(Credit: Capitol Records)
All cultures are in some way the product of youth culture. Most of the great advances in the world of art have come from young people who rebelled, and everything that followed is anecdotes that unfolded amidst the chaos. Children questioning the past and trying to band together and do things their own way has been part of society since time immemorial, but it first came to the forefront publicly. was all thanks to Frank Sinatra.
Now, the established angle on the evolution of pop culture positions Elvis Presley’s swivel hips as the driving force behind a youth trend later cemented by the otherworldly Beatlemania. Alas, long before this, Ol’ Blue Eyes inadvertently caused a riot at the Paramount in New York City, which was a sign of the future ahead of the world.
On December 30, 1942, the world was once again entering a year of war. Not only did the children fear conscription and untimely death, which all too easily happened, but they also wondered how the situation had come to this point. Some kind of tragic side-step in human progress had clearly taken place, and young people were almost obliged to question their conservative forebears who had arrived on this hill.
These children were finding solace in the rise of radio, and one of the most endearing voices there was that of Sinatra. Thanks to his charming good looks and effortless sense of cool, the printing presses persuaded him further. To young people, he seemed to be marching to his own beat, and it seemed to give them a glimmer of hope, a glimpse of something different.
Sinatra saw this too. Prior to the concert, he was just a member of Harry James’ band. But after a vivid recording at the Hollywood Palladium proved that he had talent as well as fandom, he decided to go it alone. So on that fateful night in 1942, when he approached the stage in New York, everything was in jeopardy. Solo singers were rare, and while he certainly had his fans, talent, and appeal, there remained a big question mark as to whether anyone would come to hear the young child’s croon.
He heard it before it came out of the wings. “The sound that greeted me was absolutely deafening. It was a tremendous roar. 5,000 children stamping their feet, shouting, yelling, clapping. It was stiff and scary. Muscles I couldn’t even move it,” he later recalled. Caught up in a frenzy of escapism, today’s youth are united by a surge of pride and possibility.
Radio personality Jack Benny, who was there as a somewhat outsider elder statesman, recalled: “I thought that damn building was going to collapse. I’ve never heard such a commotion… It’s because of a man I’ve never heard of.” But the lads had it, and that’s the problem. It was the core of Frank Sinatra was theirs.
In fact, when Frank himself reflected on the issue, he pointed to the cause of his own fandom’s proliferation, telling Jeremy Arnold: In every corner of the pharmacy, there were boys who had been drafted into the military. That’s all. ” And for the young people who remained, there was hope that social mobility still offered opportunities.
This was even more evident when he returned to the venue in 1944 after two more years of war and rampant conscription. This time, a line far exceeded the capacity of the theater and people who were unable to enter rioted. This was a flashpoint that marked the arrival of pop culture. The disbelieving old men asked, “Did the people riot over the singer?” Really? ‘As if what is happening in Europe is not far more incredible and absurd. The dichotomy was clear.
And that was evident not just to Jack Benny, but to many executives who had watched these two wild gigs over the past few years. “The fans love him so much that they’re going to riot for him,” they thought, “and they’ll probably spend their pennies on him, too.” So, almost overnight, it became clear that 30-50 year olds were no longer the target audience for the music industry. Youth culture was the future of all cultures.