46-639: [REDACTED] Look up greaser in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Greaser or Greasers may refer to: Greaser (subculture) , a subculture that developed in North America in the 1950s Rocker (subculture) a bike subculture that started in the United Kingdom in the 1950s Greaser (derogatory) , an ethnic slur against Latino, Italian, or Greek Americans Greaser, another name for Oiler (occupation) ,
92-503: A 1950s band called Johnny Casino and the Gamblers. Their tracks on the film and Grease soundtrack include two songs from the original 1971 musical: " Those Magic Changes " and " Born to Hand Jive ", and four songs from the early rock-and-roll era: versions of Elvis Presley's covers of " Hound Dog " (1956) and " Blue Moon " (1956), a cover of the Imperials ' " Tears on My Pillow " (1958), and
138-787: A brief illness. Bruce "Bruno" Clarke became a professor of English at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas . Richard Joffe became a class action litigator for a law firm in New York City. Dave Garrett ran the Long Island -based musical instrument amplifier company Earth Sound Research during the 1970s. A businessman, he resides in New York City. Screamin' Scott Simon died from sinus cancer in Ojai, California on September 5, 2024, aged 75. Besides having many of their songs featured on TV series and movies, Sha Na Na—and especially their omission from
184-773: A cover of Danny & the Juniors' " Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay " (1958). The song " Sandy ", sung by John Travolta in the film, was co-written specifically for the film by Sha Na Na's Screamin' Scott Simon. In chronological order: Vinnie Taylor (1949–1974) (born Chris Donald), who replaced Billy Schwartz as the lead guitarist in 1971, died of a drug overdose in 1974. Escaped child killer Elmer Edward Solly assumed Taylor's identity and performed as him, though not with Sha Na Na, which eventually led to his discovery and capture. Bass player Dave "Chico" Ryan died in 1998. While remaining in Sha Na Na, he joined Bill Haley & His Comets for
230-400: A humanities graduate student, who also became the group's original choreographer, Sha Na Na began performing in 1969 at the height of the hippie counterculture. Only five months after Leonard had explained his concept to the group, on the basis of excitement their performances had generated in a New York City club frequented by famous rock musicians and others from the music business, and with
276-572: A lesser extent it has also been used more generally to refer to all Mediterranean , Latino , or Hispanic people. Academic Jennifer Grayer Moore wrote in her book Street Style in America that the term was not used in writing to refer to the American subculture of the mid-20th century until the mid-1960s, though in this sense it still evoked a pejorative ethnic connotation and a relation to machine work. George J. Leonard, who conceived Sha Na Na , coined
322-551: A nostalgic quiz game and conducted the nation's first trivia contests with Dan Carlinsky in 1965. The future Sha Na Na/Kingsmen were featured singers at these contests. Four years later, he co-authored "Rock 'n' Roll Trivia" just as he and the William Morris Agency began steering Sha Na Na's career. From 1969 to 1971, the band played at, among other places, the Fillmore East and Fillmore West , opening for such bands as
368-645: A solo performer. He scored a number-six Billboard hit single, " Shannon ", in 1976. Alan Cooper, the lead singer in the group's performance of "At the Hop" in the Woodstock film, went on to pursue an academic career. He taught religious studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario , for 10 years, then became a professor of Bible studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati , and now serves as
414-420: A worker whose main job is to oil and grease machinery In aviation, a smooth or soft landing with no noticeable bounce after contact with the landing surface The Greasers, a fictional gang from S. E. Hinton's book The Outsiders The Greasers, a fictional clique from the video game Bully See also [ edit ] Grease (disambiguation) Greasy (disambiguation) Topics referred to by
460-593: Is a professor of linguistics at Hofstra University . He had an appearance as a qualified expert in linguistics for the murder case of Charlene Hummert in the episode "A Tight Leash" of the TV medical detectives series Forensic Files in 2004, as well as for the Tennessee "Facebook Murders" on the Investigation Discovery crime show Too Pretty to Live in 2016. The group's first guitarist, Henry Gross , became
506-591: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Greaser (subculture) Greasers are a youth subculture that emerged in the 1950s and early 1960s from predominantly working class and lower-class teenagers and young adults in the United States and Canada. The subculture remained prominent into the mid-1960s and was particularly embraced by certain ethnic groups in urban areas , particularly Italian Americans and Hispanic Americans . The etymology for
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#1732855125164552-459: The Sha Na Na syndicated variety series that ran from 1977 to 1981. It was among the most watched programs in syndication during its run. The show was produced by Pierre Cossette and originally distributed by LBS Communications. The show featured the group performing hits from the 1950s and 1960s, along with comedy skits. The "tough guys" road act from their original road shows was adapted for TV and
