Frank Sinatra had this to say about rock and roll music, as published in the Los Angeles Mirror News in 1957.
“My only deep sorrow is the unrelenting insistence of recording and motion picture companies upon purveying the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear—Naturally I refer to the bulk of rock ’n’ roll.
“It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people. It smells phony and false. It is sung, played and written for the most part by cretinous goons and by means of its almost imbecilic reiterations and sly, lewd—in plain fact, dirty—lyrics, and as I said before, it manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth … this rancid-smelling aphorodisiac I deplore. But, in spite of it, the contribution of American music to the world could be said to have one of the healthiest effects of all our contributions.”
As a gentleman who once had aspirations in the direction of sideburned delinquency, I can only say that Frank was probably right. More Elvis here. Or check out my tribute to 90s music, if you’d like.
Hi Daniel,
I’m an 11th-grade student writing a paper on the rise of rock and roll in the 1950s, focusing on Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. I came across a reference to Frank Sinatra’s comments on rock and roll, and I was wondering if you happen to have the actual newspaper or know where I could access it as a primary source. It would be really helpful to include Sinatra’s own words in my paper.
Thank you so much for your time and help!
Claire
Hey Claire, I just copied and pasted that quote years ago from God-knows-where, but Quote Investigator says it’s legit, and has some source info here: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/07/13/rock-degenerate/
Thanks for writing in!
Daniel