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Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll
Rock 'n' roll defined the last half of the twentieth century, and while many think of Elvis Presley as the genre's driving force, the truth is that Fats Domino, whose records have sold more than 100 million copies, was the first to put it on the map with such hits as "Ain't That a Shame" and "Blueberry Hill." In Blue Monday , acclaimed R&B scholar Rick Coleman draws on a multitude of new interviews with Fats Domino and many other early musical legends (among them Lloyd Price, the Clovers, Charles Brown, and members of Buddy Holly's group, the Crickets) to create a definitive biography of not just an extraordinary man but also a unique time and New Orleans at the birth of rock 'n' roll. Coleman's groundbreaking research makes for an immense cultural biography, the first to thoroughly explore the black roots of rock 'n' roll and its impact on civil rights inAmerica. A true music lovers' biography, Blue Monday , includes new revelations about the politics behind the music labels of the 1930s and 1940s, and provides a searing indictment of the great white myths of rock 'n' roll. Coleman also brings the African-American culture of New Orleans to life, and his narrative is passionate, compassionate, and authoritative. Blue Monday is the first biography to convey the full scope of Fats Domino's impact on the popular music of the twentieth century.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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September 7, 2022OK here's the news: Fats is king. At his peak he had about the tightest band in rhythm and blues and the most brilliant, idiosyncratic vocal style around. No Fats = no Jim Morrison, no Iggy, no Ian Curtis. Fats defined the rock baritone. And he was pretty decent on the piano too. This is dance music. Whoo boy, is that drummer () the bomb or what? I ain't never heard beats like that before. And whatsisname on sax - man, he's a genius. (He played with Little Richard too, Ray Charles, Tom Waits.) Not to mention band leader , probably the unsung hero behind half (the better half) of Fats's songs. Point is: these guys should not be forgotten. You think you know about rock 'n' roll and you don't know this band? Shame shame. Listen to , , . Check the picture of Fats with the Beatles in this book - how they're all sitting round him idolatrous-like as Fats comes on all bashful, this guy with more number ones than just about anybody until Elvis went MOR. I mean sure, the Fabs worshipped Chuck Berry too, but the difference is Chuck woulda looked on them with disdain. And Elvis? By the time they met him he'd just about forsaken rocking; fact is, good as he was, I don't know if rocking was ever really his bag to begin with. Not like Fats or Eddie Cochran, with that pile-driving rhythm section. You wanna party? What are you gonna put on when the crowd wants to dance? 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' (brilliant as it is), or just about any of 20 solid gold hits by Fats and Mr Cochran? (Hell, you could throw in another 10 by Little Richard as well, but keep in mind every one of 'em's a twelve-bar blues; Fats and Eddie brought a little song structure to piledriving.)
And the book? Yeah, it's informative. Dry as dust, but scholarly, convincing. Who 'invented' rock 'n' roll? As much as anyone, this shy overweight kid from New Orleans. 'The Fat Man' (which seriously rocks, electric guitar or no) came out in 1949! 'Rocket 88' (the so-called 'first rock 'n' roll record) was 1951. I mean, I don't care: Joy Division formed after a Pistols gig but I'll take Ian and the boys any day, and 'Ruby Tuesday' is the best song the Beatles never wrote. But if you're into rock 'n' roll and you aren’t into Fats then I question your commitment. All you need's a decent Best Of and, when the questions start coming, this exhaustive and information-dense book. It helps explain New Orleans' place in it all too.
Hero.
And the book? Yeah, it's informative. Dry as dust, but scholarly, convincing. Who 'invented' rock 'n' roll? As much as anyone, this shy overweight kid from New Orleans. 'The Fat Man' (which seriously rocks, electric guitar or no) came out in 1949! 'Rocket 88' (the so-called 'first rock 'n' roll record) was 1951. I mean, I don't care: Joy Division formed after a Pistols gig but I'll take Ian and the boys any day, and 'Ruby Tuesday' is the best song the Beatles never wrote. But if you're into rock 'n' roll and you aren’t into Fats then I question your commitment. All you need's a decent Best Of and, when the questions start coming, this exhaustive and information-dense book. It helps explain New Orleans' place in it all too.
