Rebirth in America

Chapter 39 Musical Genius

In a small room filled with smoke in the city of Detroit, a black man smoked a cigarette and said into the microphone in front of him: "Hello everyone, it's 'Jim Chat Time' again. I'm Jim!"

Jim's voice was magnetic, rich and deep, and you could tell he was black. Jim is a radio DJ in Detroit who specializes in nightly broadcasts.

"Every time the audience requests the Carpenter Brothers' song - "That's All Right"! I listen to this song several times almost every day! As a result, Eric is always echoing in my mind Si's voice came over and over again. After I went back after the show at night, I couldn't sleep."

After Jim took a long puff of cigarette, he continued: "The next morning, he came to the company with a pale face. When the boss saw me, he said, Jim, can you not work too long after you go back at night? You still need to save some energy to do the show."

"Holy shit!" Jim suddenly swore, and then said, "I haven't found a woman these days, okay! Oh shit, who even clicked on that song "It's Okay, Mom"! I'm not done with him!"

"It's call time now!" Jim put out the cigarette in his hand and gestured to the staff on the other side of the soundproof glass. After the staff saw it, they immediately connected the screened phone calls inside.

Jim pressed the button that lit up in front of him and said, "Hi! This is Jim!"

"Jim, I called specifically to request that song. Play "It's Okay, Mom" ​​for us! We haven't heard enough yet!" A man's voice came from the phone, and it sounded like a black man.

Jim shook his head gently and laughed bitterly: "Spare me, brother!"

"For the sake of those of us who can't afford records, you'd better be patient." The man still refused to let go.

"How about I play a blues song? Let me have a good sleep today!" Jim said bargainingly.

At this time, the door to the studio room was opened. A black boy rushed in, holding a record in his hand and gesturing vigorously to Jim inside the soundproof glass. It was a new record, with a big line of words printed on the cover: Carpenter Brothers...

Jim didn't wait for the other party to answer, and immediately changed his tune and said, "Or, what do you think of me playing a new song by the Carpenter Brothers?"

"New song?" The audience member said overjoyed: "Okay, okay!"

By this time Jim had gotten the new record, the Carpenters' second record, called The Carpenters: Second Strike! Jim hurriedly glanced at the song titles on the record cover and picked a song at random.

"Then let's enjoy "YourFriend" sung by Alex Carpenter! The lyrics and composers are both Carpenter brothers!"

After Jim finished speaking, he pressed another button. Alex's voice rang out in the studio and around the people listening to the radio show.

In the 1950s, racial discrimination in the United States was very serious, and blacks and whites were separated by apartheid policies. At the same time, black culture and white culture were separated, and music was also artificially divided into two.

On white-hosted stations, their primary audience is largely white. The news, news, music and other programs they broadcast almost never and dare not involve black people. Some music is even banned because it reminds people of black people.

In contrast, a similar situation existed in black radio.

This is a social phenomenon caused by government policies and cannot be changed by one person.

Now, the same song happens to be played on both sides' radio programs, and is known and loved by people of both races. This is the Carpenter Brothers song.

There's a reason white people and black people alike love their songs, a reason even Alex doesn't quite understand.

Except for the song "It's Okay, Mom," all of Alex's songs come from later generations and are best-selling pop songs that have evolved over decades.

These songs are a combination of the country music style that white people like and the rhythm of blues music that black people like.

The "rhythm and blues" mentioned here is a kind of black music derived from blues music.

It combines jazz improvisations and gospel hymns and other musical elements. Since 1945, this music has become popular in black society. They usually use loudspeakers that amplify the sound extremely loud, and have strong and rough rhythms. The instruments used are electric guitar, saxophone, double bass and drums, in addition to vocals.

Alex's songs closely combined the above-mentioned black music with the country music of white southerners at the time to create a music style called "country rock".

Due to the apartheid policy implemented in the United States at that time, the music of white people and black people was divided into two categories and two markets. Alex's combination of music from these two categories was innovative. Although the Carpenters sang in a black style, they actually had white overtones.

This made them acceptable to the white-controlled recording industry and willing to record for him. At the same time, black people also like this new type of song.

The Carpenters are a hit and their songs are a hit!

First, it was played in constant rotation among major radio stations, and then in various public places, schools, pubs, nightclubs, etc., where songs performed by the Carpenter Brothers could be heard everywhere.

