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Chapter 2
The “Birth” of Rock & Roll (1951-1955)
Outline
I. The First Rock n Roll concert event
a. 1952
b. Promoter Alan Freed, deejay
c. 6,000 gatecrashers
i. police disperse the crowd
II. First Rock and Roll Ball, New York City, 1955
a. Also so organized by Alan Freed
III. Change and rebellion
a. Religious meanings of the phrase “rock and roll”
b. Sexual meanings
c. Films using the word “rock” in the title
i. The word Rock becomes established in the vocabulary
ii. The idea of Rock influences personal identity
iii. Rock crosses racial boundaries at a crucial moment in history
IV. Technology
a. Jukebox
b. 45 rpm records
V. Chess Records, Chicago
a. The Chess brothers
VI. Electric instruments
a. Leo Fender, Fender guitars
b. Transplanted Delta bluesmen recorded in Chicago
VII. First rock and roll records
a. Ray Charles—“I Got a Woman”
i. Foreshadowed the soul genre
ii. Broke the color barrier
b. Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris—“Good Rockin’ Tonight”
c. Jackie Brenston (Ike Turner)—“Rocket 88”
i. One of the first car-inspired lyric themes in rock
VIII. The first charismatic rock and roll singers
a. Little Richard
i. Boogie-woogie piano, Macon, GA
ii. The prototypical glam bisexual rocker
b. Chuck Berry
i. Gospel roots, St. Louis, MO
ii. Prototypical rock guitarist
iii. Poet Laureate of Rock and Roll
c. Elvis Presley
i. Beale Street, Memphis, TN
ii. Manager Colonel Tom Parker
iii. Recordings at Sun Records
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iv. Recordings at RCA
v. Feature films
vi. 1968 Comeback TV presentation
vii. Las Vegas extravaganzas
d. Jerry Lee Lewis; Faraday, Louisiana
i. Signed by Sam Phillips
ii. Country boogie-woogie piano played with manic religious fervor
e. Carl Perkins
i. After Presley left for RCA, Perkins’ role was to replace him
ii. Wrote a number one hit on a potato sack
iii. Lacked Presley’s charisma
iv. Seriously injured in a car crash
IX. Sun Records; Sam Phillips
a. Created career beginnings for
i. Elvis Presley, a white man who could sing black music
ii. Jerry Lee Lewis, boogie-woogie piano
iii. Carl Perkins, a likely successor to Elvis Presley at Sun
iv. Johnny Cash
v. Roy Orbison
X. AM Radio
a. The primary selling tool for rock and roll
i. Portable transistor radios
b. Alan Freed found the audience for rock and roll
c. Deejay Dewey Phillips put Elvis Presley’s record on the air first
XI. Colonel Tom Parker
a. Manager
i. He marketed Elvis as a personality instead of a music star
ii. His technique was copied by Brian Epstein for the Beatles
Suggested Activities and Discussion Topics
1. Highlight the importance of the Sun Studio, and the contributions by Sam Phillips, on
the development of early rock and roll into a mainstream product. Phillips succeeded in
the development of Elvis Presley into a “white man with the black sound.” SEE:
Suggested Listening, “That’s All Right, Mama.”
2. Discuss AM radio, 45 rpm records, portable transistor radios, and jukebox technology
as product delivery mechanisms. New technology provided new marketing tools making
a heretofore isolated style widely available. Cruising in cars and playing the radio
became an evening’s entertainment for American teens.
3. Highlight the development of the electric guitar and amplifiers, and how these
developments changed rock and roll from a rural to an urban style. The amplified Fender
electric guitar caught on in Chicago, for example, where acoustic instruments could not
be heard above the crowd noise in urban establishments.
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4. Discuss the boogie-woogie piano style. It was based on a repetitive, undulating bass
line, played by the left hand, with the right hand embellishing and improvising. This
insistent, churning rhythm was an important step toward a definitive rock and roll rhythm
style. Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis provide good examples. SEE Suggested
Listening.
Chapter 2 – Suggested Listening
Artist
Song / iTunes Preview
Representative Style
Jackie Brenston
Rocket 88
If not the first rock and roll
song, then at least the first
fifties ‘car song’
Roy Brown and Wynonie
Harris
Good Rockin’ Tonight
R&B; often considered a
model for rock and roll
Little Richard
Tutti Frutti
Manic vocal, with boogie-
woogie piano
Chuck Berry
Maybelline
Country/Blues hybrid
School Days
Written for and about teens
Elvis Presley
That’s All Right
His early Sun Records style
Jerry Lee Lewis
Whole Lotta Shakin’
Churning boogie-woogie
piano and manic vocal
Carl Perkins
Blue Suede Shoes
Classic rockabilly hit
Roy Orbison
Oh, Pretty Woman
Rockabilly; ‘operatic’ vocal