Yonge Street: Toronto Rock & Roll Stories

1955-1960

46 min

Rumour has it that in sleepy 1950s Toronto they used to roll up the sidewalks when the sun went down. There was no rock 'n' roll or R&B music until the fateful day when Arkansas wildmen Ronnie Hawkins and Levon Helm pulled up in front of Le Coq d'Or Tavern and unleashed the "devil's music" on unsuspecting Toronto. Travelling back to those colourful days, Part 1 reveals the city's appetite for the popular and rebellious new sounds reaching up from the border. Between the exodus of African American performers like Curley Bridges and Mouse Johnson to Toronto, and Elvis performing at Maple Leaf Gardens, a whole generation of young local performers like Ronnie Robertson and Bobby Dean Blackburn were inspired to begin making their names on the flourishing Yonge Street strip.

1960-1965

46 min

By the early 1960s, the Toronto music scene spilled into Yorkville. Folk music began to thrive and young performers like Gordon Lightfoot, Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell found a home. But Yonge Street was still the headquarters of the more raucous, wild rock 'n' roll bands. Part 2 sees Robbie Robertson, and The Hawks, create a distinctive guitar style that became synonymous with the "Toronto" sound. Then, as the Toronto music scene exploded, white bands were soon jamming with black musicians, heavily influenced by R&B and creating a distinct new sound all their own.