Jump blues is an up-tempo style of blues , jazz , and boogie woogie usually played by small groups and featuring horn instruments. It was popular in the 1940s and was a precursor of rhythm and blues and rock and roll . Appreciation of jump blues was renewed in the 1990s as part of the swing revival .
136-529: Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South . As a genre, it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blues , leading to what is considered "classic" rock and roll. Some have also described it as a blend of bluegrass with rock and roll. The term "rockabilly" itself
272-417: A distorted electric guitar solo with warm overtones created by his small valve amplifier . However, the use of distortion was predated by electric blues guitarists such as Joe Hill Louis , Guitar Slim , Willie Johnson of Howlin' Wolf 's band, and Pat Hare ; the latter two also made use of distorted power chords in the early 1950s. Also in 1955, Bo Diddley introduced the " Bo Diddley beat " and
408-560: A Teenage Werewolf". Lead singer Lux Interior 's energetic and unpredictable live shows attracted a fervent cult audience. Their " psychobilly " music influenced The Meteors and Reverend Horton Heat . In the early '80s, the Latin genre was born in Colombia by Marco T (Marco Tulio Sanchez), with The Gatos Montañeros. The Polecats , from North London, were originally called The Cult Heroes; they could not get any gigs at rockabilly clubs with
544-458: A blues number), " Baby Let's Play House ", " Lawdy Miss Clawdy ", and " Hound Dog ". The racial lines, however, are rather more clouded by the fact that some of these R&B songs originally recorded by black artists had been written by white songwriters, such as the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller . Songwriting credits were often unreliable; many publishers, record executives, and even managers (both white and black) would insert their name as
680-455: A blues song on one side and a country song on the other, both sung in the same genre-blending style. Presley's Sun recordings feature his vocals and rhythm guitar, Bill Black's percussive slapped bass, and Scotty Moore on an amplified guitar. Slap bass had been a staple of both western swing and hillbilly boogie since the 1940s. Scotty Moore described his playing style as an amalgamation of techniques he had picked up from other guitarists over
816-643: A boogie bass line. After World War II , The Maddox Brothers and Rose were at "the leading edge of rockabilly with the slapped bass that Fred Maddox had developed". They had shifted into higher gear leaning toward a whimsical honky-tonk feel, with a heavy, manic bottom end and high volume. The Maddoxes were known for their lively, antic-filled shows, which were an influential novelty for white listeners and musicians alike. Along with country, swing and boogie influences, jump blues artists such as Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown , and electric blues acts such as Howlin' Wolf , Junior Parker , and Arthur Crudup , influenced
952-462: A break on July 5, 1954, Elvis started playing " That's All Right Mama ", a 1946 blues song by Arthur Crudup, and Moore and Black joined in. After several takes, Phillips had a satisfactory recording. "That's All Right" was released on July 19, 1954. Presley's version of "That's All Right Mama" melded country, a genre associated with European-American culture, and rhythm & blues, a genre associated with African-American culture . The resulting track
1088-644: A breakthrough hit for Shakin' Stevens . Also in 1980, Queen scored a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with the rockabilly-inspired single " Crazy Little Thing Called Love ". The Stray Cats were the most commercially successful of the new rockabilly artists. The band formed on Long Island in 1979 when Brian Setzer teamed up with two school chums calling themselves Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom . Attracting little attention in New York, they flew to London in 1980, where they had heard that there
1224-409: A composer in order to collect royalty checks. Covers were customary in the music industry at the time; it was made particularly easy by the compulsory license provision of United States copyright law (still in effect). One of the first relevant successful covers was Wynonie Harris 's transformation of Roy Brown 's 1947 original jump blues hit " Good Rocking Tonight " into a more showy rocker and
1360-500: A defiant teen dates a rock and roll-loving boy but drops him for one who likes traditional adult music—to her parents' relief. In Britain, where postwar prosperity was more limited, rock and roll culture became attached to the pre-existing Teddy Boy movement, largely working class in origin, and eventually to the rockers . "On the white side of the deeply segregated music market", rock and roll became marketed for teenagers, as in Dion and
1496-1006: A duet with Carl Perkins, and George Harrison collaborated with Roy Orbison in the Traveling Wilburys . In 1999, McCartney released Run Devil Run , his own record of rockabilly covers. The Beatles were not the only British Invasion artists influenced by rockabilly. The Rolling Stones recorded Buddy Holly's " Not Fade Away " on an early single and later a rockabilly-style song, " Rip This Joint ", on Exile on Main St. The Who , despite being mod favorites, covered Eddie Cochran's " Summertime Blues " and Johnny Kidd and The Pirates ' Shakin' All Over on their Live at Leeds album. Even heavy guitar heroes such as Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page were influenced by rockabilly musicians. Beck recorded his own tribute album to Gene Vincent's guitarist Cliff Gallup — Crazy Legs —and Page's band, Led Zeppelin , offered to work as Elvis Presley's backing band in
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#17327904111181632-576: A lot of instruments. The rhythm's what's important." After blues artists like Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson launched a nationwide boogie craze starting in 1938, country artists like Moon Mullican , the Delmore Brothers , Tennessee Ernie Ford , Speedy West , Jimmy Bryant , and the Maddox Brothers and Rose began recording what was then known as "hillbilly boogie", which consisted of "hillbilly" vocals and instrumentation with
1768-512: A major influence on British Invasion acts and particularly on the song writing of the Beatles and through them on the nature of later rock music. Many of the earliest white rock and roll hits were covers or partial re-writes of earlier black rhythm and blues or blues songs. Through the late 1940s and early 1950s, R&B music had been gaining a stronger beat and a wilder style, with artists such as Fats Domino and Johnny Otis speeding up
1904-677: A million copies. These same musicians would have two more releases in 1956, followed by another in January 1957. "Queen of Rockabilly" Wanda Jackson's first record came out in July, "I Gotta Know" on the Capitol label; followed by "Hot Dog That Made Him Mad" in November. Capitol would release nine more records by Jackson, some with songs she had written herself, before the 1950s were over. The first record by Jerry Lee Lewis , who would later be known as
2040-507: A mix of blues, country and early rockabilly. The Saturday Night Jamboree was a Memphis stage show held every Saturday night at the Goodwyn Institute Auditorium in downtown Memphis, Tennessee from 1953–1954. The Jamboree shows were sometimes broadcast live on KWEM. A number of future notables performed there, including Elvis Presley. The performers often experimented with new sounds in their dressing rooms, incorporating
2176-646: A name that sounded "punk", so the original drummer Chris Hawkes came up with the name "Polecats". Tim Polecat and Boz Boorer started playing together in 1976, then hooked up with Phil Bloomberg and Chris Hawkes at the end of 1977. The Polecats played rockabilly with a punk sense of anarchy and helped revive the genre for a new generation in the early 1980s. The Blasters , who emerged from the Los Angeles punk scene, included rockabilly among their roots rock influences. The song " Marie Marie ", first appearing on their 1980 debut album American Music , would later become
