# First Rock and Roll record redux **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 29, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rock-and-roll-record-redux/825277 "2018-11-29T16:17:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rock-and-roll-record-redux/825277/1 "2018-11-29T16:17:59Z")
I know there have been several threads on this before but maybe time for a rehash? In my reading of past threads there seems to be a mild consensus that [Rocket 88](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbfnh1oVTk0) (Ike Turner/Jackie Brenston, 1951) was the first, and indeed throughout the internet. But I’d like to make the case for Goree Carter’s [Rock Awhile](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3FNLnFg6Ck) (1949). It has the similar R&R feel to it with the big (IMHO) advantage of having a strong rock guitar sound which 88 doesn’t have. And it was recorded a good 2 years earlier. The guitar has a very Chuck Berry feel despite having been recorded 6 years (!) before [Johnny B. Goode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFo8-JqzSCM) (the opening riff of JBG having been lifted from Louis Jordan’s [Ain`t That Just Like A Woman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkQWv18Trw0) (1946). Thoughts? . ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rock-and-roll-record-redux/825277/2 "2018-11-29T18:14:38Z")
You may as well ask what atom from The Big Bang came first. 1949 also saw Jimmy Preston’s [Rock the Joint,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLKlF7TX2BI) which rocked just as much if not more than Carter. Even before 1949 there was Wynonie Harris with [Good Rockin’ Tonight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo9auUfitVA), whose 1948 version was a good deal more rock than [Roy Brown’s 1947 original.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgdzS4OSQ1M) If you want to look at the country part of the rock and roll equation, there’s 1947’s [Move It on Over by Hank Williams](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lza3NVH6Ig). I dare you to isolate Zeke Turner’s guitar and tell me it isn’t rock and roll. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-rock-and-roll-record-redux/825277/3 "2018-11-29T22:06:43Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > 1949 also saw Jimmy Preston’s [Rock the Joint,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLKlF7TX2BI) which rocked just as much if not more than Carter. > > Even before 1949 there was Wynonie Harris with [Good Rockin’ Tonight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo9auUfitVA), whose 1948 version was a good deal more rock than [Roy Brown’s 1947 original.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgdzS4OSQ1M) > > If you want to look at the country part of the rock and roll equation, there’s 1947’s [Move It on Over by Hank Williams](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lza3NVH6Ig). I dare you to isolate Zeke Turner’s guitar and tell me it isn’t rock and roll. Yeah, that first one is a lot more rock than the OP’s, which is explicitly more boogie-woogie to me. Note: the YouTube poster has the title as “Rock the joint” but the lyrics sound a lot more like “Rock this joint.” Is that a typo? The second song is “on the cusp”. The Hank Williams one not really.