- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Legendary Masters Series list the release date for between 1957 to 1963; and during that period, his singles outsold everyone in America except Elvis Presley.
Ricky Nelson – Legendary Masters Series (1971): Legendary Masters Series was started by United Artists Records for its rock and roll stars; the Legendary Masters album for Ricky Nelson was just the second volume in the series and features an Andy-Warhol–style colorized photograph on the front cover. Capitol Records revived the Legendary Masters Series after they purchased United Artists Records; in all, more than 75 albums have been released under the label Legendary Masters Series, with most probably being double albums, such as this one. Ricky Nelson’s music career began accidentally when, at age 16, he released a cover of Fats Domino’s “I’m Walkin’ ” in order to impress his girlfriend; unexpectedly, the song rose to #4 on the charts, and the flip side, “A Teenager’s Romance” made it to #2.
Ricky Nelson had the unparalleled opportunity to debut his new songs on his family’s hit television show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett through the mid-1960’s. As a result, Ricky Nelson was a major if underappreciated force in normalizing rock and roll in the larger American culture – after all, if a wholesome show like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett featured rock and roll songs, how bad could they be? The record labels for Ricky Nelson’s Legendary Masters Series list the release date for each of the songs that range from 1957 to 1963; and during that period, Ricky Nelson’s singles outsold just about everyone else in America except Elvis Presley, with songs that include “Poor Little Fool”, “Lonesome Town”, “Travelin’ Man”, “Young World”, “Teen Age Idol”, and “Hello Mary Lou”. During the British Invasion era, Ricky Nelson – who changed his name to Rick Nelson on his 21st birthday, in 1962 – continued making hit records, culminating in “For You” in 1964, his last hit song during the 1960’s. After he switched to a country rock style in the late 1960’s, Rick Nelson made the Top 40 in 1970 with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “She Belongs to Me”. One of the few songs that Rick Nelson wrote, “Garden Party” was a genuine hit for him in 1972, reaching #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, though it would be his last. The song is a clever reflection on his new songs’ being booed at a rock and roll oldies show at Madison Square Garden. None of these later songs are included on Legendary Masters Series, nor is his first hit single, “I’m Walkin’ ” b/w “A Teenager’s Romance” – probably due to their being released on labels other than Imperial Records. Ricky Nelson was one of the earliest and most successful “teen idols”, but his music had more of a rock and roll sensibility than the rather bland pop tunes recorded by most of his contemporaries. As an example, six of the songs on Legendary Masters Series were written by Johnny Burnette and/or Dorsey Burnette of the renowned rockabilly combo, the Rock and Roll Trio, whose version of “Train Kept A-Rollin’ ” turned the song into a rock and roll classic that was recorded by the Yardbirds, Aerosmith, and many other lesser known bands. Led Zeppelin opened their concerts with “Train Kept A-Rollin’ ” for many years, although they never recorded a studio version of the song. Ricky Nelson was part of a family act dating from the early 1930’s when his father Ozzie Nelson was a jazz bandleader. After an extended career in radio, in 1944 Ozzie Nelson created a situation comedy called The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett, also on radio, that featured the members of his own family, including his wife Harriett and his sons David Nelson and Ricky Nelson, though the two were played by actors in the show’s first four seasons, since they were too young to perform. The show moved to television in October 1952 and had a 14-year run through the 1965-1966 season. Even though the gatekeepers at Wikipedia didn’t agree, I consider The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett to be one of the earliest reality television shows. While the episodes were fictional, the Nelsons strove for as much realism as possible, and they also performed using their real names. Thus, the exterior shots during the show were of the Nelsons’ actual house in Los Angeles, and the interior scenes were filmed in a Hollywood studio set designed to look like the inside of their home. In 1962, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett became the first prime-time scripted series on American television to reach the 10-year milestone. The latest generation of the Nelson family is represented in the music world by Rick Nelson’s twin sons by his wife Kristin Harmon Nelson (the older sister of actor Mark Harmon), Matthew Nelson and Gunnar Nelson. They formed a band called Nelson that had a #1 hit single in 1990 called “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection”, and Nelson released an album the same year, After the Rain. At the time, the two were performing with striking long blond hair. Nelson continued performing and releasing albums on their own label Stone Canyon Records after their second album, Because They Can (1995). Counting #1 hits by Ozzie Nelson, Guinness World Records notes that the Nelsons are the only family to have had #1 hit songs over three generations. Rick Nelson died in late 1985 in a small airplane crash on his way to a concert when he was only 45 years old.