Episode #52 | 3.31.20
Little Richard: Sex and the Duality of the King and Queen of Rock ‘N’ Roll
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In this episode
Little Richard is the originator. Without him it’s hard to imagine the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elton John or even Led Zeppelin. He blazed a trail through popular culture that previous to him did not exist. His music was completely original for the time, the essence of rock ‘n’ roll, filled with impassioned energy, fueled at times by large quantities of drugs and always brimming with sex. The sex, the drugs, and the party for Little Richard, it was as endless as the manic energy that drove his music and it all nearly derailed him––several times––landing him behind bars and on the wrong side of the gun.
Sources
The Cruel Truth About Rock and Roll, by Ann Powers
A Musician’s Musician and a Pervert’s Pervert: Here’s Little Richard, by Daniel Garrett
Legend: Little Richard, by Robert Chalmers
A Brief History of Little Richard Grappling with His Sexuality & Religion, by Chris Malone
When John Waters met Little Richard, by John Waters
Little Richard’s Traumatic Black Queer Childhood Helped Mold Rock N Roll, by Miles E Johnson
Charles White, ‘The Life and Times of Little Richard,’ by Greil Marcus
The Untold Truth of Little Richard, by A.C. Grimes
Pour on the Steam: Little Richard at Age 19, by Adam Weiner
Meet Rock and Roll’s Original Bad Boy, Larry Williams, by Mike Greenblatt
Larry Williams, The Beatles: Moving Way Too Fast, by Jeff Cochran
How 1930s Discrimination Shaped Inequality in Today’s Cities, by Jesse Meisenhelter
Esquerita and the Voola, by Baynard Woods
Lee Angel: The Muse Who Had a Front Row Seat to Rock History, by Jonny Whiteside
Little Richard, Child of God, by David Dalton
Window on the past: Natatorium has lived many lives, by Karon Hamby
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Music
Hosted and written by Jake Brennan.
Additional writing by Zeth Lundy.
Copy editing by Pat Healy.
Mixed and Engineered by Sean Cahalin.
Scored by Jake Brennan.
Disgraceland theme song, "Crenshaw Space Boogie" written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak