I listened to Move It recently and it was a real revelation. I've always thought of Cliff Richard as something very mock-worthy (and generally still do) but Move It is a kick arse tune and he actually seems cool in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4IA7DR1jK0

So what happened? People say the Beatles made Cliff irrelevant. Did he become ruled by religion? I don't get how someone who was capable of being behind a song like Move It can lose their credibility and be seen as a bit of a joke.

well he was the british elvis, i guess he followed his inspiration and age resulted (along with religion) a similar path into naffness.

Good comparison - I love young Elvis but I'm not keen on older Elvis. He got too cheesy.

I think in both cases (Cliff and Elvis) it was bad management. The managers pushing them into the type of music that would appeal to most record buyers of the time. Artists signed away their rights then much more than many would these days.

"Move It" is by far the best British rock'n'roll record of the fifties, all the others are pale imitations of the American originals.

However, it was the fifties and many believed this new music known as rock'n'roll, which only appealed to the teenagers, was just a passing fad, and certainly not something you could have a lifetime career in, so Cliff moved to more lightweight pop and immediately attracted a much wider cross-generational audience. It was a winning formula, so he stuck with it for the rest of his extremely long and very successful career. I guess he doesn't mind being considered naff if being naff means you have no.1 singles in five consecutive decades (which could have been six had "Millenium Prayer" stayed at the top a few weeks longer).

It wasn't until the Beatles came along and changed all the rules of the game that it became apparent that you could have a lifetime career in rock'n'roll, by which time Cliff had forgotten how to rock.

You've covered everything there. If you were a solo act you were more or less expected to move into light entertainment - especially the girl singers in the UK, who all had their own TV shows on the BBC it seems - Cilla, Dusty, Petula, Lulu, Sandie. Cliff Richard had more in common with those artists (he even took part in Eurovision, like Sandie and Lulu) than the groups like the Beatles and the Stoned.

He cetainly doesn't care about credibility - but then his longevity is his credibility. I wondn't mind being a million quid behind in the bank.

Cliffs longevity speaks for his credibility.
He has had some great songs over the years and puts on fabulous live concerts.
Shame the radio stations only seem to want to play things like Summer Holiday and Bachelor Boy or Mistletoe and Wine - giving a completely false picture of his overall music - he has brought out some gems of songs on some great albums.
There are plenty more songs with the quality of Move It.
If naff means selling over 260 million records world wide and having No 1 singles in 5 consecutive decades - plus a No 2 single in the 6th decade...then bring on naff I say!

Was he ever cool ??

I'm a huge Cliff fan (hints the name) to me he is a brilliant performer I've had the luck of seeing him a number of times,I love his voice and his songs,but I totally understand why people think he is 'naff' and 'uncool' but as another poster said radio stations only seem to play a select set of songs from him that would do nothing to change this image of his. Songs like 'Dreamin, We Don't talk anymore (his biggest selling hit) Miss You nights etc & even some of his newer stuff like What Car which is a great 'drive' song but these don't get a look in so people who only think of Cliff for xmas songs and cheesy hits will never have their opinion changed

Also if you like 'Move it' he has done afew other great Rock 'n' Roll songs you should try

here's Cliff at his most Elvis-y..........Turn Me Loose

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...ddR9nSwso&NR=1

I don't think Cliff was ever comfortable playing the sexy rock star, I expect he was pleased when his career advisors told him to move into light entertainment and films

He had a bit of a revival in the 70s with a few hits like Carrie, Devil Woman, We Don't Talk Anymore

The weird thing is that if you hear him now he still thinks he's in competition with the pop stars of today...........

Another interesting side note is that, unlike Cliff, Hank Marvin has managed to remain 'cool' for 60 years

Cliff was massively cool back in the day.
He was the biggest pop star around.
And he is still the biggest selling singles artist in the UK.
To me he will always be cool.
Whatever cool is..
If enough people still love your music and you can still get into the top end of the charts and sell out concerts over and over - then you have to be cool to many.
Cliff has had a 50+ years career - and sold more records than lots of artists can only dream of.
Long may he continue!

That's a great song, but even here he displays how out of touch he was. In the video, he sings the line 'the young wear their freedom like cheap perfume' and does a peace sign... the young were making peace signs in the late 60s early 70s, not 1980 when he was singing this!

Maybe it wasn't a peace sign, maybe he was going through a delusional phase and believed himself to be Winston Churchill.

As far as I'm concerned, no.

Vince Taylor's 'Brand New Cadillac' is a winner too...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyjKLGsY3lc

Johnny Kidd did some good stuff too.

Johnny Kidd's classic was "Shaking All Over", but that was from 1960.

"Brand New Cadillac" is a cracking track, but I thought it too was from 1960. If I'm wrong, and it's from earlier than 1960, then yes, I would say that it rivals "Move It" as the best British rock'n'roll record of the fifties. Didn't David Bowie base the Ziggy Stardust character on Vince Taylor?

i think Cliff is cool - his huge and varied contribution to music across several decades is uber cool in itself, irrespective of whether or not one likes all of his songs.

Also, the fact that Radio 1 have refused to play his music for many years only adds even more weight to his extra speshul coolness, in my opinion.

Viva la Cliff!

yes, in the late 50's when he started out he made some credible (to the young) music.

Funny but those girls all seem cooler than Cliff, especially Dusty and Sandie.

Yes they were. Dusty is still the coolest pop star Britain ever produced and Sandie only stumbled with Eurovision. Her collaborations with Chris Andrews and her foreign language albums are tres chic.

Radio 1 are truly odious (is there anyone they don't snub?!) but Cliff was obviously made for Radio 2 so I can't blame them in this case.

I was round at my sisters the other week with friends. She put on the recent Take That live DVD, after that she put on the recent Cliff live DVD with all the soul singers. The strange thing we all agred on was how entertaining the Cliff one was. "We don`t talk anymore" has to be (IMHO) one of the best pop songs of all time.

I have that dvd and I agree its very very good,most of the songs with the soul singers are very well performed (Do You Ever is a lovely song)

Agreed about We Don't Talk Anymore aswell brilliant song

You having a laugh?

Cliff and the songs Devil Woman, Young Ones & Living Doll deserve more praise imo. Summer holiday and some of his other tracks are a bit naff I guess.