being the
>devil's music.  The strength of delta blues, gospel and rock the three
>are responsible for prevents the "British Invasion" during the 60's.

Or for that matter, speaking of Hooker, lets say something
happens different at the LA office of the label he recorded for
in OTL, Vee Jay, in January 1964, right before the Beatles' 
" I Wanna Hold Your Hand " reaches the US top 40...

A young employee for LA's Vee Jay office, P.F. Sloan, convinces
his boss, Sonny Bono, that letting the Beatles get away was a
bad move, and that a new, up and coming British band who
have a hit in the UK with a cover of Chuck Berry's " Come On " 
would be a good idea. Therefore, Bono decides to sign the
Rolling Stones for the US market. Their first release on Vee
Jay is somewhat of a hit, a cover of Buddy Holly's " Not Fade
Away ", but not enough to save the company from its
financial problems. Little Richard, the company's biggest
selling artist, leaves just before Vee Jay goes under, ( As in
OTL ), as does Hooker ( again as in OTL ), but the Stones'
manager Andrew Oldham makes the mistake of trusting
Bono enough to not get the Stones out of their Vee Jay
contract, which being such big fans of American R&B, the
Stones are still dazzled by being on the same label as
their idols. SO....the collapse of Vee Jay in late '64/early
'65 leaves the Stones in legal limbo Stateside. Their 
second album, " 12 x 5 " is barely released in the US,
and subsequently becomes an extreme rarity. While increasingly
popular everywhere else, the Stones find that America just
does not take to them. After a disastrous TV debut on the
Dean Martin show, they get no US media exposure.

1965 passes, and the contract is still in legal limbo. Jagger
and Richards start to write their own songs ( as in OTL )
thinking that will help, but to no avail. Even covers of
their songs by other artists does not help. The ultimate
humiliation : Mickie Most hears them practicing the song
they consider to be The Big Hit, " Satisfaction ", and 
rushes Herman's Hermits into the studio to do a cover.
Their US record future still tied up in the Vee Jay collapse,
the Stones wind up seeing the song associated with 
Peter Noone's chirpy asexual tones. Mick Jagger and
Keith Richards collect royalties, but the rest of the
band is unhappy. Jagger, by now a seasoned performer,
is frustrated with the lack of access to the US market.
So the band breaks up at the end of 1965. 

Jagger decides to give P.F. Sloan a call, remembering
who it was who introduced the Stones to the American
market. Sloan turns Jagger on to a song he wrote which
the Turtles rejected, " Eve of Destruction ", which 
Jagger is impressed by. Sloan and his partner, Steve
Barri, get Jagger a deal as a solo artist in the US on
ABC-Dunhill. He comes to Hollywood and records a
mixture of leftover Stones songs and a few Sloan-Barri
compositions like " The Sins of the Family Fall on
the Daughter ".  Of course, getting an acting career
like his girlfriend Marianne Faithfull is also on Jagger's
mind.  Yet another reason to come to Hollywood.

Meanwhile, Brian Jones drifts to the US as well, but
to New York and the orbit of Andy Warhol. The band
in Warhol's " Exploding Plastic Inevitable " show, the
Velvet Underground, has just lost their rhythm guitarist,
Angus Mac Lise. Warhol and the band's guiding lights,
singer/guitarist Lou Reed and organist John Cale, 
know very well about the Stones, despite the lack of
US exposure. So they welcome Jones in. 

TO BE CONTINUED