Day 396: The Coasters – The Coasters
Today, I thought I should plug up another hole in my music history knowledge, the ‘50s is probably the decade with the biggest gaps for me and I also just think that as a rock fan, I should know where it all came from. There’s the added benefit that back then people understood that 30 minutes is sometimes all you need and I’ve had a long day, so let’s listen to a relatively short album by The Coasters.
Album cover courtesy of Atlantic
The Coasters were a R&B/rock & roll act from Los Angeles, who were formed in 1955 after the legendary songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller approached the R&B vocal group The Robins to sign a contract with Atlantic Records with the pair having an independent production contract with them. Not all members agreed, so they took the members who wanted to leave and recruited some new members and flew the group from the West Coast to the East Coast to start recording as a new group, which gave them the name The Coasters.
The group was an immediate success, as the first single they released became a hit, so the label thought they should put out a record as soon as they can. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1957, and it was cobbled together from songs they had, including songs that they’d recorded as The Robins.
I was a bit surprised by the content of the album. I wouldn’t exactly say that the lyrics are pure filth, but I was still surprised by how forward it was for a rock and roll album from the ‘50s, considering that something like "Wake Up Little Susie" by the Everly Brothers got banned from the radio for being too suggestive that same year. I thought it’d be a classic rock and roll yearning album for young audiences, but it’s more of an album of storytelling songs with a lot of humour peppered in.
The songs themselves aren’t really anything too special, but what elevates it is the ease and the humour of the vocal performances, as well as the little stories it tells, whether it be about accidentally getting too close to the chef’s girlfriend at "Smokey Joe's Cafe," or admiring a dancing girl called Lola and being upset that her mother is keeping a close eye on her, which is arguably more than a little bit creepy. But the songs themselves keep your attention from beginning to end, and some of the stories are better than others. “Framed” stands out as despite the humour, there’s an obvious subtext.
The album closes with the best song of the record, “Down in Mexico”. It was written by Leiber and Stoller, who said the song came from “Jerry’s fascination with funky bars and the sexy stories they suggested.” I’d heard the song before in a fairly unforgettable scene from Tarantino’s underrated flop film Death Proof, which strangely enough I was thinking about earlier today before I chose the album and without knowing it was them, and it’s not exactly a film I think about often.
It’s not an album I’d reach for again, but it’s one of those times when exploring music history is also just a good time, The Coasters were more fun than I expected. I’m giving this one a 7.5/10.