Good Golly, It's Rock & Roll Week!
 

Hey Musicbanterers and banterins.

Today is the start of Rock & Roll week! As you already know, rock and roll is a genre which originated in the US during the late 40s and became very popular during the 50s. It expanded beyond the US and directly and/or indirectly gave rise to many of other styles of rock music over the decade such as surf rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock, psychedelic rock and so on.

One thing which made rock and roll so important was that it appealed to a youth subculture which young people could identify with that their parents probably weren't "in on". Though such youth subcultures, f.ex goths or hippies, have been popular since, this was the start of it all - at least on a massive commercial scale!

So, let's celebrate rock and roll :)


Rock and roll also travelled to Norway. Here's one (largely forgotten today) norwegian rock and roll artist, Rocke Pelle. Here he's singing Marty Robbin's Tennessee Toddy.



So, let's see some praise and favourites! :D

So, when you say "Rock & Roll" are you referring specifically to early Rock & Roll or does this cover the all its myriad sub-genres of the past 60+ years? I ask because I think of Rock & Roll as probably the largest and most diverse genre of the 20th century, but based on the OP and other posts I've read from you here and there I think you might think of Rock & Roll strictly as what I would call "early Rock & Roll". That is to say the style of Rock & Rock that people associate with the 50s.

Yes, the theme is rock and roll from the very late 40s, 50s and early 60s. I guess you can mentally include Doo Wop and Rockabilly into this definition if you want.

If it was rock music from the last 60 years, we might as well call it "rock week" or "music week".

Hahha, true! Alright then, we may as well get this thread rocking and rolling with what is often considered the first rock song ever recorded, "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats. Interesting fact about this song: Jackie Brenston was basically just a hired-gun vocalist. The actual writer and creative force behind this song was none other than Ike Turner.

^Oh man, that was brilliant! Perfect song for the thread too :) It was so good I had to look it up on Wikipedia where I found this little bit of trivia, interesting I'm sure to many out there :

That's a song with a history for sure :D Need to get my hands on that one.

I know very little about this genre.
So can't contribute much.
However I shall be listening, the two tracks already posted are great!

wens punk week

Schedule: http://www.musicbanter.com/announcem...-calendar.html

Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On -



Eddie Cochrane - C'mon Everybody -



Carl Perkins - Blue Suede Shoes -

I like this theme.





And one of my favorites:

I love this theme! :love:

One of my all time favourite Rock N Roll records....


Going a bit Rockabilly, one of the first (popular) female artists...


And again, a favourite...

To those worth selections I add my own terrifying trio of early R&B & rockabilly anthems:

Johnny Burnette's take-no-prisoners cover of the rockabilly classic The Train Kept A Rollin':



Johnny Otis' funky R&B masterpiece Wilie and the Hand Jive:



And Freddy Slack's laid back rendition of Down the Road Apiece with his own countrified brand of boogie woogie. Some rock historian believe that Down the Road Apiece is the first rock and roll song. More on that topic follows:




There's been a long standing debate among rock and roll historians as to what the first rock & roll song really was. Among the most frequently mentioned songs on the short list are:

• Down the Road Apiece by Freddy Slack & the Will Bradley Trio (1940)
• The Honeydripper by Joe Liggins (1945)
• I Can't Be Satisfied by Muddy Waters (1947)
• Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee by Stick McGhee (1949)
• The Fat Man by Fats Domino (1949)
• Sixty Minute Man by the Dominoes (1950)
• Rocket 88 by Jackie Brenston (aka Ike Turner) and His Delta Cats (1951)
• Hound Dog by Big Mama Thorton & the Johnny Otis Band (1952)
• Shake, Rattle and Roll by Big Joe Turner (1954)
• Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets (1954)
• That's All Right Mama by Elvis Presley (1954)
• I Got A Woman by Ray Charles (1954)
• Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley (1955)
• Maybellene by Chuck Berry (1955)
• Blue Suede Shoes by Carl Perkins (1955)
• Tutti Frutti by Little Richard (1955)

Early on, both country music and R&B artists were doing their own version of of boogie woogie music but the first rock and roll song depends on your own perspective of when the boogie woogie swing music ended and the real rock and roll began. By 1956, rock and roll was here to stay as a separate and distinct genre with a fan base and market all of it's own.

A few favourites of mine...

What a win. Also one of my favourites.

Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers from Harlem in NYC were one of the first R&B singing groups. Frankie Lymon was only 13 years old when Why Do Fools Fall In Love hit number 1 on the American music charts.

Barry Gordy modelled his entire Motown sound around the early hits of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. The Motown supergroup, the Jackson 5 was a virtual recreation of the early Lymon sound, merely updated. Lymon faded after the Teenagers split into two factions in early 1958, 18 months after Why Do Fools Fall In Love hit the charts. Lymon's attempted to build a second career as an adult R&B singer but he died at age 26 of a heroin overdose in 1968.

This remastered version of the song sounds fantastic. I think Frankie had every bit as much talent as a vocalist as Michael Jackson but most of the rock and roll stars in the 1950s faded away after a couple years on the top. Young black rock & roll stars didn't have career mentors until producers like Smokey Robinson, Barry Gordy and Curtis Mayfield came along in the early Sixties.