Site-Seeing -- ''The Fifties Website''

------------------------------- Web site review

XXX "The Fifties Website" http://www.fiftiesweb.com/fifties.htm -------------------------------

It wasn't just that new, pounding beat and the raucous dancing that alarmed our parents so in the earliest days of rock 'n' roll. Those who bothered to listen seemed certain the lyrics would lead all teens to wrack and ruin - verses amazingly tame by today's standards:

I got a gal, named Daisy,

She almost drives me crazy

She knows how to love me,

Yes indeed

Boy you don't know

What she's doing to me

Oh my goodness. The children of the '50s still love the music of Little Richard, who sang the first and best version of the classic "Tutti Fruti." Even filtered through muddled, middle-aged brains, the song sparks vivid memories of parties and dancing and teen rebellion.

In the Fifties Web site (www.fiftiesweb.com), an altar to nostalgia for 50-somethings, you can find just about any lyric you've ever forgotten.

What does come after "Ring, ring goes the bell" in "School Days," by Chuck Berry? Who sang "Rockin' Robin"? And when was "the day the music died," and where was the plane crash?

Created by Rich Design Studios, the site offers punchy, well-written histories of early rock, year by year. It even has a page on that mostly bland stuff that preceded rock 'n 'roll in the early '50s.

Find the written lyrics to at least 125 songs on the site, plus 13 TV-show themes. Listen to the orginal recorded intros to some tunes; hear not-so-hot, tinny recordings of many other songs.

A major disappointment in a page on dancing is nary a mention of the Shag - the dance that had its beginnings in the '50s, done by the coolest, especially along the Southeast coast. Graphics of other dance steps are provided on the page.

Special links pay tribute to teen idols (like Frankie Avalon), Dick Clark's American Bandstand and, of course, Elvis. And at the end of the page for each rock 'n' roll year, you get a little dose of real history. A 1957 sample: "After only 10 years on the job, Philip, husband of Elizabeth II, is promoted from Duke of Edinburgh to Prince of the United Kingdom."

The site is heaviest on music. But it offers up a healthy dose of that other major distraction, the tube. TV really got going in the 50s, and Candace Rich, the site designer, presents rich, funny summaries of a variety of shows. Sound bites also will make you smile bigtime.

In the Comedy section, hear Lucy exclaim: "Isn't that a dilly?" Alfred Hitchcock bids you, "Good eeeevening, ladies and gentlemen" in the Drama section. You'll hear Huntley tell Brinkley goodnight in the News section.

The theme from "Bonanza" plays through the Westerns section, and there's a link to a list of every famous horse you could possibly think of (not just from the '50s). Out of the night when the full moon is bright comes a horseman known as Zorro. The horse? "Phantom," or course.

Other sections highlight the early variety shows, quiz shows and kids' shows, including a special tribute to Buffalo Bob Smith, the "Howdy Doody" host who died this year.

The Fifties site also has a new section on Burma-Shave slogans - those corny ditties you used to see, a phrase at a time, on a series of five or six roadside signs. A gift section offers stuff like '50s theme mousepads. Another section has a raft of links to other nostalgia sites.

The site's search engine isn't very smart. Key in an artist's name and you'll find information pretty quickly. Not always so with a song. What a burden. But you'll have fun looking.

A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom! - Warren King Seattle Times staff reporter