WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.839 Picture a rock and roll pioneer in your mind. 00:00:04.019 --> 00:00:06.960 Just visualize that archetype for a second. Right. 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:09.019 The classic image. Yeah, yeah. What comes to 00:00:09.019 --> 00:00:11.759 mind? You are probably picturing someone, I don't 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:14.400 know, thrashing around on a stage. Smashing a 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:16.940 guitar into an amplifier. Exactly. Wearing something 00:00:16.940 --> 00:00:20.969 completely outrageous and just screaming. these 00:00:20.969 --> 00:00:23.769 rebellious anti -establishment anthems designed 00:00:23.769 --> 00:00:26.870 specifically to terrify the older generation. 00:00:26.969 --> 00:00:29.329 The whole teenage rebellion pack. Right. Now 00:00:29.329 --> 00:00:31.750 I want you to take that image and completely 00:00:31.750 --> 00:00:33.969 erase it from your brain. Just wipe it clean. 00:00:34.229 --> 00:00:36.810 Replace it with a man standing stock still at 00:00:36.810 --> 00:00:39.549 a microphone. He doesn't dance. Not a single 00:00:39.549 --> 00:00:41.869 hip thrust. None. He doesn't write songs about 00:00:41.869 --> 00:00:44.289 teenage rebellion or hot rods. He wears thick 00:00:44.289 --> 00:00:46.829 dark prescription glasses, dresses entirely in 00:00:46.829 --> 00:00:49.630 black, and frankly looks a lot more like a shy 00:00:49.630 --> 00:00:51.770 bank teller. Or an insurance salesman. Yeah, 00:00:51.850 --> 00:00:54.829 an insurance salesman. Than a global rock star 00:00:54.829 --> 00:00:58.630 anyway. Yet this is the very same guy who somehow 00:00:58.630 --> 00:01:01.289 had the Beatles opening for him at the absolute 00:01:01.289 --> 00:01:03.570 height of their early fame. Which is still hard 00:01:03.570 --> 00:01:06.319 to wrap my head around. It is wild. This is the 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:10.180 guy who could sing a high A note so impossibly 00:01:10.180 --> 00:01:14.719 clear and with such terrifying power that seasoned 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:17.560 professional studio musicians would literally 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:19.939 stop playing their instruments in sheer shock. 00:01:20.099 --> 00:01:22.079 It completely shatters the mythology we've built 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:23.959 around the birth of rock and roll. It really 00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:26.200 does. We are so conditioned to associate that 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:30.000 era with aggressive, hip -shaking extraversion. 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:33.359 But then you have this... entirely singular figure 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:36.260 who conquered the world by doing the exact opposite. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:38.500 It's unbelievable when you really look at it. 00:01:38.500 --> 00:01:40.739 We are of course talking about the life, the 00:01:40.739 --> 00:01:43.659 absolutely devastating tragedies, and the unparalleled 00:01:43.659 --> 00:01:46.659 voice of Roy Orbison. An absolute legend. I am 00:01:46.659 --> 00:01:48.799 so excited to get into this material today because 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:51.980 whether you are a hardcore music history buff 00:01:51.980 --> 00:01:55.200 who reads every line or note from the 1960s or 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:57.459 you are just insanely curious about pop culture 00:01:57.459 --> 00:01:59.359 and how legends are actually constructed behind 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:01.129 the scenes, this journey is going I'm going to 00:02:01.129 --> 00:02:03.170 completely fascinate you. The word constructed 00:02:03.170 --> 00:02:05.129 is perfect there. Yeah. Orbison is one of those 00:02:05.129 --> 00:02:07.310 historical figures who seems almost mythological 00:02:07.310 --> 00:02:10.729 now. Yeah, definitely. And that is largely because 00:02:10.729 --> 00:02:13.530 he simply refused to fit into any of the convenient 00:02:13.530 --> 00:02:15.849 prepackaged boxes that the music industry of 00:02:15.849 --> 00:02:18.490 his era tried to shove him into. He created his 00:02:18.490 --> 00:02:21.409 own box. We are basing today's deep dive on a 00:02:21.409 --> 00:02:24.389 single, incredibly comprehensive biographical 00:02:24.389 --> 00:02:27.750 and historical source. It covers his entire life, 00:02:28.090 --> 00:02:30.830 his technical musical innovations and his cultural 00:02:30.830 --> 00:02:33.590 legacy. It's a fantastic resource. Our mission 00:02:33.590 --> 00:02:36.990 today is to figure out exactly how a shy, severely 00:02:36.990 --> 00:02:39.360 self -conscious kid from the rough -and -tumble 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:42.639 oil towns of West Texas completely redefined 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:45.280 what masculinity meant in popular music. And 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:47.419 ultimately earned the nickname the Caruso of 00:02:47.419 --> 00:02:49.979 Rock. Okay, let's unpack this. To really understand 00:02:49.979 --> 00:02:51.960 Orbison's legacy, we have to look closely at 00:02:51.960 --> 00:02:54.969 the massive almost unbelievable contradictions 00:02:54.969 --> 00:02:57.889 that defined his existence. His story is a profound 00:02:57.889 --> 00:03:00.909 study in extremes. You have a life marked by 00:03:00.909 --> 00:03:03.310 unimaginable, almost biblical levels of personal 00:03:03.310 --> 00:03:06.750 tragedy, but that is paired with soaring, transcendent 00:03:06.750 --> 00:03:08.969 artistic triumph. It's just extreme highs and 00:03:08.969 --> 00:03:11.710 extreme lows. Exactly. You have a man who achieved 00:03:11.710 --> 00:03:15.629 global, iconic fame, yet who possessed an intense, 00:03:15.849 --> 00:03:18.909 almost crippling shyness. So as we go through 00:03:18.909 --> 00:03:21.110 this material, we aren't just going to look at 00:03:21.110 --> 00:03:24.349 a chronological list of hit songs. We need to 00:03:24.349 --> 00:03:26.610 dig deeper than that. We need to dig deep into 00:03:26.610 --> 00:03:28.949 the psychological reasons of why he sang them 00:03:28.949 --> 00:03:31.990 and how his completely unique approach to male 00:03:31.990 --> 00:03:34.909 vulnerability quite literally changed the trajectory 00:03:34.909 --> 00:03:37.569 of popular music forever. So to get to the root 00:03:37.569 --> 00:03:39.969 of that why, we have to go back to the very beginning. 00:03:40.490 --> 00:03:44.449 Let's travel to April 1936 in Vernon, Texas. 00:03:44.650 --> 00:03:47.229 Deep in the heart of Texas. Yeah. Roy Kelton 00:03:47.229 --> 00:03:49.650 Orbison is born into a world that is not exactly 00:03:49.650 --> 00:03:51.990 glamorous or, you know, nurturing for an artist. 00:03:52.270 --> 00:03:55.409 His father was an oil field driller. Just a guy 00:03:55.409 --> 00:03:57.689 struggling to find steady work right on the heels 00:03:57.689 --> 00:03:59.990 of the Great Depression. Exactly. The family 00:03:59.990 --> 00:04:02.030 eventually moved around quite a bit, ending up 00:04:02.030 --> 00:04:05.009 in these rough, gritty Texas towns like Fort 00:04:05.009 --> 00:04:07.870 Worth and eventually a place called Wink. Wink, 00:04:07.870 --> 00:04:10.270 Texas? Wink. The source material has a quote 00:04:10.270 --> 00:04:12.710 from Orbison himself describing Wink as a place 00:04:12.710 --> 00:04:16.089 of football, oil fields, oil, grease and sand. 00:04:16.350 --> 00:04:19.329 That paints a very specific picture. Right. When 00:04:19.329 --> 00:04:21.670 you picture that environment, it's essentially 00:04:21.670 --> 00:04:25.790 a rugged, hyper -masculine frontier town. Not 00:04:25.790 --> 00:04:28.269 exactly a place where a sensitive, artistic kid 00:04:28.269 --> 00:04:30.829 is going to thrive. The environment was incredibly 00:04:30.829 --> 00:04:33.870 tough. And it was uniquely isolating for a kid 00:04:33.870 --> 00:04:36.730 who didn't fit the expected mold. From the time 00:04:36.730 --> 00:04:40.170 he was four years old, Orbison was plagued by 00:04:40.170 --> 00:04:43.050 severely poor eyesight. Right. He was forced 00:04:43.050 --> 00:04:45.290 to wear these incredibly thick, heavy glasses 00:04:45.290 --> 00:04:49.589 just to see anything. He was deeply self -conscious 00:04:49.589 --> 00:04:52.189 about his appearance and severely lacked any 00:04:52.189 --> 00:04:54.649 real sporting ability. Which in Texas is a big 00:04:54.649 --> 00:04:57.399 deal. Oh, in a Texas town where high school football 00:04:57.399 --> 00:05:00.379 is essentially a religion, being unathletic immediately 00:05:00.379 --> 00:05:02.439 makes you an outsider. Furthermore, he had this 00:05:02.439 --> 00:05:05.240 naturally almost white dishwater gray hair. Which 00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:07.319 just made him stand out even more. It made him 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:09.800 feel so physically awkward and anomalous that 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:12.079 he started dying at jet black from a very young 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:14.920 age. He was just attempting to blend in or at 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:17.279 least gain some sort of control over how the 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:19.629 world perceived him. It's a heartbreaking image 00:05:19.629 --> 00:05:22.730 to picture, honestly. The historical accounts 00:05:22.730 --> 00:05:25.970 give us this vivid scene of a young Roy playing 00:05:25.970 --> 00:05:28.610 his guitar completely by himself during school 00:05:28.610 --> 00:05:31.170 recess. Just sitting against a wall. Yeah, sitting 00:05:31.170 --> 00:05:32.870 against a wall while all the other kids were 00:05:32.870 --> 00:05:35.230 out running around playing physical games. His 00:05:35.230 --> 00:05:37.329 dad had actually given him a guitar for his sixth 00:05:37.329 --> 00:05:40.029 birthday. And his dad and brother taught him 00:05:40.029 --> 00:05:42.649 a few chords. Right. And by the time he was seven 00:05:42.649 --> 00:05:45.050 years old, he famously said he was finished for 00:05:45.050 --> 00:05:48.790 anything else. Music became his entire universe. 