2312-580: A perkier vocal more appropriate for an audience unfamiliar with the song to which James's song was an answer , Hank Ballard 's "Work With Me, Annie". Presley's rock and roll version of "Hound Dog", taken mainly from a version recorded by the pop band Freddie Bell and the Bellboys , was very different from the blues shouter that Big Mama Thornton had recorded four years earlier. Other white artists who recorded cover versions of rhythm and blues songs included Gale Storm (Smiley Lewis' "I Hear You Knockin ' "),
2448-818: A pioneer of rockabilly and rock and roll, came out on December 22, 1956, and featured his version of " Crazy Arms " and "End of the Road". Lewis would have big hits in 1957 with his version of " Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On ", issued in May, and " Great Balls Of Fire " on Sun. There were thousands of musicians who recorded songs in the rockabilly style, and many record companies released rockabilly records. Some enjoyed major chart success and were important influences on future rock musicians. Sun also hosted performers, such as Billy Lee Riley , Sonny Burgess , Charlie Feathers , and Warren Smith . There were also several female performers like Wanda Jackson who recorded rockabilly music long after
2584-667: A preacher (October 1957), the departure of Presley for service in the United States Army (March 1958), the scandal surrounding Jerry Lee Lewis ' marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin (May 1958), riots caused by Bill Haley 's ill-fated tour of Europe (October 1958), the deaths of Buddy Holly , The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash (February 1959), the breaking of the Payola scandal implicating major figures, including Alan Freed , in bribery and corruption in promoting individual acts or songs (November 1959),
2720-701: A punk-influenced style of rockabilly, often labeled as alt-country or cowpunk . They achieved critical acclaim and a following in America but never managed a major hit. The revival was related to the " roots rock " movement, which continued through the 1980s, led by artists like James Intveld , who later toured as lead guitar for The Blasters, High Noon , the Beat Farmers , The Paladins , Forbidden Pigs , Del-Lords, Long Ryders, The Last Wild Sons, The Fabulous Thunderbirds , Los Lobos , The Fleshtones , Del Fuegos , Reverend Horton Heat and Barrence Whitfield and
2856-415: A result heard each other's music and even began to emulate each other's fashions. Radio stations that made white and black forms of music available to both groups, the development and spread of the gramophone record , and African-American musical styles such as jazz and swing which were taken up by white musicians, aided this process of "cultural collision". The immediate roots of rock and roll lay in
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#17327904111182992-555: A rock and roll standard. As interest in rock and roll was beginning to subside in America in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it was taken up by groups in British cities like Liverpool , Manchester , Birmingham , and London . About the same time, a British blues scene developed, initially led by purist blues followers such as Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies who were inspired by American musicians such as Robert Johnson , Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf . Many groups moved towards
3128-480: A rock and roll star in his own right), although they did not record the song until 1957. The Burnettes disliked the popular music McQueen played, so they began playing smaller shows on their own, focusing on their budding rockabilly sound. The trio released " Train Kept A-Rollin' " in 1956, listed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the top 500 rock songs of all time . Many consider this 1956 recording to be
3264-515: A rockabilly album titled Everybody's Rockin' . The album was not a commercial success and Young was involved in a widely publicized legal fight with Geffen Records who sued him for making a record that did not sound "like a Neil Young record". Young made no further albums in the rockabilly style. During the 1980s, a number of country music stars scored hits recording in a rockabilly style. Marty Stuart 's " Hillbilly Rock " and Hank Williams, Jr. 's " All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight " were
3400-403: A steady drive maintained, it's a jumper that defies standing still". Both Hampton and Jordan combined the popular boogie-woogie rhythm, a grittier version of swing-era saxophone styles as exemplified by Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster , and playful, humorous lyrics or verbal asides laced with jive talk . As this urban, jazz-based music became more popular, musicians who wanted to "play for
3536-476: A time of considerable technological change, soon after the development of the electric guitar, amplifier , 45 rpm record and modern condenser microphones . There were also changes in the record industry, with the rise of independent labels like Atlantic , Sun and Chess servicing niche audiences and a similar rise of radio stations that played their music. It was the realization that relatively affluent white teenagers were listening to this music that led to
3672-506: A unique electric guitar style, influenced by African and Afro-Cuban music and in turn influencing many later artists. Rock and roll was strongly influenced by R&B, according to many sources, including an article in The Wall Street Journal in 1985, titled, "Rock! It's Still Rhythm and Blues". In fact, the author stated that the "two terms were used interchangeably", until about 1957. The other sources quoted in
3808-448: A variety of sub-styles and has influenced the development of other genres such as punk rock . There was a close relationship between blues and country music from the very earliest country recordings in the 1920s. The first nationwide country hit was " Wreck of the Old 97 ", backed with "The Prisoner's Song", which also became quite popular. Jimmie Rodgers , the "first true country star",
3944-432: A white market, or a new hybrid of black and white forms. In the 1930s, jazz , and particularly swing , both in urban-based dance bands and blues-influenced country swing ( Jimmie Rodgers , Moon Mullican and other similar singers), were among the first music to present African-American sounds for a predominantly white audience. One particularly noteworthy example of a jazz song with recognizably rock and roll elements
4080-514: A wider scale than any other single performer and by 1956, he had emerged as the singing sensation of the nation. Bill Flagg who is a Connecticut resident, began referring to his mix of hillbilly and rock 'n' roll music as rockabilly around 1953. In July 1954, Presley recorded the regional hit " That's All Right " at Sam Phillips' Sun Studio in Memphis. Three months earlier, on April 12, 1954, Bill Haley & His Comets recorded "Rock Around
4216-519: Is Big Joe Turner with pianist Pete Johnson 's 1938 single " Roll 'Em Pete ", which is regarded as an important precursor of rock and roll. The 1940s saw the increased use of blaring horns (including saxophones), shouted lyrics and boogie-woogie beats in jazz-based music. During and immediately after World War II , with shortages of fuel and limitations on audiences and available personnel, large jazz bands were less economical and tended to be replaced by smaller combos, using guitars, bass and drums. In
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4352-491: Is a portmanteau of "rock" (from "rock 'n' roll") and " hillbilly ", the latter a reference to the country music (often called " hillbilly music " in the 1940s and 1950s) that contributed strongly to the style. Other important influences on rockabilly include western swing , boogie-woogie , jump blues , and electric blues . Defining features of the rockabilly sound included strong rhythms, boogie woogie piano riffs, vocal twangs , doo-wop acapella singing, and common use of
