# So who were the first successful AMERICAN rock band? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381 "2011-03-29T14:30:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/41 "2011-03-29T19:21:39Z")
You’re defining the Isley Brothers as “rock”? I’d put them solidly in the R&B category. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/42 "2011-03-29T19:28:04Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > You’re defining the Isley Brothers as “rock”? I’d put them solidly in the R&B category. Not with (You make me wanna) Shout or Twist and Shout - their first-gen stuff… ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/43 "2011-03-29T19:33:03Z")
I don’t know. I guess the music was more shouty a la Little Richard, but even so, the vocals still sound more R&B than rock to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/44 "2011-03-29T19:36:05Z")
They’re sort of a cross between R+B and rock n roll, but they’re not rock. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/45 "2011-03-29T19:54:57Z")
If we can add Canadian/American bands, I think **Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks** might qualify - they started playing in 1959, doing songs like “Who do you love?” The Hawks later on went on their own and changed their name to “The Band”, one of the great rock bands of all time. Come to think of it, how about **Bo Diddley**? “Who Do You Love” was about as rock as it gets, and he recorded that in 1956. If Bo Diddley doesn’t count, I’d put my .50 in for **The Band**. Formed in 1958 or 1959. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/46 "2011-03-29T20:14:41Z")
You’re dating The Band a couple of years too early. Wikipedia says they didn’t exist in full until 1963 since Hawkins hired them one by one starting in 1958 (with Levon Helm) through 1963 (Garth Hudson). I don’t know what Hawkins’ transitional lineups sounded like, so I can’t say if that qualifies as one of the early rock bands. Wikipedia does describe Hawkins as a rockabilly singer. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/47 "2011-03-29T20:15:39Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > They’re sort of a cross between R+B and rock n roll, but they’re not rock. That to me sounds like the very definition of “rock.” I mean, isn’t that essentially what the Stones and early Beatles did? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/48 "2011-03-29T20:29:50Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That to me sounds like the very definition of “rock.” I mean, isn’t that essentially what the Stones and early Beatles did? 😉 What’s fascinating is that the OP’s question doesn’t have a clear answer. The British Invasion combined rockabilly with Motown and Brill Building pop (and other influences) to move to a “rockier” place; but I would argue that it wasn’t until the Brit-blues / Swinging London music of a few years later that the type of music we think of as “rock” began to emerge. Rock has more solid connections to the blues, reaching back further than rockabilly for influence, with a greater emphasis on distorted guitar sounds and guitar-based riffs. I mean, Satisfaction jumps out as a clear “rock” song from '65… ---
**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:** [March 29, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/49 "2011-03-29T21:48:07Z")
You know you’ve reached silly season in a thread when the topic “which is the first successful American rock band” is answered by citing a Canadian rockabilly group that never charted. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/50 "2011-03-29T21:48:56Z")
Have we figured out the difference between “rock” and “rock and roll” yet? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/51 "2011-03-29T22:42:16Z")
To me, rock and roll is short, compact, catchy and violent, like punk - I think of “Train Kept A-Rollin’” or “You Really Got Me”, whereas I consider “rock” the more bloated, masturbatory electric blooze played by artists like the Allman Brothers or Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. Not written in stone, obviously; just my take. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/52 "2011-03-29T22:48:18Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > To me, rock and roll is short, compact, catchy and violent, like punk - I think of “Train Kept A-Rollin’” or “You Really Got Me”, whereas I consider “rock” the more bloated, masturbatory electric blooze played by artists like the Allman Brothers or Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. Not written in stone, obviously; just my take. Interesting. I think of early Kinks and Stones as the beginning of Rock, with Rock and Roll being more the like Bill Halley, Elvis, Buddy Holly era stuff. Not that it’s a totally useful distinction, but that’s how I break it down in my mind. To go further after the 60s I think of things as having splintered into sub-genres. In conversation you probably won’t hear me seriously label a band as Rock or Rock and Roll if they recorded after 1969 or so. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/53 "2011-03-29T22:58:45Z")
