Twins Claude (1919-2003) and Cliff (1919-1983) “developed a unique
sound and…style of performance—involving everything from a cappella shrieking
to acrobatics to football formations…The Treneirs’ Okeh records contains some
of the best rock ‘n’ roll to be heard in the early fifties” (Unsung Heroes of Rock ‘n’ Roll).
December 21, 2015
December 14, 2015
147 Roy Hall (1922-1984) and his Cahutta Mountain Boys “Dirty Boogie” 1951
“By the time Roy turned twenty-one, he knew that he was the best
drunken piano-player in Big Stone Gap (Virginia).” He organized a band and
recorded for a small record producer in Detroit. He left the band and opened
his own music bar joint in Nashville (Unsung
Heroes of Rock ‘n’ Roll).
146 Moon Mullican (1909-1967) “I’ll Sail My Ship Alone” 1950
Moon Mullican “developed
his musical skills on a pump organ his father purchased…Impressed by pianists
who performed in local juke joints, Mullican developed a distinctive two-finger
right-handed piano style that became his trademark” (The Handbook of Texas Music). He was called “The King of Hillbilly Piano Players” and “became the Grand Ole Opry's first singer-pianist” (Rich Kienzle, album cover of Moon Mullican Seven Nights To Rock).
December 8, 2015
145 Dean Martin (1917-1995) “That’s Amore” 1953
Born Dino Paul Crocetti, boxed under the name Kid Crochet, sang his
first gig as Dino Martini (The
Encyclopedia of Popular Culture). The song was featured in the Martin and Lewis comedy, The Caddy, and in the 1987 film, Moonstruck.
Dean Martin “That’s Amore”
Dean Martin “That’s Amore”
144 Bill Haley (1925-1981) and his Comets “Crazy Man, Crazy” 1953
“when you consider that Haley had been making rock & roll records
since 1951, and playing to audiences of teenagers…his claim to have discovered
the music doesn’t seem at all preposterous” (Bill Haley The Daddy of Rock and Roll).
143 Bill Haley (1925-1981) and the Saddlemen “Rock the Joint” 1952
“Its freak success moved Bill Haley away from hillbilly music and
into recording rhythm and blues songs.” Haley said, “Here I was with the
sideburns, cowboy boots and almost ten years of promoting myself as a country
and western singer” (What Was the First
Rock ‘n’ Roll Record).
142 Billy Ward (1921-2002) and his Dominoes “Have Mercy Baby” 1952
“thanks to Clyde McPhatter (1932-1972) whose career began in a gospel ensemble, ‘Have
Mercy Baby’ was born in the black church. The title could just as easily have
been replaced with ‘Have Mercy, Jesus’” (What
Was the First Rock ‘n’ Roll Record).
141 Ivory Joe Hunter (1914-1974) “I Almost Lost My Mind” 1950
“the
Texas-born Hunter was sneaking elements of country music into his jazzy ballads
and jump blues as far back as the 1940s. By doing so he was helping to lay the
groundwork for the cross-cultural musical revolution that would one day be
named rock 'n' roll” (Contemporary
Musicians).
December 1, 2015
140 The Clovers “One Mint Julip” 1952
“It was an early ‘drinking’ hit, and an attempt at a social statement,
as well as one of the first vocal group record hits to spotlight a tenor sax
solo.” The writer, Rudy Toombs, “provided Ruth Brown with her first major hit,
‘Teardrops from My Eyes’” (What Was the First
Rock ‘n’ Roll Record).
The Clovers “One Mint Julip”
The Clovers “One Mint Julip”
139 Hank Snow (1914-1999) and his Rainbow Ranch Boys “I’m Movin’ On” 1950
“It was the first major train song hit set to a boogie rhythm…
‘I’m Movin’ On’ became a sort of unofficial marching song among the U.S. troops
in Korea” (What Was the First Rock ‘n’
Roll Record).
138 Muddy Waters (1913-1983) “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” 1950
“the song that most profoundly broke away from the country blues
and set the standard of the rockin’ Chicago blues of the ‘50s…with Waters’s
amplified bottleneck guitar serving as a second, responsive ‘voice’ from start
to finish” (What Was the first Rock ‘n’
Roll Record).
137 Roy Brown (1925-1981) and the Mighty Men “Hard Luck Blues” 1950
He started his career as a gospel singer and boxer. Destitute, “Brown
tried in vain to sell a song he had written to the great blues shouter Wynonie
Harris.” Instead, Brown recorded his own “Good Rockin’ Tonight” (1947), which was so popular
that Harris changed his mind about the song. Brown’s success led to a number
hits such as “Hard Luck Blues” (The Encyclopedia of Popular Music).