4488-745: Is another example of the mixing of musical genres in the first half of the 1950s. Bill Monroe is known as the Father of Bluegrass , a specific style of country music. Many of his songs were in blues form, while others took the form of folk ballads, parlor songs, or waltzes. Bluegrass was a staple of country music in the early 1950s and is often mentioned as an influence in the development of rockabilly, in part owing to its favoring of fast tempos. The Honky Tonk sound, which "tended to focus on working-class life, with frequently tragic themes of lost love, adultery, loneliness, alcoholism, and self-pity", also included songs of energetic, uptempo Hillbilly Boogie. Some of
4624-414: Is defined as such in some dictionaries. The phrase "rocking and rolling" originally described the movement of a ship on the ocean, but by the early 20th century was used both to describe the spiritual fervor of black church rituals and as a sexual analogy. A retired Welsh seaman named William Fender can be heard singing the phrase "rock and roll" when describing a sexual encounter in his performance of
4760-692: Is general agreement that it arose in the Southern United States – a region that would produce most of the major early rock and roll acts – through the meeting of various influences that embodied a merging of the African musical tradition with European instrumentation. The migration of many former slaves and their descendants to major urban centers such as St. Louis , Memphis , New York City , Detroit , Chicago , Cleveland , and Buffalo meant that black and white residents were living in close proximity in larger numbers than ever before, and as
4896-466: Is often identified with the emergence of teen culture among the first baby boomer generation, who had greater relative affluence and leisure time and adopted rock and roll as part of a distinct subculture. This involved not just music, absorbed via radio, record buying, jukeboxes and TV programs like American Bandstand , but also extended to film, clothes, hair, cars and motorcycles, and distinctive language. The youth culture exemplified by rock and roll
5032-719: Is rock 'n' roll. I think that 'Rocket 88' is R&B, but I think 'Rocket 88' is the cause of rock and roll existing". In terms of its wide cultural impact across society in the US and elsewhere, Bill Haley 's " Rock Around the Clock ", recorded in April 1954 but not a commercial success until the following year, is generally recognized as an important milestone, but it was preceded by many recordings from earlier decades in which elements of rock and roll can be clearly discerned. Journalist Alexis Petridis argued that neither Haley's "Rock Around
5168-430: Is usually played with one or more electric guitars (one lead , one rhythm ) and a double bass (string bass). After the mid-1950s, electric bass guitars ("Fender bass") and drum kits became popular in classic rock. Rock and roll had a profound influence on contemporary American lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language, and is often portrayed in movies, fan magazines, and on television. Some people believe that
5304-485: The British Invasion would become the superseding forms of rock music during the mid-1960s, a few American artists were nonetheless able to achieve chart successes with rock and roll recordings during this time. The most notable of these was Johnny Rivers , who with hits such as "Memphis" (1964), popularized a " Go-go " style of club-oriented, danceable rock and roll that enjoyed significant success in spite of
5440-483: The Civil War ), uses the phrase "rock my soul" frequently in a religious sense; this song was later recorded by musicians from various genres, including various gospel musicians and groups (including The Jordanaires ), Louis Armstrong (jazz/swing), Lonnie Donegan ( skiffle ), and Elvis Presley (rock and roll/pop/country). Blues singer Trixie Smith recorded "My [Man] Rocks Me with One Steady Roll" in 1922. It
5576-769: The Jordanaires . In 1951 a western swing bandleader named Bill Haley recorded a version of " Rocket 88 " with his group, the Saddlemen . It is considered one of the earliest recognized rockabilly recordings. It was followed by versions of " Rock the Joint " in 1952, and original works such as "Real Rock Drive" and " Crazy Man, Crazy ", the latter of which reached number 12 on the American Billboard chart in 1953. On April 12, 1954, Haley, performing with his band as Bill Haley and His Comets , recorded " Rock Around
Rockabilly - Misplaced Pages Continue
5712-485: The Long Tall Sally EP (1964)). Long after the band broke up, the members continued to show their interest in rockabilly. In 1975, Lennon recorded an album called Rock 'n' Roll , featuring versions of rockabilly hits and a cover photo showing him in full Gene Vincent leather. About the same time, Ringo Starr had a hit with a version of Johnny Burnette's " You're Sixteen ". In the 1980s, McCartney recorded
5848-457: The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that abolished the policy of " separate but equal " in 1954, but leaving a policy which would be extremely difficult to enforce in parts of the United States. The coming together of white youth audiences and black music in rock and roll inevitably provoked strong white racist reactions within the US, with many whites condemning its breaking down of barriers based on color. Many observers saw rock and roll as heralding
5984-657: The US pop charts – topped the British charts later that year and again in 1956 and helped identify rock and roll with teenage delinquency. The initial response of the British music industry was to attempt to produce copies of American records, recorded with session musicians and often fronted by teen idols. More grass roots British rock and rollers soon began to appear, including Wee Willie Harris and Tommy Steele . During this period American Rock and Roll remained dominant but in 1958 Britain produced its first "authentic" rock and roll song and star, when Cliff Richard reached number 2 in
6120-608: The beat music of rock and roll and rhythm and blues from skiffle, like the Quarrymen who became the Beatles , producing a form of rock and roll revivalism that carried them and many other groups to national success from about 1963 and to international success from 1964, known in America as the British Invasion. Groups that followed the Beatles included the beat-influenced Freddie and the Dreamers , Wayne Fontana and
6256-428: The rhythm and blues , then called " race music ", in combination with either boogie-woogie and shouting gospel or with country music of the 1940s and 1950s. Particularly significant influences were jazz, blues , gospel , country, and folk . Commentators differ in their views of which of these forms were most important and the degree to which the new music was a re-branding of African-American rhythm and blues for
6392-463: The tape echo ; and eventually came to incorporate different instruments and vocal harmonies. Initially popularized by artists such as Carl Perkins , Elvis Presley , Johnny Burnette , Jerry Lee Lewis and others, the rockabilly style waned in the late 1950s; nonetheless, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, rockabilly enjoyed a revival. An interest in the genre endures even in the 21st century, often within musical subcultures . Rockabilly has spawned
6528-415: The tempos and increasing the backbeat to great popularity on the juke joint circuit. Before the efforts of Freed and others, black music was taboo on many white-owned radio outlets, but artists and producers quickly recognized the potential of rock and roll. Some of Presley's early recordings were covers of black rhythm and blues or blues songs, such as " That's All Right " (a countrified arrangement of
6664-439: The 1920s and in country records of the 1930s, the genre did not acquire its name until 1954. According to the journalist Greg Kot , "rock and roll" refers to a style of popular music originating in the United States in the 1950s. By the mid-1960s, rock and roll had developed into "the more encompassing international style known as rock music , though the latter also continued to be known in many circles as rock and roll." For