598-584: The University of California, San Diego . He worked at Scripps Hospital East County from 1978 to 2000 as an ER physician, and held the same position at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa until retiring in 2013. Witkin lives with his family in San Diego. He played with a 1950s/1960s show band The Corvettes in San Diego for 23 years. Scott Powell is a specialist in orthopedic surgery and sports medicine. He performed on
644-574: The 1963 hit " Louie Louie ". At the time when the group was being transformed from the Columbia Kingsmen into Sha Na Na, George Leonard's brother, Rob Leonard, was one of the group's bass singers and its official leader. Rob Leonard's performance at Woodstock of " Teen Angel ", a teen-tragedy classic from 1959-60, was later included in the 2009 Director's Cut of the Woodstock movie. The group's first manager, Ed Goodgold , had codified trivia as
690-798: The Elaine Ravich Professor of Jewish Studies and provost at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America . Jon "Bowzer" Bauman replaced Alan Cooper and became a recognizable member of the group as he taunted audiences while he flexed his muscles, burped, and spat in the direction of the bass player. In the 1980s, he had a brief career as a game show master of ceremonies. Starting in 1999 he worked to establish trademark protection for American musicians, under legislation titled Truth in Music Advertising . Bauman sought to prevent producers re-creating classic music groups without hiring
736-562: The Folsom, Pompadour , Elephant's trunk, and Duck's ass , while females commonly backcombed , coiffed, or teased their hair. Male greasers typically wore loose work pants such as cotton twill trousers, common among the working class; dark slacks, or dark blue Levi's jeans , widely popular among all American youth in the 1950s. The latter were often cuffed over black or brown leather boots, including steel-toed boots , engineer or Harness boots , combat boots , work boots, and (especially in
782-581: The Grateful Dead , the Mothers of Invention , and the Kinks . When Sha Na Na began headlining at other venues, one of their opening acts was Bruce Springsteen . In 1972, Sha Na Na was one of just four acts invited by John Lennon and Yoko Ono to perform with them at their One-to-One benefit concert at Madison Square Garden . Subsequently, the group appeared in the 1978 movie Grease , and, from 1977 to 1981,
828-567: The Hop ", got the group a standing ovation, and they were brought back for an encore. Subsequently, the inclusion of their performance of "At the Hop" in Michael Wadleigh's award-winning documentary film of the festival made Sha Na Na nationally famous and helped spark a 1950s nostalgia craze that inspired similar groups ( Flash Cadillac , Showaddywaddy , Big Daddy ), as well as the Broadway musical Grease (and its feature film adaptation ),
874-544: The Juniors , Connie Stevens , Isaac Hayes , Rita Moreno , Del Shannon , Andy Gibb , Barbi Benton , and others. During the TV series, the members of Sha Na Na were Jon "Bowzer" Bauman (vocals), Lennie Baker (sax/vocals), Johnny Contardo (vocals), Denny Greene (vocals), Danny "Dirty Dan" McBride (guitar/vocals) (left after third season), Jocko Marcellino (drums/vocals), Dave "Chico" Ryan (bass/vocals), Screamin' Scott Simon (piano/vocals), Scott "Santini" Powell (vocals), and Donald "Donny" York (vocals). Every member
920-737: The Southwest) cowboy boots . Other footwear choices included Chuck Taylor All-Stars , pointed Italian dress shoes, brothel creepers , and winklepickers . Male shirts were typically solid black or white T-shirts, ringer T-shirts, Italian knit collared shirts, unbuttoned shirts with sleeveless undershirts underneath, or sometimes just sleeveless undershirts or tank tops (which would have been retailed as underwear ). Choices of outerwear included denim or leather jackets (including Perfecto motorcycle jackets ). Female greaser dress included leather jackets and risque clothing, such as tight and cropped capri pants and pedal pushers (broadly popular during
966-522: The TV show under the stage name "Santini" (another alias was "Captain Outrageous"). Powell left the band in 1980 and returned to Columbia to take premedical courses. He has been a member of the medical staff of US national soccer teams, and was the team physician for the Federation Women's National Team from 2005 to 2015. He is a clinical professor at the University of Southern California . While Powell
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#17328551251641012-528: The feature film American Graffiti and the TV show Happy Days . Before 1969, the group had been singing as part of the long-standing Columbia University a cappella group called the Columbia Kingsmen. But when, based on Leonard's advice, they transformed their show and became a commercial act, they changed their name to Sha Na Na to distinguish themselves from the Pacific Northwest group also called The Kingsmen that had become famous for recording
1058-600: The general domestic shift towards homogeneity in the 1950s. Most were male, usually ethnic or white working-class outsiders, and were often interested in hotrod culture or motorcycling. A handful of middle-class youth were drawn to the subculture for its rebellious attitude. The weak structural foundation of the greasers can be attributed to the subculture's origins in working-class youth possessing few economic resources with which to participate in American consumerism . Greasers, unlike motorcyclists, did not explicitly have their own interest clubs or publications. As such, there
