Who really invented Rock 'n' Roll?

Who invented Rock ‘n’ Roll? For decades the standard answer was “Elvis Presley”. But it isn’t true. Elvis invented the salient characteristics of the Rock ‘n’ Roll attitude – swagger, sex, sideburns and youth. But Rock ‘n’ Roll predated his first Sun recording sessions in 1954 by a number of years. 

Trying to identify the first legitimate Rock ‘n’ Roll record has provided hours of harmless amusement for obsessive chaps for over 40 years now, and long may they continue to enjoy the fruitless quest. Ultimately, there are few objective criteria – it’s really a question of feel, and that’s entirely subjective. I’ve listened to a lot of early Rock ‘n’ Roll sides, and I’d happily go along with those who favour Jackle Brenston’s 1951 single, “Rocket 88”, mainly because of the drive and verve provided by an overdriven electric guitar backing. It was recorded at Sam Phillips’s Sun Studios by Ike Turner and his band (Brenston was his saxophonist and provided the vocals on the track). It’s essentially fast Rhythm & Blues, but it just has an R&R feel to it.

As for the first Rock ‘n’ Roll star, well, that could be Fats Domino. When Elvis was asked whether he invented R&R, he denied it, and gave The Fat Man the nod.

As for the first white R&R record, I’d probably go with Bill Haley’s Rock The Joint, recorded in 1952: it sound like R&R and has oodles of slapback bass – the insanely rhythmic effect provided by the sound of plucked bass strings slapping against the fretboard, thus creating a double beat later mimicked by adding echo to electric guitars. 

In 2004, Elvis fans locked horns with Haley adherents over the claims of “That’s All Right, mama” and “Rock Around The Clock” as the first R&R platter. Both were recorded in 1954. The Haley side was certainly the first humungous breakout Rock ‘n’ Roll hit – and it certainly was R&R, but no more so than “Rock The Joint”, recorded two years earlier.

As for “That’s All Right, Mama”, it is undoubtedly the first of its kind – but it is the first Rockabilly Record. Lots of echo, slapback bass, no drums, prominent acoustic guitar, and a graceful sprightliness that sets it apart from its R&R predecessors. The startling freshness of the sound confused many radio stations at the time, who thought it had to be by a black singer, but the effect is closer to earlier uptempo country tracks by the likes of the Delmore Brothers, or Jack Guthrie’s “Okie Boogie”, recorded in 1947. 

“That’s All Right Mama” on its own wouldn’t have caused the volcanic eruption of Rockabilly across the States for two glorious years. The two wondrous 1955 tracks, “Baby Let’s Play House” and “Mystery Train” are more self-consciously sexy and swaggering and tough. The boys have really hit their stride and the results are staggeringly great. The music still has country roots, but the raunchy toughness of black R&R is coming through loud and clear. 

Elvis didn’t combine white Country and black R&B to create Rock ‘n’ Roll. He combined Country Boogie and Rock ‘n’ Roll to create Rockabilly, a genre that enjoyed a brief heyday, but fed back into Rock ‘n’ Roll from 1955 on through to those great Rockabilly fans, The Beatles. 

When Elvis started recording for RCA in 1956, he had become a full-blown Rock ‘n’ Roller, and he went on to produce some of the greatest records in the genre. But he didn’t invent it - after all, Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard were already in full swing, and their work owed precious little to Elvis’s Sun recordings.

In case the provisional wing of The King’s fan base takes offence, I should add that I believe Elvis Presley’s work with producer Sam Phillips represents the greatest contribution made to popular music by anyone to date, and I regard “Mystery Train” as the greatest single ever recorded.