Drunk History (2013–…): Season 2, Episode 3 - American Music - full transcript

- He creates this whole persona.

He's like,
hey, how y'all doing today?

It's Alan Freed,
King of the Moondoggers!

Oh, yeah.
- Yeah.

Oh, my God.

- And Kristofferson said,
how can I get my song

to Johnny Cash
and make an impact?

Johnny said, some fool's landing
in our yard with a helicopter.

If there's any doubt,
Derek Waters

is really drinking with me.

- Sylvia Robinson
wanted to name the band



The Sugarhill Gang

after this artistic community
in Harlem.

I'm really drunk now.

Too drunk.

♪♪

♪♪

- Music's
the soundtrack of life.

You put on a little Metallica
to get pumped.

You put on whatever.

- Rock and roll,
country, and rap.

- Music does a lot of things.

Sometimes music makes me
split my pants,

because I'm, like,

dropping it so hard
on the floor.



- I like music.

American... the American stuff
specifically.

- What is American music to you?

- Like jazz or blues and, uh...

- I know
that something's about...

You know what I'm saying?

- Whoa!
- Thank you.

- All right,
and my hands are clean.

- Oh, I trust you.

- 'Cause I took a shower
a few hours ago.

- Now, why do you use that
for yours?

You don't trust
your own fingers.

- 'Cause I want these
to be clean.

- Um, hello, my name
is David Wain.

I have a dirty martini,

and today we're gonna talk
about Alan Freed

and the birth of rock and roll,

which is a great story

about fun, race, and music.

Alan Freed is a DJ on WAKR
in Akron, Ohio,

and he's like, you know,

hey, I'm playing regular music.

He was playing jazz and pop
and pre-rock and roll music.

Meanwhile, there was
this guy named Leo Mintz.

Leo Mintz is a record-store
owner in Cleveland, Ohio,

and Leo Mintz was seeing
that these white kids

are having a good time,
and they're dancing.

But at the time,
it wasn't accepted

for white people
to buy black music

or what they called race music.

And he became aware
of this DJ, Alan Freed,

and he's like,
come over to Cleveland,

and you can go
on the air on WJW,

which was a big radio station,
a white radio station,

but I'm going to get you to play

these rhythm-and-blues records
that I'm trying to sell.

And Alan Freed said, thank you.

I'll do it.

It was a time
when racial boundaries

were just slowly being bended,

but nobody knew.

- Nobody knew.
- Nobody knew.

Nobody knew.

Leo Mintz would come over
to the radio station,

and he's like, you know,

what are we gonna call
this thing?

'Cause if we call it
rhythm and blues,

then the white audience
won't accept it,

because that's
a race-music term.

And they were like,
well, you know,

we're rocking and rolling.

Fucking great.

He was like, great.
That's what it is.

It's rock and roll.

And he creates
this whole persona.

He's like,
hey, how y'all doing today?

It's Alan Freed,
King of the Moondoggers!

The Moondog show in
Northeast Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio,

home of the Cleveland Browns'
Art Modell!

Okay, so, now...

And that's good.

Cheers.
- Rock and roll.

- Once again, and here we are.

This is number two.
- Number two.

- So then he's like,
okay, what do we do to,

like, up the ante here?

And so Alan Freed's like,
let's make a big fucking show.

So then they set up this
big show at the Cleveland Arena,

the Moondog Coronation Ball.

It was, you know, considered
the first rock and roll concert

that there ever was.

So 20,000 people come to a venue

that can only fit 10,000.

They're shoving in.

It becomes a fucking fiasco.

There's riots.

The Cleveland Fire Department
shut the whole thing down.

Well, of course,
the next day, it's like,

rock and roll music
is hurting teenagers,

making them bad, um...

I think when you drink,

you lose a little bit
of vocabulary.

- Yeah.
- But anyway, that's fine.

But he went on the air
the next day.

Look, it didn't work out,
but we move forward.

Are you with me?
We'll know if...

By your phone calls, letters.

And the teenagers were into it,

and they just came out
in throngs.

He was eventually wooed
by the big town,

and I'm talking
about Mr. New, Mr. York,

and hello, city.

