ABSTRACT
At the end of the 1950s rock and roll was on life support. Many of its most significant artists were no longer active. The payola scandal drove public perception of its value to a new low. Its critics in the music industry appeared to have regained much of the control they had earlier lost to independent record labels and freelancing radio disc jockeys. Professionals from the major record labels and publishing houses, having undermined rock and roll, wanted to claim the youth music market while tailoring it to their own standards of taste. Those who believed rock and roll was only a temporary musical fad seemed to have their suspicions confirmed.