6800-481: The 1950s, by leading white and black kids to listen to the same music, put the radio personality 'at the vanguard' and made him 'a really important figure ' ". After Freed was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , the organization's Web site offered this comment: "He became internationally known for promoting African-American rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under
6936-483: The 1970s. However, Presley never took them up on that offer. Years later, Led Zeppelin's Page and Robert Plant recorded a tribute to the music of the 1950s called The Honeydrippers: Volume One . The 1968 Elvis "comeback" and acts such as Sha Na Na , Creedence Clearwater Revival , Don McLean , Linda Ronstadt and the Everly Brothers , the film American Graffiti , the television show Happy Days and
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#17327904111187072-560: The 1980s in the UK (with four number ones in the singles chart) and number two across Europe, outstripping Michael Jackson , Prince , and Bruce Springsteen . Unlike The Stray Cats, who became successful due in part to MTV, Shakin' Stevens' success was initially due to him appearing on various children's television shows in Britain. Despite his popularity in Europe, he never became a big success in
7208-561: The Belmonts ' " A Teenager in Love " (1959). From its early 1950s beginnings through the early 1960s, rock and roll spawned new dance crazes including the twist . Teenagers found the syncopated backbeat rhythm especially suited to reviving Big Band-era jitterbug dancing. Sock hops , school and church gym dances, and home basement dance parties became the rage, and American teens watched Dick Clark 's American Bandstand to keep up on
7344-597: The Big Bopper ), the induction of Elvis Presley into the army in 1958, and a general change in American musical tastes. The style remained popular longer in England, where it attracted a fanatical following right up through the mid-1960s. Rockabilly music cultivated an attitude that assured its enduring appeal to teenagers. This was a combination of rebellion, sexuality, and freedom—a sneering expression of disdain for
7480-854: The Bride (When She Used to Rock 'n' Roll) ". The group became a popular touring act in the UK and the US, leading to respectable album sales. Edmunds also nurtured and produced many younger artists who shared his love of rockabilly, most notably the Stray Cats . Robert Gordon emerged from late 1970s CBGB punk act Tuff Darts to reinvent himself as a rockabilly revival solo artist. He recorded first with 1950s guitar legend Link Wray and later with UK studio guitar veteran Chris Spedding and found borderline mainstream success. Also festering at CBGB's punk environs were The Cramps , who combined primitive and wild rockabilly sounds with lyrics inspired by old drive-in horror movies in songs like "Human Fly" and "I Was
7616-482: The Clock " for Decca Records of New York City. When first released in May 1954, "Rock Around the Clock" made the charts for one week at number 23, and sold 75,000 copies. In 1955, it was featured in the film Blackboard Jungle , resulting in a resurgence of sales. The song hit No. 1, held that position for eight weeks, and was the number two song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 1955. The recording was, until
7752-547: The Clock" nor Presley's version of "That's Alright Mama" heralded a new genre: "They were simply the first white artists' interpretations of a sound already well-established by black musicians almost a decade before. It was a raucous, driving, unnamed variant of rhythm and blues that came complete with lyrics that talked about rocking". Other artists with early rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley , Little Richard , Jerry Lee Lewis , and Gene Vincent . Chuck Berry's 1955 classic " Maybellene " in particular features
7888-466: The Clock". Although only a minor hit when first released, when used in the opening sequence of the movie Blackboard Jungle a year later, it set the rock and roll boom in motion. The song became one of the biggest hits in history, and frenzied teens flocked to see Haley and the Comets perform it, causing riots in some cities. "Rock Around the Clock" was a breakthrough success for the group; traditionally,
8024-888: The Decca label, and, as a member of the Teen Kings, Roy Orbison with "Ooby Dooby" on the New Mexico/Texas based Je-wel label. Holly's big hits would not be released until 1957. Janis Martin was only fifteen years old when RCA issued a record with "Will You, Willyum" and the Martin-composed "Drugstore Rock 'n' Roll", which sold over 750,000 copies. King records issued a new disk by forty-seven-year-old Moon Mullican: " Seven Nights to Rock " and "Rock 'N' Roll Mr. Bullfrog". Twenty more sides were issued by various labels including 4 Star, Blue Hen, Dot, Cold Bond, Mercury, Reject, Republic, Rodeo, and Starday. In April and May 1956,
8160-780: The Diamonds (The Gladiolas' "Little Darlin ' " and Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers' "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"), the Crew Cuts (the Chords' "Sh-Boom" and Nappy Brown's "Don't Be Angry"), the Fountain Sisters (The Jewels' "Hearts of Stone") and the Maguire Sisters (The Moonglows' "Sincerely"). Some commentators have suggested a decline of rock and roll starting in 1958. The retirement of Little Richard to become
8296-504: The Jime ended with the death of Vince Gordon in 2016. Shakin' Stevens was a Welsh singer who gained fame in the UK portraying Elvis in a stage play. In 1980, he took a cover of The Blasters ' "Marie Marie" into the UK Top 20. His hopped-up versions of songs like " This Ole House " and " Green Door " were giant sellers across Europe. Shakin' Stevens was the biggest selling singles artist of
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#17327904111188432-451: The Joint " (1949) (later covered by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1952), " Rocket 88 " by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats ( Ike Turner and his band The Kings of Rhythm and sung by Brenston), was recorded by Sam Phillips in March 1951. This is often cited as the first rock n' roll record. In an interview however, Ike Turner offered this comment: "I don't think that 'Rocket 88'
8568-474: The Jukebox Keep on Playing". Perkins and Presley in particular competed as the premier rockabilly artists. In March 1956, Columbia released " Honky Tonk Man " by Johnny Horton , King put out "Seven Nights to Rock" by Moon Mullican, Mercury issued "Rockin' Daddy" by Eddie Bond , and Starday released Bill Mack 's "Fat Woman". Two young men from Texas made their record debuts in April 1956: Buddy Holly on
8704-479: The Louis Prima rocker "Oh Babe" in 1950, as well as Amos Milburn 's cover of what may have been the first white rock and roll record, Hardrock Gunter 's "Birmingham Bounce" in 1949. The most notable trend, however, was white pop covers of black R&B numbers. The more familiar sound of these covers may have been more palatable to white audiences, there may have been an element of prejudice, but labels aimed at
8840-716: The Mindbenders , Herman's Hermits and the Dave Clark Five . Early British rhythm and blues groups with more blues influences include the Animals , the Rolling Stones , and the Yardbirds . Rock and roll influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language. In addition, rock and roll may have contributed to the civil rights movement because both African-American and European-American teens enjoyed
8976-624: The National Billboard charts in 1956, and his "Guitar Rock" is cited as classic rockabilly. In 1953, 13-year-old Janis Martin was performing at the Old Dominion Barn Dance on WRVA out of Richmond, Virginia. Martin performed a mix of country songs for the show peppered with rhythm and blues hits in a style that has been described as "proto-rockabilly". She later stated, "the audience didn't know what to make of it. They didn't hardly allow electric instruments, and I
9112-618: The Rock and Roll Trio played on Ted Mack 's TV talent show in New York City. They won all three times and guaranteed them a finalist position in the September supershow. Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps' recording of " Be-Bop-A-Lula " was released on June 2, 1956, backed by "Woman Love". Within twenty-one days it sold over two hundred thousand records, stayed at the top of national pop and country charts for twenty weeks, and sold more than
