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Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll
by
Rick Coleman
While many think of Elvis Presley as rock s impact on the popular music of the twentieth century.
Paperback, 416 pages
Published
April 24th 2007
by Da Capo Press
(first published 2005)
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OK here's the news. Fats is king. At his peak he had about the tightest band in rhythm and blues and the most brilliant, idiosyncratic vocal style around. No fats, no Jim Morrison, no Iggy, no Ian Curtis. Fats defined the rock baritone. And he was pretty decent on the piano too. This was DANCE music. Listen to it. Imagine hearing it live. Whoo boy, is that drummer (Earl Palmer) shit-hot or what? I ain't never heard beats like that before. And whatsisname on the sax - man, he is a GENIUS. He did ...more
Everyone knows all there is to know about the ascension and destruction of Elvis, and how Chuck Berry violated the Mann Act and Jerry Lee married Winona Ryder and Little Richard was the Ted Haggerty of Rock And Roll, and Rhythm and Blues was once the music of rebellion that blew open the schoolhouse doors for the Little Rock Nine and all of them and tons of lessers took a little bit of everything this country had ever made up and cranked the torque up to twelve and set it loose on the world unde...more
This book had a lot of things going for it. Remarkably, it's the first book-length biography of Fats Domino, so it fills a huge gap in the history of American popular music. The writer claims to be a friend of Domino's and has had multiple opportunities to interview the musician over the years, so there's the chance for an unfiltered perspective on Domino's life and work. It also includes background on the New Orleans music scene, long-overlooked but as important as Memphis as a center for early...more
People who've read what I wrote elsewhere as I began the book may be confused by the four stars. I never claimed consistency. ;)
Coleman writes well, and it's a breeze to read. The picture of Fats Domino as a man which emerges is fairly simple but seems real. The recording session and tour trivia one expects from such a book are less dry than usual.
Rather than painting a portrait of the man, Coleman concentrates on his accomplishments. His agenda is to promote New Orl...more
Coleman writes well, and it's a breeze to read. The picture of Fats Domino as a man which emerges is fairly simple but seems real. The recording session and tour trivia one expects from such a book are less dry than usual.
Rather than painting a portrait of the man, Coleman concentrates on his accomplishments. His agenda is to promote New Orl...more
During a Pop Culture of Music class I took in college, the professor played a clip of Fats Domino performing "Ain't That A Shame." I was immediately captivated by his music and his jolly demeanor. I quickly became a fan, buying a few records and spreading the message to other people my age. Fats opened the door for me to dive back into time. I started listening more to bands that he influenced (especially The Beatles), his contemporaries (B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry), and ...more
When I grew up Fats Domino strictly an "oldies" musician. It was great to rewind back to a time before then and discover just how ground-breaking and radical his music was.
The author makes the case that Domino, not Elvis, was the true king of rock and roll, and he's pretty convincing. (Elvis, Bob Marley, and the Beatles, among many others, all bend a knee at the Domino shrine.) If I had a complaint with the book, it's that the narrative flow was a bit choppy, and I got mor...more
The author makes the case that Domino, not Elvis, was the true king of rock and roll, and he's pretty convincing. (Elvis, Bob Marley, and the Beatles, among many others, all bend a knee at the Domino shrine.) If I had a complaint with the book, it's that the narrative flow was a bit choppy, and I got mor...more
This is a must-read for those of us addicted to music and music history. The influence of New Orleans music on rock'n'roll never occurred to me, but once Rick Coleman points it out, it is entirely obvious and adds another dimension to the music. And then, there is the unsung story of Fats Domino's role in civil rights/integration of the 1950s. The downside of this book is that there is an error on the very first page and very very careless typesetting and copyediting. I am going to trust Rick Co...more
One of the better music biographies that I have read.
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