Greetings to all our faithful Bloggers from the other half of the team, Gary. This will be my “First Survey”. My intention is not to re-write history, but just provide a few suggested candidates or options regarding a somewhat long-standing and controversial question:
The First “Rock and Roll” recording
– What was it?
See survey at the end.
1.
Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup
That’s Alright/ Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup/ the original was recorded in 1946
2.
Elvis Presley
That’s Alright Mama/ cover by Elvis Presly in July 1954
3.
Stick McGee
Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee/ Stick McGhee, 1947
4.
Big Joe Turner
Rock the Joint Boogie/ Big Joe Turner 1947/ The words “Rock and Roll” are in the song
5.
Wynonie Harris
Good Rockin’ Tonight/ Wynonie Harris (a cover of Roy Brown’s song) 1947
6.
Jimmy Preston
Rock the Joint/ Jimmy Preston and the Prestonians/ Philadelphia 1949
7.
Bill Haley and The Saddlemen
Rock the Joint/ Cover by Bill Haley & the Saddlemen 1952 – in 1955 Alan Freed said Let’s Rock and Roll!/then re-released under Bill Haley and the Comets by Decca in 1957
8.
Fats Domino
The Fat Man/ Fats Domino 1949
9.
Top left, Jackie Brenston; bottom 2nd left, Ike Turner
Rocket 88/ Ike Turner and his Delta Cats, featuring Jackie Brenston/ Sun March 1951
10.
Rocket 88/ Bill Haley and the Saddlemen 1951
11.
(Were gonna’) Rock Around the Clock (the B Side) Bill Haley and the Comets 1954
Do you have any other tune to suggest?
Reply with a Comment to tell us.
–o–
One of our Comments, voting for another song…
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 11:33 AM Subject: Hi Gary! I’d be happy to participate in your survey, though the answer may surprise you. It’s a song called That’s All Right Baby by Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner recorded live at Carnegie Hall in New York on December 23rd, 1938 . Sure sounds like rock’n’roll to me! So you don’t have to go nuts trying to find it, here’s a copy for you. This is the best address to reach me Pat@PatStJohn.com (or .net… same thing) Good Luck on the project, I like it. Pat StJohn
You can find Pat at www.PatStJohn.com
Russ & Gary's "The Best Years of Music" 
As far as I can remember, it is the first rock & roll I have danced on. It was way back when I did dance….
Richard: I assume you are talking about Rock Around The Clock. Thanks for your vote!
I never had a taste for Bill Haley nor Ike Turner
To me Haley ripped off songs and Ike was an ass.
I have to go with Big Boy Crudup…after all he did it before Elvis did…
Thanks for letting me be a part of this!
Thanks, Rob, for your Vote for Big Boy Crudup. Too bad the number of voters is so low. More apathy than the Federal Elections. lol
– Russ
Wow! Big band sounds, Delta country blues, Boogie Woogie, Jazz guitar comping and it’s all there depending on which rock and roll song you’re listening to today. Thanks to those musicians that struggled in those juke joints and the few people that had the sense to record them way back then. As to which one was the first rock and roll song ……… I don’t think I can choose one. I’m just glad that I lived during the era when this music was born. Annnnnd…………. it’s not that I am old…………the music of today DOES suck!!
Thanks, Don, for the comment. I lived during the era too, and, yes, the music of today is totally different. LOL – you must have seen the button on our “About Us” page.
I guess we all could go on and on about what we would consider the first rock and roll recording. For me, it was ‘The Fat Man’. When I bought this album in 1965 and heard that tune, I knew that was a young Fats doing rock and roll. When I read the liner notes, it said it was recorded in 1949. Winonie Harris’ doing ‘Good Rockin’ Tonight’ is close but that sound to me is R & B just like Presley said in one of his first interviews. Connie Boswell used the words ‘rock and roll’ in a 1925 recording but that would have nothing to do with what Freed meant later on. Don Landry’s got it right. We all were fortunate to witness such a great era of music.
Arthur Crudup, Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris deserve a lot of recognition for their early work but Rocket 88 by Jackie Brenston with Ike Turner put it all together in one song. Let’s not forget Louis Jordan (a big influence on Little Richard) and Hank Williams too. Move It On Over is as much rock and roll as country. Early Hank Ballard and early Drifters were very influential on what followed too. And Big Mama Thornton’s Hound Dog was released four years before Elvis’ version.
But for me, Rocket 88, Jackie Brenston, is the first true rock and roll recording.
Thanks, Roger, for your very informed comment !
Exactly right.
I would select Lionel hampton”s “Flying Home” from 1942 as the first Rock and Roll record. It contains Illinois Jaquet’s Honking sax solo deemed as the beginning of R&B. Since R&B evolved into Rock and Roll as evidenced by many of your 11 suggestions it has to be the first as Rock and Roll would not have emeged without this track.
Al Smith
So glad to be back listening to the good old rock, shaking rhythm & blues, lost due to a naughty Windows7 eater. My choice of the ones Gary listed is Big Joe Turner’s Rock the Joint Boogie. Our gang hung out in parents’ basement to tune in Wolfman Jack and dance to what The Hound’s Around picks for the day. Thanks Russ & Gary
The question has and will always produce different answers but I’m kinda torn between Big Joe Turner and Good Rockin Tonight by W. Harris. Thanks for the Brain Tease though, its fun to hear the replies.
House of Blue Lights, age prevents me from naming the artist. Lyrics: “fryers, broiler, detroit barbecue ribs, all the trick of the treats, at the house of blue lights” something along those lines.
I suspect this piece has a history.
Dave D.