00:05:49.149 --> 00:05:51.509 He even formed a band called the Wink Westerners 00:05:51.509 --> 00:05:54.670 when he was just 13. Playing country, western 00:05:54.670 --> 00:05:57.910 swing, and traditional jazz standards at local 00:05:57.910 --> 00:06:00.870 hockey talks. But before that, there was a specific 00:06:00.870 --> 00:06:03.170 early moment that the source material points 00:06:03.170 --> 00:06:05.810 to as setting the emotional tone for his entire 00:06:05.810 --> 00:06:08.930 career. That moment serves as a crucial psychological 00:06:08.930 --> 00:06:12.379 anchor for him. During World War II, when the 00:06:12.379 --> 00:06:14.779 family was living in Fort Worth, a young Roy 00:06:14.779 --> 00:06:17.100 would frequently attend these regular community 00:06:17.100 --> 00:06:19.279 singing sessions. Right, because his family was 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:22.120 very involved in that. Exactly. And because it 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:24.439 was wartime, the room would be packed with young 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:26.560 soldiers who were about to ship out to the front 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:29.339 lines. Oh, wow. These men were facing their own 00:06:29.339 --> 00:06:31.720 mortality. They were leaving their wives and 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:34.860 children behind, possibly forever. The atmosphere 00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:39.720 in those rooms was thick with intense raw utterly 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:42.279 uninhibited male emotions. So he's just sitting 00:06:42.279 --> 00:06:44.879 there taking this all in. Yes. You had grown 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:48.420 men drinking, singing these old traditional songs 00:06:48.420 --> 00:06:50.839 at the top of their lungs, and weeping openly. 00:06:51.540 --> 00:06:53.899 Witnessing adult men completely dropping their 00:06:53.899 --> 00:06:56.420 stoic facades and displaying that level of emotional 00:06:56.420 --> 00:06:59.879 devastation profoundly shaped Orbison's understanding 00:06:59.879 --> 00:07:02.459 of what music could actually do. That makes so 00:07:02.459 --> 00:07:05.180 much sense. He realized very early on that music 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:07.279 wasn't just background entertainment for a dance. 00:07:07.420 --> 00:07:09.920 It was a vessel for the deepest human pain and 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:11.860 longing. Which is wild to think about when you 00:07:11.860 --> 00:07:14.420 consider how incredibly shy he was. Right. He's 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:17.680 this quiet, polite, self -effacing kid who is 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:20.000 basically using the guitar as a physical shield 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:22.699 to hide behind during recess. But at the exact 00:07:22.699 --> 00:07:24.920 same time, he's using that exact same instrument 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:27.199 to thrust himself directly into the public eye. 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:29.519 I mean, he had his own local radio show by the 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:32.139 time he was eight years old. Eight. It is the 00:07:32.139 --> 00:07:35.720 ultimate performer's paradox. The guitar acts 00:07:35.720 --> 00:07:38.439 as a literal barrier between his physical insecurities 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:41.860 and the outside world. But it also becomes his 00:07:41.860 --> 00:07:45.220 only viable bridge to the world exactly it allowed 00:07:45.220 --> 00:07:48.100 him to communicate the massive complex emotions 00:07:48.100 --> 00:07:50.860 he was observing things he could never articulate 00:07:50.860 --> 00:07:53.620 in casual day -to -day conversation gave him 00:07:53.620 --> 00:07:57.220 a voice literally and figuratively the real pivot 00:07:57.220 --> 00:07:59.899 though the moment he moves away from traditional 00:07:59.899 --> 00:08:02.920 country and Western swing happens at a New Year's 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:06.579 Eve dance in 1954 this is a great story the Wink 00:08:06.579 --> 00:08:08.600 Westerners are playing their usual gig doing 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:10.740 the country stuff they always did But at the 00:08:10.740 --> 00:08:12.800 end of the night, they decide to just play Bill 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:14.959 Haley and the Comets shake, rattle, and roll. 00:08:15.100 --> 00:08:17.259 They play it repeatedly. Repeatedly. And the 00:08:17.259 --> 00:08:19.899 crowd absolutely goes wild for it. They'd never 00:08:19.899 --> 00:08:22.540 heard anything like it live. Combine that reaction 00:08:22.540 --> 00:08:25.079 with another pivotal moment detailed in the source, 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:28.259 where a young Orbison sees an early, regional 00:08:28.259 --> 00:08:31.040 performance by Elvis Presley. Before Elvis was 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:34.519 a global phenomena. Right. Orbison was completely 00:08:34.519 --> 00:08:37.899 shocked by Elvis's gyrations, his raw sexual 00:08:37.899 --> 00:08:40.779 energy on stage, and the frenzy it caused in 00:08:40.779 --> 00:08:44.139 the crowd. Suddenly, rock and roll is the undeniable 00:08:44.139 --> 00:08:47.240 path forward. It was a revelation. I want you 00:08:47.240 --> 00:08:49.240 listening right now to just think about your 00:08:49.240 --> 00:08:52.080 own childhood insecurities for a second. Think 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:54.379 about how often the very things that make us 00:08:54.379 --> 00:08:57.419 feel alienated. Maybe you'd be too shy. Or you 00:08:57.419 --> 00:09:00.159 had a physical limitation, or you just felt like 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:02.299 you don't speak the same language as your peers. 00:09:02.460 --> 00:09:05.419 Right. Think about how those things become the 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:07.960 exact catalyst for our greatest, most unique 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:11.340 strengths. Orbison's terrible eyesight and lack 00:09:11.340 --> 00:09:14.480 of athleticism literally pushed him into an isolated 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:16.820 corner with a guitar. And that lonely corner 00:09:16.820 --> 00:09:19.340 became the foundation of a global empire. Because 00:09:19.340 --> 00:09:21.440 he couldn't compete on the football field, he 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:23.840 poured every ounce of his competitive drive and 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:26.259 focus into the fretboard of that guitar. And 00:09:26.259 --> 00:09:28.860 that obsession leads us directly to his first 00:09:28.860 --> 00:09:31.759 real professional detour in the music industry, 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:34.740 the rockabilly era. Right. So let's track this 00:09:34.740 --> 00:09:37.840 evolution. Orbison decides to drop out of college. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:40.879 He had initially tried studying geology, figuring 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:43.120 he could fall back on working in the oil fields 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:45.840 like his dad. A pragmatic choice for West Texas. 00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:48.019 And then he switched to history and English, 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.620 but he was just bored. So he renames his band 00:09:50.620 --> 00:09:54.340 the Teen Kings and they head into a studio. Norman 00:09:54.340 --> 00:09:57.299 Petty Studio. Right. Norman Petty Studio to record 00:09:57.299 --> 00:09:59.759 a catchy, fairly simple rockabilly track called 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:02.799 Ooby Dooby. Eventually, this track makes its 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:04.840 way into the hands of the legendary Sam Phillips 00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:07.620 at Sun Records in Memphis. And we have to set 00:10:07.620 --> 00:10:10.340 the scene for what Sun Records was at this exact 00:10:10.340 --> 00:10:13.320 moment in time. Sun Records was the absolute 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:15.539 epicenter of the rock and roll explosion. The 00:10:15.539 --> 00:10:18.100 ground zero. Elvis Presley had just left Sun 00:10:18.100 --> 00:10:20.919 for a much more lucrative contract at RCA, and 00:10:20.919 --> 00:10:24.059 Sam Phillips, the owner and producer, was frantically 00:10:24.059 --> 00:10:26.639 scouring the earth trying to find the next Elvis. 00:10:26.940 --> 00:10:29.399 He needed a new, hip -shaking rebel. Exactly. 00:10:29.960 --> 00:10:31.860 So when he heard the raw energy of Ooby Dooby, 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:34.120 he immediately brought the Teen Kings into the 00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:36.620 studio. And from the outside, it sort of looks 00:10:36.620 --> 00:10:38.980 like a massive success story initially. They 00:10:38.980 --> 00:10:41.799 get a hit. The song actually charts and it sells 00:10:41.799 --> 00:10:44.120 a couple hundred thousand copies. A huge deal 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:47.320 for a kid from Wink. Orbison gets his very first 00:10:47.320 --> 00:10:50.460 royalty check and immediately goes out and buys 00:10:50.460 --> 00:10:53.460 a brand new purple Cadillac. And a diamond ring. 00:10:53.500 --> 00:10:56.200 And a diamond ring. He starts touring the southern 00:10:56.200 --> 00:10:59.559 United States. But the gigs themselves sound 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:01.740 bizarre. Really bizarre. The source notes, they 00:11:01.740 --> 00:11:03.899 were literally playing on the roofs of projection 00:11:03.899 --> 00:11:06.299 houses that drive in theaters between movies. 