Reborn in America

Chapter 39: Music Genius

In a small room in Detroit, smoky, a black man smoking a cigarette while saying to the microphone in front of him: "Hello everyone, it's ‘Jim chat time’ again. I’m Jim for high-speed update!"

Jim's voice was full of magnetism, deep and deep, and he knew that he was black. Jim is a radio dj in Detroit who specializes in broadcasting programs at night.

"Every time viewers demand the Carpenter brothers song-"It's okay, Mom" ("that'sallright")! I listen to this song several times almost every day! It causes Eric to keep echoing in my mind. Si's voice, over and over again. After returning from the show at night, I couldn't sleep."

After taking a puff of cigarettes, Jim went on to say: "The next morning, he came to the company with a pale face. After the boss saw me, he said, Jim, can you stop working too long after you go back at night? You also need to reserve some energy to do the show."

"f**k me!" Jim suddenly exploded and said: "I haven't found a woman for a few days, okay! f**k, who would order that song "It's okay, Mom"! I'll never finish with him!"

"It's time for the audience to call!" Jim put out the cigarette in his hand, and then gestured to the staff on the soundproof glass. After the staff saw it, they immediately connected the screened phone to it.

Jim pressed the button that was lit in front of him, and said, "Hi! This is Jim!"

"Jim, I called in specifically to order that song, so let's play "It's okay, Mom"! We haven't heard enough!" A man's voice came on the phone, which also sounded like a black man.

Jim shook his head lightly and let out a wry laugh: "Forgive me! Brother!"

"For the masses of us who can't afford records, you should bear with me." The man still refused to let go.

"Otherwise, how about I play a blues song? Let me sleep well today!" Jim bargained.

At this time, the door of the studio room was opened. A black boy rushed in. Holding a record in his hand, he gestured vigorously to Jim in the soundproof glass. It was a new album with a large line printed on the cover: Brothers Carpenter...

Jim didn't wait for the other person to answer, so he changed his words and said: "Or like this, what do you think of me playing a new song by the Carpenter brothers?"

"New song?" the listener said overjoyed: "Okay, okay!"

At this time, Jim has got the new record. This is the second record of the Carpenters. It's called "Carpenter Brothers: The Second Hit"! Jim hurriedly glanced at the song name on the album cover and picked a song at random.

"Then enjoy "yourfriend" sung by Alex Carpenter! The writers and composers are all Carpenter brothers!"

After Jim finished speaking, he pressed another button. Alex's singing sounded in the studio, and at the same time it sounded around the people who were listening to the radio program.

In the 1950s, racial discrimination in the United States was very serious. Blacks and whites were separated by the a*******d policy. At the same time, black culture and white culture were separated, and music was also artificially divided into two.

In radio stations hosted by white people, their main listening audiences are basically white people. The news, news, music and other programs they broadcast will hardly and dare not involve the black field, and even some music is banned because it reminds people of black people after listening to it.

In contrast, a similar situation exists on black radio stations.

This is a social phenomenon caused by government policies and cannot be changed by one person.

Nowadays, the same song happens to be played on the radio programs of both sides, and it is known and loved by people of both races. This is the song of the Carpenter brothers.

There is a reason why both whites and blacks like their songs, and even Alex does not fully understand this reason.

Except for the song "It's okay, Mom", Alex's songs are all from later generations and are best-selling pop songs after decades of development and evolution.

These songs are a combination of the country music style favored by whites and the rhythm of blues music favored by blacks.

The "rhythm and blues" mentioned here is a kind of black music derived from blues music.

It combines musical elements such as jazz improvisation and gospel hymns. Since 1945, this kind of music has become popular in black society. Usually use loudspeakers that amplify the sound extremely loudly, with a strong and rough rhythm. The musical instruments used are electric guitar, saxophone, double bass and drums, in addition to vocals.

Alex’s songs closely combined the above-mentioned black music with the country music of the southern whites at that time to create a musical style called "country rock".

Because of the segregation policy being implemented in the United States at that time, the music of whites and blacks was divided into two categories and two markets, and Alex combined these two categories of music, which was innovative. Although the Carpenters sang in a black style, they were actually white.

This allows them to be accepted by the recording industry controlled by white people and willing to record for him. At the same time, black people also like this new type of song.

The Carpenter brothers are on fire, their songs are on fire!