I'm talking about New York City.

Jesus Christ.

He packs up his shit,

and he goes from Cleveland
to New York,

and he's like, let me
tell you about Chuck Berry.

Let me tell you
about Little Richard.

Let me tell you
about Fats Domino.

And his show is piped to Europe.

It has been said it's
the first time that The Beatles

hear rock and roll,
is on Alan Freed's radio show.

Hey, there, Paul.

This is pretty good.

Maybe we should do this.

Next thing you know,

it's, like, The Beatles.

He put together a show
in Boston,

and the kids are getting rowdy,

and the cops in Boston,
they're like,

no, this is not okay.

So then Alan Freed gets onstage,

and he's like,
kids, it's gonna be fun.

We're gonna have a good time.

We're gonna
rock and roll tonight.

Rock and roll,
rock and roll, rock and roll!

And then they're like,
we're turning the lights on.

Alan Freed makes
this offhand remark.

He's like, you know,
I guess the Boston cops

just don't want you guys
to have any fun.

It becomes a total disaster,
bad-news thing.

It's, like, almost
a riot breaks out,

and then they have
to shut the thing down.

Outside the venue that night,
there were some stabbings,

and there was some violent shit
that went down.

They accused him
of inciting a riot,

and he had to defend himself
and say,

you know, I didn't do...
I was just having a concert.

But his job,
his bosses at WINS, were like,

no, this is too controversial.

You know what?
This guy is...

Kid's got to go.

He went on the air,
and he was like,

look, I'm sorry.
I'm sad.

But I'm going off the air,
so thanks for all these years,

but my era is over.

And then he put on this record,

So Long by Fats Domino.

It was really the end
of his reign as the guy,

and he left the station.

When he goes down
to the bottom of the station,

all these fans are down there,

and they're like,
oh, my God, you can't leave!

What are we gonna do?

What are we gonna do
without you?

And he's like, you know what?

It's not about me.
It's about rock and roll.

Rock and roll
will always be here.

Nothing will stop that.

And so rock and roll
will never die,

and rock and roll has gone on.

Rock and roll
is basically about, like,

getting up there
and being like, fuck it,

you know what I mean?

Like, it's not enough to say,

I don't give a shit.

You have to fucking show it.

Rock and roll.
- Rock and roll.

- Music breaks through

because of just the incredible
need to communicate something.

Try this.
See, it...

Off.

♪♪

There you go.

It's all context.
- Rest.

Oh!

Let's do it.

- Hello.

Today we're talking
about Kris Kristofferson.

- Kris Kristofferson
got incredible grades,

and he was a Rhodes scholar,

and then he trained
as an army ranger

to fly helicopters.

His platoon commander
knew someone in Nashville

that worked for Johnny Cash.

We can get you in free
to a show at the Grand Ole Opry.

Yeah?
I love it.

Let's do it.

So Kris takes a one-week leave
and watches Johnny Cash.

He felt a power and an energy,

because that's
what Johnny Cash did.

Kris felt transfixed.

My God, this is my hero.

And Kris said in that moment
that he was thunderstruck.

And then Johnny Cash walked off,

and Johnny Cash walked over
and shook his hand.

Boom.
Holy shit!

This is my hero,
and he just came up to me

and connected with me.

So Kris says, you know what?

I'm gonna quit this,
and he quits the army.

And he moves
to Nashville, Tennessee,

with the idea of becoming
a great singer-songwriter.

Finally, a job opens up

of being a janitor
at Columbia Records,

and then his mother writes him
a letter.

Your hero, Johnny Cash,
is a drug addict,

and of course he sings
at San Quentin

and Folsom right now,

because a jailbird
sings with jailbirds,

so we have now officially
disowned you.

I hope somehow you come
to your senses,

'cause you're not a songwriter.

Sorry, Kris.
You're done.

And he felt like
a giant failure.

He's a fucking janitor.

And then one day
Johnny Cash comes in.

He's like, who in the world
is in there right now

changing the ashtrays
with those brown...

With the incredible blue eyes?

Well, it's Kris.
Who is he?

His mom just disowned him
because you're his hero.