00:11:06.419 --> 00:11:08.700 Touring alongside guys like Johnny Cash and Carl 00:11:08.700 --> 00:11:12.019 Perkins. It sounds like this glamorous, rebellious 00:11:12.019 --> 00:11:15.580 rock and roll lifestyle, but the historical reality 00:11:15.580 --> 00:11:18.179 was brutally different, wasn't it? It was an 00:11:18.179 --> 00:11:20.779 incredibly punishing existence. Let's look at 00:11:20.779 --> 00:11:23.559 the financial and physical realities of the 1950s 00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:26.620 music business. It was highly exploitative, especially 00:11:26.620 --> 00:11:29.669 for young unproven artists. Because the contracts 00:11:29.669 --> 00:11:31.909 were terrible? The contracts that bands like 00:11:31.909 --> 00:11:34.629 the Teen Kings signed usually didn't include 00:11:34.629 --> 00:11:37.629 what we call BMI radio royalties. Wait, can you 00:11:37.629 --> 00:11:40.169 explain how that royalty structure actually worked 00:11:40.169 --> 00:11:43.389 back then? Why is that detail so important? Absolutely. 00:11:44.009 --> 00:11:46.710 Today when a song plays on the radio both the 00:11:46.710 --> 00:11:48.870 songwriter and the performer get paid a royalty. 00:11:49.100 --> 00:11:52.600 But in the 1950s, the performance royalty structure 00:11:52.600 --> 00:11:56.080 was incredibly weak or nonexistent for these 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:58.620 new rock artists. So they weren't getting a cut 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:01.480 of the airplay. Exactly. It meant that even if 00:12:01.480 --> 00:12:03.679 Ooby Dooby was playing on 100 radio stations 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:06.419 across the South, Orbison and his band weren't 00:12:06.419 --> 00:12:09.039 making money while they slept. Man, that's brutal. 00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:10.879 They only made money from physical record sales. 00:12:11.019 --> 00:12:13.159 Which the label took the lion's share of, I'm 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:15.980 sure. Of course. And from grueling live shows. 00:12:16.379 --> 00:12:18.299 So to actually eat, they had to stay on the road 00:12:18.299 --> 00:12:20.460 constantly. Playing on the roof of a drive -in 00:12:20.460 --> 00:12:22.179 theater in the middle of the summer in the South 00:12:22.179 --> 00:12:24.559 doesn't exactly sound like a premium concert 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:27.460 experience. It was miserable. Imagine standing 00:12:27.460 --> 00:12:30.720 on a flat tar roof in 90 degree heat, fighting 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:34.659 off mosquitoes. playing through terrible distorted 00:12:34.659 --> 00:12:37.639 public address systems designed for movie dialogue, 00:12:38.019 --> 00:12:40.879 not live music. The paychecks barely cover the 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:43.340 gas for the cars. So that overnight wealth, the 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:45.759 purple Cadillac, was a complete illusion. It 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:47.519 almost immediately turned back into grinding 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:50.600 poverty. The band ultimately breaks up over money 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:53.860 disputes and bruised egos, and Orbison finds 00:12:53.860 --> 00:12:56.960 himself entirely broke. But there is also a fundamental 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:59.340 creative clash happening at Sun Records, right? 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:02.340 Why couldn't Orbison just crank out more rockabilly 00:13:02.340 --> 00:13:05.259 hits for Sam Phillips? Because of the stylistic 00:13:05.259 --> 00:13:08.320 demands Sam Culves was making. Phillips demanded 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:12.340 upbeat, frantic, aggressive rockabilly. To achieve 00:13:12.340 --> 00:13:15.179 that sound, Sun Records famously used a technique 00:13:15.179 --> 00:13:18.100 called slapback echo. I've heard that term thrown 00:13:18.100 --> 00:13:20.379 around a lot in music documentaries, but what 00:13:20.379 --> 00:13:23.200 does slapback echo actually mean to the listener? 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:25.559 If you listen to early Elvis, like Heartbreak 00:13:25.559 --> 00:13:28.679 Hotel or That's all right. You hear his voice 00:13:28.679 --> 00:13:30.820 rapidly repeating immediately after he sings 00:13:30.820 --> 00:13:33.379 a word. Like a fast echo. Like a very fast sharp 00:13:33.379 --> 00:13:35.620 echo bouncing off a canyon wall. That's slapback. 00:13:36.039 --> 00:13:37.940 It creates a sense of frantic nervous energy. 00:13:38.259 --> 00:13:40.860 It makes the singers sound wild and untamed. 00:13:41.019 --> 00:13:43.820 But that wasn't Roy. Not at all. Orbison's heart 00:13:43.820 --> 00:13:47.179 was always in sweeping, emotional, melodic ballads. 00:13:47.580 --> 00:13:50.059 He wasn't a natural shouter. He didn't have that 00:13:50.059 --> 00:13:52.519 untamed, aggressive energy. So the effect just 00:13:52.519 --> 00:13:55.399 didn't work for him. The slapback echo just muddied 00:13:55.399 --> 00:13:58.419 his pure vocal tone. He felt creatively stifled. 00:13:59.179 --> 00:14:00.980 And things get incredibly dark for him during 00:14:00.980 --> 00:14:03.580 this period. He's stuck in Memphis, completely 00:14:03.580 --> 00:14:06.620 broke. and the touring schedule is so grueling 00:14:06.620 --> 00:14:09.320 that he becomes addicted to sleeping pills just 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:11.139 to come down at night. And speed just to wake 00:14:11.139 --> 00:14:13.120 up and perform the next day. The Source gives 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:16.740 us this incredibly surreal, pathetic image. Orbison, 00:14:17.059 --> 00:14:19.919 penniless, high on pills, driving around Memphis 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:22.460 in his purple Cadillac. Literally acting as a 00:14:22.460 --> 00:14:24.679 chauffeur. Yeah, picking up dates for Elvis Presley 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:26.580 because he had nothing else going on. It's just 00:14:26.580 --> 00:14:29.379 a stunning fall from grace. He had met his future 00:14:29.379 --> 00:14:31.960 first wife, Claudette, at a dance back in Texas 00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:34.759 when she was just 14. And eventually he just 00:14:34.759 --> 00:14:37.379 gives up, moves back to Texas to be with her, 00:14:37.659 --> 00:14:40.019 and essentially abandons the idea of being a 00:14:40.019 --> 00:14:42.240 recording artist. What's fascinating here is 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:44.799 he had completely failed as a solo act for Sun 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:47.259 Records because the label simply wouldn't allow 00:14:47.259 --> 00:14:50.120 him to be who he authentically was. They tried 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:53.200 to force a square peg into a round hole. Exactly. 00:14:53.820 --> 00:14:56.460 There is a famous anecdote where Jack Clements 00:14:56.809 --> 00:15:00.370 a key producer at Sun, straight up told Orbison 00:15:00.370 --> 00:15:02.929 to his face that he would never ever make it 00:15:02.929 --> 00:15:05.389 as a ballad singer. Wow. But when you look at 00:15:05.389 --> 00:15:08.769 the arc of his life, that failure was utterly 00:15:08.769 --> 00:15:11.990 necessary. How so? It forcefully stripped away 00:15:11.990 --> 00:15:13.870 his attempt to be a second -rate Elvis Presley 00:15:13.870 --> 00:15:16.350 and pushed him toward finding the sound that 00:15:16.350 --> 00:15:18.529 only he could produce. Which brings us to the 00:15:18.529 --> 00:15:21.450 next chapter, Nashville, and the discovery of 00:15:21.450 --> 00:15:23.909 what Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees would later call 00:15:23.909 --> 00:15:26.559 the voice of God. A perfect description. After 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:28.840 leaving Sun Records, Orbison has to make a living, 00:15:29.059 --> 00:15:31.100 so he starts writing songs for other people. 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:33.519 He writes a song called Claudette, named after 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:35.460 his wife, for the Everly Brothers. And it becomes 00:15:35.460 --> 00:15:37.759 a massive hit. This gets him a staff writing 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:41.039 job at A Cuff Rose Music in Nashville. He is 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:43.379 just grinding out songs every single day. He 00:15:43.379 --> 00:15:45.039 actually had to sit in his car to write them. 00:15:45.230 --> 00:15:47.889 because he was living in a tiny cramped apartment 00:15:47.889 --> 00:15:50.190 with Claudette and their new baby, and there 00:15:50.190 --> 00:15:53.509 was no quiet space. But then he signs with a 00:15:53.509 --> 00:15:56.370 new label, Monument Records, and he meets a producer 00:15:56.370 --> 00:15:59.509 named Fred Foster. Monument Records is the crucial 00:15:59.509 --> 00:16:01.870 turning point in music history for Orbison. It 00:16:01.870 --> 00:16:04.409 changes everything. At Monument, he teams up 00:16:04.409 --> 00:16:06.870 with Foster, a truly brilliant audio engineer 00:16:06.870 --> 00:16:09.210 named Bill Porter, and a songwriter named Joe 00:16:09.210 --> 00:16:12.299 Melson. Together, this team begins constructing 00:16:12.299 --> 00:16:15.600 a sound that was the polar opposite of that raw, 00:16:15.899 --> 00:16:18.440 slapback echo of Sun Records. How did it sound 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:21.179 different? It was meticulously polished, highly 00:16:21.179 --> 00:16:24.259 professional, and crucially, it utilized lush, 00:16:24.659 --> 00:16:27.019 classical string arrangements instead of standard 00:16:27.019 --> 00:16:29.379 country western fiddles. Okay, so then comes 00:16:29.379 --> 00:16:32.620 the year 1960. Orbison and Melson write a song 00:16:32.620 --> 00:16:35.250 called Only the Lonely. And there's a hilarious 00:16:35.250 --> 00:16:38.350 side note here. The Graceland story. Yes. Orbison 00:16:38.350 --> 00:16:40.429 actually drove out to Elvis Presley's house, 00:16:40.590 --> 00:16:43.110 Graceland, to pitch him this song. He was just 00:16:43.110 --> 00:16:44.990 trying to make a quick buck by getting the biggest 00:16:44.990 --> 00:16:46.889 star in the world to record his track. Which 00:16:46.889 --> 00:16:48.970 is pretty logical. But he showed up early in 00:16:48.970 --> 00:16:52.129 the morning, and Elvis's entourage told him the 00:16:52.129 --> 00:16:54.309 king was sleeping and didn't want to see anybody. 