I was surprised that no one mentions Louis Jordan. I have some video, archival film footage of him and his Tympany Five circa 1940. After watching it, I thought this is the closest thing to the start of Rock ‘n’ Roll I have ever seen. This was way before Bill Haley and The Comets hit the big time. Louis Jordan & his Tympany five started recording around 1938. One song I watched them doing was “Keep A-Knockin'”. This was covered by Little Richard about 15 years later. Interesting, this song was originally recorded in the 1920’s, but I do not know who did it. I’m sure Bill Haley was influenced be Louis Jordan.
Bill: If you look at https://strathdee.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/the-early-years/ you will see that we are well aware of the contributions of Louis Jordan and his influence on the music that we called Rock and Roll. Thank you for your interest in the Blog, we try to please everyone, but sometimes we need to be reminded, your point is well taken and I agree with you. As to who influenced who, that would be a very long discussion.
Gary
I am sticking with Rock around the clock,,,,,
My understanding of this subject is that in the early fifties we called it rhythm and blues and it was not heard on the radio in this country ( Canada). Then with the advent of Bill Haleys ” Rock around the Clock’ becoming a hit and becoming mainstream, Rhythm & Blues became Rock and Roll. A term I detested then and still do as I associate it with cheap commercialism and the many foolish music that was played under the banner of Rock & Roll.
I would have to agree with the 1938 version of That’s Allright Baby! It is ROCKIN and ROLLIN and that’s WAY early!
Really enjoyed Gary’s offerings BEFORE the survey, and I voted for Good Rockin Tonight that very few others did: But my favorite was my grandma’s wind-up victrola recording of Wang Wang Blues that she & I danced to as a child 68 years ago. Gotta be my first love, but cannot say who is the artist.
I love the stuff u guyz post.
Nick
Hi Nick
Who knew???
Who knew that you and I would still be enjoying each other’s comments, and through such an elaborate medium: an online Internet BLOG! I think it was around 1956 when we first started hanging with each other, playing music in various bands, drinking copious quantities of beer, experimenting with “leading edge” electronics and chicks.
Thanks, man, for your comment! So great to hear from you.
– Russ
So Great
There were several songs prior to Rock Around The Clock that captured the sound. Rock Around the Clock however is the one that received the attention to this “new” music that kicked off the Rock era.
I picked ‘Rock The Joint’ by Bill Haley & Saddlemen. To me Bill Haley’s music was the first time we got to hear ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll most of the other records are R & B which was absorbed into ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll as was uptempo Hillbilly/Rockabilly. I love all the other records as well but for me when I think of Rock ‘n’ Roll my first thought is Bill Haley & Comets/Saddlemen
This is a difficult one. Only a few of the tracks in the survey were dubbed as rock ‘n roll at the time of their release although the term rock n roll was sometimes featured in the lyrics it had a different connotation to the music style that was to become known as rock n roll. If those tracks were considered to be rock n roll then surely boogie boogie which predated them by some 20 years should also come under the banner.
To me the genre became rock n roll when someone decided to put a label to what was happening in the youth music scene during the mid fifties and that scene included diverse artists such as Elvis, The Platters, Little Richard, Pat Boone, Fats Domino, Bill Haley, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly and endless groups that were later to be labeled as doo wop and rockabilly.
For that reason my vote goes to Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley.
The Hound Dog broadcasting from Buffalo in the 50’s presented what I understand was true R&B ( later Rock & Roll). The likes of Bill Haley, Elvis and,shudder, Pat Boone had no place in his broadcasts. Listening to him and late night low wattage stations from the southern U.S. educated me in the fusion of R&B, black gospel and the true blues of many stripes. The advent of Haley’s Rock around the Clock gave birth to a geyser of commercialization of this genre that in retrospect was a sad time in the music world and is painful to listen to even today. Nothing in this world being static; the Industry refined and matured itself and produced such artists and groups as Queen, Steve Winwood,Creedence Clearwater Revival etc.
Gary and my old bud Russ, that is my opinion,warts pimples and all.
Cheers
Dave D.
Alan Freed first called it Rock N’ Roll and for me the first one was Rock Around The Clock. He made a few before that but it stuck about then. The first Ballad for me to be Rock N’ Roll was Earth Angel. Others may lay claim to be first but I identify with where it began.
If it wasn’t for Sam Phillips there wouldn’t be ROCK N” ROLL and SUN RECORDS. Thanks to people like W.C. HANDY als MEMPHIS MINNIE and FURRY LEWIS and THE MEMPHIS JUG BAND none of this would happen with boppin’ music.Thanks Gary and Russ and your many fans. MUSIC will never die, people like us keep it alive.
THE EMPEROR OF MUSIC AND DANCES
HUGH “BABE” O’DONNELL
For me personally it has to be Rock Around The Clock. I’m not that knowledgeable about the history of rock and roll so I listened to the other tracks. While I can see how they influenced what would become “rock and roll” I think the beat and drive of Rock Around The Clock really set the tone for what was to follow. Just my personal thoughts. That record and others like it lead me to a career playing music starting in 1962 and continues today. Long live rock and roll! http://www.pbarrymusic.com
Rock the Joint boogie is what we called R&R in Waco Texas in those days. There are some real classics in your list so choosing just one is tough.
In the 50’s my Dad taught me how to make a crystal radio and at night I would lay on the roof of the house and listen and dream of things out in the universe far beyond my grasp. We were migrant farm workers so it was quite a treat. KMOX,WLS,XERF(Wolfman’s station)WWL and more were in my hand,all I had to do was slide the dial on my tuner. What days!!
I’ll have to say Rocket 88 by Jackie Brenston. Ive heard so many people attest to that fact over the years. I tend to agree.