50's Rock And Roll: The First Steps

Years: 1954-1960

 

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While it's unthinkable to see today's rock music without its Mother Blues, it's also imperative to pause for a moment to consider that wonderful era that marked its birth and first steps.

 

The question of the 64,000s is: When was Rock & Roll born? And the question of the 128,000s is: If its mother is the blues, who is its father?

  

For these thorny questions, let's play a little with history: Rock & Roll was a long-awaited child, when various blues and country artists had referenced it with that name in their lyrics. They were prophets who foresaw a change coming, something that would forever revolutionize music.

  

It is said that the term comes from very ancient sexual connotations, where "roll" referred to sex. For example, the phrase "They had a roll in the hay" or "I rolled her in the kitchen," which at the beginning of the 20th century was used among the Black community in the American South in a double sense, to hide its true meaning from whites. The term Rock & Roll had already been used with different meanings (the sound of locomotives, the swaying of ships, etc.) in music since the 1930s, by performers such as the Boswell Sisters, Buddy Jones, and Tommy Scott. But the songs that featured the phrase still don't have much in common with our beloved "Rock & Roll."

 

Muddy Waters was the one who paved the way in the late 1940s. This blues musician accelerated the tempo of songs, achieving a "Rythm & Blues" that was much faster and more incisive than the rest of the blues up to that point. He would later be instrumental in Chuck Berry's first album, so we could say he's the godfather of our little Rebel Without a Cause. But he's not his father...

 

Muddy Waters paved the way in the late 1940s. This blues musician accelerated the tempo of his songs, achieving a rhythm and blues style that was much faster and more incisive than the rest of the blues up to that point. He would later be instrumental in Chuck Berry's first album, so we could say he's the godfather of our little Rebel Without a Cause. But he's not his father…

 

1951 was a pivotal year. First, DJ Alan Freed started a radio show in Cleveland, Ohio, mixing white country music with black blues and R&B, creating a multiracial program and coining the phrase "rock and roll" to define the music played there. Freed isn't the inventor of the term, but he was the one who made the expression famous. That same year, "Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats," who was none other than our well-known Ike Turner (Tina's former beater) with his "Kings of Rhythm," but recording under a different name for alleged fear of public reaction, recorded the song "Rocket 88," which can indeed be considered the first Rock & Roll song as we know it. The producer was supposedly Sam Phillips of Sun Records... what a coincidence!

 

 

Buuuut, I haven't been able to find this Ike Turner recording, and many doubt its historical accuracy, so the accuracy of this information is questionable. Curiously, a guy named Bill Haley would record it some time later, giving it the fame it was denied in its original version. It would still be three long years before the hit single hit. Bill Haley, a chubby, no-longer-young man who wrote country and R&B songs, wrote a song called "Crazy Man Crazy" with his bassist Marshal Lytle in 1953. It was the first song of this new, daring and wild rhythm to reach the Billboard charts (#15).

 

 

The band changed its name to "Bill Haley and his Comets" after the relative success of the recording, and that same year they received a song written by Max Freedman and Jimmy Mayers. The song was given to Haley in light of his success with "Crazy Man Crazy," but in a way, rock & roll had been something unplanned for the Comets, who focused more on country, big band, jazz, and blues rhythms. So the song was shelved for a while and finally recorded on April 12, 1954. So, we could say that rock was born on that day. He measured 2:26 minutes and weighed 29 lines counting the repetitions, with an Apgar score of 9/9 and a 4/4 time signature.

 

Let's see a photo of the nativity scene with the boy's roots

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Curiously, the song didn't initially have the success expected and only charted for a week. But Haley had recorded another song, "Shake, Rattle & Roll," by Big Joe Turner, which was a tremendous success, selling 1 million copies and being the first to enter the British charts. It soon took "Rock Around the Clock" to similar heights, even appearing in the opening credits of the film "Blackboard Jungle."

 

 

So, the father of rock was Bill Haley, not precisely because he created it, but because he popularized it, practically by accident. Bill and his Comets played everything, mixing many genres and styles. He wasn't a young man trying to rebel against the system (he was already over 30), and the brazen, sexually charged lyrics that dominate R&R weren't his strong suit either. He wasn't afraid to experiment, but his goal wasn't to revolutionize anything; he simply wanted to sound "cool" to young people, who had always been a nonentity in musical matters. And so, by accident, with an unwanted pregnancy, he gave birth to Rock & Roll in 1954, even becoming the first American artist to embark on a tour throughout Europe, where people demanded more Rock & Roll and less Country, much to his annoyance.