Hero.
June 30, 2021
Fats is the man, and although this book exposes some warts, it finally gives him his due as perhaps the individual who contributed the most to the early development of rock and roll. There’s a reason Elvis publicly declared Fats as the real King. He was intensely private, so there are times it would have been nice to hear more of his own words, but now that he’s gone I can’t imagine a better portrait of him or his legacy emerging. The book also shines a light on how New Orleans music as a whole gave rise to rock across the country.
Fats’ concerts were critical in the ending of segregation, he had more riots than any other early rocker, and he sold more records than anyone but Elvis (partly due to starting in 1950, not dying, enlisting, finding religion, getting arrested or marrying a cousin).
Fats’ concerts were critical in the ending of segregation, he had more riots than any other early rocker, and he sold more records than anyone but Elvis (partly due to starting in 1950, not dying, enlisting, finding religion, getting arrested or marrying a cousin).
October 6, 2020
One of the best books on the early days of Rock and Roll and R&B and the influence that Fats Domino had on that development. As well as an interesting look at the career of one of America's great musicians. Get it and read it.
Alicia, The Book Grocer
January 27, 2018
What a wonderful and insightful book on this music Legend. I found it well written and so full of history besides chronological music of Fats . I feel a must read !
July 10, 2008
During a Pop Culture of Music class I took in college, the professor played a clip of Fats Domino performing "Ain't That A Shame." I was immediately captivated by his music and his jolly demeanor. I quickly became a fan, buying a few records and spreading the message to other people my age. Fats opened the door for me to dive back into time. I started listening more to bands that he influenced (especially The Beatles), his contemporaries (B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry), and blues artists from even earlier (Leadbelly).
I don't think I will ever see Fats Domino perform in person, but this book got me just as close to the man and his music. From a purely historical perspective, this biography is required reading for anyone studying the beginning of Rock n' Roll and the cultural revolution that the music played such a crucial role in. Fats was the fire that lit the fuse.
I don't think I will ever see Fats Domino perform in person, but this book got me just as close to the man and his music. From a purely historical perspective, this biography is required reading for anyone studying the beginning of Rock n' Roll and the cultural revolution that the music played such a crucial role in. Fats was the fire that lit the fuse.
July 25, 2015
Elvis Presley referred to Fats as “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”… and this author documented the truth of that statement. I will have to read this book several times to learn it all, which is what I want to do. There's a wealth of detail about musicians, recordings, racial mores of the time, lyrics,concerts, French culture, and the list goes on. I'm on page 96 and already feel like I need to start over so I don't lose what I have already read.
Interview with the author:
Interview with the author:
October 31, 2009
One of the better music biographies that I have read.
December 3, 2021
A great read!
June 9, 2025
Fats Domino is the GOAT my man created Rock and Ska incredible
March 22, 2010
Everyone knows all there is to know about the ascension and destruction of Elvis, and how Chuck Berry violated the Mann Act and Jerry Lee married Winona Ryder and Little Richard was the Ted Haggerty of Rock And Roll, and Rhythm and Blues was once the music of rebellion that blew open the schoolhouse doors for the Little Rock Nine and all of them and tons of lessers took a little bit of everything this country had ever made up and cranked the torque up to twelve and set it loose on the world under a new made-up term that really meant teens were screwing in those spacious back seats up at Inspiration Point.
And everyone remembers Fats Domino belongs in there somewhere. "Blueberry Hill" and "Ain't That A Shame" are in the canon of Great American Cultural Touchstones, and rightly so. But it's Rick Coleman's contention that Fats hasn't gotten half of his due, and he makes a pretty good case.
"Blue Monday" shows how different the music of the late 20th century and beyond would have been without Antoine Domino, by showing the wide array of people he managed to reach and touch. He may not have been the first to use music as a tool for racial understanding, but without him, the civil rights movement would have had one less bridge with which to cross that divide. He wasn't the first to use the piano as a percussion instrument either, but he taught everyone else you've ever heard of how to do it, from Jerry Lee to McCartney & Billy Joel & Joe Jackson & Randy Newman & Elton John and everyone. Along with Louis Armstrong, he was New Orleans' greatest musical ambassador to the world, a huge mantle he has worn with relative ease and great pride. The triplets, the strut, the Delta whomp that made up the backbeat, Fats became a virtuoso at making pianos do tricks of which Carl Bechstein would never have approved.