1104-448: The group moved to a comedy and self-deprecating routine. The mainstay continued to be the 1950s song-and-dance routines. The show opened in a typical concert scene, and then moved through various street and ice cream parlor scenes, where their guests and they performed several songs. That was followed by a comedy-oriented song (" Alley Oop ", " Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah "), and closed with a slow song, again in their concert format. Among
1150-910: The group reached perhaps the height of its success with its own hit syndicated television show Sha Na Na , featuring guest musicians such as James Brown , the punk rock band the Ramones , Chuck Berry , Little Richard , Bo Diddley , the Ronettes , and Chubby Checker . The original band lineup featured 12 performers: Robert A. Leonard (Rob Leonard) (bass vocals), Alan Cooper (bass vocals), Frederick "Dennis" Greene (vocals), Henry Gross (guitar), Jocko Marcellino (drums), Joe Witkin (piano), Scott Powell (also known as Captain Outrageous and Tony Santini) (vocals), Donald "Donny" York (vocals), Elliot "Gino" Cahn (rhythm guitar), Rich Joffe (vocals), Dave Garrett (vocals), and Bruce "Bruno" Clarke (electric bass). The initial act had three up-front performers in gold lamé and
1196-439: The group's fall 1979 tour of Europe (Haley's last major tour before his death). Guitarist Danny "Dirty Dan" McBride (born Daniel Hatton, 1945) died of cardiovascular disease in 2009. Bass guitarist Reggie Battise was a dancer in the feature film Staying Alive (1983) and White Men Can't Jump (1992), as well as the TV series Moonlighting . He succumbed to prostate cancer on October 8, 2010. Founding member Rob Leonard
1242-429: The help of Jimi Hendrix , a friend they had met at the club, they obtained a slot at the Woodstock festival . Their performance immediately preceded that of Hendrix, who closed the festival. As with most of their other early performances, Sha Na Na's performance at Woodstock was a "show stopper" that left the audience simultaneously "delighted and bewildered." Their set-closing song, the 1957–58 number-one hit " At
1288-424: The late 1940s in the United States, though it was certainly established by the 1950s, when it was increasingly adopted by ethnic urban youth. The original greasers (often coming from "ethnic" backgrounds) were aligned by a feeling of working class and lower class disillusionment with American popular culture either through a lack of economic opportunity in spite of the post-war boom or a marginalization enacted by
1334-401: The mid-to-late 1950s, to whom greasers epitomized the connection between rock music and juvenile delinquency professed by several important social and cultural observers of the time. Sha Na Na Sha Na Na was an American rock and roll and doo-wop revival group formed in 1969. The group performed a song-and-dance repertoire based on 1950s hit songs that both revived and parodied
1380-597: The music and the New York City street culture of the 1950s. After gaining initial fame for their performance at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair , made possible with help from their friend Jimi Hendrix , the group hosted Sha Na Na , a syndicated variety series that ran from 1977 to 1981. Billing themselves as "from the Streets of New York", members were frequently outfitted in gold lamé or leather jackets and sported pompadour or ducktail hairdos. The group's name
1426-501: The original musicians. Elliot Cahn, the group's original rhythm guitar player and musical arranger, later became the first manager of Green Day . Joe Witkin, who was replaced by Screamin' Scott Simon, was the original keyboard player and singer of " Teenager in Love " on their first album. Witkin left the band in 1970 to finish medical school, and subsequently moved to San Diego , California , in 1975 to do his internship and residency at
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1472-434: The other nine in " greaser " attire (rolled up T-shirt sleeves, leather jackets, tank tops ). On their album The Golden Age of Rock and Roll , the lead singer taunts the audience on one of the live tracks by announcing, "We've got just one thing to say to you fuckin' hippies, and that is that rock and roll is here to stay!" The act usually ended after several encores, and closed with "Lovers Never Say Goodbye". The closing song
1518-493: The racial distinction between poor Italian Americans and Puerto Ricans in New York City during the 1950s and 1960s. Greasers were also perceived as being predisposed to perpetrating sexual violence , evoking fear in middle-class males but also titillation in middle-class females. Though the television show American Bandstand helped to "sanitize" the negative image of greasers in the 1960s and 1970s, sexual promiscuity
1564-411: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Greaser . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greaser&oldid=1239943042 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
1610-479: The subculture during the 1950s was hoods , in reference to their upturned collars, with many also calling them J.D.s (abbreviated from juvenile delinquents ). Within Greater Baltimore during the 1950s and early 1960s, greasers were colloquially referred to as drapes and drapettes . The greaser subculture may have emerged in the post– World War II era among the motorcycle clubs and street gangs of
