BANNED IN BOSTON

“Banned in Boston” was already a national punchline when rock & roll came crashing into town. Books, plays and movies had all offended the city’s self-appointed guardians of morality—but teenagers dancing to Black music presented an entirely different threat. Alan Freed brought his rock & roll circus to Boston, the Arena erupted, Frankie Lymon fled and City Hall suddenly had a new menace to contain.

Then came payola, congressional hearings and Boston disc jockeys caught inside the machinery that decided which records America heard. What looked like three separate scandals was really one continuing story: who gets to control the culture? Boston Babylon follows the money, the music and the moral panic.