From Ragtime to Rock

The music industry was initially baffled by rock and roll, not really being equipped to deal with it. But it was inevitable that sooner or later big business would eventually attempt to infiltrate and control the new music scene. A great majority of the new artists were incapable of writing their own material, therefore the immediate priority was to establish a songwriting business catering to the youth market. Like its predecessor, Tin Pan Alley, The Brill Building played host to a group of the most creative composers of the period, this time all housed in the same building. Situated at 1619 Broadway in the heart of the New York music district, the fame of The Brill Building was due in part to its affiliation with the publishing firm located across the street.

In 1958, Aldon Music was formed by Al Nevins and composer Don Kirshner who had already tasted success writing for and with Bobby Darin. Later, Kirshner would become the kingpin of the Screen Gems music division and during the 1970's, host his own TV series, "Rock Concert." The publishing company was formed as a means of manipulating the rock and roll market by supplying songs specifically designed for the current music trends. Songs were tailor made to order for certain artists and artists were found who were tailor made for certain songs.

The writers of The Brill Building catered to a pop teenage market, the songs basically being written from a teenage point of view. They developed a genuine empathy for teen interests, values and emotions, yet they possessed the sophistication and qualifications of their Tin Pan Alley predecessors. The overall quality of the writing was astounding, considering its target audience. Many of the writers, then unknown were themselves bound for stardom as performers - among them Neil Sedaka, Carole King, Neil Diamond and Barry Mann. The first of the great composing teams was the pairing of lyricist Howard Greenfield and singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka. Other noteworthy teams were Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich.

The Brill Building also employed several independent writing teams such as Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, and Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Some of the newer composers like Gene Pitney, Bobby Darin and Neil Diamond worked solo or sometimes collaborated with other writers. The independents were somewhat a threat to The Brill Building since their goals often did not comply with the Kirshner/Nevins youthful approach to writing. For example, Bacharach and David were much too sophisticated, aspiring to the heights of tunesmiths like Gershwin or Berlin.

The Brill Building supplied product to and controlled its own record labels, yet other companies such as Atlantic and their publishing firm, Progressive Music, often hired Brill Building writers, allowing them much more freedom than the Kirshner/Nevins organization.

One of the main avenues of success for The Brill Building writers was the girl group trend of the early 1960's. This highly commercial style was the ideal market for the staff of The Brill Building. It was during this period that a new ingredient was tossed into the musical cauldron - boy genius Phil Spector and his impressive "wall of sound" recording technique. Spector wrote, arranged and recorded spectacular hits, each a mini opera contained on one 7 inch single.

One fascinating point of interest was the fact that The Brill Building essentially promoted the music of white writers performed by a roster of predominantly black artists. Both The Brill Building and the Motown organization were the last successful attempts at controlling the total packaging of modern music - writing, publishing, arranging, recording and artist direction, grooming and managing. However, unlike Berry Gordy of Motown, Kirshner was unable to weather the hard rock period of the late 1960's and early 1970's.

The music of The Brill Building combined with the sounds created by the original 1950's rockers, laid a basic foundation for 1960's rock. By 1964, a whole new crop of independent songwriting/performing units brought the power of The Brill Building to a crashing halt. Also, many of its influential writing teams had either split up or left the firm, several progressing to the status of star performers. Basically, most of the staff had tired of the limitations and restrictions of assembly line songwriting. They did however, inspire other writing teams such as Lennon/McCartney, who were genuinely enamoured of The Brill Building writers - evident in the material covered by The Beatles in their first two albums.

The classic songs written during The Brill Building heyday have resurfaced in one form or another over the last three decades in tribute to the artistry of these gifted composers.

PHIL SPECTOR

THE MAJOR WRITING TEAMS OF THE BRILL BUILDING

THE INDEPENDENT WRITING TEAMS

POMUS & SHUMAN

LEIBER & STOLLER

BACHARACH & DAVID

BOYCE & HART

THE SOLO INDEPENDENT SINGER/SONGWRITERS

GENE PITNEY

BOBBY DARIN

NEIL DIAMOND

ALSO SEE

BIBLIOGRAPHY