Talk:Cruising with Ruben & the Jets

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[edit] More from Ruben and the Jets?

Once upon a time I possessed an entirely different LP by "Ruben and the Jets". I don't remember its title. Zappa was not involved, but I'm pretty sure that the band was otherwise very similar to that recorded here. Same style, but (predictably) less madness. Sorry I can't be more informative, but if this triggers anybody's search in the dustier recesses of his or her own LP collection, well, an additional paragraph on the post-Cruising Ruben and the Jets might be worthwhile. -- Hoary 13:38, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

Done!

Ruben and the Jets

P.S.: Zappa was, indeed, involved with the production of Ruben and the Jets' first album. He produced it, wrote the first track, and played guitar on the second track. (Ibaranoff24 01:08, 3 December 2005 (UTC))

[edit] Connection to Sha-na-na and rock and roll revival seems tenuous

Disclamer: I love Crusin' with Ruben and the Jets, and I wasn't alive in the late 60s.

To me, the articles claim that the album "touched off a sort of mini revival of 1950's rock music" seems a bit of a stretch. Sha-na-na had its roots in a campus a Capella group that predated "Ruben"; Elvis, in his Dec. 68 comeback special was just playing up his own strengths as a performer (and besides, he didn't have much to do with doo-wop anyway).

I think that the doo-wop revival was ripe to happen as people born in the late 30s/early 40s were hitting the point in their lives when nostalgia becomes attractive. Plus, psychedelic music was so prevalent that even younger people, like those at Woodstock, were happy to take a breather from it with something more frivolous. I think Sha-na-na, American Graffiti, Happy Days, Grease, and all the rest would have happened exactly the same if Frank had never made a single record. He may have inspired the Beatles, but "Crusin' with Ruben..." was a little too perverse a record to ignite the doo-wop flame among the record-buying public. And how many people heard the record at the time anyway? This article claims that the record didn't get much airplay.