50 year ago, July 5th, 1954, Elvis walked into Sun Studios and recorded “That’s All Right”, and Rock and Roll breathed it’s first ahhhh huh huh, whoaaaa yeah.
I know, it’s only Rock and Roll, but I like it.
Long tall Sally, she’s built for speed, she’s got everything the Uncle John needs, oh baby, wooooo, baby.
She was just 17, and you know what I mean.
Well it’s one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now go cat go.
I’m going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come.
I’ve seen even earlier recordings suggested in the “first rock song” category, including Freddie Slack and Ella Mae Morse’s “House of Blue Lights” (1946) and even a Benny Goodman cut from the '30s (“Stompin at the Savoy” perhaps?)
The problem with electing anything earlier than “That’s All Right” for top honors is that those proto-rock recordings fit easily into existing categories. Harris was an R&B or race performer and “Good Rockin’ Tonight” was classified as such. Bill Haley’s music could be lumped in with novelty swing like “Rag Mop” from 1950. Hardrock Gunter’s “Birmingham Bounce” was considered hillbilly. And the Penguins, of course, were an R&B vocal group.
“That’s All Right,” on the other hand, was uncategorizable–hillbillies thought it was R&B and vice versa. Elvis didn’t look or act like a country artist. He wasn’t black. Rock and roll as a genre was born because Elvis and his imitators fit into no existing category.
He recorded a wide variety of material at Sun, including a number of country and traditional pop songs. One list I saw suggested “Heartbreak Hotel,” Elvis’ first RCA hit from 1956, as the first rock recording, which is an intriguing idea.
“Stompin’ at the Savoy” was Swing. I think that was recorded in the 1940’s, but I could be mistaken.
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No matter when it started, I think we can all agree that it turned out to be far more than just the “fad” that its critics called it. Rock ‘n’ roll lasted all the way into the early 70s.
How pathetic. Rock n roll is being celebrated, not just here, but everywhere, with gushing references to pop culture now 40 years old. No matter how many Modest Mouses or Xiu Xius come along, no matter how many Wilcos or Radioheads continue to make thriving, interesting music, all you can do is sing the praises of bloated behemoths, 60 year olds strutting around in tight pants, or (worse) a fat dead guy who gave up his rock n roll spirit to wallow in his own crapulence.
Long live rock, indeed. But how about we focus on the living, rather than the dying or dead?
You seem to think we can’t do both. You suggest that we shouldn’t celebrate anniversaries or remember the past. By extension, we shouldn’t read old novels or watch old movies, view old paintings or architecture, learn about history. That’s old news, Grandpa. Put on blinders and live in the moment. Not a very rich view of life, there.
But don’t let me put words in your mouth–please expound upon your temper tantrum.
Maybellene, why can’t you be true
Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true
You done started back doin’ the things you used to do Chuck Berry
In this forum I’ve seen both Jimmy Breslin/Ike Turner’s “Rocket 88” and Billy Ward and the Dominoes “Sixty Minute Man” suggested as the first true Rock ‘n’ Roll song. No way to prove what song was the first R & R, IMHO.
Me, I’ll go along with Elvis and “That’s All Right Mama”, just because…
Hey alison ashley: Let us doddering old fogeys have our fun, why don’t ya? Anyways, if you didn’t see Elvis live on stage before 1960, you ain’t qualified to speak of Rock & Roll.
Of course the past should be celebrated. But if one is celebrating a living thing such as rock n roll, it seems counterproductive to wallow in nostalgia. It’s like celebrating your 50th birthday party by inviting only the people who came to your tenth.
The most recent music referenced in this thread is the Rolling Stone’s It’s Only Rock & Roll But I Like It, released in 1974 when the band was past their prime. I mean, even the cliched “Hope I die before I get old” would have been more rock.
One can respect and enjoy old music. I do. But this thread is the musical equivalent of watching Casablanca but ignoring Lord of The Rings.
SIGH I should have known better than to think ZOE was in error. “Rock Around The Clock” was indeed released before “That’s All Right Mama”. :o
Certainly, nothing released after “Rock Around The Clock” could be called the first R & R song.
I got confused because I bought Elvis’s record before I bought Haley’s and got personal expreience mixed up with facts. Stuff like that happens when you can say you saw Carl Perkins sing “Blue Suede Shoes” in person…
Zoe WAS in error. “That’s All Right” was recorded nearly a year before “Rock Around the Clock” was released.
First of all, we’re celebrating the anniversary of 1954. I love Guided By Voices, the Magnetic Fields, Built to Spill, Finishing School, the Minders, etc, but they weren’t around back then so they aren’t very relevent to the discussion at hand, which is about the birth of rock and roll. “The birth.”
Second, no one is wallowing in this brief thread that is only one of thousands on the SDMB.
I tried to answer this very good question in a civil way. And while I happen to agree with you, alison, I just couldn’t express myself politely enough to post my comments in Cafe Society. Nothing against you, as I said, because I agree with you; I just found I had a bit more Tabasco sauce on the keyboard than I really needed here.
I listen to neither “classic” nor “comtemporary” rock ‘n’ roll, nor really any of the music traditions that grew up in between, so I don’t really have a dog in this fight, but I know there’s virtue in both. Were I to live a thousand years I’m sure I’d get around to listening to all those things and find many gems (and much dross, as is the case in any genre).
That said, it’s an unfortunate fact of life that our time is limited and that we cannot, in our brief span of days, appreciate all the things worth appreciating. It’s not something that anyone should have to apologize for, and I think it’s a bit silly for anyone to attack others for choosing an alternate focus.
Well, any time you see a guitarist leap in the air or windmill his strat, that’s Pete Townsend. Any time you hear a whoaaaaa yeah, or uhhh huh, that’s Little Richard. Any time you hear a rock song made for listening and not for dancing, that’s the Beatles. Any time you see a singer stumble around the stage in leather pants while he grunts and groans, that’s Jim Morrison. There really hasn’t been much innovation in the rock scene since The Talking Heads, IMHO. But I’m getting old, I may have missed a new act that shaves their heads, but that would be the Pyramids.