9248-533: The Savages . These bands, like the Blasters, were inspired by a full range of historic American styles: blues, country, rockabilly, R&B and New Orleans jazz. They held a strong appeal for listeners who were tired of the commercially oriented MTV-style synthpop and glam metal bands that dominated radio play during this time period, but none of these musicians became major stars. In 1983, Neil Young recorded
9384-468: The Teddy Boy revival created curiosity about the real music of the 1950s, particularly in England, where a rockabilly revival scene began to develop from the 1970s in record collecting and clubs. The most successful early product of the scene was Dave Edmunds , who joined up with songwriter Nick Lowe to form a band called Rockpile in 1975. They had a string of minor rockabilly-style hits like " I Knew
9520-515: The Tennessee Two, consisting of Marshall Grant on bass, and Luther Perkins (no relation to Carl Perkins) on lead guitar. This song and another Cash original, " Cry! Cry! Cry! " were released in July. "Cry! Cry! Cry!" managed to crack Billboard's Top 20, peaking at No. 14. Presley's second and third singles were not as successful as his first. His fourth release, "Baby, Let's Play House", was released in May 1955, and peaked at number five on
9656-460: The Tympany Five like " Saturday Night Fish Fry ", one of the first to feature a distorted electric guitar, "literally made its listeners jump to its pulsing beat". At least two other Jordan records are viewed as jump blues, " Caldonia " and " Choo Choo Ch'Boogie ". Jordan's jump blues combined good-natured novelty lyrics (some with suggestive double meanings); pushing the tempo; strengthening
9792-582: The US. In 2005, his greatest hits album The Collection reached number four in the British albums chart, and was released as a tie-in to his appearance on ITV entertainment show Hit Me, Baby, One More Time , going on to become the winner of the series. Other notable British rockabilly bands of the 1980s included The Jets , Crazy Cavan , Matchbox , and the Rockats . Jason & the Scorchers combined heavy metal , Chuck Berry and Hank Williams to create
9928-756: The United Kingdom were called Teddy Boys because they wore long, Edwardian -style frock coats , along with tight black drainpipe trousers and brothel creeper shoes. Another group in the 1950s that were followers of rockabilly were the Ton-Up boys, who rode British motorcycles and would later be known as rockers in the early 1960s. The rockers had adopted the classic greaser look of T-shirts , jeans, and leather jackets to go with their heavily slicked pompadour haircuts. The rockers loved 1950s rock and roll artists such as Gene Vincent, and some British rockabilly fans formed bands and played their own version of
10064-439: The arrest of Chuck Berry (December 1959), and the death of Eddie Cochran in a car crash (April 1960) gave a sense that the initial phase of rock and roll had come to an end. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the rawer sounds of Presley, Gene Vincent , Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly were commercially superseded by a more polished, commercial style of rock and roll influenced pop music. Marketing frequently emphasized
10200-570: The article said that rock and roll combined R&B with pop and country music. Fats Domino was one of the biggest stars of rock and roll in the early 1950s and he was not convinced that this was a new genre. In 1957, he said: "What they call rock 'n' roll now is rhythm and blues. I've been playing it for 15 years in New Orleans". According to Rolling Stone , "this is a valid statement ... all Fifties rockers, black and white, country born and city-bred, were fundamentally influenced by R&B,
10336-549: The band. Jordan’s music appealed to both African American and white audiences, and he had broad success with hit songs like "Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby" (1944). Blues and jazz were part of the same musical world, with many musicians straddling both genres. Jump bands such as the Tympany Five , which came into being at the same time as the boogie-woogie revival, achieved maximum effect with an eight-to-the-bar boogie-woogie style. Jordan's "raucous recordings" with
10472-404: The beat; layering the sound with his bluesy saxophone and playful melodies. Lionel Hampton recorded the stomping big-band blues song " Flying Home " in 1942. Featuring a choked, screaming tenor sax performance by Illinois Jacquet , the song was a hit in the " race " category. Billboard described "Flying Home" as "an unusually swingy side...with a bright bounce in the medium tempo and
10608-566: The best ones into their shows. In 1951 and 1952, brothers Johnny and Dorsey Burnette , as well as Paul Burlison , played a blend of blues, country, and rockabilly at live shows in and around the Memphis area. in 1953, they played with Doc McQueen's swing band at the Hideaway Club for a time. While there, they wrote a song called "Rock Billy Boogie", named after the Burnette brothers' sons Rocky and Billy ( Rocky Burnette later became
10744-433: The better known musicians who recorded and performed these songs are: the Delmore Brothers , the Maddox Brothers and Rose , Merle Travis , Hank Williams , Hank Snow , and Tennessee Ernie Ford. White sharecroppers' sons Carl Perkins and his brothers Jay and Clayton, along with drummer W. S. Holland , had established themselves as one of the hottest bands on the honky-tonk circuit around Jackson, Tennessee . Most of
10880-485: The black popular music of the late Forties and early Fifties". Further, Little Richard built his ground-breaking sound of the same era with an uptempo blend of boogie-woogie, New Orleans rhythm and blues, and the soul and fervor of gospel music vocalization. Less frequently cited as an influencer, LaVern Baker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. The Hall remarked that her "fiery fusion of blues, jazz and R&B showcased her alluring vocals and set
11016-678: The charts stateside. Their third LP, Rant 'N' Rave with the Stray Cats , topped charts across the US and Europe as they sold-out shows everywhere during 1983. However, personal conflicts led the band to break up at the height of their popularity. Brian Setzer went on to solo success working in both rockabilly and swing styles, while Rocker and Phantom continued to record in bands both together and singly. The group has reconvened several times to make new records or tours and continue to attract large audiences live, although record sales have never again approached their early '80s success. The Jime entered
11152-563: The charts with " Move It ". At the same time, TV shows such as Six-Five Special and Oh Boy! promoted the careers of British rock and rollers like Marty Wilde and Adam Faith . Cliff Richard and his backing band, the Shadows , were the most successful home grown rock and roll based acts of the era. Other leading acts included Billy Fury , Joe Brown , and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates , whose 1960 hit song " Shakin' All Over " became
11288-632: The concept of rock and roll had been defined, Billboard magazine columnist Maurie Orodenker started to use the term to describe upbeat recordings such as "Rock Me" by Sister Rosetta Tharpe ; her style on that recording was described as "rock-and-roll spiritual singing". By 1943, the "Rock and Roll Inn" in South Merchantville, New Jersey , was established as a music venue. In 1951, Cleveland , Ohio, disc jockey Alan Freed began playing this music style, and referring to it as "rock and roll" on his mainstream radio program, which popularized
11424-415: The crossover of African-American "race music" to a growing white youth audience, the popularization of rock and roll involved both black performers reaching a white audience and white musicians performing African-American music. Rock and roll appeared at a time when racial tensions in the United States were entering a new phase, with the beginnings of the civil rights movement for desegregation , leading to
