Don Kirshner: The Pop Factory

POP FROM THE production line; that seemed to be the story of the late Fifties and early Sixties. But the production line does not inevitably come out with trash. Philadelphia’s teen idols are often criticised, but on the West Coast Phil Spector’s hit factory produced a string of classic records. And in New York, firms like Aldon Music proved that Tin Pan Alley traditions could be fitted to rock without disastrous results.