First rock and roll record

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There are many candidates for the title of the first rock and roll record. Numerous recordings mark the development of rock and roll as a separate musical form. Some songs are cited as having important lyrical content, others are seen as offering important melodic, harmonic or rhythmic influence. These songs include not only hits from the early 1950s when the music emerged on the national and international scene, but also earlier precursors.

Wild cards from the 1920s and 1930s that seemed then to have come from nowhere but now clearly foreshadow rock and roll:

• "My Daddy Rocks Me (with One Good Steady Roll)" by Trixie Smith (1922). Although it was played with a backbeat and was one of the first "around the clock" lyrics, this slow minor-key blues was by no means rock and roll in the modern sense. On the other hand, the title certainly underscores the original meaning attached to those two words (both of four letters), rock and roll.
• "Tiger Rag" by the Washboard Rhythm Kings (1931) was a virtually out of control performance with screeching vocals, a strange tiger roar, and rocking washboard. This recording is standing in for many performances by spasm bands, jug bands, and skiffle groups that have the same wild, informal feel that early rock and roll had.

Tunes from the 1930s and 1940s that were early indicators of an important change in the music world:

• "Sing, Sing, Sing" by Benny Goodman (1937) featured repeated drum breaks by Gene Krupa, whose musical nature and high showmanship presaged rock and roll drumming
• "Roll 'Em Pete" by Pete Johnson and Joe Turner (1938) driving boogie woogie and a masterful collation of blues verses
• "Flying Home" by Lionel Hampton and his orchestra (1939), tenor sax solo by Illinois Jacquet, recreated and refined live by Arnett Cobb, the model for rock and roll solos ever since, emotional, honking, long, not just an instrumental break but the keystone of the song. (The Benny Goodman Sextet had a popular hit with a subdued "jazz chamber music" version of the same song featuring guitarist Charlie Christian.)
• "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" (1940) by The Andrews Sisters contains numerous proto-rock and roll elements. This is the group's best-known example; however, they also recorded other "pseudo-rock" recordings such as "Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar."
• "Rock Me" by the Lucky Millinder Orchestra with Sister Rosetta Tharpe vocals and guitar, a gospel song done like a city blues
• "The Joint is Really Jumpin' at Carnegie Hall" (1943) performed by Judy Garland and Jose Iturbi in the film Thousands Cheer is notable not only for its boogie-woogie arrangement (boogie-woogie being a recognized predecessor to rock and roll) but for the lyric "when they start to rock" which uses the word "rock" in a purely musical sense (as opposed to its more common use at this time as a double entendre for sex).
• "I Wonder" by Cecil Gant (1944), an early black ballad performance that became widely popular, the first of the black tenors.
• "Straighten Up and Fly Right" by Nat King Cole (1946), very light on the rocking, but a popular hit with lyrics from African American folk tale, like Bo Diddley, but without the beat
• "Let the Good Times Roll" by Louis Jordan (1946)
• "We're Gonna Rock, We're Gonna Roll" by Wild Bill Moore (1947)
• "Oakie Boogie" by Jack Guthrie (1947)
• "Good Rocking Tonight" (1947) by Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris, both black artists; Brown's original version is jump blues while Harris's version is definitely more modern rock and roll. Later spiritedly covered by Elvis Presley and less spiritedly by Pat Boone.
• "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" by Stick McGhee and his Buddies (1949)
• "Rag Mop" by Johnny Lee Wills and Deacon Anderson (1949) is a novelty tune; the lyrics are simply the title spelled out. The song is best known from its 1950 hit recording by the Ames Brothers.
• "We're Gonna Rock this Joint Tonight" (also known as "Rock the Joint") (1949), first recorded by Jimmy Preston, is often considered a prototype rock and roll song. In 1952, it was covered by Bill Haley and the Saddlemen; Marshall Lytle, bass player for the Comets, claims this was one of the songs that inspired Alan Freed to coin the phrase "rock and roll" (although Freed's claim of originating of the phrase has been called into question).

The hits from the 1950s typically are seen with an early performance much in the rhythm and blues style and a later cover performance more in the rock and roll vein. Often, the first performance was by a black artist and the second by a white artist. These white covers, while at the time sometimes disdained as exploitive and derivative, were a necessary part of the transition of the music. Nor were they all pale imitations, but sometimes earnest remakes by sympathetic performers, and more than a few were recognized as superior recordings to the originals.

• "The Fat Man" by Fats Domino (1949), featuring Fats on wah-wah mouth trumpet, the first of his 35 Top 40 hits.
• "Rock Me to Sleep," written by Benny Carter and Paul Vandervoort II (1950) and recorded by Helen Humes backed by the Marshall Royal Orchestra.
• "Hot Rod Race (1950) performed by Arkie Shibley and His Mountain Dew Boys.
• "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (actually Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm) (1951), and Bill Haley and the Saddlemen (1951). Both versions of this song have been declared the definitive first rock and roll record by differing authorities.
• "Crazy Man, Crazy" (1953) by Bill Haley and his Comets was the first rock and roll record on the Billboard Magazine chart. Not a cover, but an original. Haley said he heard the phrase at high-school dances his band was playing.
• "Rock Around the Clock" (1954) by Bill Haley and his Comets was the first number one rock and roll record. This song is often credited with propelling rock into the mainstream, at least the teen mainstream. At first it had lack-luster sales but was later included in a movie about a raucous high-school, Blackboard Jungle, which exposed it to a wider audience.
• "Shake, Rattle and Roll" (1954) by Big Joe Turner, Bill Haley and his Comets. Haley's version was the first international hit rock and roll record, actually predating the success of "Rock Around the Clock" by several months, though it was recorded later. Although technically a cover, Haley's version was substantially different in lyric and arrangement to Turner's version (which was also a major hit). Elvis Presley's later 1956 version combined Haley's arrangement with Turner's lyrics, but was not as substantial hit.
• "That's All Right (Mama)" (1954) by Elvis Presley; this cover of Arthur Crudup's tune was Elvis' first single, and is possibly the song most often cited (albeit this being the matter of a huge, sustained controversy) as the first rock and roll record.
• "Sh-boom" (1954) by the Chords and the Crewcuts, in this case, the latter was a pale imitation. The song is considered a pioneer of the doo-wop variant.
• "Maybellene" (1955) by Chuck Berry.

In 2004 and 2005, debate was sparked between fans of Elvis as well as many in the music business who claimed "That's All Right Mama" was the first rock and roll song, and those who feel the proper claimant should be Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" — both songs celebrating their 50th anniversaries in those two years. Rolling Stone Magazine took the controversial step of unilaterally declaring Elvis' song the first rock and roll recording, attracting criticism from many quarters.

See also

• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll
• boogie woogie

External links

• [Article] by The Guardian newspaper on the topic

 

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