Turner and the Kings of Rhythm went to Phillips to record their single. Philips was the rare figure who promoted racial equality in music he also founded radio station WHER in 1955, which was almost entirely run by women and played only female artists. The founder of Memphis’s Sun Studio and the hugely influential Sun Records, Sam Phillips produced and recorded the likes of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Howlin’ Wolf, Carl Perkins, B.B. One of those was the producer: Sam Phillips. If it is the first, it’s because the recording puts together a lot of familiar, distinct rock elements. After all, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll allow that this is probably the case. There is some stable ground in asserting that “Rocket 88” was most likely the first rock and roll song. “Rocket 88” (Uploaded to YouTube by Jackie Brenston) The song is attributed to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats on the record’s label, but the actual band was Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm. The truth is that those musical forces brewing from various cultural and geographical influences had coalesced into a new form of blues, one that would be captured on record in the first week of March of 1951. Trying to attribute the birth of rock as something that happened in 1954 and emerged fully formed under Haley and Elvis is laughable, but it’s a cultural idea that persisted for years and was pushed by, well, marketers trying to sell records to white kids. Likewise, Elvis Presley’s “That’s All Right” was a cover of a 1940s tune and charted after both Haley and Turner ironically, his second single was a cover of Roy Brown’s “Good Rocking Tonight.” Chuck Berry’s first single, “ Maybellene,” hit in 1955, as did Fats Domino’s “ Ain’t That a Shame” and Little Richard’s “ Tutti Frutti.” Several of these artists, like Domino and Little Richard, had already released multiple singles before their sound was considered to have transitioned from blues or old-school rhythm and blues to “rock and roll.” Part of that transition was a new phenomenon: white acceptance.Īn inextricable part of the confusion over the first rock tune is simply that, in the 1950s, the artistic and musical contributions of Black Americans were simply dismissed.
1954’s “Clock” wasn’t even Haley’s first rock song to chart, and it still came along a couple of months after “ Shake, Rattle, and Roll” by Big Joe Turner. What’s fairly certain is that songs often cited as first rock songs, like “ Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets, aren’t the answer. “That’s All Right” (Uploaded to YouTube by Elvis Presley) You might look at the use of “rock” in three of those titles and think, game over, but many writers and scholars say that despite the word (both a reference to the gospel “rocking” prevalent in the Black church and southern slang for, uh, other activities), the elements that make a rock record, well, rock, aren’t entirely there. Examples include Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s “ Strange Things Happening Every Day” from 1944, “ Good Rocking Tonight” from 1947 and “ Rockin’ at Midnight” from 1948 (both by Roy Brown), Wild Bill Moore’s “ Rock and Roll” from 1948, and even 1952’s “ Hound Dog” by Big Mama Thornton (yeah, Elvis’s was a cover). That’s where some of the confusion comes in, because a number of records made in the 1940s sound like proper early rock, but were identified and marketed as other forms, like blues. Rock’s direct antecedent is rhythm and blues, which, in the 1940s, was a faster, more beat-driven blues styling. Most musicologists will assert that rock exists at the intersection of previously established genres like the blues, gospel, country, folk, and jazz.
Unlike your first child, it’s harder to nail down when rock and roll was actually born. However, there is one song that comes closest to being the answer, and it was recorded 70 years ago this week. In fact, it might be an unanswerable question. When we consider the advent of rock and roll, there are any number of candidates for the first rock song. That’s particularly true in the world of music, especially when it comes to the birth of a whole new form or genre. Other firsts are more nebulous, and require debate and conversation. president, first man on the Moon, or the birth of your first child (even if younger siblings think they came first). Some firsts are pretty hard to dispute, like first U.S.
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