Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots - The Cheers

Motorcycle gangs were on the rise in the early 1950's. With the founding of the Hells Angels in 1948 (though this date is hotly debated) a new terror was gripping millions of God-Fearing-Nuclear-Families across America. It came riding on asphalt burning wheels while spinning chains and wearing leather jackets, Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots.

Black Denim Trousers was written by Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber, famous for penning an enormous string of hits for artists such as Elvis including Jailhouse Rock, King Creole and Hound Dog. In 1954 the duo had their first American chart success with '(Bazoom) I Need Your Lovin' as performed by The Cheers. They continued this partnership in 1955 with their next hit 'Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots.' It shot to number six and while Stoller and Leiber would go on to futher glory, it proved to be the last Billboard single for The Cheers- but what a way to go out.

Atop snares sputtering like engine backfires and wild horns rollicking you down the highway, singers Bert Convy, Sue Allen and Gil Garfield spin the grim ballad of an anonymous motorcycle rider known as The Terror of Highway 101 who loves his cycle over all else- including his neglected girlfriend Mary-Lou. It's an incredibly theatrical piece of music, complete with stings and motifs recurring over the course of its two minutes and ten seconds. There's also a great economy to the lyrics, managing to pack an enormous amount of both melody and narrative into a breathlessly paced performance.

The song is an example of what came to be known as a Teenage Tragedy song or (as I vastly prefer) a Splatter Platter. These songs all focused on the premature deaths of teenagers, and warned against the hard n' fast life style that was fast becoming a required part of the adolescent experience. This particular number was the first pop song to look at the rise of motorcycle culture and it's seduction of teenagers looking for a thrill. The number would prove to be so popular that it was covered by a wide breadth of artists (including a French version translated for Edith Piaf) and gained the ultimate 50s Seal-of-Success by having a parody song written about it titled Pink Shoe Laces.

So the next time you hop onto your motorcycle (like you usually do) remember the warning of The Cheers, and the twisted wreckage that marks the resting place of The Terror of Highway 101.