00:16:54.490 --> 00:16:57.399 Just shut the door on him. So Orbison leaves. 00:16:57.720 --> 00:16:59.860 Thank goodness for that rejection because Orbison 00:16:59.860 --> 00:17:02.779 ends up recording it himself at RCA Victor's 00:17:02.779 --> 00:17:06.049 famous Nashville studio. The audio engineering 00:17:06.049 --> 00:17:08.589 on this session is legendary in the industry. 00:17:08.809 --> 00:17:11.529 Bill Porter's work here is iconic. I know it's 00:17:11.529 --> 00:17:13.869 often referred to as top -down mixing, but what 00:17:13.869 --> 00:17:15.789 does that actually mean for the everyday listener 00:17:15.789 --> 00:17:18.049 putting on a pair of headphones? It's a brilliant 00:17:18.049 --> 00:17:21.430 technical shift. Normally, when an engineer mixes 00:17:21.430 --> 00:17:24.210 a rock or pop song, they build it from the bottom 00:17:24.210 --> 00:17:26.970 up. OK. That means they start by making the bass 00:17:26.970 --> 00:17:29.750 guitar and the kick drum really loud and punchy, 00:17:29.869 --> 00:17:32.410 establishing a heavy rhythmic foundation. And 00:17:32.410 --> 00:17:35.269 then they layer The guitars and vocals on top 00:17:35.269 --> 00:17:37.470 of that. Standard rock and roll sound. Right. 00:17:37.849 --> 00:17:40.490 Bill Porter completely revolutionized this. He 00:17:40.490 --> 00:17:42.609 flipped the formula. He built the mix from the 00:17:42.609 --> 00:17:45.490 top down. He focused entirely on the high frequencies 00:17:45.490 --> 00:17:48.789 first. Ah, I see. He put Orbison's close mic'd 00:17:48.789 --> 00:17:51.470 vocals and the shimmering backing singers right 00:17:51.470 --> 00:17:53.230 up in the foreground, right against your ear. 00:17:54.009 --> 00:17:56.150 Then he layered the sweeping strings just behind 00:17:56.150 --> 00:17:58.890 that. Finally, he tucked the rhythm section. 00:17:59.150 --> 00:18:01.710 The drums and the bass. Yes, very softly in the 00:18:01.710 --> 00:18:04.920 background. It completely removed the aggressive 00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:07.579 thump of rock and roll and created a floating, 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:10.940 cinematic, almost symphonic atmosphere. A completely 00:18:10.940 --> 00:18:13.259 different vibe. It was a sonic cradle designed 00:18:13.259 --> 00:18:16.200 perfectly for Orbison's voice. And oh my goodness 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:19.000 that voice. It is during these specific monument 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:21.640 sessions that Orbison finally realizes his voice 00:18:21.640 --> 00:18:24.160 isn't just a good country tenor. It is a musical 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:27.269 instrument of terrifying operatic power. He and 00:18:27.269 --> 00:18:29.490 Joe Melson literally start constructing their 00:18:29.490 --> 00:18:31.829 songs entirely around showcasing his massive 00:18:31.829 --> 00:18:35.210 vocal range. And nowhere is this incredible realization 00:18:35.210 --> 00:18:37.549 more evident than during the recording of his 00:18:37.549 --> 00:18:41.069 first number one hit, Running Scared, in 1961. 00:18:41.349 --> 00:18:43.529 That session is legendary. I know they were recording 00:18:43.529 --> 00:18:45.690 this song live in the studio with a full orchestra, 00:18:45.750 --> 00:18:48.390 but how do you capture a voice that quiet and 00:18:48.390 --> 00:18:50.930 delicate over a room full of blasting horns and 00:18:50.930 --> 00:18:54.009 strings in 1961? It was a massive logistical 00:18:54.009 --> 00:18:56.779 problem. The studio's story of running scared 00:18:56.779 --> 00:18:59.519 is an absolute master class in problem solving. 00:18:59.740 --> 00:19:01.599 Because they couldn't just overdub him later. 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:04.089 Right, they had to get it all in the room. The 00:19:04.089 --> 00:19:07.470 song itself is structured to build constant unrelenting 00:19:07.470 --> 00:19:10.829 tension. It's about a man who is utterly terrified 00:19:10.829 --> 00:19:13.170 that his current girlfriend is going to leave 00:19:13.170 --> 00:19:16.069 him for her former lover. The music just builds 00:19:16.069 --> 00:19:18.549 and builds. And this continuous suspenseful loop 00:19:18.549 --> 00:19:20.730 getting louder and louder. Because they were 00:19:20.730 --> 00:19:22.710 recording the vocals in the orchestra in the 00:19:22.710 --> 00:19:25.430 same room at the same time, the sheer volume 00:19:25.430 --> 00:19:27.990 of the orchestra was bleeding into Orbison's 00:19:27.990 --> 00:19:29.769 microphone. And completely drowning him out. 00:19:29.990 --> 00:19:32.799 Exactly. Furthermore, as the orchestra swelled 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:35.460 at the climax of the song, Orbison simply couldn't 00:19:35.460 --> 00:19:37.559 project loudly enough to hit the highest note 00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:41.339 in his usual breathy falsetto. His voice kept 00:19:41.339 --> 00:19:43.619 breaking under the strain. Here's where it gets 00:19:43.619 --> 00:19:46.319 really interesting. The producer, Fred Foster, 00:19:46.759 --> 00:19:49.920 has to completely improvise on the spot. He literally 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:52.700 drags Orbison into the far corner of the recording 00:19:52.700 --> 00:19:55.700 studio and builds a makeshift isolation booth. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:58.170 Out of whatever he can find. Which happens to 00:19:58.170 --> 00:20:00.569 be a bunch of wooden coat racks. Yes, literal 00:20:00.569 --> 00:20:02.950 coat racks. Draped with heavy coats and blankets, 00:20:03.369 --> 00:20:06.089 he boxes Orbison in just to try and physically 00:20:06.089 --> 00:20:08.630 block the sound waves of the blasting horns from 00:20:08.630 --> 00:20:10.730 hitting Orbison's vocal mic. It's incredible 00:20:10.730 --> 00:20:13.289 to think of a masterpiece being recorded inside 00:20:13.289 --> 00:20:16.369 a fort made of coats. So they are in this makeshift 00:20:16.369 --> 00:20:18.950 setup. They do take one. It's not great. They 00:20:18.950 --> 00:20:21.529 do take two. Still not happy with the climax. 00:20:22.170 --> 00:20:25.349 Then they roll tape on the third take. The magic 00:20:25.349 --> 00:20:28.119 take. As they approach that massive terrifying 00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:31.079 crescendo of the song, Orbison makes a split 00:20:31.079 --> 00:20:35.000 second instinctual decision. He decides to completely 00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:37.880 abandon his delicate falsetto. He just goes for 00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:40.180 it. He opens his throat and goes for the final 00:20:40.180 --> 00:20:43.859 soaring high A note in his full natural chest 00:20:43.859 --> 00:20:47.339 voice and he sings it with such staggering overwhelming 00:20:47.339 --> 00:20:50.339 hurricane force power that the seasoned studio 00:20:50.339 --> 00:20:52.309 musicians in the room And these are guys who 00:20:52.309 --> 00:20:54.650 have seen and heard absolutely everything. Right. 00:20:54.730 --> 00:20:57.210 They are so shocked by the sheer physical force 00:20:57.210 --> 00:20:59.269 of the note that they literally stop playing 00:20:59.269 --> 00:21:01.210 their instruments. Just dead in their tracks. 00:21:01.549 --> 00:21:05.210 There is just total stunned silence in the room 00:21:05.210 --> 00:21:07.559 as the note rings out. They finished the song 00:21:07.559 --> 00:21:10.160 on that exact take. It's a seminal moment in 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:12.339 music history because nobody had heard anything 00:21:12.339 --> 00:21:14.720 quite like it in popular music. It wasn't just 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:16.700 technically impressive to hit a high note. No, 00:21:16.819 --> 00:21:18.740 it was a high note delivered with the emotional 00:21:18.740 --> 00:21:21.599 weight and density of a collapsing star. It was 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:24.160 pure opera transposed into a three minute pop 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:26.400 single. I really want you to think about that 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:29.579 for a second. Imagine being in that studio room. 00:21:29.880 --> 00:21:32.880 Imagine having a latent world -shifting talent 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:34.900 hidden deep inside of you that you didn't even 00:21:34.900 --> 00:21:37.640 fully understand or recognize until you were 00:21:37.640 --> 00:21:39.980 pushed to your absolute physical and emotional 00:21:39.980 --> 00:21:42.460 limit. That's a powerful thought. Orbison later 00:21:42.460 --> 00:21:44.900 referred to this moment as the flowering of his 00:21:44.900 --> 00:21:48.559 voice. I want you to consider what untapped talents 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:50.640 you might have buried away just waiting for the 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:53.259 right kind of pressure or the right isolation 00:21:53.259 --> 00:21:56.380 booth to force you to finally break out and shock 00:21:56.380 --> 00:21:58.799 everyone around you. That is a wonderful way 00:21:58.799 --> 00:22:01.420 to contextualize his breakthrough. And once that 00:22:01.420 --> 00:22:05.079 voice flowered, it catapulted him to an unprecedented 00:22:05.079 --> 00:22:07.799 level of international fame. He was everywhere. 