WHAT WAS THE FIRST ROCK 'N' ROLL RECORD? (Part 2)

[NightTrain]

I excerpted the following from the 1992 book, WHAT WAS THE FIRST ROCK AND ROLL RECORD, by Jim Dawson and Steve Propes. The authors chose 50 songs as contenders for that coveted title. Here are the last 25:


26. CRY – Johnnie Ray with the Four Lads

RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1951
WHY IMPORTANT: It established Ray as the first 1950s teen idol and started an R&B tradition of “crying” records.


27. ONE MINT JULEP – The Clovers

RELEASE DATE: March 1952
WHY IMPORTANT: It was an early “drinking” hit, an attempt at a social statement, and one of the first vocal group record hits to spotlight a tenor sax solo.


28. ROCK THE JOINT – Bill Haley and the Saddlemen

RELEASE DATE: March 1952
WHY IMPORTANT: Its freak success moved Bill Haley away from hillbilly music and into recording rhythm and blues songs. And its use of slap-back echo and the rattling ot the bass strings as a percussive device established the basis of the rockabilly sound.


29. HAVE MERCY BABY – The Dominoes

RELEASE DATE: April 1952
WHY IMPORTANT: It was the first popular R&B recording to feature the passionate elements of African-American gospel music.


30. LAWDY MISS CLAWDY – Lloyd Price

RELEASE DATE: April 1952
WHY IMPORTANT: It was the earliest New Orleans hit to be adopted into rock ‘n’ roll.


31. KAW-LIGA – Hank Williams and the Drifting Cowboys

RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1953
WHY IMPORTANT: It was a proto-rockabilly record that stretched the tenets of country music.


32. HOUND DOG – Big Mama Thornton

RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1953
WHY IMPORTANT: It was the earliest release of this influential song, and it established Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller as important songwriters.


33. HONEY HUSH – Big Joe Turner

RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1953
WHY IMPORTANT: It was an early linkage of Kansas City jazz with New Orleans rhythm and blues, two key locales for the birth of rock ‘n’ roll.


34. MONEY HONEY – Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters

RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1953
WHY IMPORTANT: It was the Drifters’ first hit, and it continued McPhatter’s use of gospel phrasing and intensity in rhythm and blues, which he had first used as lead singer of the Dominoes (q.v.).


35. GEE – The Crows

RELEASE DATES: March 1953 and April 1954
WHY IMPORTANT: It was one of the first major crossover R&B records on an independent label (Rama), and the first ‘50s-styled doo-wop record to sell a million copies.


36. SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL – Big Joe Turner

RELEASE DATE: April 1954
WHY IMPORTANT: The record established Turner, whose career stretched back several decades, as a teen favorite. Its sales also allowed Atlantic Records to take an active role in shaping early rock ‘n’ roll.


37. WORK WITH ME, ANNIE – The Royals (a/k/a Hank Ballard and the Midnighters)

RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1954
WHY IMPORTANT: It spawned a veritable cottage industry of hit answer records and culminated in a #1 crossover pop hit (“Dance With Me, Henry” by Georgia Gibbs), demonstrating R&B’s growing importance in the music industry.


38. SH-BOOM – The Chords

RELEASE DATE: April 1954
WHY IMPORTANT: It was one of the first “doo-wop,” or nonsense-lyric, hits. It also was the first independent-label single to go Top 10 on the Billboard pop charts and focus serious attention on the growing R&B market.


39. (WE’RE GONNA) ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK – Bill Haley and His Comets

RELEASE DATES: May 1954 and May 1955
WHY IMPORTANT: It was the first #1 pop single that could legitimately be called “rock ‘n’ roll.”


40. RIOT IN CELL BLOCK #9 – The Robins

RELEASE DATE: May 1954
WHY IMPORTANT: It established co-writers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s formula for the Coasters’ late ‘50s hits.


41. THAT’S ALL RIGHT (MAMA) – Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill

RELEASE DATE: July 1954
WHY IMPORTANT: It was the first acknowledged rockabilly record, and the first Elvis Presley release. This record turned a whole generation of country pickers around!


42. EARTH ANGEL – The Penguins

RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1954
WHY IMPORTANT: Its success heralded a new era in which rhythm and blues itself, instead of pale imitations by white pop artists, made noise on a national scale. Soon the rock ‘n’ roll revolution would sweep the U.S.A. “Earth Angel” was the first of many hits based on the so-called “Blue Moon” changes.