Maybe it was luck that made the first record a hit. The second record can still be more popular than the first record, which is a reflection of strength.

From a normal point of view, the Carpenter brothers have risen very quickly, which is jaw-droppingly fast.

Generally speaking, before fledgling singers and bands become famous, they often give performances in small local clubs, nightclubs, university campuses, various gatherings and local dances to gain training opportunities and performance experience.

Once they become famous in some grassroots performance venues, they may get the opportunity to sign a contract with a record company to record single-leaf or slow-turn records. If their music is loved by a wide range of radio listeners through the radio and their records sell a lot, they will be upgraded, hired with higher salaries, and arranged to perform touring performances on stages and performance venues across the country.

After becoming famous, they rarely performed live, but focused most of their time on recording records. There are many such famous actors or performance groups in the United States.

When talented groups rise to the top, new musicians and singers fill the vacancies in grassroots performance venues, and it becomes a natural cycle that never stops flowing.

The experience of the Carpenter brothers went against common sense in this industry. They gathered strong and widespread popularity from the beginning. They spent hundreds of dollars to record their first album themselves. Such a shoddy record can actually be played on the radio and be liked by a large number of listeners.

The first album re-recorded by the Carpenter brothers quickly sold 300,000 copies under the vigorous promotion of the "Teana" company. According to market feedback data, this record should be able to sell 900,000 copies, which is close to reaching the level of a gold record.

Such achievements make many musicians who have been in the industry for many years feel very ashamed. They have not been able to sell so many records for several years.

After causing such a huge social response, the Carpenters did not stop and take a break. They soon released a second record, which, as its name suggests, was the Carpenter brothers' second blow to the music scene of the fifties.

The impact of this hit was no less than that of the first record, or even worse.

On this record, Richard and Alex sang one song together, and Alex sang solo on the remaining one. One is a cover, one is an original, and the one that is a cover at the same time is a chorus. This has become a style signature of the Carpenter Brothers.

The composer and lyrics of the original song "YourFriend" are still Alex, and his talent in music has made people numb with amazement.

Compared with the first album, the song style of this album is more mature and the production is more sophisticated. Soon, people were fascinated by the Carpenter Brothers' singing and spent money to buy the record.

The song that Alex sang solo quickly became a favorite of radio DJs, they loved it, and so did the listeners. The song has climbed up the Billboard pop charts, first in the top ten, then in the top five, and now at number three.

Critics predict that this song is likely to make the Carpenter brothers reach the number one spot on the charts last week!

Mark and others originally thought that the old song "You Are My Sunshine" covered by the Carpenter brothers would not be on the list. After all, people like the new and hate the old. At the beginning, this song didn't even appear on the list. It wasn't until the third week that it suddenly burst out with great momentum and suddenly reached the sixth place!

This situation is unprecedented. After a song is released, most of the time it reaches the top in the first week, UU Kanshu www.uukanshu. net and then slowly dropped the ranking. Unless something special happens, few songs swim against the current like these two songs from the Carpenters.

The song "YourFriend" has risen in the rankings for three consecutive weeks. This only happens when a newcomer debuts. The prerequisite is that the song is very good and can attract more popularity to the singer.

After all, Alex's song is of high quality, and the production level of the record is extraordinary. The Carpenter brothers are newcomers and their popularity has not yet reached its peak. This song is also very suitable for newcomers' debut.

But that old song was completely confusing, and they didn't understand what was going on. In fact, it is very simple. The quality of this song is absolutely good. At first, people might ignore it because it is an old song, but after Alex adapted and covered it, this song has been given a new role.

That is to enable people who like this song to sing it, especially children. One of the favorite things for parents who love music is to teach their children to sing their favorite songs. It has a wide range of singing, and the songs that parents like are not simple enough for their children to sing. This song just meets these conditions.

Many parents bought this song because of this, or played it on demand from karaoke machines in public places. This old song exudes charming charm. This is something that many people didn't expect.

"They're the Carpenter brothers, they're musical geniuses!"

All the musicians who have listened to the songs of the Carpenter Brothers exclaimed like this. The songs of the Carpenter Brothers were played on the radio and the news of the Carpenter Brothers was reported in the newspapers.

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