 

Haley would be the one to introduce the new rhythm to the world. However, after the LP "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock" and "See You Later Alligator," he would revolutionize little in this genre, and it remained pigeonholed more by historical circumstances than by personal preference. Thus, our beloved Rock & Roll came into the world. Her first cry was

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"One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock, ROCK!,

Five, six, seven o'clock, eight o'clock, ROCK!,

Nine, ten, eleven o'clock, twelve o'clock, ROCK!,

“We're gonna rock-around-the-clock-TONIGHT!!!!”

 

And his father handed the newborn over to the care of a Black musician, who could give him more attention and affection, feed him, help him grow, and teach him to walk with firm steps. Bill Haley would be his biological father, but it would be one of the traumas that would later lead our little Rock to drugs, prison, and therapy, where he would reveal to the psychiatrist that one of his childhood hardships was being abandoned at such a young age and left in the hands of his uncle and putative father, although he was eternally grateful to this man who raised him and gave him his first instruction to become as great as he later became. Um, it sounds a lot like Lennon's story. But no, baby Rock ended up in the hands of none other than Chuck Berry, who, in many ways, must be considered this child's true father.

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But before that, there were some issues worth mentioning in 1954 itself. In July of that year, a young man from Memphis recorded the song "That's Allright Mamma" for Sun Records, under the direction of Sam Phillips (the man who had recorded Ike Turner). The guy's name was Elvis. And he was the pretty face of Rock & Roll, who turned it, or who helped turn it through him, into a lucrative transnational business.

 

 

Up until that point, music had been totally controlled by adults. It was made by adults for adults. There wasn't as much advertising, and records sold somewhat without so much marketing fuss. When this guy appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, moving his hips and playing this devilish, sinful rhythm, which attacked the pure consciences of the Baby Boomers. For the first time, he wasn't targeting an adult audience, but was a young man making music expressly for his generation, something was bound to happen. And it did! That whole generation of young people born after the post-war boom in the US rushed out to buy his records. And the entrepreneurs, not idiots at all, realized that the product wasn't called "Elvis Presley," but "Rock & Roll," and they went in search of the next Elvis. And the launch campaigns began. And the tours. Because young people act differently than adults. Just think: an adult in the mid-20th century likes an artist or a record and isn't crazy about having all their material; they can listen to it on the radio because basically all radio is adult contemporary programming with decent music. But teenagers and young adults are victims of their impulses, and they have few options where to listen to that new music, and that new music also seems odious and "sinful" in the eyes of their parents. And it's time to rebel against the perfectionism of WWII veterans. It's the trend, and you have to have it no matter what, because of high school dances and friends, and you have to be cool. And so music entered the consumerist business.

And poor Rock & Roll, which was newborn, pure and innocent, and knew nothing about anything.

 

Well, by 1955, Elvis Presley was already a phenomenon, releasing hit after hit. Elvis is a symbol of Rock & Roll. As a musician, he shines with his tremendous voice, which undoubtedly makes him one of the best vocalists in history. But that's as far as it goes. Presley is tremendously overrated as a musician. In his life, he perhaps wrote two or three mediocre songs, and he played the guitar poorly, barely strumming the basic tones, but without any real skill at it. However, he's something of a national hero, a symbol of the American dream, of the 1950s, of American culture. And we're not going to deny that. Rock might not have been the same without him. Let's remember that it was because of him and no one else but kids barely out of puberty who picked up the guitar for the first time, kids named Lennon, McCartney, Clapton, Hendrix… They all started because they wanted to be like Elvis. Presley is revered as a symbol, rather than a true musical genius. And in this respect, this deification isn't a bad thing, at least not for me. And I'm not a fan.

 

 

That same year in 1955, when Rock & Roll was in its infancy, Little Richard arrived on the scene with a catchy song. It was "Tutti Frutti," with which he completely transformed the genre, incorporating boogie-woogie nuances. It was Richard, not Elvis, who added the beat, the speed, his sexuality, and fire. The sound Haley created was simply the form. Elvis gave it a face, and Little Richard gave it substance. Just take a look at his hits: Good Molly, Miss Molly, Lucille, Long Tall Sally, Tutti Frutti, Ready Teddy, Rip It Up…

 