43. TWEEDLE DEE – LaVern Baker and the Gliders

RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1954
WHY IMPORTANT: It was LaVern Baker’s first hit. A subsequent appeal to Congress publicly challenged the practice of larger record companies stealing both songs and arrangements from smaller labels.


44. PLEDGING MY LOVE – Johnny Ace

RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1954
WHY IMPORTANT: It was one of the first major R&B crossover hits to outsell the white cover versions. It also was one of the first records to sell more as a 45 RPM disc than as a 78 RPM platter, thereby signaling a significant demographic change in the record-buying market.


45. I’VE GOT A WOMAN – Ray Charles

RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1954
WHY IMPORTANT: In many respects, it brought the curtain down on 1950s R&B and heralded in a new, heavily gospel-influenced music that would evolve into 1960s soul music.


46. BO DIDDLEY – Bo Diddley

RELEASE DATE: March 1955
WHY IMPORTANT: It introduced African rhythms directly into rock ‘n’ roll and began a tradition of recordings using the “patted juba” beat.


47. MAYBELLENE – Chuck Berry

RELEASE DATE: July 1955
WHY IMPORTANT: It was the first pop hit by an African-American artist that blended country music with good-time R&B; and it placed Chess Records, a blues label responsible for such artists as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, in the musical mainstream.


48. TUTTI FRUTTI – Little Richard

RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1955
WHY IMPORTANT: It established Little Richard as rock ‘n’ roll’s first wild man.


49. BLUE SUEDE SHOES – Carl Perkins

RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1956
WHY IMPORTANT: It was the first rockabilly hit, and the first record to chart near the top of Billboard’s pop, country, and R&B surveys. It also established Sun Records as the headquarters of rockabilly, thus attracting Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and a host o other, less successful, talent.


50. HEARTBREAK HOTEL – Elvis Presley

RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1956
WHY IMPORTANT: It was Elvis Presley’s first real RCA single and his first #1 hit, thus transforming him from a Southern country novelty into a national rock ‘n’ roll sensation.

[flamingyouth]

1. You know I'm a huge Little Richard fan, so I have to go with

"Tutti Frutti"

I think this is a very subjective question. Today people still argue about what's rock & roll and what isn't. But by my voting for "Tutti Frutti," at least I feel safe in knowing that, yeah, it's rock & roll. The rest of the songs could all qualify, though. :-)

[icymist]

2. In honesty, I was at the New York Hospital in 1963 or '64

playing in the pediatrics ward and there was this little record player with a 45 of the Beatles 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' on it.
I played that record over and over and over again because it sounded so good! I think I was five or six at the time.

[NightTrain]

3. I'll never deny the Beatles' importance in changing the face of rock...

...but the book from which I excerpted my postings deal with the music's first generation and earlier. The Beatles took rock 'n' roll into its second generation--and not a moment too soon, I might add!

[kentuck]

4. Although Bill Haley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry , and others...

claim to have the first rock and roll sound, none took hold like "That's Alright Mama" by Elvis in 1954. That was when Rock and Roll was born for me.

[truthseeker1]

5. Rocket 88

In reseaching and compiling an anthology of 50s and 60s music for my parents for Christmas, I recall that "Rocket 88" was considered by most to be the first Rock 'n' Roll song.

That said, I think Chuck Berry's "Maybellene," Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and Fats Domino's "Ain't It A Shame," were also strong contenders for this title.

By the way, through my research I discovered and fell in love with Carl Perkins and his "Blue Suede Shoes." :)

I would still have to say that my absolute favorite RnR song, though, is still "Rock Around The Clock" followed very closely by "Shake, Rattle and Roll" (Bill Haley & The Comets versions). Perhaps this is due to my being brought up during the era of "Happy Days."

People who came of age during 1955 were so lucky! What an exciting time for music.

[wyldwolf]

6. Refresh my memory on an artist...

Heard a segment about her on NPR recently...

Black female gospel singer/guitarist who also did a few non-gospel songs.

Around in the late 30s - 40s - early 50s.

Had her own radio show or early TV show.

Clips I heard rocked harder than anything in the 50s, for sure!