# Was the music in "Grease" accurate for 1959? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674 "2020-01-19T19:43:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/1 "2020-01-19T19:43:02Z")
I’m most familiar with the 1978 movie, though I have seen the live TV movie from a few years ago. But I’m musically dyslexic, so I doubt my ability to judge. I can think of two specific songs: “Those Magic Changes” sounds right for the period: one of those mellow laments like “Teenager in Love” or “Rhythm of the Rain”. OTOH, “Born to Hand Jive” seems very disco. What say you all? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/2 "2020-01-19T22:00:00Z")
Well, [Willie and the Hand Jive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEeeGMpM_Nk) was a real song from 1958. Obviously a pastiche from the '70s won’t be exactly the same, though. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/3 "2020-01-19T23:02:08Z")
The songs from the show are fairy faithful to the spirit of Fifties pop music. The theme song to the film by The Bee Gees is definitely not. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/4 "2020-01-19T23:07:02Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The theme song to the film by The Bee Gees is definitely not. Kinda-sorta by the Bee Gees. It was written by Barry Gibb (who also did backing vocals), but the main vocalist was Frankie Valli. Most of the backing band was musicians who had been working with Andy Gibb (younger brother of the three Bee Gees), and the lead guitarist was Peter Frampton. > **[Grease (song) | Background](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_(song)#Background)** > > Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey had written a different title track for Grease for its original Chicago production, but the song was discarded when the show was picked up on Broadway. Barry Gibb was commissioned to compose a new title song for Robert Stigwood's film of the stage musical. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/5 "2020-01-21T23:00:57Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Well, [Willie and the Hand Jive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEeeGMpM_Nk) was a real song from 1958. Obviously a pastiche from the '70s won’t be exactly the same, though. Different times. Around 1:40 at the doctor/lawyer line, the chick in FRONT of the others just sort of … craps out. Rides solely on her megawatt smile for the remainder. I can’t tell if the other two behind her are trying to coach her back into the choreography, or are just utterly sick of her shit. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/6 "2020-01-22T00:52:28Z")
_Grease_, _You’re the One that I Want_ and maybe _Hopelessly Devoted to You_ stand out as contemporary to the mid-late 1970s rather than the late 1950s. I think they were the only ones written for the movie and not carry-overs from the Broadway show. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/7 "2020-01-22T08:22:12Z")
I see. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/8 "2020-01-22T22:01:13Z")
The original score was close enough. Another example is _Animal House_. The movie was specifically set in the Fall of 1962. Of the songs in the sound track, “Louie Louie” wouldn’t hit the charts until 1963, “Shout” and “Money” were from 1959, “What a Wonderful World” was from 1960, and “Tossin’ and Turnin’” hit the charts in 1961. ---
**Author:** ![Mavis\_Topholese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@Mavis\_Topholese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavis_Topholese)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/9 "2020-01-23T16:23:47Z")
I can assure everyone that the most popular tune heard in the film “Grease” - the Ipana toothpaste “brusha brusha brusha” jingle - is indeed period-accurate ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/10 "2020-01-25T03:07:21Z")
Well, in Grease the only song that was remotely accurate was the Ipana ad. The stage show sucked was and the movie as worse. Or not if you liked it and were too young to remember 1959. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/11 "2020-01-25T03:11:00Z")
And didn’t the Sonics version of Louie Louie drop in 1962? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/12 "2020-01-25T04:44:36Z")
You shoulda seem the version put on by the lil’wrekkers amateur theatre troupe. It was so bad and campy it was actually good. Of course the lil’wrekker was an \*excellent \* Sandy. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-music-in-grease-accurate-for-1959/846674/13 "2020-01-25T05:50:05Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > And didn’t the Sonics version of Louie Louie drop in 1962? The Sonics were really late jumping on that bandwagon(1966). It was another Northwest band, The Wailers who made the local charts in LA in 1961. Thanks to them every garage band playing frat parties in the Northwest (including the Kingsmen, the Raiders, and the Sonics had to add it to their sets if they wanted to keep the drunk Greeks happy.