Great Pretenders: My Strange Love Affair with '50s Pop Music

It'a an ambitious look with a complicated thesis and perhaps only a really theoretically comfortable writer might have pulled it off, someone like Greil Marcus or the late Lillian Roxon for example. Basically we have been led to believe that pop music entered a steep decline after Elvis joined the army and before the Liverpool invasion of December 1963. Schoemer argues that it was not as bad as all that, which isn't that much of a thesis, but it's interesting to think about. She reproduces a typical top 100 pop list for a week in 1959, and a mere survey of the list proves her very point that American pop music, even in what was supposedly the worst of times, had a richness and a depth and a freshness that you just can't associate with the second rate. Wasn't it CS Lewis said that the health of a country depends on the richness and multiplicity of its minor writers--not its great superstars, but the everyday writers in the background? Schoemer has something of the sort to prove here, and yet her book lacks the requisite concision and force to make its case. Two huge problems get in the way. Number one, her own personal saga (and her problems with her mother) might be the single dullest storyline of any work of creative non fiction of the past 20 years. Reading this book, you just can't believe she held down a professional job (music critic at NEWSWEEK?) for she comes across as a self-obsessed blogger. Problem number two, is that she decides to hone in on seven pop stars of the period, which might have been an OK strategy, had she been able to bring even one iota of insight into any of them. Patti Page comes off best, but Schoemer's just not prepared enough to do a proper interview. Patronizing isn't the word. She wastes their time with her ill-defined "Tell me what you meant to girls of my mother's generation" questions. It could have been a really good book, instead it's a great pretender.

I picked this book up because I'm a closet fan of this kind of music (I actually own a couple of Pat Boone LPs). I wound up a fan of Karen Schoemer, the reformed rock critic whose wry, witty manner brings both an off-beat look at the other side of '50s music and a writer who weaves interesting, honest memories with the interviews (and aren't memories what vintage music's all about?). Karen grew up in plush New York suburbs and saw the grit of classic rock (Springsteen especially) as an escape from both sterile surroundings and her parents' messy divorce. Yet through many years as a free-lance rock critic for Newsweek and the New York Times, she never forgot the white-bread '50s pop hits that somehow stayed with her even after countless interviews with punk and grunge types. So she chose to embark on a quest for meaning in her life through meetings with stars from her mom's (and my mom's) generation. To my delight, the formula worked. Seven '50s stars made Karen's cut, with the "holy grail" in the form of, oddly enough, Connie Francis- whom she finally meets at her retirement home in South Florida. She also talked to big-band era singers- Frankie Laine, Patti Page, even the all- but-forgotten Georgia Gibbs. Pat Boone, mentioned earlier, proves to be irrepressible, while two minor teen idols- Fabian and Tommy Sands- fill out the collection. In all seven pieces, Karen's a participant, not an observer. This may turn purists off, but she's very entertaining and has surprising twists in both the interviews and listening. Sands, for instance, was best-known as Nancy Sinatra's (short-lived) husband; his only huge hit, "Teenage Crush", sounds what she calls "grotesque" yet once Karen hears Tommy's uneasy renditions of Sinatra-type standards, she's unexpectedly moved. That's the essence of "Great Pretenders"- the discovery of real musical and emotional nuggets in a framework that doesn't sound too promising. "Give me more bad music"? "Connie was a virgin!" "Patti Page: for those who thought Ella Fitzgerald was a little too taxing." Yes, Karen sounds like a snide know-it-all, but she's better than that. There's real warmth here as she appreciates this music for what it was- and how, after so many years, it can win over even a wannabe hipster. "Great Pretenders" isn't your average book of rock criticism; it's not a memory-lane piece; it isn't chick-lit either. It's part musical autobiography, part road trip, and all Karen Schoemer- a woman you'll either hate (if you want nostalgia) or, like me, you'll enjoy for her spunk. Whoever said "I hate spunk" never met her- and the soundtrack's great (if cheesy) too! BTW- I always loved Pat Boone's "Speedy Gonzales".

Any interested in 50s pop music must read GREAT PRETENDERS: MY STRANGE LOVE AFFAIR WITH '50S POP MUSIC: it tells of the mid-1960s-born author who fosters an interest in the genre as her parents' marriage mirrors the ups and downs of the 50s musical movement and finally fails. As an adult Schoemer is a pop music critic still trying to figure out what happened to both her parents' marriage and 1950s music: GREAT PRETENDERS examines both, charting her search through the decades to probe the former pop idols of the late 1950s. A 'must' for any who would understand the rise and fall of rock music overall and 1950s culture in particular.

I very much enjoyed this very well-written book. Her long, complex sentences are a joy to read and draw you into her interesting personal interviews. I'm looking forward to more from this author!

Wow! I knew that there had to be more to the late fifties/early 60's than history suggests. This book sheds some light on what really went on. It wasn't all sugar and spice, that's for sure. Kudo's not only to the author, but to the artists that were interviewed. The reader will come away with newfound respect for each of them. Fabian, especially, who has been much-maligned, has a fascinating story to tell. Until he decides to write his own book, this is must reading for fans of popular culture. OUtstanding from beginning to end!