musicology #205

12AngryMen #2 (alternativesoundtrack #3)

(Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers - I’m Not A Juvenile Delinquent)

LISTEN

day two of the 12 Angry Men selection and the ‘action’ begins. 12 jurors, 1 Room, Hottest day of the year…No Air-Con. The jockying has already started as Lee J. Cobb, (Juror #3), lets his feelings known on what he thinks the verdict should be.

themusicologist wasn’t even born in 1957 but from what I have read and heard the ‘Teenager’ had most definately arrived. Music, (Rock and Roll), being an example of this. The way I have understood it, before World War II music was made predominantly by and for ‘grown ups’. Swing had begun to change that but by the time Rock and Roll emerged the writing was well and truly on the wall for who to target…Teenagers.

the slice of, (1956), musicology, (released in early ‘57), is courtesy of 13 year old !! Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, (Herman Santiago, Joe Negroni, Jimmy Merchant, Sherman Garnes), who epitomised the change as well as anyone. Of note is that the majority of the group members were of Puerto Rican descent, as was the kid charged with murder in the film, and half of the subjects of the original 1957 Broadway production of West Side Story.