What was the first Rock n roll record?

[Mike]

The reason I bring this up is that on July 5th, 2004 50 years to the day after it was recorded, media and fans will converge on Memphis for a blowout celebration to commemorate the song "That's All Right", which has been labeled by the city as the tune that started the musical and cultural phenomenon known as rock 'n' roll.

Do you agree?

My vote goes to "Rock around the clock"

By Bill Haley and the comets!

[Batman]

I picked "Thats All right", because Rolling Stone said it was.

Actually, I picked it because I hadn't heard of the ones before it.

[Mike]

I picked "Thats All right", because Rolling Stone said it was.

Actually, I picked it because I hadn't heard of the ones before it.

That is FUNNY!

Rolling Stone magazine is to music what the National Enquirer is to the scientific community! -but someday I'll tell ya what I "really" think of them

[MuzikTyme]

A very hard question to answer because rock and roll evolved from the early blues.

In 1951, Alan Freed, DJ, coined the term rock-n-roll when he played My Baby Rocks Me With a Steady Roll by Razzle Dazzle. So as you can see, rock-n-roll originally hinted at sexual intercourse:

"If you see this van rockin'..."

Now this wasn't the first rock-n-roll song but it was the first song to be called a rock-n-roll song.

[bluesboy]

At what point does the Rock n' Roll branch start to form a new branch off the R&B Tree Branch is hard to determine. The evolution and synthesis of R&B from '46 - early '50s has many entry points for that branch to form:

Louis Jordan

Wynonie Harris

Roy Brown

Ike Turner

Bill Haley

Big Joe Turner

Chuck Berry

Elvis

the list will go on and on

[Tybalt]

This Associated Press story about the That's All Right celebration happening today appeared in scores of newspapers.

Here's other articles and opinion from CMT and the Baxter Bulletin (Arkansas) .

[Tybalt]

I meant to include this 'breaking news' from the AP Wire via the Biloxi Sun Herald.

Also, hyperbolic comment from a couple of vested interests:

Sun Studio and 50 Years of Rock 'n' Roll (Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau).

[Fijihill]

In my opinion, there was no first rock and roll record, just as there was no first modern novel. However, if I had to choose a first rock and roll record, it would be "My Daddy Rocks Me (with a Steady Roll)" By Trixie Smith (1923). The melody of this tune later showed up in "Around the Clock Blues," a hit for several artists, including Johnny Otis, in 1945, "Reelin' and Rockin'" By Chuck Berry (1958), and "Mother Goose Twist" by Teddy Randazzo (1962).

In their 1982 book What Was the First Rock 'N' Roll Record?, Jim Dawson and Steve Propes analyze 50 candidates, arranged in chronological order, from Blues, Part 2 by Blues at the Philharmonic (1944) to Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel (1956).

[Batman]

"If you see this van rockin'..."

Don't come a-knockin'!

[Batman]

That is FUNNY!

Rolling Stone magazine is to music what the National Enquirer is to the scientific community! -but someday I'll tell ya what I "really" think of them

Just to make sure, you knew that was a joke right? Because I forgot to add one of these these or one of these

[Lambchop Flansburgh]

In addition the book mentioned above, check out Nick Tosches' "Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll." Great profiles of some of the artists who pre-dated Elvis and made music that could conceivably be called Rock & Roll.

[Uncle Joe]

Geez, I can't believe you omitted "Eine Kleine Nacht Musik" by Mozart. If you examine this you'll see that he really was the father of modern music and would have beena giant rock star had he been born a few hundred years later.

As to your choices....it'd defintely Rocket 88...hey, I was there!

[PSYCHOcatholic]

Ringo Starr said it was the song that would change music forever, the first recorded "Rock and Roll" song....Rock Around the Clock!