00:22:08.259 --> 00:22:13.240 From 1960 through 1964, Roy Orbison was undisputedly 00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:15.559 one of the biggest names in the global entertainment 00:22:15.559 --> 00:22:18.299 industry. Which brings us to a massive cultural 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:21.740 shift. The British Invasion. A huge turning point 00:22:21.740 --> 00:22:24.000 for everyone in the industry. This was a cultural 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:26.740 tsunami led by bands like the Beatles and the 00:22:26.740 --> 00:22:29.920 Rolling Stones that systematically wiped out 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:32.640 the chart success of almost every single American 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:34.980 rock artist of Orbison's generation. Buddy Holly 00:22:34.980 --> 00:22:37.900 was gone. Elvis was making bad movies and the 00:22:37.900 --> 00:22:40.400 British bands were dominating. But not Roy. Not 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:43.240 Roy. In 1963, he travels to the United Kingdom 00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:46.180 for a massive tour. Now, he was originally just 00:22:46.180 --> 00:22:47.859 supposed to replace the guitarist Dwayne Eddy 00:22:47.859 --> 00:22:50.200 on this bill. But by the time he arrives, he 00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:53.339 finds himself co -headlining with a new, rapidly 00:22:53.339 --> 00:22:56.140 rising local band called the Beatles. And the 00:22:56.140 --> 00:22:58.660 demand is so high that the entire tour sells 00:22:58.660 --> 00:23:01.099 out in a single afternoon. When you visualize 00:23:01.099 --> 00:23:04.339 the contrast between the Beatles and Roy Orbison 00:23:04.339 --> 00:23:06.519 on that tour, it is absolutely delicious. It's 00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:08.700 the ultimate odd couple. You have the Fab Four. 00:23:08.650 --> 00:23:11.849 who are young, bouncing around the stage, shaking 00:23:11.849 --> 00:23:14.950 their mop tops, brimming with cheeky charm, and 00:23:14.950 --> 00:23:18.009 inciting absolute deafening riots among thousands 00:23:18.009 --> 00:23:20.470 of teenage girls. Total chaos. And then standing 00:23:20.470 --> 00:23:24.230 in the opposite corner, you have Orbison. The 00:23:24.230 --> 00:23:27.549 backstage dynamic alone is incredible. Oh, the 00:23:27.549 --> 00:23:30.200 John Lennon interaction. Yes. We get this story 00:23:30.200 --> 00:23:33.140 where Orbison arrives in the UK, realizes he's 00:23:33.140 --> 00:23:35.059 sharing the top billing with these young kids 00:23:35.059 --> 00:23:36.980 he's never heard of, and feeling a bit annoyed, 00:23:37.019 --> 00:23:39.259 he asks out loud to the room, what's a beetle 00:23:39.259 --> 00:23:41.700 anyway? And John Lennon, who was standing right 00:23:41.700 --> 00:23:43.480 behind him, just taps him on the shoulder and 00:23:43.480 --> 00:23:47.619 dryly says, I am. Classic Lennon. But it's the 00:23:47.619 --> 00:23:49.779 opening night of the tour where the legend of 00:23:49.779 --> 00:23:53.119 Roy Orbison is truly cemented in stone. Orbison 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:54.779 is scheduled to go on before the Beatles. He 00:23:54.779 --> 00:23:57.259 walks out onto the stage. He is dressed entirely 00:23:57.259 --> 00:24:00.250 in black. And he's wearing these thick, dark 00:24:00.250 --> 00:24:03.190 prescription sunglasses. Why? Because he had 00:24:03.190 --> 00:24:05.789 famously left his regular, clear prescription 00:24:05.789 --> 00:24:08.150 glasses on an airplane seat earlier that day. 00:24:08.450 --> 00:24:10.809 And because he was practically blind without 00:24:10.809 --> 00:24:13.609 them, he just decided to wear his prescription 00:24:13.609 --> 00:24:16.809 Ray -Ban sunglasses on stage so he wouldn't trip 00:24:16.809 --> 00:24:18.970 over the microfilm cables. It wasn't a fashion 00:24:18.970 --> 00:24:21.089 statement at all. Purely practical. He steps 00:24:21.089 --> 00:24:24.029 up to the mic. He stands completely motionless. 00:24:24.230 --> 00:24:26.750 He doesn't dance. He doesn't smile at the crowd. 00:24:26.990 --> 00:24:29.470 He doesn't engage in any stage banter. He was 00:24:29.470 --> 00:24:32.430 incredibly self -aware. He later said in interviews 00:24:32.430 --> 00:24:35.490 that he knew he didn't have a super personality 00:24:35.490 --> 00:24:37.970 like a chubby checker or an Elvis. He couldn't 00:24:37.970 --> 00:24:40.630 charm a crowd with winks and hit thrusts. Exactly. 00:24:41.130 --> 00:24:43.670 He knew fundamentally that the people in those 00:24:43.670 --> 00:24:46.569 seats came purely to hear the songs. He let the 00:24:46.569 --> 00:24:48.549 architecture of the music do all the heavy lifting. 00:24:48.700 --> 00:24:51.559 And boy did he deliver on that promise. He plays 00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:54.000 his set standing like a statue and the British 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:56.799 audience goes absolutely feral. The Beatles are 00:24:56.799 --> 00:24:58.900 standing backstage peeking through the curtain 00:24:58.900 --> 00:25:01.380 just dumbfounded by what they're witnessing. 00:25:01.819 --> 00:25:04.359 Ringo Starr later talked extensively about how 00:25:04.359 --> 00:25:06.720 genuinely shocked they were that a guy doing 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:09.519 absolutely nothing physical on stage was generating 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:12.940 this level of mass hysteria. It defied all rock 00:25:12.940 --> 00:25:15.980 and roll logic. Orbison plays his set and the 00:25:15.980 --> 00:25:19.720 crowd demands an encore. Then another. He ends 00:25:19.720 --> 00:25:23.779 up playing 14 encores. 14. 14. The crowd is just 00:25:23.779 --> 00:25:26.259 relentlessly chanting, we want Roy, we want Roy. 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:29.720 The frenzy is so intense that finally John Lennon 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:32.119 and Paul McCartney have to physically grab Orbison 00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:34.720 by the arms. Literally hold him back in the wings. 00:25:35.019 --> 00:25:37.920 So he can't walk out for a 15th encore just so 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:39.400 the Beatles could finally get a chance to play 00:25:39.400 --> 00:25:42.319 their own show. It proves definitively that pure, 00:25:42.440 --> 00:25:45.619 concentrated emotional resonance can rival and 00:25:45.619 --> 00:25:49.630 even overpower the most meticulously teen idol 00:25:49.630 --> 00:25:52.710 persona. And his statistical success during this 00:25:52.710 --> 00:25:54.710 period is staggering when you look at the historical 00:25:54.710 --> 00:25:57.390 data. Oh, absolutely. The British invasion was 00:25:57.390 --> 00:25:59.410 destroying the careers of his American peers. 00:26:00.009 --> 00:26:02.549 But in the specific 68 week period, spanning 00:26:02.549 --> 00:26:06.869 1963 and 1964, Roy Orbison was the only American 00:26:06.869 --> 00:26:09.109 artist to achieve a number one single in Britain. 00:26:09.250 --> 00:26:11.509 The only one. He was completely impervious to 00:26:11.509 --> 00:26:13.650 the shifting trends because his music operated 00:26:13.650 --> 00:26:16.210 on a deeper, more universal emotional frequency. 00:26:16.430 --> 00:26:19.069 And it was during this exact peak of his career 00:26:19.069 --> 00:26:22.609 that he wrote his most iconic, universally recognizable 00:26:22.609 --> 00:26:25.930 song. And it happened almost entirely by accident. 00:26:26.210 --> 00:26:29.049 A great accident. He is sitting at home in Tennessee 00:26:29.049 --> 00:26:31.430 writing with his frequent collaborator, Bill 00:26:31.430 --> 00:26:34.390 Dees. His wife, Claudette, pokes her head into 00:26:34.390 --> 00:26:36.150 the room to say she's heading out to do some 00:26:36.150 --> 00:26:38.230 shopping down in Nashville. And Orbison, being 00:26:38.230 --> 00:26:40.549 a good husband, asks if she needs him to give 00:26:40.549 --> 00:26:43.069 her any money. Bill Dees, without missing a beat, 00:26:43.390 --> 00:26:46.240 casually replies. A pretty woman never needs 00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:48.519 any money. Bam! The phrase just hangs in the 00:26:48.519 --> 00:26:51.140 air. Orbison immediately starts playing this 00:26:51.140 --> 00:26:53.819 driving descending guitar riff. He remembers 00:26:53.819 --> 00:26:56.960 a playful purring growl he heard in a Bob Hope 00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:59.660 comedy movie and adds it to the vocal track. 00:26:59.980 --> 00:27:02.720 And in exactly 40 minutes, start to finish, they 00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:05.890 write, oh pretty woman. a masterpiece of pop 00:27:05.890 --> 00:27:08.369 construction that goes on to sell over 7 million 00:27:08.369 --> 00:27:10.990 copies. It represents the absolute pinnacle of 00:27:10.990 --> 00:27:14.029 his commercial and creative career in the 1960s. 00:27:14.289 --> 00:27:17.049 But, as we often see in these sweeping biographical 00:27:17.049 --> 00:27:20.009 arcs, the higher the peak, the more devastating 00:27:20.009 --> 00:27:22.920 the eventual fall. And this is where we need 00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:25.339 to slow down, because the story takes a turn 00:27:25.339 --> 00:27:28.519 that is genuinely hard to stomach. The sheer 00:27:28.519 --> 00:27:31.359 volume of tragedies that befall Roy Orbison in 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:34.259 the subsequent years is almost unthinkable. It 00:27:34.259 --> 00:27:36.740 really is. We start to see the professional foundation 00:27:36.740 --> 00:27:39.859 wobble first. Riding high on the success of Pretty 00:27:39.859 --> 00:27:43.579 Woman, he signs a massive million -dollar contract 00:27:43.579 --> 00:27:46.680 with MGM Records. A huge deal at the time. The 00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:49.240 executives at MGM had this bright idea that they 00:27:49.240 --> 00:27:51.700 were going to turn Orbison into a leading Hollywood 00:27:51.700 --> 00:27:55.039 movie star exactly like they did with Elvis Presley. 