The rise of rock ’n’ roll goes hand-in-hand with the rise of the American teenager. During the post-war baby boom, a generation of kids who’d been raised to believe they were “meant to be seen but not heard” began to make a little noise of their own. For the first time ever, teenagers carved out a significant slice of the American musical pie. Record labels took notice and before long, new records designed specifically for teenaged tastes flooded the airwaves and crowded the racks.

In many ways, 1959 represents both the dawn of teen pop and the high water mark for this early style. Elvis was in the army, Chuck Berry was in jail, Jerry Lee Lewis had been driven into hiding, and Little Richard had joined the church. A new wave of singers – many of them teenagers themselves – stormed the charts and wouldn’t relent until a certain quartet from Liverpool, England showed up on the scene in 1964.

Hit Parade’s latest release, Hard To Find Jukebox Classics 1959: Teen Pop Gold, documents this watershed year in all its hormone-addled glory, culling 27 top teen tunes on one CD. All but four of these tracks made the Top 30, and over half appear in true stereo, including three important stereo debuts from Connie Francis and the Everly Brothers. Plus, we get two heart-stopping anthems apiece by 17-year-old Bobby Rydell, 18-year-old Paul Anka, and 18-year-old Ritchie Valens. Even the Big Bopper – who was almost 30 years old in 1959 – weighs in with a pair of appearances with his biggest hit, “Chantilly Lace,” and its seldom-heard follow-up, “Big Bopper’s Wedding.” Another track, “Let’s Go Steady For The Summer” by The Three G’s, appears on CD for the first time ever!

Hard To Find Jukebox Classics 1959: Teen Pop Gold contains only the true, original hit versions – a guarantee you’ll never see at any download service like iTunes! And, unlike standard MP3 albums, all Hit Parade discs come with complete song-by-song annotation and extensive liner notes – these by Greg Adams, whose 10 pages of histories and biographies will fascinate you for more than the full hour it will take you to listen to this treasure chest of tunes! (Also see Hard To Find Jukebox Classics 1959: Pop Gold.)

– 3 STEREO CD DEBUTS! ALL TRACKS MONO EXCEPT AS NOTED –
– DIGITALLY REMASTERED FOR HIGHEST QUALITY SOUND –