There are a lot of good contenders such as the Byrds and the Beach Boys, but what about [Creedence Clearwater Revival](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creedence)? Or is Creedence not early enough, having come along in 1967? ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/54 "2011-03-29T23:03:31Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > There are a lot of good contenders such as the Byrds and the Beach Boys, but what about [Creedence Clearwater Revival](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creedence)? Or is Creedence not early enough, having come along in 1967? I think 65 or earlier is the range we are looking in now. The Beach Boys, the Byrds and the Doors were all going strong by the end of 65 and Jefferson Airplane had already formed though they didn’t have their first hit until later. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/55 "2011-03-29T23:21:26Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I know it’s hard to define “rock,” but I don’t think anyone considers the Beatles rock and roll. So who were the most successful American band that achieved fame right after the Beatles? > > It’s a lot tougher question than it appears, and I wonder if anyone has answered it. Really? Driving beat, guitars and drums, repetitive lyrics isn’t rock and roll? Hell, they even cited the Funk Brothers and R&B artists as their inspirations. ---
**Author:** ![Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ee7513/32.png) [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kim_o_the_Concrete_Jungle)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/56 "2011-03-30T00:59:09Z")
I would say that Link Wray invented rock guitar (in the modern sense, as distinct from Rockabilly), but there was only one of him, so that doesn’t qualify as a band. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/57 "2011-03-30T01:29:13Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > You know you’ve reached silly season in a thread when the topic “which is the first successful American rock band” is answered by citing a Canadian rockabilly group that never charted. 🙂 The Band had both Canadian and American members in it, and was often considered an American band. And while Hawkins may have started out in Rockabilly, Ronnie and the Hawks were rocking it pretty hard. Go back and listen to their version of “Who Do You Love?”. In their early days they also performed songs like “Suzi Q”. Wikipedia notes: > [@](#): > > Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he’d been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life. He is considered highly influential in the establishment and evolution of rock music in Canada. So, he’s American, his band is considered one of the great rock bands of the 60’s and also contained Americans, and he’s noted for being an early influence in ROCK music. He was an American who achieved his greatest success in Canada, but The Band was mostly Canadian, but achieved their greatest success in America. It’s a fine line. They had three singles that charted in the US, and twelve that charted in Canada - including two songs that charted in the U.S. in 1959. Yes, it’s a bit of a stretch, but then the OP was ill-defined and half of this thread has been spent trying to figure out the definitions for what does and doesn’t count, so I thought I’d throw them out there. And The Band is considered one of the major influences on American rock music. They were largely formed by 1960, and by 1965 were well enough known that Bob Dylan picked them as his touring band in the U.S. - and getting slammed by the folk crowd because they rocked too hard. Silly season indeed. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/58 "2011-03-30T03:29:15Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > My answer, though many wouldn’t call them a rock band, is [The Carter Family](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carter_Family). As far as I’m concerned, not only were they a band that rocked, it is my contention that rock guitar was _invented_ by Maybelle Carter. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/JeaBNAXfHfQ/hqdefault.jpg "Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Up Above My Head on Gospel Time TV show") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeaBNAXfHfQ) Nope. Sister Rosetta Tharpe. She basically invented lead guitar. The video’s from the 60s, but she’d been doing this for a while. Watch her solo. Elvis doesn’t count as a band, I suppose. But him, Scotty Moore and Bill Black were pretty darn tight. Bill Haley set off riots after Blackboard Jungle came out. I’d give it to Billy Haley and the Comets, and then maybe Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Course, that’s a tight line. Elvis was Blues and a little Rockabilly, and Buddy was near-clear Rockabilly. How about The Shadows? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/59 "2011-03-30T03:33:33Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > “Louie, Louie” is, in my opinion, _the_ definitive rock song, if there is one, but I don’t know how successful the Kingsmen are outside of that one song. Paul Revere and the Raiders cut Louie Louie first, if I remember right, but it wasn’t the same as the Kingsmen’s version. (Both of which were cover versions) Also, I meant the Ventures and said The Shadows. Don’t ask, it’s late. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381/60 "2011-03-30T10:44:59Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Have we figured out the difference between “rock” and “rock and roll” yet? I’ll take a stab at this. “Rock and Roll” has these driving Eddie Cochran guitar riffs, and it’s white guys trolling in Chuck Berry’s wake. Rock is smooth and about a step removed from its Black and Country roots; it started as guys trolling in Ricky Nelson’s wake. Another vote for the Beach Boys. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-were-the-first-successful-american-rock-band/576381.md?page=4)