11560-424: The development of R&B was jump blues, pioneered by Louis Jordan, with ... His Tympany Five ... three horns and a rhythm section, while stylistically his music melded elements of swing and blues, incorporating the shuffle rhythm, boogie-woogie bass lines, and short horn patterns or riffs. The songs featured the use of African American vernacular language, humor, and vocal call-and-response sections between Jordan and
11696-432: The development of rockabilly. The Memphis blues musician Junior Parker and his electric blues band, Little Junior's Blue Flames, featuring Pat Hare on the guitar, were a major influence on the rockabilly style, particularly with their songs " Love My Baby " and " Mystery Train " in 1953. Zeb Turner 's February 1953 recording of "Jersey Rock" with its mix of musical styles, lyrics about music and dancing, and guitar solo,
11832-588: The development of what was to be defined as rock and roll as a distinct genre. Because the development of rock and roll was an evolutionary process, no single record can be identified as unambiguously "the first" rock and roll record. Contenders for the title of " first rock and roll record " include Sister Rosetta Tharpe 's " Strange Things Happening Every Day " (1944), " That's All Right " by Arthur Crudup (1946), " Move It On Over " by Hank Williams (1947), " The Fat Man " by Fats Domino (1949), Goree Carter 's " Rock Awhile " (1949), and Jimmy Preston 's " Rock
11968-502: The drummer for the Louisiana Hayride , to join him for future dates. By that time, many rockabilly bands were incorporating drums, which distinguished the sound from country music, where they were then uncommon. In the 1956 sessions shortly after Presley's move from Sun Records to RCA Victor, Presley was backed by a band that included Moore, Black, Fontana, and pianist Floyd Cramer . In 1956, Elvis also acquired vocal backup via
12104-427: The electric guitar as its centerpiece, adapting his rock band instrumentation from the basic blues band instrumentation of a lead guitar, second chord instrument, bass and drums. In 2017, Robert Christgau declared that "Chuck Berry did in fact invent rock 'n' roll", explaining that this artist "came the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together". Rock and roll arrived at
12240-511: The electric guitar, creating what is instantly recognizable as rock guitar. This proposal by Richards neglects the black guitarists who did the same thing before Berry, such as Goree Carter , Gatemouth Brown , and the originator of the style, T-Bone Walker . Country boogie and Chicago electric blues supplied many of the elements that would be seen as characteristic of rock and roll. Inspired by electric blues , Chuck Berry introduced an aggressive guitar sound to rock and roll, and established
12376-455: The electronic treatment of sound by such innovators as Joe Meek , and the " Wall of Sound " productions of Phil Spector , continued desegregation of the charts, the rise of surf music , garage rock and the Twist dance craze. Surf rock in particular, noted for the use of reverb-drenched guitars, became one of the most popular forms of American rock of the early 1960s. While the sounds of
12512-436: The first intentional use of a distortion effect on a rock song, which was played by lead guitarist Paul Burlison. Elvis Presley 's first recordings took place at Sun Records, a small independent label run by record producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee. For several years, Phillips had been recording and releasing performances by blues and country musicians in the area. He also ran a service allowing anyone to come in off
12648-463: The greatest Black musicians like BB King, Arthur Crudup and Fats Domino. His style of music combined with black influences created controversy during a turbulent time in history. Many other popular rock and roll singers of the time, such as Fats Domino and Little Richard , came out of the black rhythm and blues tradition, making the music attractive to white audiences, and are not usually classed as "rockabilly". Presley popularized rock and roll on
12784-411: The late 1940s and early 1950s, through artists such as Louis Jordan , Big Joe Turner , Roy Brown , Charles Brown , Helen Humes , T-Bone Walker , Roy Milton , Billy Wright , Wynonie Harris , Louis Prima , and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee . Less frequently mentioned, Goree Carter also recorded some jump blues; his " Rock Awhile " is said by Robert Palmer to be an appropriate candidate for
12920-409: The late 1990s, recognized by Guinness World Records as having the highest sales claim for a pop vinyl recording, with an "unaudited" claim of 25 million copies sold. Maine native and Connecticut resident Bill Flagg began using the term rockabilly for his combination of rock 'n' roll and hillbilly music as early as 1953. He cut several songs for Tetra Records in 1956 and 1957. "Go Cat Go" went into
13056-561: The latest dance and fashion styles. From the mid-1960s on, as "rock and roll" was rebranded as "rock", later dance genres followed, leading to funk , disco , house , techno , and hip hop . Jump blues Jump blues evolved from the music of big bands such as those of Lionel Hampton and Lucky Millinder in the early 1940s. The typical jump blues lineup consisted of 5-7 members including sax, bass, drums and piano and/or guitar . The genre produced musicians such as Louis Jordan , Jack McVea , Earl Bostic , and Arnett Cobb . Jordan
13192-399: The levees and plantations, took in folk songs, and features blues and rhythm". In discussing Alan Freed's contribution to the genre, two significant sources emphasized the importance of African-American rhythm and blues. Greg Harris, then the executive director of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, offered this comment to CNN : "Freed's role in breaking down racial barriers in U.S. pop culture in
13328-476: The mid 1940s to the early 1950s include "two beat jazz" rhythms, "jazz choruses", and guitar work that preceded early rockabilly recordings. Wills is quoted as saying "Rock and Roll? Why, man, that's the same kind of music we've been playin' since 1928!... But it's just basic rhythm and has gone by a lot of different names in my time. It's the same, whether you just follow a drum beat like in Africa or surround it with
13464-747: The most noteworthy examples of this trend, but they and other artists like Steve Earle and the Kentucky Headhunters charted many records with this approach. Rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll , rock-n-roll , rock 'n' roll , rock n' roll , Rock n' Roll or proto-rock ) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African American music such as jazz , rhythm and blues , boogie-woogie , electric blues , gospel , and jump blues , as well as country music . While rock and roll's formative elements can be heard in blues records from
13600-524: The music had a positive influence on the civil rights movement , because of its widespread appeal to both Black American and White American teenagers. The term "rock and roll" is defined by Greg Kot in Encyclopædia Britannica as the music that originated in the mid-1950s and later developed "into the more encompassing international style known as rock music ". The term is sometimes also used as synonymous with "rock music" and
13736-525: The music. Many early rock and roll songs dealt with issues of cars, school, dating, and clothing. The lyrics of rock and roll songs described events and conflicts to which most listeners could relate through personal experience. Topics such as sex that had generally been considered taboo began to appear in rock and roll lyrics. This new music tried to break boundaries and express emotions that people were actually feeling but had not discussed openly. An awakening began to take place in American youth culture. In
13872-547: The music. The most notable of these bands was The Beatles . When John Lennon first met Paul McCartney , he was impressed that McCartney knew all the chords and the words to Eddie Cochran's " Twenty Flight Rock ". As the band became more professional and began playing in Hamburg, they took on the "Beatle" name (inspired by Buddy Holly's band The Crickets ) and they adopted the black leather look of Gene Vincent. Musically, they combined Holly's melodic songwriting sensibility with
