At the Hop

 

One of my favorite early rock & roll songs is “At the Hop” by Danny and the Juniors. It was released in June of 1957 when I was nine years old. What I love about the song is the blending of the Doo Wop harmonies and progression with early rock & roll that Elvis most famously popularized.

The original group consisted of Danny Rapp, the lead singer, Dave White, 1^st tenor, Frank Moffei, 2^nd tenor, and Joe Terranova (who later changed his last name to Terry) baritone. The group got together in 1955 when they were classmates at John Bartrum High School in Philadelphia. They called themselves the Juvenaires. Harmonizing in the Doo Wop style, they performed at school functions and local events in the area.

Doo Wop music originated in the Black communities of the major cities in America in the 1940s and became widespread in the early 50s.  Young black men got together and harmonized in the style of the Mills Brothers, the Ink Spots and Barber shop quartets. They practiced on street corners and under bridges and areas that had good acoustics. The Italian youth picked up on it and formed their own groups, the most famous example being Dion and the Belmonts who were early rock & roll pioneers.

According to Joe Terry in a 2010 interview, one day the Juvenaires were practicing on the street corner and a young man from their neighborhood, the projects in South Phillie, named John Medora, walked up to them and said “You guys are pretty good. I’d like to take you to the guy who recorded me.” At that time Medora was an up-and-coming rock & roll singer and song writer. Earlier that year, he cut a record on the Singular label, owned and managed by Artie Singer. The song written by Singer was called “Be My Girl” and recorded under the name Johnny Madara.

Artie Singer started out as a bass player, playing with some of the big bands on the radio and on a TV show called Paul Whiteman’s Goodyear Review. He and his brother Harold became vocal coaches, and they had some famous students including Danny Kaye, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker and Al Martino.

David White was the song writer for the Juvenaires. He and Medora wrote a song called, “Do the Bop”. Medora took the Juvenaires to Singer and Artie liked a couple of their songs. They recorded, “Do the Bop” and “Sometimes When I’m All Alone”. Medora sang lead with the Juvenaires backing him with their vocal harmonies.

Singer suggested they take the record to a local DJ, Dick Clark. In addition to being a radio DJ, in July 1956 Clark took over a local television show called Bandstand. The original host, Bob Horn, was fired following a drunk driving arrest. It was a half hour show where they played current records and the kids danced. Clark told the group that he liked the song “Do the Bop”, but “the Bop” was a dance that was on its way out. He said these dances went out of fashion very quickly and suggested changing the song from “let’s all do the Bop” to “let’s go to the Hop”.  He told them “Record Hops are going to be around for a long time.”

According to Joe Terry, the group went back home and rewrote the song. Clark also suggested they change their name from the “Juvenaires” to “the Juniors”. So, they re-recorded the song with Danny Rapp singing lead and under their new name, Danny and the Juniors.

According to Singer, Clark agreed to play the record if he got half of the proceeds, which was a common practice and not illegal at the time. In 1960 the Payola hearings took place, and it became illegal for DJs to demand a cut of the profits. Clark sold his share in the song just prior to the new law going into effect and did not continue the practice after that. Singer said in an interview that he didn’t like the financial arrangement with Clark but always credited Clark with launching his music career. The song became a local hit in the summer of 1957.

In December Clark called the group because he needed a substitute band on Bandstand. The TV show, now renamed American Bandstand, had recently expanded to national coverage on ABC. Danny and the Juniors lip-synced the song on the show and for the first time were seen all across the Country. ABC/Paramount bought the master recording in January of ‘58 and it became a national hit reaching #1 in the US and Canada and #3 in the UK. It also made it onto the Country and the Rhythm and Blues charts. It remained #1 for 7 weeks, breaking a record for vocal groups.

Danny and the Juniors followed up the song with “Rock and Roll is here to Stay” which went to # 19 on the Billboard top 100 and #16 on the Rhythm and Blues chart. It became an anthem for rock & roll at the time. It sounds very similar to “At the Hop”, and in my opinion is not as good.

In 1969 Sha Na Na performed “At the Hop” at the Woodstock festival and in 1973, George Lucas put it in the soundtrack of his movie American Graffiti. In the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it is on the list of the 500 songs that shaped Rock & Roll.