First, it was repeatedly broadcast among the major radio stations, and then in various public places, schools, pubs, nightclubs, etc., the songs sung by the Carpenter brothers could be heard everywhere.

The first record can catch fire, perhaps because of luck. The second record can also surpass the first record, that is a manifestation of strength.

From a normal point of view, the Carpenter brothers have risen very quickly, so fast that people are stunned.

Generally speaking, fledgling singers and bands often perform reincarnations in small local clubs, nightclubs, university campuses, various gatherings and local dances before they become famous in order to obtain exercise opportunities and performance experience.

Once they become famous in certain grassroots performances, they may get the opportunity to sign a single-leaf or slow-turn record contract with a record company. If their music is loved by a wide range of radio audiences through the broadcast, and the sales of their records are larger, they will be upgraded, and they will be hired with a higher salary and arranged for touring performances on national-scale stages and performance venues.

After becoming famous, they rarely perform live performances, but focus most of their time on recording records. There are many such famous actors or performance groups in the United States.

When talented groups rise to the top, the vacancies in the grass-roots performance venues are filled by new musicians and singers, which becomes a natural cycle of continuous flow.

The experience of the Carpenters broke the common sense in this industry in violation of conventions. They gathered a strong and widespread popularity from the beginning. The first record was burned by themselves at a cost of hundreds of dollars. Such a shoddy record can actually be put on the radio, and it can be liked by a large part of the audience.

After the Carpenter brothers re-burned the first record, under the vigorous promotion of "Teana" company, it quickly sold 300,000 copies. According to the data from the market, this record should be able to sell 900,000 copies, which is close to reaching the level of a golden record.

Such achievements have made many musicians who have been in the industry for many years very ashamed. They have not sold so many records for several years.

After causing such a big social response, the Carpenter brothers did not stop and take a break. They soon released a second record, which, as its name suggests, was the second blow by the Carpenters to the music industry in the 1950s.

The impact of this blow is not weaker than the first record, and even worse.

In this record, Richard and Alex sang a song together, and the rest is a solo by Alex. One cover, one original, and the one covered at the same time is a chorus. This has established the style of the Carpenter Brothers.

The composer and lyrics of the original song "yourfriend" is still Alex, and his genius in music has been amazing and numb.

Compared with the first record, the song style of this record is more mature and the production is more sophisticated. Soon, people were fascinated by the Carpenter brothers' singing, and they paid for the record.

The song Alex sang soon became a favorite of radio djs. They liked it very much and the audience liked it very much. The song's popularity charts on the bulletin board are rising steadily, first entering the top ten, then to the top five, and now it is ranked third.

Critics predict that this song is likely to make the Carpenter brothers top the list this week!

Mark and others thought that the old song "youaremysunshine" sung by the Carpenters would not be on the list. After all, people love the new and hate the old. At the beginning, this song didn't appear on the charts. Until the third week, it suddenly exploded with a strong momentum and reached the sixth place all of a sudden!

This situation is unprecedented. After a song is released, most of them reach the top in the first week, and then slowly drop the rankings. Unless something special happens, few songs will go upstream like these two songs by the Carpenters.

The song "yourfriend" has risen in the rankings for three consecutive weeks. This will only appear at the beginning of the newcomer's debut, provided that this song is very good and can attract more popularity to the singer.

After all, Alex’s song is of high quality, and the production level of the record is extraordinary. The Carpenters are newcomers, and their popularity has not reached the peak. This song is also in line with the situation of newcomers’ debut.

But that old song is completely confusing, they don't understand what happened. In fact, it's very simple. The quality of this song is absolutely good. There is nothing to say about it. At first, everyone might ignore it because it is an old song, but after the cover of Alex's adaptation, this song was given a new role.

That is to enable everyone who likes this song to sing, especially children. One of the things that music-loving parents like to do is to teach their children to sing their favorite songs. The singing range is wide, and the songs that parents like are not simple enough for children to sing. This song just meets these conditions.

Many parents bought this song because of this, or ordered it on a jukebox in a public place. This old song exudes charming charm again. This is something that many people have never expected.

"They are the Carpenters, they are musical geniuses!"

All the musicians who have heard the Carpenter brothers’ songs exclaimed. The Carpenter brothers’ songs were played on the radio and the Carpenter brothers’ news was reported in the newspapers.