By December 1956, a pianist working as a session musician began recording at Sun Records for our already famous producer Sam Phillips, providing piano on songs for Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. His fury and distinctive piano style impressed Phillips, who began recording his own material in early 1957. During that year, Jerry Lee Lewis placed tremendous hits on the radio, from "Great Balls of Fire," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," and "High School Confidential." His fame grew with his wild live performances, where he blasted away at his piano. No one better than Lewis embodied the youthful spirit of the 1950s. He was the wild spirit that was locked away within the repressed kids of the time, and he was the one who unleashed that rebellious force on the entire generation. Elvis was an overly manufactured figure and sold out to the system almost immediately. Lewis was the first to whisper in the ear of youth and ask for fire. He spread rage in his performances, and one knew that the peaceful era where adults dictated how to live wouldn't last long after seeing one of his incendiary performances. He forged the image of the despotic, ego-laden rocker; he was the first to lead a life fraught with controversy and break the rules of puritanical society. He was also the most serious threat to the electric guitar as the leader and undisputed figure of rock, but in the end, the guitar prevailed over Lewis's furious piano. More than anything, he demonstrated that it doesn't matter what instrument is used in rock, or the range of the voice, but what truly matters is the attitude. This is why Jerry Lee Lewis was not an ordinary rock 'n' roller, but the drunken, dopey uncle who gave some advice to young Rock, which he would later take a few years later, well into his sixties.

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Finally, there's Chuck Berry. The man who assumed the role of rock star once it was abandoned to its fate. He was undoubtedly the most significant during those early years, taking Little Richard's fire, but adding something very important: a beastly guitar technique. Chuck Berry treated the guitar like no one else before, and if the Johns, Pauls, Erics, Petes, and Jimmys of the world wanted to "be" like Elvis, they wanted to "play" like Berry. It was he who managed to see the potential of that instrument called the electric guitar when he entered the Chess Records studio in 1955, sponsored by Muddy Waters, and would create all-time classics with truly astonishing performances. Songs like "Johnnie B. Goode," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Memphis Tennessee," "Sweet Little Sixteen," "Little Queenie," "Rock & Roll Music," "You Can't Catch Me," "Too Much Monkey Business," and the solo in "Maybelene," to name a few. The current conception of rock is strongly based on what this man did and the bands that formed to play his music, from the Beatles, Stones, Yardbirds, The Who, and Animals.

 

The cultural shock brought about by this devil's music was decisive. It not only led to the charts being controlled by the tastes of young people. It also brought about a revolution in terms of brands and the creation of idols. Furthermore, the music managed to bring out the first traces of youth repression. The suggestive and sexual dance of rock & roll was frowned upon by adults. And their children did whatever they had to do to escape, listen to their idols, and dance with their partners to these daring new rhythms. It wasn't a sexual revolution, but it was a first step. Without a doubt, the cadence and fire of rock opened the door to countless sexual awakenings, something that would have been unimaginable with the more conservative rhythms of the time. Thus, simply listening to the innocent and newborn Rock & Roll was a stance of insubordination against older generations. And this figure would only grow with the myth of James Dean and the Rebel Without a Cause.

 

 

In addition to the musicians we've discussed, there are also Fats Domino, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Richie Valens, Chubby Checker, Cliff Richard, The Everly Brothers, Del Shannon, Ray Charles, and Roy Orbison who also contributed to Rock & Roll, which was born accidentally, unintentionally, becoming an unprecedented force in the global cultural sphere during the period 1957-1959. It's true that record labels took advantage of the moment to line their pockets, but it's also true that there was a golden generation and a number of talented musicians who were signed by record labels, becoming the founders of Rock.

 

February 3, 1959, is known as the day Rock & Roll died. Those who actually died were Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and rock star Big Bopper, in a plane crash, at a time that was already becoming difficult for the genre. Elvis Presley had been sent to Germany in 1958 to complete his military service. James Dean had also died, a representative figure, not of music, but of culture, the rebel icon of the Beat Generation, who went hand in hand. Furthermore, at just 5 years old, the same thieving entrepreneurs who had fueled its growth now realized that it was a dangerous music and that it could have a long-term social impact (as it ultimately did), leading idols like Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis to be defamed, imprisoned, and/or erased from the map. New Rock & Roll talents were blocked, as they were dying of fever from their first serious infection. Instead of these idols who had helped him grow into a chubby, smiling, and strong boy, the fake doctors prescribed saccharine, bland, prefabricated, delicate, and totally harmless ballads.

 

 

By 1960, little or nothing remained of the movement in the United States. The money it might have made them was nothing compared to the threat, and the record labels had already learned the formula for placing porcelain idols. The formative Rock & Roll, which had grown rapidly, which we saw crawl and take its first steps, throw tantrums, dance, do other cute things, and put on a cape, was a thing of the past. But it didn't die, as many wished. It was hidden in a hovel in Germany, in a cavern in Liverpool, in a dive in London, recovering on the other side of the Atlantic to return as a bigger, smarter, and more mature child to reclaim its throne and shake the world...

 

But that's the next Era.

 

By Corvan  

Jun/22/2009

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