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From time to time, I’ve started a discussion about which tunes would qualify as the first rock ‘n’ roll record. Usually, we end up talking about R&B, country, and even some jazz and pop numbers of the 1940s and very early ‘50s.
This time, I thought I’d try a different approach. I’m now trying to figure out what the first ROCK record might have been. Here are my nominations. Can y’all come up with any more?
1. “Who Do You Love?” - Bo Diddley (1956)
Tell me those lyrics aren't pure psychedelia!
2. “I Put A Spell On You” - Screamin' Jay Hawkins (1956)
If Hawkins didn't inspire the Crazy World of Arthur Brown's "Fire," then I'll eat my...um, pint of Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk.
3. "Lucille" - Little Richard (1957)
Little Richard's other Specialty hits defined early rock ‘n’ roll--swing-beat R&B with an over-the-top energy level. "Lucille," however, was something else altogether. It was a driving 4/4 beat that arguably sounded more like later rock than anything else in its time.
4. “Fujiyama Mama” - Wanda Jackson (1957)
The pure malevolence of Jackson's vocal should qualify this one as the first female cock-rock song.
5. "That'll Be the Day" – Buddy Holly & The Crickets (1957)
Buddy Holly was the first second-generation rock and roller. He wasn't R&B. He wasn't doing a white equivalent of R&B like Haley or the rockabilly singers. He wasn't doing an R&B equivalent of country boogie like Chuck Berry. He wasn't as country as the Everly Brothers. A friend of mine (and fellow self-appointed rock historian) called Holly the start of power pop. As such, Buddy Holly, and his first hit, are a direct line to the Beatles and beyond.
6. "Jailhouse Rock" - Elvis Presley (1957)
I used to think that Link Wray invented the power chord on "Rumble," but it was actually Scotty Moore on this record. Guess I only recently noticed that because Elvis steals the show with the wild- assed abandon of his vocals.
7. "Rumble" - Link Wray (1958)
Nothing sounded like it before, and a lot sounded like it afterward. Plain, first position guitar chords, no modifications, all played loud and then in vibrato. Important? Influential? You bet!
8. "Brand New Cadillac" - Vince Taylor & The Playboys (1959)
One of the earliest British rockers (at least, that I know of). The Clash thought enough of the song to remake it on their 1979 LONDON CALLING album.
9. "Shakin' All Over" - Johnny Kidd & The Pirates (1960)
The first time I heard this song was on an oldies show in the early '80s. When the DJ said the record was from 1960, I was surprised. From the sound of the guitar and vocal, it seemed like a mid-60s record. Then he said it was British, and it began to make sense to me. It was R&R taken another step farther from its R&B roots. If “Shakin’ All Over” had been reissued during the 1964-65 British Invasion, I’ll bet it would have been a hit.
10. "Runaway" - Del Shannon (1961)
I'm no musician, but even I can hear that the chord change from A-minor to G was something revolutionary and really cool-sounding!
11. "Surfin' Safari" - The Beach Boys (1962)
Another step in the “suburbanization” of R&R. That is , the group sounds white and middle class, with a lot of free time and disposable income.
12. "Miserlou" - Dick Dale & The Del-Tones (1962)
Not only the greatest surf instrumental of all time (IMHO, anyway), but an early example of intense double-picking on the Stratocaster. And it's fucking LOUD, no matter how much you turn down the volume.
13. "Louie, Louie" - The Kingsmen (1963)
A guy named Erik Simpson once argued that "Louie, Louie" was revolutionary in that it "constitutes a slight variation on blues harmonics by removing the flat seventh from the first two chords and then emphasizing the minor tonality of the third." Maybe the musicians here can elaborate. All I know is that the record still sounds fresh 41 years on.
14. "Please Please Me" - The Beatles (1963)
The beginning of the revolution. Nearly everything above combined into one package.
15. "House of the Rising Sun" - The Animals (1964)
One of the defining features of rock ‘n’ roll is that the singers sound a little over-the-top and out-of-control. In contrast, "rock" singers want to sound cool. Mick Jagger and Jim Morrison became the rock stars that Eric Burdon aspired to be.
16. "You Really Got Me" - The Kinks (1964)
Distorted-sounding guitars. Wracked vocals. The template for hard rock.
17. "Subterranean Homesick Blues" - Bob Dylan (1965)
Really just an update of Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business," but with more overtly street-political wordplay and imagery.
18. "Mr. Tambourine Man" - The Byrds (1965)
The chiming guitar sound and cool pop harmonies made it quite clear that the '50s R&R sound was commercially dead.
19. "(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction" - The Rolling Stones (1965)
The same way that Jim Dawson and Steve Propes, in their book WHAT WAS THE FIRST ROCK & ROLL RECORD, used "Heartbreak Hotel" as the point where something new had undeniably started, "Satisfaction" serves the same purpose in this discussion. Rockabilly was one white take on R&B; Jagger and his peers were a different one. And this record is the coolest Jagger ever sounded!
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