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'YOU'RE NOTHIN' BUT A HOUND-DOG'
Jews introduce rock 'n' roll
It is not without significance that racial integration in the United States was accompanied by a new form of bastard noise known as "rock 'n' roll." As long as the musical preference of white people ran toward simple Aryan melodies, folk songs, waltzes, polkas and marches, as well as the classics and beautiful choruses, it was difficult to break their racial morale. That was much more easily accomplished by having whites join with blacks in idiotic grunting, howling, body-jerking and ape dances as part of a new, common "cultural" identity. And guess who was in the forefront of promoting both racial integration and its musical accompaniment?
Judaism's
remarkable contributions to rock 'n' roll DEL RAY, Fla.—The Jewish-roots man of rock 'n' roll lives in Delray Beach with his wife and two children. He works in a study off his bedroom that's crammed with books, pictures and vintage albums by the likes of The Tokens and Jay and the Americans. All Jewish guys, he'll have you know. "Judaism," Scott Benarde maintains, "permeates rock 'n' roll." A former music writer for the Sun-Sentinel and The Palm Beach Post, Benarde has devoted the past five years to proving the point. He has surfaced from his investigations with a book, Stars of David: Rock 'n' Roll's Jewish Stories, published by Brandeis University Press. It's filled with many interesting discoveries. For instance, every music fan knows that Bob Dylan is Jewish. But Manfred Mann (The Mighty Quinn), Pete Brown, lyricist of Cream (Sunshine of Your Love), Phoebe Snow (Poetry Man), Keith Reid of Procol Harum, Marc Bolan of T-Rex, Leslie West and Corky Laing of Mountain (Mississippi Queen), Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss? Country Joe and all the original Fish? Who knew? "I wrote this book to uncover a truth I felt had been unknown and ignored," Benarde says, "and to reveal it, not just to Jews, but to anyone. "The Jewish contribution to music in the rock era has been and continues to be substantial—and Judaism has played a bigger role in influencing the music and the people who make it than anyone ever would have thought." Rock 'n' roll is usually thought of as a cross between black rhythm-and-blues and white country and Western with maybe a detour for Italian doo-wop and crooning. But as far back as Elvis Presley's first big hit, Hound Dog (by a pair named Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller), a Jewish strain has run through the music. Why, even the guy who coined the music "rock 'n' roll"—disc jockey Alan Freed—was Jewish. Benarde, who works in communications for the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, believes music "doesn't exist in a religious vacuum. "I found many rockers who care very much about their Judaism, in a field that makes it very difficult to do so." David Bryan, keyboard player for Bon Jovi, blows the shofar at his synagogue on High Holidays, Benarde says. Stan Lynch, former drummer with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, took his Hanukkah menorah along on concert tours. The Wallflowers, when on the road, say blessings to welcome the Sabbath on Friday nights. David Lee Roth, who became famous with the group Van Halen, told Benarde that he learned to sing from studying for his bar mitzvah. Some famous names didn't cooperate with Benarde: Simon and Garfunkel, Carole King, Arlo Guthrie, members of the J. Geils Band. But among those who did were Al Kooper, Michael Bloomfield, Harvey Brooks, Zal Yanovsky, David Grisman, Peter Yarrow, Don Was, Max Weinberg and Julie Gold. Their stories run the gamut of Jewish experience. Some rockers were raised in strict religious households, some by atheists. Billy Joel, son of a Holocaust survivor, was reared Catholic. Some said the feeling of being an outsider, a common aspect of Jewish identity, led them to pursue music as an outlet. Some talked about experiences with anti-Semitism and ethnic stereotypes. "I wanted to write something that will last," Benarde says. "I know I'm keeping it around just to settle bets. Lou Reed. Would you believe the family name was Rabinowitz?"
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