00:27:55.240 --> 00:27:57.579 When you consider who Roy Orbison was as an artist, 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:00.059 the absurdity of this corporate strategy cannot 00:28:00.059 --> 00:28:02.079 be overstated. It's laughable. They tried to 00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:04.839 take this deeply mysterious, operatic, profoundly 00:28:04.839 --> 00:28:08.109 sorrowful figure and aggressively cram him into 00:28:08.109 --> 00:28:10.670 a goofy, lighthearted, Elvis -style mold. They 00:28:10.670 --> 00:28:12.750 cast him in a movie called The Fastest Guitar 00:28:12.750 --> 00:28:15.569 Alive. The plot is ridiculous. Orbison plays 00:28:15.569 --> 00:28:18.029 a singing Civil War spy who carries a guitar 00:28:18.029 --> 00:28:19.930 that literally transforms into a functioning 00:28:19.930 --> 00:28:22.769 rifle. It was entirely antithetical to his authentic 00:28:22.769 --> 00:28:25.670 persona. Unsurprisingly, it was a critical and 00:28:25.670 --> 00:28:28.140 commercial disaster. On top of that, the label 00:28:28.140 --> 00:28:31.359 forced him to churn out studio albums at a completely 00:28:31.359 --> 00:28:34.359 unsustainable pace to meet contractual obligations 00:28:34.359 --> 00:28:36.940 and the quality of his music predictably suffered. 00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:39.500 But the professional decline he was experiencing 00:28:39.500 --> 00:28:42.880 at MGM was absolutely nothing compared to the 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:45.599 nightmare his personal life was becoming. His 00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:48.039 marriage to Claudette was deeply troubled for 00:28:48.039 --> 00:28:50.940 years. There was well -documented infidelity 00:28:50.940 --> 00:28:54.119 on both sides. In one particularly painful instance, 00:28:54.140 --> 00:28:56.400 Claudette had a longstanding affair with the 00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:58.519 contractor who was physically building their 00:28:58.519 --> 00:29:01.359 dream home while Roy was away on those grueling 00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:04.039 international tours. The strain leads to a divorce. 00:29:04.299 --> 00:29:06.869 But their connection was so deep that they eventually 00:29:06.869 --> 00:29:09.750 reconcile and remarry. Now they both share this 00:29:09.750 --> 00:29:12.369 intense adrenaline -fueled love for motorcycles, 00:29:12.730 --> 00:29:14.809 a hobby that Elvis had actually introduced them 00:29:14.809 --> 00:29:17.930 to back in the 50s. Roy loves speed. He drove 00:29:17.930 --> 00:29:20.930 a Ferrari. He rode a Harley Davidson. But on 00:29:20.930 --> 00:29:23.809 a June afternoon in 1966, while they were riding 00:29:23.809 --> 00:29:25.990 their motorcycles together down a highway in 00:29:25.990 --> 00:29:28.109 Tennessee, a pickup truck pulled out in front 00:29:28.109 --> 00:29:30.849 of them. Claudette struck the truck and was killed 00:29:30.849 --> 00:29:33.869 instantly. She was only 25 years old. It completely 00:29:33.869 --> 00:29:36.400 shattered him. To watch the woman he had loved 00:29:36.400 --> 00:29:39.180 since she was a teenager die violently right 00:29:39.180 --> 00:29:41.859 in front of him broke something fundamental inside 00:29:41.859 --> 00:29:44.839 of him. Initially he tried to cope by throwing 00:29:44.839 --> 00:29:47.720 himself obsessively into his work, trying to 00:29:47.720 --> 00:29:50.200 outrun the grief through constant touring. But 00:29:50.200 --> 00:29:53.019 the tragedy didn't stop there. If we connect 00:29:53.019 --> 00:29:55.660 this to the bigger picture and our broader understanding 00:29:55.660 --> 00:29:58.519 of human trauma, we see that the compounding 00:29:58.519 --> 00:30:01.440 nature of his grief simply became too heavy for 00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:04.960 his mind to process. Because just two years later 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:08.180 in September 1968, while he was on tour in England 00:30:08.180 --> 00:30:11.039 trying to keep his career afloat, he received 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:13.640 a phone call. His home in Tennessee had burned 00:30:13.640 --> 00:30:16.440 to the ground. His two eldest sons, Roy Duane 00:30:16.440 --> 00:30:18.700 and Anthony King, were trapped inside the house 00:30:18.700 --> 00:30:21.680 and perished in the fire. It's just beyond comprehension. 00:30:21.900 --> 00:30:24.420 There are really no words to adequately describe 00:30:24.420 --> 00:30:26.759 that level of loss. To lose the love of your 00:30:26.759 --> 00:30:28.980 life and then your two young boys all in the 00:30:28.980 --> 00:30:31.539 span of roughly 24 months. When you read through 00:30:31.539 --> 00:30:33.680 the historical accounts of this specific time 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:36.400 in his life, you realize the psychological pain 00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:39.259 was so heavy, so suffocating that he literally 00:30:39.259 --> 00:30:41.359 couldn't pick up a pen. The creative well just 00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:44.180 ent - dried up. He stopped writing hits. He essentially 00:30:44.180 --> 00:30:46.619 became a ghost living in the shell of a rock 00:30:46.619 --> 00:30:49.400 star. And this devastating personal retreat leads 00:30:49.400 --> 00:30:52.599 directly to what Life magazine brilliantly termed 00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:56.460 his era as the anonymous celebrity. This is a 00:30:56.460 --> 00:30:59.339 fascinating cultural phenomenon because Orbison 00:30:59.339 --> 00:31:02.460 had never cultivated a flashy attention seeking 00:31:02.460 --> 00:31:04.849 public persona. And because he constantly hid 00:31:04.849 --> 00:31:08.329 his face behind those dark glasses or featureless 00:31:08.329 --> 00:31:10.829 black clothing. The broader public didn't really 00:31:10.829 --> 00:31:12.930 know him as a three dimensional human being. 00:31:13.349 --> 00:31:15.670 He didn't have a massive PR machine constantly 00:31:15.670 --> 00:31:18.029 feeding tabloids with his drama. So when the 00:31:18.029 --> 00:31:20.630 massive counterculture movement of the late 60s 00:31:20.630 --> 00:31:23.950 and 70s hit, when aggressive psychedelic rock 00:31:23.950 --> 00:31:26.589 from Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and Jefferson Airplane 00:31:26.589 --> 00:31:29.289 completely took over the zeitgeist. Orbison. 00:31:29.500 --> 00:31:33.000 just quietly, almost invisibly, faded into the 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:35.619 background. It was incredibly easy for him to 00:31:35.619 --> 00:31:37.539 disappear from the public consciousness because 00:31:37.539 --> 00:31:40.240 he was already visually and emotionally obscured. 00:31:40.579 --> 00:31:43.200 He spends the entire decade of the 1970s playing 00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:45.980 the cabaret circuit and county fairs to mostly 00:31:45.980 --> 00:31:49.500 empty arenas. There is a particularly sad detail 00:31:49.500 --> 00:31:52.200 in the source where he played a show in Cincinnati 00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:55.279 on his 40th birthday to almost nobody. And his 00:31:55.279 --> 00:31:57.619 physical health severely deteriorated as well. 00:31:57.690 --> 00:31:59.829 He suffered from debilitating stomach ulcers 00:31:59.829 --> 00:32:01.569 and because he had been a heavy chain smoker 00:32:01.569 --> 00:32:04.069 since he was a teenager, his heart began to fail. 00:32:04.690 --> 00:32:07.869 In 1978, he had to undergo triple bypass open 00:32:07.869 --> 00:32:10.529 heart surgery because he was quite literally 00:32:10.529 --> 00:32:13.190 barely alive. But amidst all this darkness, he 00:32:13.190 --> 00:32:15.650 did find a crucial anchor of personal stability. 00:32:15.900 --> 00:32:18.819 In 1968, shortly before the fire, he had met 00:32:18.819 --> 00:32:21.200 a German teenager named Barbara while touring 00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:23.640 in Leeds. They married, and she eventually helped 00:32:23.640 --> 00:32:25.900 him rebuild a semblance of a normal family life, 00:32:26.200 --> 00:32:28.059 having two more sons together. And despite the 00:32:28.059 --> 00:32:30.559 utter catastrophic collapse of his career, he 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:33.000 maintained this incredibly profound, resilient 00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:35.680 outlook on his place in the world. He was once 00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:38.140 asked about surviving the changing trends, and 00:32:38.140 --> 00:32:40.720 he said he just stood there, quote, like a tree 00:32:40.720 --> 00:32:42.880 where the winds blow and the seasons change and 00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:45.369 you're still there and you bloom again. That 00:32:45.369 --> 00:32:48.029 quote is the absolute essence of his survival 00:32:48.029 --> 00:32:50.670 mechanism. He didn't chase trends. He didn't 00:32:50.670 --> 00:32:53.029 try to record a disco album. He just planted 00:32:53.029 --> 00:32:55.569 his feet and waited out the storm. And as we 00:32:55.569 --> 00:32:58.349 move into the 1980s, the cultural winds finally 00:32:58.349 --> 00:33:01.250 began to change back in his favor. And this comeback 00:33:01.250 --> 00:33:03.890 is just as unbelievable as his fall from grace. 