‘Rock ‘n’ Roll music turns 70…sound premiered in 1955

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....”