And Kris was in there
changing the ashtrays,

and Johnny Cash comes in
and says,

well, it's always nice to get
a letter from home, ain't it?

And Kris can't believe it.

He's like, yeah.

But they bonded over it,

because he was passionate
and he had his dream.

I'm gonna quit all this,

and I want to pursue
an artist's life.

So he quit.

Kris is starving.
He has no money.

He's now writing these songs.

And then Kris,
he's so frustrated,

and he has one song.

It's about that feeling
to be on a Sunday

when the bars don't open,

and it's called
Sunday Morning Coming Down.

It's that feeling, loneliness

and nobody believing in you
but you

and wishing,
Lord, that I was stoned,

'cause there ain't nothing
in a Sunday

that makes a body feel alone.

Sunday Morning Coming Down
was the song Kris knew

was something special.

How can I get my song
to Johnny Cash

and make an impact?

So, for Johnny,

Kris landed a helicopter
in his lawn

to give him this song.

Some fool's landing
in our yard with a helicopter

right out of the sky.

He really listened to the song,

and the song went
to the next level for Johnny,

because he understood it.

He understood the isolation
and the loneliness

and wishing,
Lord, that he was stoned.

Excuse me.
- You're fine.

So, at that time,
Johnny Cash was recording

his own variety show for ABC.

So Johnny said to Kris,

hey, we're going to do
Sunday Morning Coming Down

right now and then went
through a run-through

of the song:

♪ On a Sunday morning
sidewalk ♪

♪ Wishing, Lord,
that I was stoned ♪

Well, he did it one time,

and the ABC censors came up
and said,

uh, Johnny, uh...
great song,

but we actually can't
in any way put on the lyrics

"wishing, Lord,
that I was stoned,"

'cause it's clearly an allusion
to marijuana.

And it's
in the country tradition.

You can do something
about alcohol,

but marijuana is a no-go.

You have to change that.

"Wishing, Lord, I was home"?

I wrote it "wishing, Lord,
that I was stoned"

'cause I wished I was stoned.

So, when it comes time to record
the song in that show,

they put Kris way up
in the rafters,

'cause he was...
He was on the fringes, man.

So the song starts,
and he's like...

♪ On a Sunday morning sidewalk ♪

And then his gaze
goes right up to Kris

in the very back row,
and he's like...

♪ Wishing, Lord,
that I was stoned ♪

♪ 'Cause there's something
in the sidewalk ♪

♪ Makes a body feel alone ♪

And Kris said
he felt his heart warm.

God bless, you know?

My song's on TV,
and it meant the world to Kris,

'cause his hero
did right by him.

Once Johnny Cash says it's cool,

well, everybody wants to record
a Kristofferson song...

Waylon Jennings, Joni Mitchell,

James Taylor, Janis Joplin.

Kris Kriskoff...

Kris Kristofferson
became the biggest star

in the world, truly.

In 1976,
and it's been forgotten,

he was the biggest star
in the world at the time.

Kris was huge.

Both:
♪ Of a sleeping city sidewalk ♪

♪ And Sunday morning
coming down ♪

And then it's a good taste.

- Man, they're a boy band.

The Sugarhill Gang was put
together by a record label

to sell a thing
that was popular at the time.

- ♪ Hip, hop, hippy
to the hippity-hip-hip-hop ♪

♪ You don't stop, rocking
to the bang, bang, boogie ♪

♪ To up jump the boogie ♪

♪ To the rhythm
of the boogity beat ♪

- How you doing, buddy?
- Hey, brother.

Good to see you, man.
- Thanks for having me over.

- Of course, man.
Thanks for coming over.

- I can't wait to learn.
- Come on in.

Yeah, yeah, come on in.

- All right, thank you.

- Shit's gonna get real.

Hello.
My name's Colton,

and tonight I'm gonna
tell you about Rapper's Delight.

Drink up.

- All right, so we're talking
about late '70s.

Disco was everywhere.

But Sylvia Robinson,
who was a R&B...

R&B singer,

she went to a party one night
with her son in New York,

and at the party,
a rapper gets up,

and he just starts rhyming
over the beat,

just for, like, hours and hours.

And she goes, this shit's great.

I could record it
and make it a hit.