00:33:04.119 --> 00:33:06.599 It doesn't happen overnight. It starts slowly 00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:09.359 organically. Other prominent artists start covering 00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:12.099 his classic songs and having massive chart -topping 00:33:12.099 --> 00:33:14.799 hits with them. Don McLean records a beautiful 00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:17.160 version of crying that goes to number one in 00:33:17.160 --> 00:33:19.900 the UK. Van Halen does a blistering hard rock 00:33:19.900 --> 00:33:24.079 cover of Oh Pretty Woman. Linda Ronstadt records 00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:27.099 a soaring cover of Blue Bayou. Suddenly, a whole 00:33:27.099 --> 00:33:29.140 new generation of teenagers is hearing these 00:33:29.140 --> 00:33:31.660 masterful melodies on the radio. But the real 00:33:31.660 --> 00:33:34.940 undeniable cultural earthquake happens in 1986, 00:33:34.980 --> 00:33:37.619 and it comes from a completely unexpected source, 00:33:38.119 --> 00:33:40.400 a fiercely independent filmmaker named David 00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:43.240 Lynch. Lynch's use of Orbison's sweeping ballad 00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:46.559 In Dreams in his neo -noir psychological thriller 00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:49.220 Blue Velvet is widely considered one of the most 00:33:49.220 --> 00:33:52.779 brilliant, unsettling and transformative in the 00:33:52.779 --> 00:33:54.960 history of cinema. If you haven't seen it, the 00:33:54.960 --> 00:33:58.299 actor Dennis Hopper plays this terrifying, deeply 00:33:58.299 --> 00:34:01.500 psychopathic, gas -huffing drug dealer named 00:34:01.500 --> 00:34:04.390 Frank Booth. In a pivotal, deeply disturbing 00:34:04.390 --> 00:34:07.309 scene, another character in a brothel lip syncs 00:34:07.309 --> 00:34:09.809 in dreams into a harsh industrial work light, 00:34:09.909 --> 00:34:12.429 acting as a microphone, while Booth watches, 00:34:12.809 --> 00:34:15.690 completely transfixed, weeping, and emotionally 00:34:15.690 --> 00:34:18.349 unhinged by the music. When Orbison first saw 00:34:18.349 --> 00:34:20.769 the movie, he was absolutely mortified. I can 00:34:20.769 --> 00:34:23.230 imagine. Imagine sitting in a movie theater in 00:34:23.230 --> 00:34:25.590 Malibu, expecting a standard Hollywood film, 00:34:25.849 --> 00:34:27.710 and suddenly you are watching your beautiful, 00:34:27.969 --> 00:34:30.550 sweeping, romantic ballad being used as the emotional 00:34:30.550 --> 00:34:32.969 centerpiece to a deeply disturbed - being violent, 00:34:33.269 --> 00:34:35.929 underworld drug scene. He was initially furious. 00:34:36.329 --> 00:34:38.530 But as time passed, he eventually realized what 00:34:38.530 --> 00:34:40.610 Lynch had actually accomplished. Right. By placing 00:34:40.610 --> 00:34:43.329 that pure operatic song in such a dark context, 00:34:43.710 --> 00:34:45.989 Lynch gave the music this surreal, haunting, 00:34:46.369 --> 00:34:52.539 otherworldly quality. 1960s oldies radio nostalgia 00:34:52.539 --> 00:34:55.599 and revealed the dark, obsessive, psychological 00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:59.019 underbelly of Orbison's lyrics. It was a masterstroke 00:34:59.019 --> 00:35:01.760 of rebranding entirely orchestrated by Lynch. 00:35:02.139 --> 00:35:04.880 It reintroduced Roy Orbison not as a nostalgic 00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:08.039 heritage act playing county fairs, but as a dangerous 00:35:08.039 --> 00:35:12.139 avant -garde artist. It made him cool, edgy and 00:35:12.139 --> 00:35:15.579 deeply mysterious to the MTV generation who thrived 00:35:15.579 --> 00:35:18.179 on dark aesthetics. And once that door was open, 00:35:18.360 --> 00:35:20.440 the validation from the industry just kept pouring 00:35:20.440 --> 00:35:24.280 in. In 1987, Bruce Springsteen inducts him into 00:35:24.280 --> 00:35:26.639 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Springsteen gives 00:35:26.639 --> 00:35:28.599 this incredible speech where he famously says 00:35:28.599 --> 00:35:30.360 he went into the studio wanting to make records 00:35:30.360 --> 00:35:31.760 that sounded like Phil Spector. He wanted to 00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:33.639 write lyrics that sounded like Bob Dylan. But 00:35:33.639 --> 00:35:35.360 most of all, more than anything, he desperately 00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:37.880 wanted to sing like Roy Orbison. But the absolute 00:35:37.880 --> 00:35:41.119 crown jewel of this 1980s comeback. has to be 00:35:41.119 --> 00:35:42.860 the formation of the traveling Wilburys. The 00:35:42.860 --> 00:35:45.179 Wilburys represent the ultimate, indisputable 00:35:45.179 --> 00:35:47.840 validation from his absolute highest -level peers. 00:35:48.280 --> 00:35:50.099 You have George Harrison of the Beatles, Bob 00:35:50.099 --> 00:35:52.820 Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynn of ELO. These 00:35:52.820 --> 00:35:55.519 are, without exaggeration, arguably the most 00:35:55.519 --> 00:35:58.619 successful, critically acclaimed, and influential 00:35:58.619 --> 00:36:02.099 rock songwriters on planet Earth. And they essentially 00:36:02.099 --> 00:36:04.760 decide to form a supergroup largely just as an 00:36:04.760 --> 00:36:06.900 excuse to hang out or record with Roy Orbison. 00:36:07.380 --> 00:36:09.639 The story of how the supergroup actually formed 00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:12.280 Sounds like a Hollywood script, but it's completely 00:36:12.280 --> 00:36:14.900 true. They all get together on a whim in a single 00:36:14.900 --> 00:36:17.420 day in California. They meet for lunch, and George 00:36:17.420 --> 00:36:19.360 Harrison mentions he needs to quickly record 00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:21.880 a B -side for a European single. They realize 00:36:21.880 --> 00:36:23.480 they don't have a guitar, so they pop over to 00:36:23.480 --> 00:36:25.480 Tom Petty's house to grab one, and he ends up 00:36:25.480 --> 00:36:27.719 joining them. Then they head over to Bob Dylan's 00:36:27.719 --> 00:36:30.639 house, because he has a recording studio in his 00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:33.239 garage. They sit around, and in a matter of hours, 00:36:33.280 --> 00:36:36.199 they write and record the classic track, Handel 00:36:36.199 --> 00:36:38.300 with Care. They have so much fun that they decide 00:36:38.300 --> 00:36:40.510 to form a fake band where they all play half 00:36:40.510 --> 00:36:43.329 -brothers? Orbison, maintaining his humble nature, 00:36:43.690 --> 00:36:46.929 picks the alias Lefty Wilbury, which was a sweet 00:36:46.929 --> 00:36:49.949 nod to his childhood country music hero, Lefty 00:36:49.949 --> 00:36:52.530 Frizzle. Jeff Lynn, who acted as the primary 00:36:52.530 --> 00:36:55.690 producer for the Wilburys album, gave a fascinating 00:36:55.690 --> 00:36:58.329 interview about the dynamic in that garage studio. 00:36:58.670 --> 00:37:01.849 You have to remember, these were monumental rock 00:37:01.849 --> 00:37:04.130 stars. Guys with massive egos who were used to 00:37:04.130 --> 00:37:06.880 selling out football stadiums. Right. But Lynn 00:37:06.880 --> 00:37:08.500 said that when they were hanging out between 00:37:08.500 --> 00:37:11.239 takes it was all jokes, beers, and eating dinner. 00:37:12.300 --> 00:37:15.539 But the exact second Roy Orbison stepped behind 00:37:15.539 --> 00:37:18.380 the microphone to record his vocal takes, Lynn 00:37:18.380 --> 00:37:21.570 described it as Shudder time for all of them. 00:37:21.789 --> 00:37:24.170 Shudder time. These absolute legends would stop 00:37:24.170 --> 00:37:25.969 whatever they were doing, put their drinks down, 00:37:26.469 --> 00:37:29.409 and literally shiver in absolute awe of the instrument 00:37:29.409 --> 00:37:31.690 emanating from Orbison's throat. While all this 00:37:31.690 --> 00:37:34.289 is happening, Orbison is simultaneously recording 00:37:34.289 --> 00:37:36.929 his solo comeback album, Mystery Girl, which 00:37:36.929 --> 00:37:39.110 was turning out to be a modern masterpiece. He 00:37:39.110 --> 00:37:41.829 had a massive top 10 hit on his hands with the 00:37:41.829 --> 00:37:44.469 single You Got It. He was finally, after decades 00:37:44.469 --> 00:37:47.150 of suffering, back on top of the mountain. But 00:37:47.150 --> 00:37:49.929 to really appreciate why that mountain was his 00:37:49.929 --> 00:37:52.190 alone to climb, we need to spend some time talking 00:37:52.190 --> 00:37:54.349 about the actual mechanics of his legacy. The 00:37:54.349 --> 00:37:56.809 architecture of his music. This raises an important 00:37:56.809 --> 00:37:59.610 question. How did a guy from the dusty plains 00:37:59.610 --> 00:38:02.889 of West Texas, with absolutely zero formal musical 00:38:02.889 --> 00:38:06.210 training, zero understanding of classical composition, 00:38:06.969 --> 00:38:08.730 manage to write some of the most structurally 00:38:08.730 --> 00:38:11.889 complex, bizarre, and enduring pop songs of the 00:38:11.889 --> 00:38:14.840 20th century? because his songs simply do not 00:38:14.840 --> 00:38:16.860 follow the established rules of popular music. 00:38:17.099 --> 00:38:18.960 Wait, before we go further, what does a normal 00:38:18.960 --> 00:38:21.539 pop song structure actually look like? And how 00:38:21.539 --> 00:38:24.820 exactly did Orbison break it? What does an unconventional 00:38:24.820 --> 00:38:26.880 structure actually sound like to the listener? 00:38:27.099 --> 00:38:30.239 A standard pop song from the 1950s all the way 00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:33.420 to today relies heavily on repetition to hook 00:38:33.420 --> 00:38:35.820 the listener's brain. OK. It goes verse, chorus, 00:38:35.940 --> 00:38:38.179 verse, chorus, maybe a bridge and then a final 00:38:38.179 --> 00:38:40.619 chorus. It's a comfortable, predictable loop. 00:38:40.809 --> 00:38:43.349 But Orbison didn't know how to write sheet music, 00:38:43.710 --> 00:38:45.389 and he didn't know the traditional rules of Nashville 00:38:45.389 --> 00:38:47.429 songwriting, so he simply didn't follow them. 00:38:47.610 --> 00:38:50.070 He wrote based entirely on emotional instinct. 00:38:50.369 --> 00:38:53.429 Exactly. Take a song like In Dreams. It doesn't 00:38:53.429 --> 00:38:56.050 repeat a single melodic section. It is built 00:38:56.050 --> 00:38:58.289 in seven completely distinct movements, what 00:38:58.289 --> 00:39:01.110 a musicologist would call an ABCDEFG structure. 