What was shakin' in '58.

June 2, 2008 7:35 AM

The year was 1957: the Soviet Union had launched the cutest little sattelite ever. And it didn't just look good, it sounded good, too! As sweet a sound as any avant garde composer of the 1950's might dream up! Of course, the US would have to get a little metal ball of its own into space, but things didn't go so well. They did manage to get one up there in 1958, but nobody knows if it sounded as good as ol' Sputnik. But anyway, most folks weren't listening to satellites 50 years ago, they were listening to, well, lessee, there was...

Pop, Rock, Rockabilly and DooWop:

Sweep of US #1 Hits of 1958
Purple People Eater, novelty song #1 hit by Sheb Wooley.
Rip It Up by rockabilly mic-stand-stepper-over Gene Vincent.
Get Rhythm, that patented Johnny Cash brand of rockabilly!
All Over Again, one more from Johnny, from the same gig.
Suppertime, one more from Johnny Cash, this one on the country tip.
Little Queenie by a knee-knockin' Chuck Berry. "She's too cute to be a minute over seventeen"...
Mercy by Lorrie & Larry Collins. Lorrie was one wild chick, and really tears it up on this one. Younger brother Larry, on doubleneck guitar, was a protege of Joe Maphis.
Bang Bang by Janis Martin. "So if you feel you'd like to make a deal, cock your pistol and rooty toot toot! Bang bang bang!" Some of the images in this clip maybe a little NSFW.
Circle Rock, a little slice of honky-tonk rockin' from Cowboy Copas.
Zing Went the Strings, an almost tropical vibe to this Doo-wop number from the Coasters.
So Far Away, Doo-wop by the Pastels.
Twilight and Vows of Love, Doo-wop by the Paragons.
Dream Dream Dream, familiar hit from the Everly Brothers.

Jazz:

A Night in Tunisia, Dizzy Gillespie
Moanin' Low, Billie Holiday
Exactly Like You, Big Joe Turner
In the Chapel in the Moonlight and I've Found a New Baby, Sonny Rollins
Down By the Old Mill Stream, Sidney Bechet
A Gal in Gallico, Oscar Peterson
Jeepers Creepers, Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden
What a Little Moonlight Can Do, Billie Holiday
Lullaby of Broadway, by jazz fiddle legend Stuff Smith

Classical and Contemporary:

Oistrakh and Menhuhin play Bach. Go, Yehudi!
Maria Callas does her thing in Gay Paree.
Poeme Electronique: Varèse/ Xénakis/Le Corbusier

And... 1958 saw Elvis inducted into the Army.

And while we're here, let's take a look at some B movie trailers. They're a real scream:

Teenage Caveman
Dragstrip Riot
Juvenile Delinquent

And dig this hep clip, daddy-o, from the TV show, 77 Sunset Strip.

Plus this, from the Golden Age of air travel: Pan Am Boeing 707 Promo film, 1958

Oh, and getting back to that Stockhausen fellow, here's a Wikipedia page with some background on the piece linked in the FPP: Gesang der Jünglinge.

And finally, if you wanna hear more of that cute little Russian satellite, check previously. Beep beep beep, y'all.

posted by flapjax at midnite (16 comments total)

I always assumed Sputnik's famous beep was monotonic. Why isn't it? I know bats emit a shaped waveform to get some kind of ranging (or something) information, but surely the audio portion of Sputnik's signal is just icing on the RF cake.
posted by DU at 7:44 AM on June 2, 2008

Brilliant post, what a lead in! What a hook! thank you!
posted by cavalier at 7:46 AM on June 2, 2008

Why isn't it?

My guess is that Sputnik's "voice" was tailored to be unique, knowing it would be followed via amateur radio worldwide. The Soviets released Sputnik's radio frequency to the Russian public in July 1957. And after Sputnik's launch, amateur radio enthusiasts were encouraged to tune in to the satellite to assist in tracking.
posted by grabbingsand at 8:05 AM on June 2, 2008

How was this sound made? Did they have a tape-loop or vaccuum tube sound sample up there? Unfortunately, I cant google this stuff correctly because some audio company stole the name for one of their microphones or synths. -"m-audio" doesnt help either.
posted by damn dirty ape at 8:18 AM on June 2, 2008

Great fun -- thanks!
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 8:32 AM on June 2, 2008

This is weird: first the hits of 1958 on metafilter, then I get an email about the live show. Is this like one of those lottery commercials where you're supposed to go play those numbers that keep showing up, I think I might go do that...
posted by jrb223 at 9:01 AM on June 2, 2008

Seconding cavalier, fascinating. Loved Cowboy Copas and Poeme Electronique.
posted by ageispolis at 9:04 AM on June 2, 2008

I think I might go do that...

Well, don't forget me, man, if you hit the jackpot. Just don't forget your man flapjax.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:06 AM on June 2, 2008

Fantastic post as usual, my man!
posted by languagehat at 9:37 AM on June 2, 2008

Sputnik's tone *was* monotonic- I remember hearing it on my dad's Collins 51J4 receiver on 20.007 mc. (back then, they were megacycles, not megahertz...) Can't figger what that first link was, with the rising tone repeating every four beeps- but that is not what I heard.
posted by drhydro at 9:39 AM on June 2, 2008

Sputnik 1 was "equipped with two radio transmitters continuously emitting signals at frequencies of 20.005 and 40.002 megacycles per second (wave lengths of about 15 and 7.5 meters, respectively). The power of the transmitters ensures reliable reception of the signals by a broad range of radio amateurs. The signals have the form of telegraph pulses of about 0.3 second's duration with a [312] pause of the same duration. The signal of one frequency is sent during the pause in the signal of the other frequency."

"Announcement of the First Satellite," from Pravada, October 5, 1957
posted by parhamr at 9:52 AM on June 2, 2008

Mercy! Lorrie Collins can work the mic.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 9:56 AM on June 2, 2008

Of course, those are the RF frequencies. What audio signal was on them?

I'm charmed by the fact that they chose values that would be good for radio amateurs. You don't find that kind of thoughtfulness in today's Godless Threat To Our Nation.
posted by DU at 11:31 AM on June 2, 2008

I really thought that after that lead in you'd link to Louis Prima's Beep Beep.
posted by saffry at 3:41 PM on June 2, 2008

Haha! That Prima track sounds like a real winner of a novelty song, saffry! Gotta hear that in its entirety!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:55 PM on June 2, 2008

but now in Soviet America, satellite listens to you...
posted by pompomtom at 5:02 PM on June 2, 2008