5 - They Can't Take That Away from Me: Frank Sinatra and His Curious but Close Relationship with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Generation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2023
Summary
Rock and roll smells phony and false. It is sung, played, and written for the most part by cretinous goons and by means of its almost imbecilic reiteration, and sly, lewd, in plain fact, dirty lyrics … it manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth … [It] is the most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression it has been my misfortune to hear.
—Frank Sinatra (1957)Frank never did like rock ‘n’ roll. And he's not crazy about guys wearing earrings either, but hey, he doesn't hold it against me and anyway, the feeling's not mutual. Rock ‘n’ roll people love Frank Sinatra because Frank Sinatra has got what we want: swagger and attitude. He's big on attitude, serious attitude. Bad attitude. Frank's The Chairman of The Bad. Rock ‘n’ roll plays at being tough, but this guy's … well, he's the Boss, the Boss of Bosses, the Man, Big Daddy. The Big Bang of Pop. I’m not going to mess with him—are you?
—Bono, lead singer of the rock band U2, introducing Frank Sinatra before his acceptance of the Legend Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Grammy Awards (1994)The relationship between Frank Sinatra and rock ‘n’ roll cannot be said to have started particularly smoothly. Indeed, we are speaking of a relationship that never exactly blossomed into a full-blown love affair. Sinatra never popped up with Jimi Hendrix and wowed the crowds at Woodstock with a guitar-heavy, acid-tinged version of “Come Rain or Come Shine,” he did not jam with the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore or collaborate with The Who on a full-blown rock opera entitled Sammy. To date there are no Sinatra album releases titled Songs for Swingin’ Rockers or Only the Punky. Thankfully, Sinatra never got truly desperate and tried to form a brand new spandex-clad Ratt Pack with members of that 1980s metal group Ratt.
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- Frank SinatraThe Man, the Music, the Legend, pp. 37 - 44Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2007