1656-764: The supporting members featured in the series were Avery Schreiber , Kenneth Mars , and Philip Roth (all of them in the first season); both Pamela Myers and actress Jane Dulo (the Crabby Lady in the Window, who watched over the street scenes from her apartment with undisguised disdain) throughout the show's run, June Gable, and Soupy Sales (seasons two to four); Michael Sklar (season two); and Karen Hartman (season four). Guests included Jan & Dean , Fabian , Chuck Berry , Chubby Checker, The Ramones , Ethel Merman , Frank Gorshin , Dusty Springfield , Barbara Mandrell , Stephanie Mills , Billy Crystal , Kim Carnes , Danny and
1702-506: The term greaser is unknown. By the time of the Civil War , the words "greaser" and "greaseball" were understood to carry racist and segregationist meanings. It is speculated that the word originated in the late 19th century in the United States as a derogatory label for poor laborers, specifically those of Italian, Greek or Mexican descent. The similar term "greaseball" is a slur for individuals of Italian or Greek descent, though to
1748-457: The term "greaser" in 1967 after he heard Gilbert Highet read the line "The glory that was Greece " from Edgar Allan Poe 's poem " To Helen ". However, S. E. Hinton , author of the novel The Outsiders , an influential portrayal of greasers, claimed to know the term from her youth in 1950s Tulsa, Oklahoma . The name was also applied to members of the subculture partly because of their characteristic greased-back hair. The dominant name for
1794-497: The time period). In the early 1950s, there was significant greaser interest in doo-wop , a genre of African-American music from the industrial cities of the Northeast that had disseminated to mainstream American music through Italian American performers. Greasers were heavily associated with the culture surrounding rock n' roll , a musical genre that had induced feelings of a moral panic among older middle-class generations during
1840-464: Was changed to "Goodnight Sweetheart" for the TV series. In concert, they often returned for up to seven encores, and this included when performing in Toronto , at Ontario Place and performing " Hound Dog " after announcing Elvis Presley 's death earlier that same day (August 16, 1977). East Timorese militant and state leader Xanana Gusmão reportedly took his nickname from the band. Sha Na Na hosted
1886-410: Was featured with a solo vocal spot during the course of the series. Each was introduced only by his nickname or his first name in a voice-over by Myers at the beginning of each show. The group appeared as itself in the documentaries Woodstock (1970) and Festival Express (2003). Sha Na Na also appeared in the 1978 film Grease (an adaptation of the 1971 Broadway musical of the same name ) as
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1932-409: Was no business marketing geared specifically towards the group. Their choice in clothing was largely drawn from a common understanding of the empowering aesthetic of working-class attire, rather than a cohesive association with similarly dressed individuals. Many greasers were in motorcycle clubs or in street gangs—and conversely, some gang members and bikers dressed like greasers—though such membership
1978-528: Was not necessarily an inherent principle of the subculture. Ethnically, original greasers were composed mostly of Italian Americans in the Northeast and Mexican American Chicanos in the Southwest . Since both of these groups were mostly olive skinned , the "greaser" label assumed a quasi-racial status that implied an urban, ethnic, lower-class masculinity and delinquency. This development led to an ambiguity in
2024-542: Was still seen as a key component of the modern character. By the mid-1970s, the greaser image had become a quintessential part of 1950s nostalgia and cultural revival. The most notable physical characteristic of greasers was the greased-back hairstyles they fashioned for themselves through use of hair products such as pomade or petroleum jelly , which necessitated frequent combing and reshaping to maintain. Males sported coiffures adopted from early rock 'n' roll and rockabilly performers such as Elvis Presley , among them
2070-650: Was taken from a series of nonsense syllables ("sha na na na, sha na na na na") in the song " Get a Job ", originally recorded by the Silhouettes . The final lineup featured original members Donny York and Jocko Marcellino , and longtime member Screamin' Scott Simon , who joined in 1970. Everyone else from the original band and TV show had since departed. Sha Na Na released their last regular album in 2006, although they subsequently released compilation albums. As of December 5, 2022 , they announced that they would no longer tour. Conceived by George Leonard, then
2116-521: Was with Sha Na Na, he sang the bulk of the Elvis Presley revival songs. Frederick "Denny" Greene left the group to pursue studies in law. After graduating from Yale Law School , he became the vice president of production and features at Columbia Pictures . He was a professor at the University of Dayton . Greene was known for his skilled dancing and sang the lead on " Tears on My Pillow ", " Duke of Earl ", and others. He died on September 5, 2015, after
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