Rock
‘n’ Roll music wasn’t “just invented” one day. It’s a genre born from the
“combined efforts of scores of pioneering artists,” said James Hardy, a
contributor to historycooperative.org.
Some
who have been identified as Rock ‘n’ Roll trailblazers – those appearing on the
scene in “the vicinity of 1955” – were Fats Domino, Ray Charles, LaVern Baker,
Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Bill Haley and the Comets.
Michael
Uslan and Bruce Solomon, co-authors of the reference book titled “Dick Clark’s
The First 25 Years of Rock & Roll,” said the record “Rock Around the Clock”
from 1955 had an incredible impact.
The
song, written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (under the pseudonym “Jimmy
De Knight”), was performed by Bill Haley and the Comets.
“Rock
Around the Clock” was transformative in every sense, said Uslan and Solomon.
“Kids
hadn’t been dancing since the end of the swing era,” they wrote. “Suddenly,
this spirited tune with a bouncy, rhythmic beat had the kids clapping and
dancing to the newest version of the Lindy – the jitterbug. It revitalized
dancing the way the Twist and the Hustle would in later years.”
Bill Haley composed another song – “Rock-A-Beatin’ Boogie” – about the same time,
which is considered by some music historians “as the first true Rock ‘n’ Roll’
song.” The tune begins: “Everybody rock, rock, rock! Everybody roll, roll,
roll!”
Uslan
and Solomon asked: “Could these lyrics have inspired Cleveland’s WJW disc
jockey Alan Freed to dub the emerging music ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll?’”
Antoine
“Fats” Domino Jr. of New Orleans had a monster hit in 1955 with “Ain’t That a
Shame,” which he wrote along with Dave Bartholomew.
Fats
Domino reeled off a string of top songs, including “I’m in Love Again,” “My
Blue Heaven,” “Blueberry Hill,” “Blue Monday,” “I’m Walkin,’” “Valley of
Tears,” “While Lotta Loving,” “Walking to New Orleans” and “I Hear You
Knocking.”
The
incomparable Elvis Presley credited Fats Domino “as being the real king of Rock
‘n’ Roll.” “Let’s face it,” Elvis said, “I can’t sing like Fats Domino can. I
know that. Fats Domino was a huge influence on me when I started out.”
Ray
Charles Robinson of Albany, Ga., lost his vision as a young boy, possibly due
to glaucoma. He was a singer, songwriter and pianist who released chartbusters
“I Got a Woman” and “Greenbacks” in 1955.
Ray
Charles followed up those hits with a magical song titled “What’d I Say,” a
tune that he improvised during a concert when he and his band had 12 minutes to
fill before completing their final set for the evening.
Delores
LaVern Baker of Chicago burst on the Rock ‘n’ Roll music scene in 1955 with
“Tweedlee Dee,” a rhythm and blues novelty song with a Latin-influenced riff,
which was written by Winfield Scott.
LaVern
Baker had a succession of hits with her backup group, the Gliders, including “Bop-Ting-a-Ling,”
“Play It Fair,” “Still,” “Jim Dandy” and “I Cried a Tear.” Over the years,
Elvis Presley recorded eight of LaVern Baker’s songs.
Charles
Edward Anderson Berry of St. Louis, Mo., was working at an automobile assembly
plant when he “was influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of
blues musician T-Bone Walker.”
Chuck
Berry’s first hit song in 1955 was “Maybellene,” adapted in part from the
western swing fiddle tune “Ida Red,” first recorded in 1938 by Bob Wills and His
Texas Playboys.
Commenting
on “Maybellene,” Rolling Stone magazine wrote: “Rock ‘n’ Roll guitar starts
here.” Chuck Berry hit paydirt with subsequent songs “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Rock
and Roll Music” and “Johnny B. Goode.”
Richard
Wayne Penniman of Macon, Ga., a singer, songwriter and pianist, performed as
Little Richard. His signature song, released is 1955, was “Tutti Frutti,” written
by Little Richard and Dorothy LaBostrie, contained an energetic refrain: “A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-lop-bam-boom!”
Little
Richard’s next hit single was “Long Tall Sally,” which he wrote in
collaboration with Robert “Bumps” Blackwell and Enotris Johnson. It was
followed by “Good Golly, Miss Molly,” written by Blackwell and John Marascalco
Ellas
Bates McDaniel of McComb, Miss., was a guitarist and singer who was known
professionally as Bo Diddley. While performing in Chicago, he broke through as
a recording artist in 1955 when he recorded the song “Bo Diddley.”
Other
Bo Diddley singles that were well-received included “Pretty Thing” and “Say Man.”
Bo Diddley and Jody Williams co-wrote “Love Is Strange,” a mega-hit for Mickey
& Sylvia, a dynamic R&B duo composed of Mickey Baker and Sylvia
Vanterpool, who first got together in 1955.
Carl
Lee Perkins of Tiptonville, Tenn., was a songwriter who successfully auditioned
for Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, Tenn. He immediately began
appearing at shows that featured Phillips’ headliner, Elvis Presley.
After
Elvis signed with RCA Records in November 1955, Phillips turned to Perkins and
proclaimed: “You’re my rockabilly cat now.”
