[78-L] Subject: Re: Birth of Rock 'n' Roll

[Cary Ginell]

I just compared my copy of "Rocket 88" by Bill Haley with "Try Me One More Time" by Willie Nix on RPM. This was a Sam Phillips-recorded title that was leased to RPM. It's uncanny how well Haley got the beat and the distorted electric guitar down from the Phillips Sun sound. Both sides were cut in 1951; not sure which one came first, but it doesn't matter. If Haley wasn't influenced by the early Phillips-produced tracks, then I don't know where he got it. 

I will admit that "Rocket 88" does not necessarily have to be the "Rosetta Stone" of rock 'n' roll, although it was probably the first country recording that sounded like rock 'n' roll rather than boogie woogie, which was a phase country music was going through at this time. "Caldonia" certainly qualifies as maybe a primordial rock 'n' roll record, but there are indeed oodles of R&B recordings from this period that were antecedents to, if not early examples of, rock 'n' roll. It is wrong to zero in on any one song, although the debate that has been going on was triggered by questions as to what "the first" rock 'n' roll record was. The answer is - there wasn't one. Like any other music genre, the change was gradual, with influences piling onto influences, until all of a sudden, a name was ascribed to it. 

But I still believe what Margaret reminds us of, the notion that rocking R&B, early rock 'n' roll, doo-wop, and rockabilly are four different kinds of music from the 1950s. Instead of trying to find the "first" rock 'n' roll record from our vantage point 50-60 years away, what was the first act or group referred to as rock 'n' roll by those from that time? If this means bringing Alan Freed into the picture, OK. When he first used the term, what record did he apply it to? We should bear in mind, of course, that Freed didn't invent the term. It had been on records several decades before Freed used it (a Boswell Sisters Brunswick comes to mind), but in the context of the 1950s, who was the first artist to be called a rock 'n' roll artist or group?

Cary Ginell

> From: mgstill at bellsouth.net
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:00:11 -0600
> Subject: [78-L] Subject: Re:  Birth of Rock 'n' Roll
> 
> Louis Jordan's "Caldonia" and the early Sun Records artists, and "Roll 'Em
> Pete" and the playing of Albert Ammons and Willie Love, and others mentioned
> here are rock'n'roll to my ears. As for Bill Haley, I think his case might
> be better made via the Esquire Boys, whose members (correct me if my
> research is wrong) included Danny Cedrone and Bob Scaltrito of Bill Haley's
> Comets, and whose version of "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" is a skiffle-boogie
> woogie that is not only rock'n'roll, but also an early rock'n'roll style
> instrumental.
> 
> The discussion here veered away from something I thought was very
> interesting: the idea that rocking R&B is something different from what
> became rock'n'roll. Early hairy-ass rockabilly is just as truly rock'n'roll
> as "Rocket 88" but not the same thing.
> 
> Best,
> Margaret G. Still
> 
> 
> 
> 
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