And so she went up to the MCs
at the party.

She went up to Herc,
and she goes,

I want to make a rap album.

I think hip-hop could be cool.

You want to do it?

But Herc was like, no.

I don't want to do it.

Hip-hop... you can't put it
on an album.

And so she goes
to the other rappers.

They all say no to her,
but she's tenacious about it,

and she goes, you know what?

This is going to happen.

I'm gonna make a hip-hop album
no matter what.

Uh, where's my son at?

She gets her son.

She goes, take me
to anybody who can rap

and rhyme over music.

Take me to them.

And he's like, uh,

well, I know
a rapping pizza guy.

And her son takes her

to the crispy crust pizza shop

where they have
the rapping pizza guy.

Hey, this is Big Bank Hank,
the rapping pizza guy.

She goes,
hey, I hear you can rap.

Oh, yeah, I can rap.
Can you do a beatbox?

No, come on.

- Like "F."
Like the letter "F."

- There you go.
Now make it a beat.

- ♪ Sometimes
I wear a vest ♪

♪ And I'll never stop rhyming ♪

♪ 'Cause I'll never
stop timing ♪

♪ All day ♪

♪ I keep reminding ♪

♪ All my friends of... ♪

Look, I'm gonna make
a rap album.

You should be on it.

Who else
do you want to bring in?

Big Bank Hank is like,
uh, I'll try to...

You know,
let me think of some guys.

He thinks of a couple guys

who are, like,
in the neighborhood.

He brought in Wonder Mike
and Master Gee,

but he himself
didn't have any raps,

so he went to a guy
named Grandmaster Caz.

And he goes,
hey, Grandmaster Caz,

can you hook me up
with some rhymes?

'Cause I'm about to do an album.

Hey, of course.

Yeah, you do a rap on an album.
It makes everything great.

Here's some raps,
like, old shit that I did.

Big Bank Hank is like,
oh, these are great.

These are great rhymes.

So Sylvia Robinson
brings Big Bank Hank,

Master Gee, and Wonder Mike
to her mansion,

but then she gets into it,

you know,
like Dead Poets Society,

like, trying
to be inspirational.

She was like, okay,
do your rap about the motels.

He's like,
♪ Motel, hotel... ♪

Great!

Do your rap about Superman,
like, orchestrating it.

She's like, hold up.

Let me put it
in the order of a song.

You know, verse, bri... chorus,

verse, chorus, bridge,

chorus, verse, chorus,

which hadn't happened
in hip-hop.

But I don't know if that makes
any sense, what I said,

'cause I'm drunk,
so I don't care.

But I understand.

They wanted to name the band
The Sugarhill Gang

after this artistic community
in Harlem.

I'm a fucking genius.

So, when they actually sat down
to record it for the album,

she was like, we have
to get it down in one take.

And so they brought in a band,
and they go, hey, man.

We just want you to play
these 16 measures

of the song
over and over and over again.

You know, the song
that you hear behind them

while they're rapping
is Good Times by Chic.

But what they were able to
pull off was a 14-minute song,

and yet at the end of the day,

they recorded it in one take.

I have to pee.

Put it in there.
- Yes, sir.

- Put it in there.
- Yes, sir.

- That's me drinking
a bottle of Jameson tonight.

- But, Colton...
- Look at that.

FYI, I'm a fucking monster, man.

You can't stop me.

'Cause here's the deal.

They put it out, it's a hit,

and the song just took off
all over the world.

But also, at the time
when it came out,

people like Herc
and Grandmaster Caz,

these people are livid

because this is not hip-hop.

And once that song came out
and Chic heard it,

they were like,
hey, that's our song.

They sued.

She's like, that shit sucks.

But regardless of whether or not

it is made up of stolen raps

or a ridiculous beat

that was stolen
from another band,

it created a genre of music

and blazed the path
for all other hip-hop.

- Yeah, he was a little...

- You need help?
- I'm good.

♪♪

- ♪ You did the pony,
and you did the twist ♪

♪ It's the latest
and the greatest ♪

♪ And it goes like this ♪

♪ The jack ♪

♪ The jack, the jack ♪

Um, no, not really.