The Father Of Rock & Roll

[Zpete]

Found this snippet from Rolling Stone which declares three founders of Rock & Roll:

"History belongs to the victors and in the annals of rock & roll, three men have emerged as winners: Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley, a holy trinity who were there at the start". (Rolling Stone magazine, #981, August 2005)

Thanks. This was a good thread. You should do another one on modern eras, Beatles, Zepelin, etc.., even hip hop/R&B.

BILL HALEY

&

THE COMETS

all others just followers.

[cdnvic]

Found this snippet from Rolling Stone which declares three founders of Rock & Roll:

"History belongs to the victors and in the annals of rock & roll, three men have emerged as winners: Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley, a holy trinity who were there at the start". (Rolling Stone magazine, #981, August 2005)

Thanks. This was a good thread. You should do another one on modern eras, Beatles, Zepelin, etc.., even hip hop/R&B.

BILL HALEY

&

THE COMETS

all others just followers.

Some people presented reasoned arguments, based on both research and personal experience and presented them in an articulate manner.

But failing that, a great big font works I guess.

[lazeeboy]

Found this snippet from Rolling Stone which declares three founders of Rock & Roll:

"History belongs to the victors and in the annals of rock & roll, three men have emerged as winners: Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley, a holy trinity who were there at the start". (Rolling Stone magazine, #981, August 2005)

Thanks. This was a good thread. You should do another one on modern eras, Beatles, Zepelin, etc.., even hip hop/R&B.

BILL HALEY

&

THE COMETS

all others just followers.

Some people presented reasoned arguments, based on both research and personal experience and presented them in an articulate manner.

But failing that, a great big font works I guess.

there are others who stayed around a lot longer than him ...

[globoid]

Elvis is the King of Rock´n Roll and brought the music to te people thru TV, radio, LPs and so on

John Lennon once said - Before Elvis there was nothing!

Edited July 26, 2007 by globoid

[Spee]

Found this snippet from Rolling Stone which declares three founders of Rock & Roll:

"History belongs to the victors and in the annals of rock & roll, three men have emerged as winners: Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley, a holy trinity who were there at the start". (Rolling Stone magazine, #981, August 2005)

Thanks. This was a good thread. You should do another one on modern eras, Beatles, Zepelin, etc.., even hip hop/R&B.

Elvis goes down in history as the King, and of course he was a great talent, but his true original traits were his voice and his passion. Everything else was thrust upon him, including music, backup bands, management, the limelight, etc.. But unlike many other greats, he never lost that wonderful voice. He brought black music to the white masses, but that was by marketing and management rather than by original intent. He was one of the great voices of all time and that is what I remember most of all.

I tend to agree with many others that the true roots of R&R were in the blues, boogie-woogie and rock-a-billy. Boogie-woogie was around for decades before R&R ever surfaced. There are great old B-W recordings from the 20's & 30's. Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry & Bo Diddley were defintely a part of the origins. I also agree with some of the others who mentioned the likes of Big Joe Turner and Etta James.

One person who I haven't seen mentioned is Otis Rush. He wasn't the father of R&R but as much as Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly and others, he wrote or arranged some of what became the classic 60's & 70's "blues-rock" standards and heavily contributed to rock guitar solo styles of that era. Anyone remember such great tunes as:

- All Your Love (I Miss Lovin') covered by almost every British and Irish blues-rocker of the last 40 years (Clapton, Gallagher, Moore, Mayall, Green, etc.)

- I Can't Quit You Baby (Led Zepplin), written by Willie Dixon, but the original famous cover and all the later covered guitar licks were created by Otis Rush

- Double Trouble (famously covered by Clapton)

For a real awesome history of blues and how it came to influence R&R, I would strongly recommend the book: Bill Wyman's Blues Odessy. He paints a great picture of the musical timeline from the early times through to modern, along with some terrific photographs.