136 Paul Williams (1915-2002) and his Hucklebuckers “Huckle-Buck” 1949
William played in a Ford factory band during World War II. He
named the tune after a new dance craze, the Hucklebuck: “Partners start from
squat position facing each other and work their way up to a standing position while
they, according to the song, ‘Wiggle like a snake, waddle like a duck’” (Ebony, Aug. 1961).
November 24, 2015
135 Hardrock Gunter (1925-2013) and the Pebbles “Birmingham Bounce” 1950
“It was one of the earliest white, popular records about ‘rockin’
on the dance floor.” Gunter received his nickname when a car lid whacked him on
the head with no ill effects. He later became an insurance salesman but said, “If
anything, I’m the first one who got up and told the people at clubs, ‘Let’s
rock ‘n’ roll’” (What Was the First Rock ‘n’
Roll Record).
134 Professor Longhair (1918-1980) and his New Orleans Boys “Mardi Gras in New Orleans” 1949
The song “was the first of many New Orleans R&B recordings to
capitalize on the city’s peculiar rhythms.” Born Henry Byrd, the Professor was “considered
the Bach of rock ‘n’ roll and the most original keyboard man the city ever
produced” (What Was the First Rock ‘n’
Roll Record).
133 Wild Bill Moore (1918-1983) “We’re Gonna Rock, We’re Gonna Roll” 1948
“It was the first ‘honking’ hit record” that Moore would remake in
1949. The R&B honker “subordinated musical technique to gimmickry. He was a
crowd-getter” whose goal was “to make the instrument sound as unmusical or as
non-Western as possible” (What Was the First Rock ‘n’ Roll Record).
132 Helen Humes (1913-1981) “Be-Baba-Leba” 1945
“It was the first example of bebop’s influence on R&B, which
had evolved primarily from big-band swing and blues.” The song “established
[Humes] in the rhythm and blues field for the next ten years” (What Was the First Rock ‘n’ Roll Record).
131 Jazz at the Philharmonic “Blues” 1944
An all-star cast of jazz musicians—Illinois Jacquet, Jack McVea,
J. J. Johnson, Nat Cole, Les Paul, Johnny Miller, Lee Young—improvised “one of
the first ‘live’ commercially released recordings” and “influenced the coming
revolutions in music” (What Was the First
Rock ‘n’ Roll Record).
November 18, 2015
130 Guitar Slim (1926-1959) “The Things That I Used To Do” 1953
Eddie Jones, stage name Guitar Slim. “His sound might have been firmly
rooted in gospel and blues-influenced R&B, but his delivery was certainly
rock & roll oriented. Slim dressed al loudly as he played; cherry-red suits
and white shoes were favorites” (The Big
Book of Blues).
129 The “5” Royales “Baby Don’t Do It” 1953
Originally the Royal Sons Gospel Group, their “influence on
R&B proved fundamental to the music of James Brown, with whom the group had
frequently worked in their heyday” (The
Encyclopedia of Popular Culture).
128 Brother Claude Ely (1922-1978) “There Ain’t No Grave Gonna Keep My Body Down” 1953
Ely said God gave him this song when he was 12 years old, sick from
tuberculosis. “The song became an anthem among Pentecostal people in the
Appalachian Mountains.” It was probably written down by 1947 and recorded by
Brother Claude in 1953. Sister Rosetta Tharpe recorded a version in 1956, and
it was one of the last songs recorded by Johnny Cash (www.npr.org).
127 The Drifters “Money, Honey” 1953
The lead singer for the Dominoes, Clyde McPhatter, quit and formed his
own group, the Drifters. After a number of personnel changes, the group made a
hit with their first recording, “Money Honey” (Encyclopedia of Rhythm & Blues and Doo-Wop Vocal Groups).
126 The Dixie Hummingbirds “Let’s Go Out to the Programs” 1953
“The year 1952 marks a key time in the group’s history, because it was
then that the ‘classic’ lineup was formed that would last more or less intact
for the next quarter-century”: James B. Davis, Ira Tucker, Willie Bobo, James
Walker, Beachery Thompson, and guitarist Howard Carroll (Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music). Listed on the National
Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.
November 10, 2015
125 The Crows “Gee” 1953
“The members of this group got together at a Manhattan high school.
They sang at school, on street corners, and in hallways and subways.” After
their hit, “Gee,” “their subsequent recordings were failures, however, due to
poor promotion, and …they drifted apart” (Encyclopedia
of Rhythm & Blues and Doo-Wop Vocal Groups).
124 Ray Charles (1930-2004) “Mess Around” 1953
After recording “Mess Around,” Charles buried his mother, Mary Jane,
in Greenville, Florida. “At this moment of complete orphanhood, Ray crossed a
major threshold in his life…he finally told himself, ‘Stop this Nat Cole
imitation…Sink, swim, or die’” (Ray
Charles Man and Music).