14008-666: The name of rock and roll". Not often acknowledged in the history of rock and roll, Todd Storz , the owner of radio station KOWH in Omaha , Nebraska, was the first to adopt the Top 40 format (in 1953), playing only the most popular records in rotation. His station, and the numerous others which adopted the concept, helped to promote the genre: by the mid 50s, the playlist included artists such as " Presley , Lewis , Haley , Berry and Domino ". The origins of rock and roll have been fiercely debated by commentators and historians of music. There
14144-646: The national Billboard Country Chart. In August, Sun released Elvis's versions of " I Forgot to Remember to Forget " and "Mystery Train". "Remember to Forget" spent a total of 39 weeks on the Billboard Country Chart, five at the number one spot. "Mystery Train", peaked at number 11. Through most of 1955, Cash, Perkins, Presley, and other Louisiana Hayride performers toured through Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Mississippi. Sun released two more Perkins songs in October: "Gone, Gone, Gone" and "Let
14280-474: The ongoing British Invasion. Another example was Bobby Fuller and his group The Bobby Fuller Four , who were especially inspired by Buddy Holly and stuck with a rock and roll style, scoring their most notable hit with "I Fought the Law" (1965). In the 1950s, Britain was well placed to receive American rock and roll music and culture. It shared a common language , had been exposed to American culture through
14416-565: The other ladies, Janis Martin, the female Elvis Jo Ann Campbell , and Alis Lesley , who also sang in the rockabilly style. Mel Kimbrough -"Slim", recorded "I Get Lonesome Too" and "Ha Ha, Hey Hey" for Glenn Records along with "Love in West Virginia" and "Country Rock Sound" for Checkmate a division of Caprice Records. Gene Summers , a Dallas native and Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductee, released his classic Jan/Jane 45s in 1958–59. He continued to record rockabilly music well into 1964 with
14552-407: The people" began favoring a heavy, insistent beat. which appealed to black listeners who no longer wished to be identified with "life down home". Jump groups, employed to play for jitterbug dances at a much lower cost than big bands, became popular with agents and ballroom owners. The saxophonist Art Chaney said "[w]e were insulted when an audience wouldn't dance". Jump was especially popular in
14688-418: The phrase. Several sources suggest that Freed found the term, used as a synonym for sexual intercourse, on the record " Sixty Minute Man " by Billy Ward and his Dominoes . The lyrics include the line, "I rock 'em, roll 'em all night long". Freed did not acknowledge the suggestion about that source in interviews, and explained the term as follows: "Rock 'n roll is really swing with a modern name. It began on
14824-512: The physical looks of the artist rather than the music, contributing to the successful careers of Ricky Nelson , Tommy Sands , Bobby Vee , Jimmy Clanton , and the Philadelphia trio of Bobby Rydell , Frankie Avalon , and Fabian , who all became "teen idols". Some music historians have also pointed to important and innovative developments that built on rock and roll in this period, including multitrack recording , developed by Les Paul ,
14960-433: The purpose of differentiation, this article deals with the first definition. In the earliest rock and roll styles, either the piano or saxophone was typically the lead instrument. These instruments were generally replaced or supplemented by the electric guitar in the mid-to-late 1950s. The beat is essentially a dance rhythm with an accentuated backbeat , almost always provided by a snare drum . Classic rock and roll
15096-578: The release of "Alabama Shake". In 2005, Summers's most popular recording, School of Rock 'n Roll , was selected by Bob Solly and Record Collector Magazine as one of the "100 Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Records". Tommy " Sleepy LaBeef " LaBeff recorded rockabilly tunes on a number of labels from 1957 through 1963. Rockabilly pioneers the Maddox Brothers and Rose continued to record for decades. However, none of these artists had any major hits and their influence would not be felt until decades later. In
15232-636: The rockabilly scene in 1983, when Vince Gordon formed his band. The Jime was a Danish Band. The Jime was the band of Vince Gordon, rockabilly guitarist. Not only was he the nerve of the band, Vince Gordon was the band. He composed nearly all its songs and hits. Vince Gordon also left his mark on the rockabilly scene in many ways. Expert Fred Sokolow talks about the Vince Gordon style in Rockabilly due to his composing. Vince Gordon had many different musicians in his band. The lifetime of
15368-518: The rough rock and roll sound of Vincent and Carl Perkins. When The Beatles became worldwide stars, they released versions of three different Carl Perkins songs, more than any other songwriter outside the band, except Larry Williams , who also added three songs to their discography. (Curiously, none of these three were sung by the Beatles' regular lead vocalists—"Honey Don't" (sung by Ringo) and "Everybody's Trying to be my Baby" (sung by George) from Beatles for Sale (1964) and "Matchbox" (sung by Ringo) on
15504-528: The same period, particularly on the West Coast and in the Midwest , the development of jump blues , with its guitar riffs, prominent beats and shouted lyrics, prefigured many later developments. In the documentary film Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll , Keith Richards proposes that Chuck Berry developed his brand of rock and roll by transposing the familiar two-note lead line of jump blues piano directly to
15640-573: The song has been seen as the major breakthrough for the rock and roll genre, as its immense popularity introduced the music to a global audience. In 1956, the arrival of rockabilly was underlined by the success of songs like " Folsom Prison Blues " by Johnny Cash , " Blue Suede Shoes " by Perkins, and the No. 1 hit " Heartbreak Hotel " by Presley. For a few years it became the most commercially successful form of rock and roll. Later rockabilly acts, particularly performing songwriters like Buddy Holly , would be
15776-500: The songs they played were country standards with a faster rhythm. It was here that Carl started composing his first songs. While playing, he would watch the dance floor to see what the audience preferred and adjust his compositions to suit, writing them down only when he was sure they were finished. Carl sent numerous demos to New York record companies with no success; the producers believed the Perkins' style of rhythmically-driven country
15912-494: The stage for the rock and roll surge of the Fifties". "Rockabilly" usually (but not exclusively) refers to the type of rock and roll music which was played and recorded in the mid-1950s primarily by white singers such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins , Johnny Cash , and Jerry Lee Lewis , who drew mainly on the country roots of the music. Presley was greatly influenced by and incorporated his style of music with that of some of
16048-523: The stationing of troops in the country, and shared many social developments, including the emergence of distinct youth sub-cultures, which in Britain included the Teddy Boys and the rockers . Trad jazz became popular in the UK, and many of its musicians were influenced by related American styles, including boogie woogie and the blues . The skiffle craze, led by Lonnie Donegan , used amateurish versions of American folk songs and encouraged many of
16184-551: The street and for a modest fee, record themselves on a two-song vanity record. One young man who came to record himself as a surprise for his mother, he claimed, was Elvis Presley. Presley made enough of an impression that Phillips deputized guitarist Scotty Moore , who then enlisted bassist Bill Black , both from the Starlight Wranglers, a local western swing band, to work with the young man. The trio rehearsed dozens of songs, from traditional country to gospel. During
