Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

so, who realy gave us rock n roll?


S t e v e

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 74
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Bill Haley is credited as having the first rock and roll song but it was very similar to Hank Williams song called "Move it on over" just no back beat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It has long been acknowledged by a consensus of people in the recording industry that Ike Turner's 1952 hit "Rocket 88" was the first Rock and Roll record.

 

I go with those who consider he first rock n roll recording to be Rocket 88 credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats who were actually Ike Turner's band The Kings of Rhythm recording under a different name. The song was recorded at Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service - you know - that little company with the gold mine of artists - Sun Records - recorded 1951.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzYRKJvQqpU

Link to comment
Share on other sites

broadly speaking... the economy.

 

It was not economic to have a whole "big band" any more, so combos were increasingly in vogue. In order to have a combo get a dance floor in motion with more or less the style of dancing of the era, you've gotta have a pretty heavy overall beat. "Rock and Roll" became, IMHO, inevitable. The "how" is the general culture and economy finding means to do the above.

 

m

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fats back in 1949

 

 

Yeah you right! New Orleans was the source. I will argue that it goes back a couple years earlier (in New Orleans of course) to Roy Brown's tune "Good Rockin Tonight" -- the mofo proclaims the news.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bclSiaftHE

 

Of course, rock and roll is a permeable stream of consciousness through time and has no finite beginning. If this is about 'what's the 1st rock and roll record?' I will stick with Roy Brown's 1947 cut. He was the 1st to sing R&B with a gospel feel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For that you can thank the Million Dollar, albeit impromptu, Quartet: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison. For promoting these guys you can thank one Samuel Cornelius Phillips of Sun Studio, Memphis, Tennessee.

 

There never really was a single band consisting of these fellows, but there is an extant recording of an impromptu 'session' with the above, less Orbison. These guys definitely toured together in the early years.

 

"The Killer," Lewis, is the only one still with us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well... my understanding is that Phillips thought more of Orbison as a guitarist than as a singer... <grin>

 

But seriously, I really think it was inevitable given the times.

 

1. After WWII big bands were increasingly uneconomic and combos were "in" for live music.

 

2. That war, and the Korean War, brought together people from all regions of the country along with their musical traditions. What might have been considered strange music was not odd regionalism or race-based that much any more.

 

3. Technology was rapidly changing, again, thanks to the war. There was a lot of "new" tech involving vacuum tubes that were now far less expensive and manufacturers geared up for wartime needs were looking for markets and the new musical combo was one great outlet along with new radios and the new medium, television.

 

4. Television also gave a few artists a venue that showed them as well as allowed them to be heard. That added to momentum. The 45 rpm single, then the increasing quality available in the 33 1/2 rpm disk also helped. Radio stations diversified and many went into a teen market with the more rhythm-oriented music, although "pop" type material remained part of the mix even into the Beatle era, especially in ballads.

 

Technically the music wasn't necessarily all that complex, nor were performances, nor was the degree of virtuosity compared to many other styles of the time. But youthful combo performers playing loud instruments and cutting up on stage changed the whole youth market.

 

Listen to the "lead guitar" in Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue. Totally uninspiring by today's standard of guitar virtuosity, but the song was so popular it even got onto the quite conservative Arthur Murray Dance Party television show.

 

The teen market also was filled with movies emphasizing rebellion.

 

The combining of electric guitar, new media, combo economics, institutionalized teen rebellion and mixing of musical styles all added to make "rock" inevitable, IMHO. I really don't think one can point to a specific artist, really. Even big band music had gone to heavier rhythms in the mid 1940s, too.

 

Jazz went intellectual and undanceable so... what was left?

 

m

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well... my understanding is that Phillips thought more of Orbison as a guitarist than as a singer... <grin>

 

But seriously, I really think it was inevitable given the times.

 

1. After WWII big bands were increasingly uneconomic and combos were "in" for live music.

 

2. That war, and the Korean War, brought together people from all regions of the country along with their musical traditions. What might have been considered strange music was not odd regionalism or race-based that much any more.

 

3. Technology was rapidly changing, again, thanks to the war. There was a lot of "new" tech involving vacuum tubes that were now far less expensive and manufacturers geared up for wartime needs were looking for markets and the new musical combo was one great outlet along with new radios and the new medium, television.

 

4. Television also gave a few artists a venue that showed them as well as allowed them to be heard. That added to momentum. The 45 rpm single, then the increasing quality available in the 33 1/2 rpm disk also helped. Radio stations diversified and many went into a teen market with the more rhythm-oriented music, although "pop" type material remained part of the mix even into the Beatle era, especially in ballads.

 

Technically the music wasn't necessarily all that complex, nor were performances, nor was the degree of virtuosity compared to many other styles of the time. But youthful combo performers playing loud instruments and cutting up on stage changed the whole youth market.

 

Listen to the "lead guitar" in Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue. Totally uninspiring by today's standard of guitar virtuosity, but the song was so popular it even got onto the quite conservative Arthur Murray Dance Party television show.

 

The teen market also was filled with movies emphasizing rebellion.

 

The combining of electric guitar, new media, combo economics, institutionalized teen rebellion and mixing of musical styles all added to make "rock" inevitable, IMHO. I really don't think one can point to a specific artist, really. Even big band music had gone to heavier rhythms in the mid 1940s, too.

 

Jazz went intellectual and undanceable so... what was left?

 

m

 

 

Great analysis. I'd also point to the ASCAP strike of 1941 (?) that kept most of the tin-pan alley writers and the big bands off the radio for an extended period. The radio stations turned to non-ASCAP artists who were often regional "Hillbilly" "Western" and "Bluegrass" players who worked solo or in small combos. The public got a taste of this music, and the Big bands never really recovered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...