The book follows Fats from birth and early influences through his beginnings playing off-the-street clubs in New Orleans, his first recordings with his friend and Salieriesque mentor Dave Bartholomew, his hits and how they managed, inexplicably, to find their way into white ears, and how he just kind of went with it, taking this brand new mongrelized hybrid of dance & make-out music out on the road for a tour that seemed to go on more or less uninterrupted for the next half century.
This is a quick read, full of saucy anecdotes and half-remembered tales, and while it covers Fats' life from birth right through his rescue from Hurricane Katrina, it leans most heavily on his first flourish of stardom, from the mid-1950's through the early 1960's, when his popularity, influence and importance were at their peak. The last 75 pages or so devolve into little more than a list of recording sessions, celebrity meetings, festival show appearances and testimonials from his artistic descendants, with a generous sprinkling of bandmates dying or disappearing, but even that nod to brevity only serves to illustrate Fats' great salvation and curse: that despite his own long-running battles with drink and gambling, he seems to have outlived everyone.
Fats was that rarest of characters in the great mural of Rock And Roll history: he lived hard, worked hard, and mostly avoided the worst decisions about what to do with his life and his work. He kept enough of his royalties that he didn't wind up destitute, and he was always proud of his crucial influence on British pop, reggae, ska and hip hop. He truly loved what he did, he did it for more than half a century, and he managed to get through his life with no small amount of goodwill. May he live long yet, and when he goes, may the second line at his funeral be the grandest New Orleans has yet seen.
And everyone remembers Fats Domino belongs in there somewhere. "Blueberry Hill" and "Ain't That A Shame" are in the canon of Great American Cultural Touchstones, and rightly so. But it's Rick Coleman's contention that Fats hasn't gotten half of his due, and he makes a pretty good case.
"Blue Monday" shows how different the music of the late 20th century and beyond would have been without Antoine Domino, by showing the wide array of people he managed to reach and touch. He may not have been the first to use music as a tool for racial understanding, but without him, the civil rights movement would have had one less bridge with which to cross that divide. He wasn't the first to use the piano as a percussion instrument either, but he taught everyone else you've ever heard of how to do it, from Jerry Lee to McCartney & Billy Joel & Joe Jackson & Randy Newman & Elton John and everyone. Along with Louis Armstrong, he was New Orleans' greatest musical ambassador to the world, a huge mantle he has worn with relative ease and great pride. The triplets, the strut, the Delta whomp that made up the backbeat, Fats became a virtuoso at making pianos do tricks of which Carl Bechstein would never have approved.
The book follows Fats from birth and early influences through his beginnings playing off-the-street clubs in New Orleans, his first recordings with his friend and Salieriesque mentor Dave Bartholomew, his hits and how they managed, inexplicably, to find their way into white ears, and how he just kind of went with it, taking this brand new mongrelized hybrid of dance & make-out music out on the road for a tour that seemed to go on more or less uninterrupted for the next half century.
This is a quick read, full of saucy anecdotes and half-remembered tales, and while it covers Fats' life from birth right through his rescue from Hurricane Katrina, it leans most heavily on his first flourish of stardom, from the mid-1950's through the early 1960's, when his popularity, influence and importance were at their peak. The last 75 pages or so devolve into little more than a list of recording sessions, celebrity meetings, festival show appearances and testimonials from his artistic descendants, with a generous sprinkling of bandmates dying or disappearing, but even that nod to brevity only serves to illustrate Fats' great salvation and curse: that despite his own long-running battles with drink and gambling, he seems to have outlived everyone.
Fats was that rarest of characters in the great mural of Rock And Roll history: he lived hard, worked hard, and mostly avoided the worst decisions about what to do with his life and his work. He kept enough of his royalties that he didn't wind up destitute, and he was always proud of his crucial influence on British pop, reggae, ska and hip hop. He truly loved what he did, he did it for more than half a century, and he managed to get through his life with no small amount of goodwill. May he live long yet, and when he goes, may the second line at his funeral be the grandest New Orleans has yet seen.