16320-516: The subsequent generation of rock and roll, folk, R&B and beat musicians to start performing. At the same time British audiences were beginning to encounter American rock and roll, initially through films including Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Rock Around the Clock (1956). Both movies featured the Bill Haley & His Comets hit " Rock Around the Clock ", which first entered the British charts in early 1955 – four months before it reached
16456-524: The summer of 1958 Eddie Cochran had a chart-topping hit with " Summertime Blues ". Cochran's brief career included only a few more hits, such as "Sitting in the Balcony" released in early 1957, " C'mon Everybody " released in October 1958, and " Somethin' Else " released in July 1959. Then in April 1960, while touring with Gene Vincent in the UK, their taxi crashed into a concrete lamp post, killing Eddie at
16592-523: The traditional song " The Baffled Knight " to the folklorist James Madison Carpenter in the early 1930s, which he would have learned at sea in the 1800s; the recording can be heard on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website. Various gospel, blues and swing recordings used the phrase before it became widely popular. " Bosom of Abraham ", an African-American spiritual that was documented no later than 1867 (just after
16728-438: The true realization of the Rockabilly genre. In addition to the fusion of distinct genres, Presley's recordings contain some traditional as well as new traits: "nervously up tempo" (as Peter Guralnick describes it), with slap bass, fancy guitar picking, much echo, shouts of encouragement, and vocals full of histrionics such as hiccups, stutters, and swoops from falsetto to bass and back again. In 1955, Elvis asked D.J. Fontana ,
16864-451: The way for desegregation, in creating a new form of music that encouraged racial cooperation and shared experience. Many authors have argued that early rock and roll was instrumental in the way both white and black teenagers identified themselves. Several rock historians have claimed that rock and roll was one of the first music genres to define an age group . It gave teenagers a sense of belonging, even when they were alone. Rock and roll
17000-804: The white market also had much better distribution networks and were generally much more profitable. Famously, Pat Boone recorded sanitized versions of songs recorded by the likes of Fats Domino, Little Richard, the Flamingos and Ivory Joe Hunter. Later, as those songs became popular, the original artists' recordings received radio play as well. The cover versions were not necessarily straightforward imitations. For example, Bill Haley's incompletely bowdlerized cover of " Shake, Rattle and Roll " transformed Big Joe Turner's humorous and racy tale of adult love into an energetic teen dance number, while Georgia Gibbs replaced Etta James ' tough, sarcastic vocal in "Roll With Me, Henry" (covered as "Dance With Me, Henry") with
17136-409: The workaday world of parents and authority figures. It was the first rock 'n' roll style to be performed primarily by white musicians, thus setting off a cultural revolution that is still reverberating today. "Rockabilly" deviance from social norms, however, was more symbolic than real; and eventual public professions of faith by aging rockabillies were not uncommon. The first wave of rockabilly fans in
17272-558: The years. Presley's unique musical style rocketed him into the spotlight, and drew masses of followers. Nobody was sure what to call Presley's music, so Elvis was described as "The Hillbilly Cat" and "King of Western Bop". Over the next year, Elvis would record four more singles for Sun. Rockabilly recorded by artists prior to Presley can be described as being in the long-standing country style of Rockabilly. Presley's recordings are described by some as quintessential rockabilly for their true union of country and R&B, which can be described as
17408-400: The young age of 21. The grim coincidence in this all was that his posthumous UK number-one hit was called " Three Steps to Heaven ". Rockabilly music enjoyed great popularity in the United States during 1956 and 1957, but radio play declined after 1960. Factors contributing to this decline are usually cited as the 1959 death of Buddy Holly in an airplane crash (along with Ritchie Valens and
17544-401: Was a recurring source of concern for older generations, who worried about juvenile delinquency and social rebellion, particularly because, to a large extent, rock and roll culture was shared by different racial and social groups. In America, that concern was conveyed even in youth cultural artifacts such as comic books . In "There's No Romance in Rock and Roll" from True Life Romance (1956),
17680-576: Was an active rockabilly scene. Early shows were attended by the Rolling Stones and Dave Edmunds, who quickly ushered the boys into a recording studio. The Stray Cats had three UK Top Ten singles to their credit and two bestselling albums. They returned to the US, performing on the TV show Fridays with a message flashing across the screen that they had no record deal in the States. Soon EMI picked them up, their first videos appeared on MTV, and they stormed up
17816-427: Was denied airplay on both country radio stations and R&B stations for being "too black" and "too white", respectively. Country deejays told Phillips they would be "run out of town" for playing it. When the song was finally played by one rogue deejay, Dewey Phillips, Presley's recording created so much excitement it was described as having waged war on segregated radio stations. All of Presley's early singles featured
17952-405: Was doing some songs by black artists." In 1954, both Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins auditioned for Sam Phillips . Cash hoped to record gospel music, but Phillips was not interested. In October 1954, Carl Perkins recorded his original song " Movie Magg ", which was released in March 1955 on Phillips's all-country label Flip. Cash returned to Sun in 1955 with his song " Hey, Porter ", and his group
18088-556: Was known as the "Blue Yodeler", and most of his songs used blues-based chord progressions , although with very different instrumentation and sound from the recordings of his black contemporaries like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Bessie Smith . During the 1930s and 1940s, two new sounds emerged. Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys were the leading proponents of Western Swing , which combined country singing and steel guitar with big band jazz influences and horn sections ; Wills's music found massive popularity. Recordings of Wills's from
18224-688: Was not commercially viable. That would change in 1955 after recording the song " Blue Suede Shoes " (recorded December 19, 1955) on Sam Phillips ' Memphis-based Sun Records . Later made more famous by Elvis Presley , Perkins' original version was an early rock 'n' roll standard. In the early 1950s, there was heavy competition among Memphis area bands playing an audience-savvy mix of covers, original songs, and hillbilly flavored blues. One source mentions both local disc jockey Dewey Phillips and producer Sam Phillips as being influential. An early radio show on KWEM in West Memphis, Arkansas quickly became
18360-400: Was the most popular of the jump blues stars; other artists who played the genre include Roy Brown , Amos Milburn , and Joe Liggins , as well as sax soloists Jack McVea, Big Jay McNeely , and Bull Moose Jackson . Hits included singles such as Jordan's " Saturday Night Fish Fry ", Roy Brown's " Good Rockin' Tonight " and Big Jay McNeely's "Deacon's Hop". One important stylistic prototype in
18496-473: Was used in 1940s recordings and reviews of what became known as " rhythm and blues " music aimed at a black audience. Huey "Piano" Smith credits Cha Cha Hogan , a jump-blues shouter and comic in New Orleans, with popularizing the term in his 1950 song "My Walking Baby". In 1934, the song "Rock and Roll" by the Boswell Sisters appeared in the film Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round . In 1942, before
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