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The rock ‘n’ roll craze of the 1950s did not leave France untouched, and French artists initially confined themselves to translating English-language songs. Later, the Beatles also became a source of inspiration, which is why the term ‘Yéyé rock’ is also used. The lyrics are cheerful and simple, aimed at a very young audience.
The most influential representative of this style is Johnny Hallyday, who also occupies a prominent place in the photo above (standing top left). In 1961, he released ‘Viens danser le twist’, a cover of ‘Let’s Twist Again’, of which he sold over a million copies. In his 57-year career, he has sold 110 million albums and made rock popular in France, perhaps mainly because the difference between chanson and rock was minimal. Listen to one of his best-known songs, ‘Que je t’aime’
The next instalment of this blog post is entirely devoted to Johnny Hallyday. This post will cover other prominent figures in classic French rock: Les Chaussettes Noires, Christophe, Les Chats Sauvages and, in particular, their singer Dick Rivers, after he embarked on a solo tour in 1964.
Serge Gainsbourg can also be seen as a representative of this style. Many of his songs are primarily poetic in nature, which is why he will be discussed later.
How it began
Just as in many other parts of the world, ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ first emerged in France in the mid-1950s. How this came about differed greatly from the rest of the world. The writer and jazz musician Boris Vian had a deep-seated hatred of rock ‘n’ roll and wrote a parody of it: ‘Fais-moi mal Johnny’ (Hurt me, Johnny), sung by the actress Magali Noël, later known for the films La dolce vita and Satyricon.
The public, however, saw this song as the first rock ‘n’ roll track in the French language and appreciated it as such, despite (or perhaps because of) the radio’s boycott of it due to its offensive language. You can listen to it here:
The first ‘real’ rock ‘n’ roll bands emerged in the early 1960s and were ‘Les chats sauvages’ and ‘Les chaussettes noires’.
Les chats sauvages released the first French-language rock ‘n’ roll track, ‘Twist à Saint-Tropez’, clearly inspired by English-language songs that had just come out at the time. When singer Dick Rivers left the group in 1982 to embark on a solo career, it wasn’t long before the band ceased to exist.
Les Chausettes Noires were not destined for a long life either. In their case, this was because members of the band, including singer Eddy Mitchell, were called up for military service. The latter, incidentally, also went on to launch a solo career. Together they had a number of hits such as ‘Be-bop-a-lula’ (1960) and ‘ Daniela’ (1961). You can listen to the latter track here. After Eddy Mitchell’s departure, the group continued for some time without a singer as ‘frontman’ and, in addition to French-language covers of The Beatles, also produced instrumental tracks inspired by The Shadows, such as ‘Miserlou’ here.
Dick Rivers
Dick Rivers (Hervé Former; 1945 – 2019) produced 36 albums during his career. In the early years of his solo career, he recorded several Beatles classics, such as this one: ‘Entre nous c’est fini’. In 1965, he was the only French singer invited by the group to appear on the special broadcast ‘Music of Lennon and McCartney’, in honour of the duo John Lennon and Paul McCartney. This broadcast, a recording of which you can see here, features excerpts from covers of the duo’s songs.
Rivers’ ‘ ’ was a hit in the US and Canada, as was the country rock album ‘ . He also released French-language albums, such as ‘Rock ’n’ Roll Star’ (1974) and ‘Va, Va, Va’ (1975). You can watch and listen to the single of the same name from the latter album here.
During the 1980s, little was heard of the singer and he gave few performances. At his manager’s request, Les Chats Sauvages and Dick reunited once more and released the album ‘Les Chats Sauvages 1982’. It was not until some time later, following the release of the album ‘Plein Soleil’ (1995), that his career was revived. This album features a wide variety of styles, ranging from rock to ballads. He also resumed his live performances. Here you can watch and listen to the title track ‘Plein soleil’.
From that point on, he mainly sang his own songs rather than translations of English-language songs. In 1997, following a concert in honour of his fiftieth birthday at Disneyland Paris, he gave a unique concert at l’Olympia on 8 January (Elvis Presley’s birthday).
Early in 1998, a new album was released: ‘Vivre comme ça’. On this album, in the song ‘La Trahison des mots’, the singer sings about showbiz and its “sharks”.
In May 2003, the singer published ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’, an autobiographical book about his career, the 45th anniversary of which he celebrated in 2006 with a series of concerts. After the turn of the century, Dick Rivers was involved in several films, including ‘Le furet’, a comedy by Jean-Pierre Mocky. In 2004, Dick Rivers made his stage debut at the Théâtre National de Chaillot, where he starred in Jean Genet’s Les Paravents. He continued his acting career by voicing the monkey Zugor in Tarzan 2.
In 2005, a period of reflection began. Dick Rivers wanted to develop further musically. Francis Cabrel, Mickey 3D, Benjamin Biolay, Mathieu Boggaerts and Axel Bauer became his new songwriters. The result, the album Dick Rivers, the30thof his career, was released on 27 March 2006. It gave the rocker’s career a new lease of life. Listen to ‘Le mauvais joueur’ from this album here.
After much hesitation, Dick Rivers agreed to take part in Âge Tendre, la tournée des idoles, a tour that visited France’s major venues between January and April 2018. On stage, he performed a medley of Les Chats Sauvages. Following this tour, during which he gave 62 concerts, he set off on a solo tour — entitled 100 % rock ‘n’ roll — with around twenty performances in various cities and at festivals across France from May 2018.
Dick Rivers died on 24 April 2019, the day of his 74th birthday, from the effects of cancer that had been discovered two months earlier during a medical examination.
La Femme
La Femme belongs in the ‘alternative, indie and new wave’ category, but is also regularly referred to as a ‘retro surf rock band’. Reviewer Huw Nesbit praised the group for its versatility. Their debut album ‘Psycho tropical Berlin’ brings together influences from the 1950s (Americana), the 1960s (French pop) and the 1980s (synthpop). This is particularly true of the track ‘ la planche’ (2010).
