# Looking for Cover Version of Rock and Roll Music from the mid-1970s **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-cover-version-of-rock-and-roll-music-from-the-mid-1970s/559860 "2010-11-08T02:52:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![arjee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@arjee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arjee)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-cover-version-of-rock-and-roll-music-from-the-mid-1970s/559860/1 "2010-11-08T02:52:03Z")
During an extended family vacation in about 1976-ish, we spent a lot of time in the car, listening to the radio as we traveled down the highways of Montana and Wyoming. One song that was played very frequently was a cover of Chuck Berry’s ‘Rock and Roll Music.’ It wasn’t the Beatles, and it wasn’t the Beach Boys. My poor old brain recalls that it was slightly faster than the Beach Boys’ version, and a bit more, um, techno? I can’t think of a good adjective. Maybe it was just a more pronounced beat or louder drums. Anyway, I can’t seem to find the artist. Any guesses? Thanks in advance! ---
**Author:** ![Quercus\_alba](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quercus_alba/32/4061_2.png) [@Quercus\_alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus_alba)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-cover-version-of-rock-and-roll-music-from-the-mid-1970s/559860/2 "2010-11-08T02:59:42Z")
> [@arjee](#): > > During an extended family vacation in about 1976-ish, we spent a lot of time in the car, listening to the radio as we traveled down the highways of Montana and Wyoming. One song that was played very frequently was a cover of Chuck Berry’s ‘Rock and Roll Music.’ It wasn’t the Beatles, and it wasn’t the Beach Boys. My poor old brain recalls that it was slightly faster than the Beach Boys’ version, and a bit more, um, techno? I can’t think of a good adjective. Maybe it was just a more pronounced beat or louder drums. > > Anyway, I can’t seem to find the artist. Any guesses? Thanks in advance! Actually, I think it probably was the Beach Boys–it was a bit unlike their usual sound, but I remember it getting tons of air play… [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock\_and\_Roll\_Music](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_and_Roll_Music) ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-cover-version-of-rock-and-roll-music-from-the-mid-1970s/559860/3 "2010-11-08T03:05:46Z")
[Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOeFHV1fdVM&feature=related)’s an ELO song that might be what you’re looking for. It’s not the same song, but it’s very similar. And it’s kinda “techno.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-cover-version-of-rock-and-roll-music-from-the-mid-1970s/559860/4 "2010-11-08T05:07:05Z")
The Covers Project is back. When I look up Chuck Berry I find these covers of [“Rock and Roll Music”](http://www.coversproject.com/artist/chuck%20berry/): > [@](#): > > “Rock and Roll Music,” from the Chuck Berry album “His Best, Volume 1” , was covered on the Manic Street Preachers album “Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of Manic Street Preachers (disc 2).” > > “Rock and Roll Music,” from the Chuck Berry album “The Great Twenty-Eight” , was covered on the The Beach Boys album “Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys (disc 3).” > > “Rock & Roll Music,” from the Chuck Berry album “The Chess Blues-Rock Songbook (disc 2)” , was covered on the REO Speedwagon album “Nine Lives.” Maybe one of those is it. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-cover-version-of-rock-and-roll-music-from-the-mid-1970s/559860/5 "2010-11-08T05:13:34Z")
1976 would be about the right time frame for the Beach Boy’s version. I do recall hearing it all over the radio that summer. I had an outdoor job then and was permitted to bring a radio with me to listen to, so I heard it a lot. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-cover-version-of-rock-and-roll-music-from-the-mid-1970s/559860/6 "2010-11-08T05:22:58Z")
It was released by the Beach Boys in 1976 on [15 Big Ones](http://www.allmusic.com/album/15-big-ones-r1451/review) their first studio album for 3 years. ---
**Author:** ![arjee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@arjee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arjee)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-cover-version-of-rock-and-roll-music-from-the-mid-1970s/559860/7 "2010-11-09T20:07:21Z")
Thanks, everyone, for your replies and suggestions. The Beach Boys’ version always sounds too slow to me, so I am fairly certain that’s not it. The Beatles’ version is closer to how I remember it, but that’s not it either. I’d never heard the REO Speedwagon nor Manic Street Preachers versions before yesterday. The ELO song is one I like, but that’s not the one I’m thinking of - it was definitely ‘Rock and Roll Music,’ 'cause my brother and I used to ham up certain lines all the time when we sang it together in the backseat of the car. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-cover-version-of-rock-and-roll-music-from-the-mid-1970s/559860/8 "2010-11-09T20:22:18Z")
> [@TheChileanBlob](#): > > [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOeFHV1fdVM&feature=related)’s an ELO song that might be what you’re looking for. It’s not the same song, but it’s very similar. And it’s kinda “techno.” I love the song (being a big ELO fan), but it’s not from the right time. “Rock ‘n’ Roll is King” was from the album _Secret Messages_, released in 1983, 7 years after the OP’s estimated time frame.