The Recording Ban of 1942 and the Birth of BeBop

[Sefton]

Here's an interesting read about the 1942 recording ban-the AF of M strike-that led to working musicians moving away from the big bands into small combos playing in almost "speakeasy" type clubs and giving birth to BeBop among other things...http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1904567

 

[LizzieMaine]

Interesting piece.

While Petrillo is commonly painted as the villian in the story, I think it's important to point out that the broadcasters were every bit as much to blame -- the main issue was that stations were using phonograph records as program filler without any form of compensation to the musicians who made those records, nor was there any contractural obligation for the sidemen who appeared on those records to receive any royalties on their sale. Bands who made recordings received a flat payment, and that was it -- and they had no say on whether those records would be commercially exploited by others.

This battle had been going on for ten years before the strike was called, and both sides were completely unwilling to negotiate. A bad situation, but Petrillo wasn't solely to blame for it.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Great article, thanks Sefton! I'm a big BeBop fan and I had no idea about this back story.

 

[Bebop]

It reads like a blessing in disguise to me.

 

[Sefton]

It reads like a blessing in disguise to me.

Absolutely! Also,there's enough blame to go around for both sides...although maybe more blame should go to the broadcasting and recording industry (things haven't changed that much!) I originally found out about this when I was wondering why there was a gap in the discography of Charlie Parker.

 

[Feraud]

A very interesting read.
Thank you for the further clarifcation LizzieMaine.