The Broken Amp That Changed Music History

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[robertoh]

Everybody knows that Marty McFly created Rock and Roll at the Under the Sea Prom.

[caroljo]

In 1971, I saw Pink Floyd at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, when their synthesizer broke down. As they worked on repairing it, the jammed the Blues until it was fixed. It took about an hour. Then they went back to the program. We got out at about 3am. It was one helluva GREAT concert!!!

[theofficialdiamondlou]

The Great Rosetta Thorp was arguably the first to rip Rock and Roll.

[cs]

I didn't learn anything being a life-long Memphian who grew up only a few streets away from Sun Studio but it's always nice to see Memphis mentions that aren't about the violent crime! Woohoo!

[johnfilce]

What about Sister Rosetta Tharp? She was playing and recording rock and roll years earlier.

[headlessspaceman]

I can't believe no one has mentioned: "Rock 'n' roll" was used as a euphemism for having sex for years &years in Black communities in the US 1930s-40s before it was ever used to describe a musical style. A white DJ first used the term to describe a musical style, but it's possible he didn't know what it already meant! Fats Domino definitely proved that rock 'n' roll does not need a guitar. Great story about this part of musical history. It would take an entire college semester's worth of these videos to really go into the ENTIRE history of rock 'n' roll. Long story short, it didn't take long after guitars were electrically amplified before people of various music styles from country to R&B wanted to mess with the signal chain, to create wild sounds never heard before.

[evilpandakillabzonattkoccu]

The story if Marty Robbins' song "Don't Worry" and the accident that led to the creation of the Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone pedal.... the pedal used to get the guitar sound on The Stones song 'No Satisfaction'. 👍 It's another error that a producer decided to leave in (and it sounds super out of place... as it's the bass in the middle of a country song, that sounds like they player hit a Fuzz pedal for some reason) and it turned out to be the solution for other players' problems. Now, they could get the sound they wanted...and not have to poke holes in their amps!

[knickydymondz]

All I had to see was the title of this video and I knew that it was about rocket 88.

[bluesugar]

Ike Turner learned piano from Pinetop Perkins as a child. He taught himself how to play guitar later on in the 1950s to accommodate his with Annie Mae Turner who also played piano in his band. Not only can Ike stake claim to recording arguably the first rock n roll song but he was also a talent scout for Sam Phillips at Sun Records and the Bihari Brothers at Modern Records. He discovered many legendary blues musicians like Howlin' Wolf, Little Milton, Little Junior Parker, and Rosco Gordon. Ike also played piano on B.B. King's early records. Jackie Brenston rejoined Ike's band after he couldn't find success as a solo artist. He was with him until the early 1960s. It's also important to note that Ike Turner returned to his blues roots later in his career and he released two critically acclaimed albums. His last album won him a Grammy award the year he died in 2007.

[rbb]

There was a song from 1929 called Expressman Blues that is worth a listen. Yank Rachell sings and plays mandolin, Sleepy John Estes played rhythm guitar, and Jab Jones has a piano break that sounds like Johnny Johnson could have played

[mechmat]

My theory is that the electric guitar (and amplifier) was invented in the 1940s, then 5 minutes after the inventor left the room, his teenage son cranked the volume to 10 and played an open E chord, thereby inventing the sound of rock and roll.

[WiseOwl-]

1946, Louis Jordan and the song “Ain’t that just like a woman”. Listen to the guitar intro and you will understand. I had never heard of him, but my Dad filled me in, he had played in a band that often shared the bill with Jordan in the 40’s.

[peterholthoffman]

Of the songs you mentioned, I hear rock and roll the most in Jimmy Preston's "Rock the Joint" (1949).

[pamelamays]

In highschool I took a class that explored the history of Rock And Roll. The genre goes back many years and has many musical roots.

[jflaugher]

As an amateur Rock 'n' Roll historian, while I agree that "Rocket 88" is a landmark record in the evolution of Rock 'n' Roll, I would argue that Fats Domino's 1950 release of "The Fat Man" was just as much of a landmark record - and Fats Domino went on to become a significant Rock 'n' Roll star in the 1950s and early '60s - even out selling Elvis in 1957. Furthermore, Elvis Presley, when asked by a reporter who the King of Rock 'n' Roll was, Elvis responded, "Fat Domino."

[Jayjay-qeum]

Today's music ain't got the same soul. I like that old time rock and roll.

[stevehurl]

This is a very good summary article on both "Rocket 88" and the transition from R&B to rock & roll. He gets his facts straight, no big errors. Rather unlike so many YouTube videos.

[hattree]

It's curious to hear you mention this song over and over, and never play any of it.

[MissouriOzarkHillbilly]

With hits like "Move it on Over", "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It", and "Hey Good Lookin'" an argument can be made that Hank Williams was an early pioneer of what would become Rock-n-Roll.

[flamencoprof]

Just goes to show how legends are made out of different stories. I remember reading "Rocket 88" was a reference to a piano, which has 88 keys. Seeing as Ike played the piano, I believed it.