Juke Box Jury

The real story of rock & roll is recorded on singles, as anyone who tries to put together a decent collection soon discovers. The best R&R of the 50s came out on small independent labels because the majors were in a total fog when it came to understanding what this music was about, and few of these independents could afford to issue albums, even in the wake of a hit single. In the 60s there were few independents left but the majors still had little confidence in their rock artists and frequently decided against releasing all sorts of material, even when top groups were involved. Thus a fan of the Who, the Kinks, the Yardbirds or the Stones could never hope to get all the recordings of these groups without collecting a large stack of singles. In the 60s a hit single was always followed by an album, the not-so-big singles were as often left off.

Nowadays 45’s are practically superfluous. Any group that can stay together long enough to rehearse one song is snapped up by one of the big companies, and we are soon treated to an album from which hit singles will later be released. The remaining independent companies scrabble after the groups that are too lousy to land a decent contract, and the results are rarely worth listening to. There would seem to be little reason for anybody to listen to singles anymore.