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. 

 
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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

Joni Mitchell ran off stage crying, Little Richard brought the house down: Why doesn’t anyone remember the Atlantic City Pop Festival? By Jonathan Takiff

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