The devil’s music

by Doug Crowe
Tuesday, April 15, 2008 1:26 PM MDT

My wife and I went to a movie a while back.

We parked on David Street, which by the way, is named after a onetime foreman of the CY Ranch, Edward Taft David. CY Avenue was originally the trail that led to that ranch. But, I digress.

What I really want to talk about is the old Casper Canteen. When I was in high school, it was located on the 200 block of David, directly north of the fire station. There is a parking lot there now, but in the 1950s, "The Canteen" was a happening place.

During the school year dances were held there from 7:30 to 11:00 most Saturday nights. It provided a good venue for the authorities to keep an eye on all the Natrona County High School hoodlums.

At the time, there were no Kelly Walsh High School hoodlums, because there was no Kelly Walsh High School!

What I remember most about those dances (aside from the couple of times I stopped someone's fist with my nose) was the music.

The mid-1950s marked the beginning of rock and roll. Such was the strength of the "rock and roll revolution" that it extended even to backwoods Wyoming.

The spark that set it all off was the "The Blackboard Jungle," a 1955 movie about rebellious youth in the New York City school system. It starred Glenn Ford and Sidney Poitier.

But the movie was merely a vehicle for the music of Bill Haley and the Comets. When they performed "Rock Around the Clock," the Rialto erupted with frenetic teenagers dancing in the aisles.

Rock and roll had come to the Cowboy State, and The Canteen became the place, at least in Casper, to dance to the beat.

Bill Haley notwithstanding, Chuck Berry was the real "Father of Rock and Roll." His guitar licks and classic songwriting set the stage for everything to come.

Who else could have penned such poetic and timeless lyrics as, "Milo Venus was a beautiful lass; She had the world in the palm of her hand; But she lost both her arms in a wrestling match; To get a brown eyed handsome man; She fought and won herself a brown eyed handsome man."

To quote no less an authority as John Lennon, "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry."

Of course, Elvis Presley was right up there too ... as well as Little Richard ... and Jerry Lee Lewis ... and Fats Domino ... and the Everly Brothers ... and Buddy Holly.

My parents, as well as nearly everyone else of their generation, believed rock and roll was the devil's device for corrupting the morals of American youth.

In their minds, it signaled the decline and ultimate fall of western civilization.

My mother was absolutely convinced that Elvis Presley in particular was the spawn of Lucifer sent to defile her only begotten son.

She believed that right up until the time I told her Elvis was a mama’s boy and that he had recorded several albums of gospel music.

She thereupon decided perhaps the guy was not all that bad ... but his peers were still a bunch of perverts!

In retrospect, we know, of course, that rock and roll was not a heinous thing. Western civilization did not fall. But, unfortunately, western civilization today actually is under attack.

I am sure that were my parents alive, they would agree. Rap and hip-hop have seeped into the marrow of America's bones. Neither can be classified as music.

They constitute senseless noise punctuated by profane poetry and designed to liquefy the brains, sap the strength and corrupt the morals of our youth.

The music industry is being guided by the devil's hand. Armageddon is upon us!

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