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Determining the first actual rock & roll record is a truly impossible task.
But you can't go too far wrong citing Jackie Brenston's 1951 Chess waxing of
"Rocket 88," a seminal piece of rock's fascinating history with all the
prerequisite elements firmly in place: practically indecipherable lyrics
about cars, booze, and chicks; Raymond Hill's booting tenor sax, and a
churning, beat-heavy rhythmic bottom.
Sam Phillips, then a fledgling in the record business, produced "Rocket 88,"
Brenston's debut waxing, in Memphis. The singer/saxist was backed by Ike
Turner's Kings of Rhythm, an aggregation that Brenston had joined the
previous year. Turner played piano on the tune; Willie Kizart supplied dirty,
distorted guitar. Billed as by Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats, "Rocket 88"
drove up to the top slot on the R&B charts and remained there for more than a
month. But none of his Chess follow-ups sported the same high-octane
performance, though "Real Gone Rocket" was certainly a deserving candidate.
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Supposedly on the way to the studio to record Rocket 88, Kizart's amp fell
off the top of Turner's car
and the speaker cone was punctured as a result. Apocryphal story maybe, but
the records for real.
Rob