00:39:01.510 --> 00:39:04.230 No chorus at all. Right. It starts as a quiet, 00:39:04.360 --> 00:39:07.300 gentle lullaby, morphs into a marching rhythm, 00:39:07.679 --> 00:39:10.639 shifts into a soaring plea, and ends in a massive 00:39:10.639 --> 00:39:14.019 operatic crescendo. It evolves linearly, like 00:39:14.019 --> 00:39:16.380 a classical symphony, rather than looping like 00:39:16.380 --> 00:39:18.480 a pop song. Or look at Running Scared, which 00:39:18.480 --> 00:39:21.119 we discussed earlier. It has no chorus at all. 00:39:21.260 --> 00:39:24.679 None. It is just one continuous repeating verse 00:39:24.679 --> 00:39:27.940 that slowly gets louder, denser, and more tense 00:39:27.940 --> 00:39:31.139 until it finally explodes on that high A note. 00:39:31.320 --> 00:39:33.519 Bernie Toppin, who is Elton John's legendary 00:39:33.519 --> 00:39:36.199 lyricist, noted that Orbison's songs always made 00:39:36.199 --> 00:39:38.559 these radical left turns that completely defied 00:39:38.559 --> 00:39:41.039 logic, but made perfect emotional sense. And 00:39:41.039 --> 00:39:43.300 that profound emotional instinct didn't just 00:39:43.300 --> 00:39:45.960 change music theory. It fundamentally changed 00:39:45.960 --> 00:39:48.739 the culture of masculinity. How so? We look at 00:39:48.739 --> 00:39:51.059 the historical context of the 1950s and early 00:39:51.059 --> 00:39:54.260 60s. Rock and roll was defined by a posturing 00:39:54.260 --> 00:39:57.059 aggressive machismo. It was the era of Marlon 00:39:57.059 --> 00:39:59.440 Brando and James Dean. It was all about rebellion, 00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:02.010 fast cars, leather and tough guys who didn't 00:40:02.010 --> 00:40:04.550 care about anything. Orbison completely subverted 00:40:04.550 --> 00:40:07.889 that entire paradigm. He sang almost exclusively 00:40:07.889 --> 00:40:11.650 about deep, paralyzing pain, catastrophic loss, 00:40:12.369 --> 00:40:15.110 emotional devastation, and crippling insecurity. 00:40:15.389 --> 00:40:17.889 He was a man who wasn't afraid to sound weak, 00:40:18.130 --> 00:40:21.030 to sound like he was begging. Bee Gees specifically 00:40:21.030 --> 00:40:23.369 credited him with single -handedly making it 00:40:23.369 --> 00:40:25.889 culturally acceptable for men to sing openly 00:40:25.889 --> 00:40:28.860 about severe emotional heartbreak. Bob Dylan 00:40:28.860 --> 00:40:31.679 had one of the best, most evocative quotes about 00:40:31.679 --> 00:40:34.340 Orbison's unique power. He said Orbison sang 00:40:34.340 --> 00:40:37.440 like a quote, professional criminal and had a 00:40:37.440 --> 00:40:40.019 voice that could jar a corpse. Dylan said that 00:40:40.019 --> 00:40:42.110 with Roy. You didn't know if you were listening 00:40:42.110 --> 00:40:44.989 to a Mexican mariachi band or grand opera, but 00:40:44.989 --> 00:40:46.989 the intensity of it made you want to drive your 00:40:46.989 --> 00:40:50.230 car over a cliff. That specific level of dramatic 00:40:50.230 --> 00:40:52.730 life or death intensity was just unmatched by 00:40:52.730 --> 00:40:55.150 anyone else on the radio. Even his total lack 00:40:55.150 --> 00:40:57.110 of movement on stage, which we talked about earlier, 00:40:57.289 --> 00:40:59.329 became a legendary part of his mystique. John 00:40:59.329 --> 00:41:01.449 Belushi famously parodied this on Saturday Night 00:41:01.449 --> 00:41:04.809 Live in the 70s. Yes, he dressed up in the black 00:41:04.809 --> 00:41:08.449 suit and sunglasses, stepped to the mic as Orbison, 00:41:08.610 --> 00:41:12.219 started singing. oh pretty woman and then just 00:41:12.219 --> 00:41:14.639 stiffly fell over backwards like a petrified 00:41:14.639 --> 00:41:17.360 statue while the SNL band members casually picked 00:41:17.360 --> 00:41:19.519 him up and stood him back up at the mic without 00:41:19.519 --> 00:41:22.340 missing a beat. It's a hilarious physical gag, 00:41:22.780 --> 00:41:25.300 but it perfectly highlights how singular his 00:41:25.300 --> 00:41:28.199 energy was. He didn't need to jump around, smash 00:41:28.199 --> 00:41:31.000 guitars, or sweat through his shirt because the 00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:33.559 pyrotechnics, the absolute fire of his performance, 00:41:33.940 --> 00:41:35.880 were entirely contained within his throat. I 00:41:35.880 --> 00:41:37.500 really want you to think about the concept of 00:41:37.500 --> 00:41:40.159 being uncool. Bruce Springsteen, in his Hall 00:41:40.159 --> 00:41:43.079 of Fame induction speech, summarized Orbison's 00:41:43.079 --> 00:41:45.659 enduring appeal by calling him the coolest uncool 00:41:45.659 --> 00:41:48.159 loser you'd ever seen. Orbison took all the things 00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:50.329 that made him uncool in high school. the thick 00:41:50.329 --> 00:41:53.010 glasses, the intense shyness, the lack of athleticism, 00:41:53.309 --> 00:41:55.469 the overt emotional vulnerability, and he leaned 00:41:55.469 --> 00:41:58.030 into them. He pushed them so far and with such 00:41:58.030 --> 00:42:01.389 unwavering authenticity that they became undeniably, 00:42:01.630 --> 00:42:04.510 timelessly cool. It is a profound reminder to 00:42:04.510 --> 00:42:07.449 embrace whatever makes you unique, even if it 00:42:07.449 --> 00:42:09.250 goes completely against the current cultural 00:42:09.250 --> 00:42:12.550 grain or the expectations of your peers. Your 00:42:12.550 --> 00:42:14.750 perceived weaknesses might just be the exact 00:42:14.750 --> 00:42:17.389 ingredients of your defining signature. That 00:42:17.389 --> 00:42:20.110 is the most enduring lesson of his entire career 00:42:20.110 --> 00:42:24.329 arc. True authenticity will always outlast manufactured 00:42:24.329 --> 00:42:27.849 trends. But sadly, this beautiful, triumphant 00:42:27.849 --> 00:42:31.789 1980s comeback was cut tragically short. We arrive 00:42:31.789 --> 00:42:36.269 at December 1988. Orbison is 52 years old. He 00:42:36.269 --> 00:42:39.170 is completely exhausted from an unrelenting punishing 00:42:39.170 --> 00:42:42.010 schedule of recording the Wilburys album, filming 00:42:42.010 --> 00:42:44.690 music videos, completing his solo album, and 00:42:44.690 --> 00:42:47.300 doing a massive press tour in Europe. On December 00:42:47.300 --> 00:42:49.679 6th, he is back home in Hendersonville, Tennessee. 00:42:50.260 --> 00:42:52.880 He spends a completely normal, mundane day. He 00:42:52.880 --> 00:42:54.900 goes shopping for model airplane parts with a 00:42:54.900 --> 00:42:57.039 friend, has dinner with his family, and visits 00:42:57.039 --> 00:42:58.840 his mother. Later that evening, he goes into 00:42:58.840 --> 00:43:00.820 the bathroom, and he doesn't come out. He suffers 00:43:00.820 --> 00:43:03.440 a massive, instantaneous, fatal heart attack 00:43:03.440 --> 00:43:06.059 and passes away right there, literally on the 00:43:06.059 --> 00:43:08.559 precipice of his greatest solo triumph in two 00:43:08.559 --> 00:43:12.199 decades. It is a heartbreakingly abrupt. quiet 00:43:12.199 --> 00:43:15.420 end to a life that was defined by such massive, 00:43:15.460 --> 00:43:18.760 dramatic, operatic arcs. But the aftermath of 00:43:18.760 --> 00:43:21.340 his passing was incredibly triumphant. Just a 00:43:21.340 --> 00:43:24.079 month after his death, his solo single, You Got 00:43:24.079 --> 00:43:26.699 It, hits the top 10 on the Billboard charts. 00:43:27.340 --> 00:43:31.320 By April of 1989, Roy Orbison achieves a historic 00:43:31.320 --> 00:43:35.210 milestone. He becomes the first deceased musician 00:43:35.210 --> 00:43:37.929 since Elvis Presley to have two albums in the 00:43:37.929 --> 00:43:39.949 top five of the Billboard charts simultaneously. 00:43:40.190 --> 00:43:42.789 The Traveling Wilburys album and his solo record, 00:43:42.949 --> 00:43:45.210 Mystery Girl. So what does this all mean? We 00:43:45.210 --> 00:43:47.610 started this journey with a shy, vision impaired 00:43:47.610 --> 00:43:50.670 kid from the dusty, oil soaked plains of Texas. 00:43:51.170 --> 00:43:52.849 A kid who couldn't play high school football 00:43:52.849 --> 00:43:55.309 and hid his face behind a guitar. And we end 00:43:55.309 --> 00:43:57.710 with a man universally recognized as the voice 00:43:57.710 --> 00:44:00.110 of God. A man who proved beyond a shadow of a 00:44:00.110 --> 00:44:02.710 doubt that raw, unvarnished talent coupled with 00:44:02.710 --> 00:44:05.630 the immense courage to be completely, devastatingly 00:44:05.630 --> 00:44:08.909 vulnerable can outlast any fleeting musical trend 00:44:08.909 --> 00:44:11.449 or superficial cultural shift. Looking back at 00:44:11.449 --> 00:44:13.489 his journey leaves us with a really fascinating 00:44:13.489 --> 00:44:16.469 paradox to consider. When you look at today's 00:44:16.469 --> 00:44:19.449 hyper visual brand -obsessed music industry, 00:44:19.949 --> 00:44:22.630 where every single artist's life is aggressively 00:44:22.630 --> 00:44:25.429 marketed, where their personal drama is curated 00:44:25.429 --> 00:44:27.989 on social media, and where you are expected to 00:44:27.989 --> 00:44:31.329 be accessible to your fans 24 -7. It's non -stop 00:44:31.329 --> 00:44:34.869 now. Could an anonymous celebrity like Roy Orbison 00:44:34.869 --> 00:44:37.650 even exist today? Could someone stand completely 00:44:37.650 --> 00:44:40.269 still on a stage, hide their face entirely behind 00:44:40.269 --> 00:44:43.610 dark glasses, offer absolutely no personal drama 00:44:43.610 --> 00:44:46.269 for the tabloids to chew on, and still conquer 00:44:46.269 --> 00:44:48.909 the world based on the sheer unadulterated merit 00:44:48.909 --> 00:44:51.469 of their heartbreak and their voice alone. Wow. 00:44:51.989 --> 00:44:53.530 That is definitely something for you to think 00:44:53.530 --> 00:44:55.030 about the next time you turn on the radio or 00:44:55.030 --> 00:44:56.789 scroll through an artist's social media feed 00:44:56.789 --> 00:44:58.969 and see how performers are required to present 00:44:58.969 --> 00:45:01.130 themselves today. Thank you so much for joining 00:45:01.130 --> 00:45:03.530 us on this deep dive into the extraordinary life 00:45:03.530 --> 00:45:06.130 and legacy of the legendary Roy Orbison. Keep 00:45:06.130 --> 00:45:08.070 questioning the world around you and we will 00:45:08.070 --> 00:45:08.730 see you next time.