Carl
Perkins responded in grand style with the release in December 1955 of a song
titled “Blue Suede Shoes,” which Perkins had written, inspired by a male dancer
who got angry with his date for scuffing up his shoes.
Among
his best-known songs are “Honey Don’t,” “Matchbox” and “Everybody’s Trying to
Be My Baby.”
Carl
Perkins was a prolific songwriter who contributed material over the years to
artists like Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, The Judds, George Strait, Jerry Lee
Lewis and Patsy Cline, as well as Elvis and The Beatles.
Carl
Perkins, in effect, brought the curtain down on the year 1955, which in the
viewof Uslan and Solomon, was when “Rock ‘n’ Roll officially arrived in
America.”
Others,
including the aforementioned James Hardy, say the “foundation” of Rock ‘n’ Roll
was laid during the late 1940s and early 1950s.
The
artists who “paved the way,” so to speak, included Louis Jordan and Big Joe
Turner, who cut “one
swinging rhythm & blues (R&B) masterpiece after another.”
Louis
Thomas Jordan of Brinkley, Ark., a saxophonist, songwriter and bandleader, was known
as “king of the jukebox.”
Joseph
Vernon “Big Joe” Turner Jr. of Kansas City, Mo., recorded “Chains of Love” in
1951, written by Doc Pomus, who said: “Rock ‘n’ Roll would have never happened
without Big Joe Turner.” Turner was further lauded as the “brawny voiced boss
of the blues.”
Hardy
said that “jump blues, characterized by its up-tempo beat and swinging horn
sections, contributed to the energetic feel of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Louis Prima and
Wynonie Harris brought this dynamic style to the forefront.”
Louis
Leo Prima of New Orleans was a trumpeter, singer and bandleader. He encompassed
early R&B and boogie-woogie with Italian and Sicilian folk music from his
heritage.
Wynonie Harris of Omaha, Neb., sang vocals for Lucky Millinder and
His Orchestra, which had a hit tune in 1945, titled “Who Threw the Whiskey in
the Well,” written by Eddie DeLange and John Benson Brooks.
African-American
musicians had “a profound impact” on the development of Rock ‘n’ Roll music,
Hardy said, and “artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Sister Rosetta
Tharpe laid the foundation with their soulful vocals and innovative guitar
techniques, which were later adopted by the Rock ‘n’ Roll pioneers.”
McKinley
Morganfield of Jug’s Corner, Miss., was a blues singer-songwriter and musician who
was known by his stage name Muddy Waters. He is often cited as the “father of
modern Chicago blues.”
Chester
Arthur Burnett of White Station, Miss., was
nicknamed Howlin’ Wolf as a child, supposedly a reflection of his mischievous
behavior. He was at the forefront of transforming acoustic Delta blues into
electric Chicago blues. Howlin’ Wolf wrote and performed the hit song “Moanin’
at Midnight” in 1951.
Sister
Rosetta Tharpe was born as Rosetta Nubin in Cotton Plant, Ark., and made her
mark as a gospel music singer, songwriter and guitarist. She was labeled as “the
original soul sister” and “the Godmother of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” who influenced Tina
Turner, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley
and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Hardy
made special mention of Jackie Brenston of Clarksdale, Miss., a singer and
saxophonist, who wrote the song “Rocket 88,” which is often cited as one of the
earliest Rock ‘n’ Roll records in 1951, “featuring distorted guitar tones and
an infectious rhythm.”
The
song was recorded in the Memphis studio of producer Sam Phillips and licensed
to Chess Records for release. The record was supposed to be credited to “Ike
Turner and his Kings of Rhythm featuring Jackie Brenston,” but “Jackie Brenston
and his Delta Cats” was printed instead. The controversy didn’t end there. Ike
Turner also claimed to have had a hand in composing the tune as well.
As
it was, the song that “praises the joys of the Oldsmobile Rocket 88 automobile”
borrows liberally from a 1947 jump blues tune about a different brand of automobile,
Jimmy Liggins’ “Cadillac Boogie.”
A
review of the “Rocket 88” printed in Time magazine observed: “‘Rocket 88’ was
brash and it was sexy; it took elements of the blues, hammered them with rhythm
and attitude and electric guitar, and reimagined black music into something
new. If the blues seemed to give voice to old wisdom, this new music seemed
full of youthful notions. This new music was about letting the good times roll.
If the blues was about earthly troubles, the rock that Turner’s crew created
seemed to shout that the sky was now the limit.”
Ike
Turner once commented: “I don’t think that ‘Rocket 88’ is Rock ‘n’ Roll. I
think that ‘Rocket 88’ is R&B, but I think ‘Rocket 88’ is the cause of Rock
‘n’ Roll existing.”
James
Hardy concludes: “The birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll is a captivating tale that emerged
from a blend of diverse influences and pivotal moments. While its exact origins
may be debated, its cultural significance and enduring relevance in the world
of music are indisputable.”
“Rock
‘n’ Roll’s timeless legacy unites generations through its infectious rhythms,
showcasing the enduring power of music to transcend boundaries and shape our
cultural landscape.”
Or,
in the words of The Showmen from the song “It Will Stand”…
“It’ll be here
forever and ever...ain’t gonna fade...never, no, never....”
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