January 6, 2018
This book had a lot of things going for it. Remarkably, it's the first book-length biography of Fats Domino, so it fills a huge gap in the history of American popular music. The writer claims to be a friend of Domino's and has had multiple opportunities to interview the musician over the years, so there's the chance for an unfiltered perspective on Domino's life and work. It also includes background on the New Orleans music scene, long-overlooked but as important as Memphis as a center for early rock 'n' roll. Unfortunately, it's the type of music biography that gets so bogged down in the details of recording sessions--dates, numbers of takes, session-men names, etc--and of Domino's endless tours that it is a pretty slow read. Surprisingly, it also leaves its primary subject a bit of a mystery. We know when, where and with whom he recorded and toured, but we don't know too much about the personality of the man himself. (One memorable anecdote: Due to discrimination at restaurants, Fats and his band never knew whether they would be able to get a decent meal. So he always traveled with a trunk that contained a hotplate and utensils and ingredients for cooking up gumbo and soul food (such as pig's feet), the smell from which caused no little consternation among hotel managers.) Coleman's research will undoubtedly be valuable to music historians, but for fans of Fats' music it may be a difficult, plodding read.
April 13, 2017
Coleman interviewed in depth three very private & reclusive figures in the Fats Domino team: Fats himself, bandleader and songwriting wizard Dave Bartholomew, and savvy enterprising Imperial Records label head Lew Chudd. He crafted this fine book around that triumvirate. It's similar to many musicians' bios (rags-to-riches-to-excesses-and-bad-choices), but this one's set apart by its impressive chronology of integration & civil rights era, and the helpful overview of the wild and sometimes violent rock'n'roll package tours of the 1950's, and the men who booked those tours. Coleman supports his points with colorful quotes from vintage newspapers across the nation and industry periodicals like Variety and Billboard. This includes a helpful bibliography, index and two glossy-paged sections of black and white pictures. I would have enjoyed a sessionography as well -- for example I'm still wondering which Joe Turner side(s) Fats played on (my ears tell me 'Honey Hush' is one.) Keep up the great work Rick!
November 7, 2007
When I grew up Fats Domino strictly an "oldies" musician. It was great to rewind back to a time before then and discover just how ground-breaking and radical his music was.
The author makes the case that Domino, not Elvis, was the true king of rock and roll, and he's pretty convincing. (Elvis, Bob Marley, and the Beatles, among many others, all bend a knee at the Domino shrine.) If I had a complaint with the book, it's that the narrative flow was a bit choppy, and I got more of a sense of Fats's accomplishments than Fats the man. But he's notoriously shy, and I'd guess that's how he'd like to keep it.
The author makes the case that Domino, not Elvis, was the true king of rock and roll, and he's pretty convincing. (Elvis, Bob Marley, and the Beatles, among many others, all bend a knee at the Domino shrine.) If I had a complaint with the book, it's that the narrative flow was a bit choppy, and I got more of a sense of Fats's accomplishments than Fats the man. But he's notoriously shy, and I'd guess that's how he'd like to keep it.
June 24, 2010
This is a must-read for those of us addicted to music and music history. The influence of New Orleans music on rock'n'roll never occurred to me, but once Rick Coleman points it out, it is entirely obvious and adds another dimension to the music. And then, there is the unsung story of Fats Domino's role in civil rights/integration of the 1950s. The downside of this book is that there is an error on the very first page and very very careless typesetting and copyediting. I am going to trust Rick Coleman on most of the facts here. An excellent and important read.
October 17, 2018
I hope you'll read this bio of Antoine Domino--gift to the world!
"At one Southern roadside cafe, a man told the Big SHow musicians as they entered, "We don't serve niggers."
"That's all right," Chuck Berry replied with a wicked smile, "I don't et 'em."
"At one Southern roadside cafe, a man told the Big SHow musicians as they entered, "We don't serve niggers."
"That's all right," Chuck Berry replied with a wicked smile, "I don't et 'em."
October 25, 2017
I'd probably bump this up to 3.5 if that was an option. That said, Fats Domino himself deserves 5 stars.
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