it seems an easy enough question to answer. it had to be bill haley’s “rock around the clock.” no, it wasn’t billy haley. well, if not bill haley, who was it? after all bill haley was the father of rock n roll. well, it must have been elvis with his recording of “that’s alright mama.” he was the king of rock n roll. no, certainly it was not elvis. do you really believe “that’s alright mama” was rock n roll with just three musicians on the recording, one electric guitar, one standup bass, and one acoustic guitar. if the song had a style to it at all, it was probably country music. so who had the first rock n roll record? good question.

muddy waters gets no credit in the history of rock music or any other kind of consideration, but his 1951 recording of “hoochie coochie man” and “i’m ready” is as rock n roll as anything recorded in the 50′s. muddy’s recordings were considered blues, because there was no rock n roll terminology in those earlier years, but bluesmen had been rockin for years, the term was understood musically as well as sexually going back to the 30′s. in 1948, fats domino recorded the “fat man” and many claim his recording to be the first rock n roll record, however, his recording of “the fat man” falls between jazz, blues, and boogie woogie. possibility then there was no first rock n roll record. maybe all the recordings leading to a first rock n roll record came in the door at the same time. history says that’s not the way it happened. in 1951 ike turner and his band the kings of rhythm were traveling north on highway 61 to memphis to sam phillips’ studio to record “rocket 88″, when a mississippi state trooper pulled them over for having so much junk inside, outside, and on top of the car, plus seven people inside the car. where are you going with all this junk the patrolman asked ike? ike told him he was ike turner. he was headed to sam phillips’ studio in memphis and was traveling there from his home in clarksdale, mississippi. the patrolman sized up and ike and his story and decided it all must be true. the he said don’t let me hold you up. get on your way and good luck to you.

when ike and his band arrived, sam phillips asked ike what he was going to record. ike told sam “rocket 88. sam knew ike played piano but did little or no singing. sam asked ike since you don’t sing, do you have a vocalist to do the song. ike who was always prepared, said to sam my friend jackie brenston will do the singing. raymond hill who was sixteen, played saxophone on the recording and “rocket 88″ probably would have been just another run-of-the-mill recording had it not been for raymond’s saxophone playing, which added everything that the recording needed to become an exceptional song.

willie kizart played a driving lead on his guitar and ike played a hard driving rhythm on piano. between raymond, willie, and ike they blew the doors off he studio, truly they had recorded a smoking, fire burning rock n roll record. they wrapped up the session in two takes. sam sent the master to leonard chess in chicago. the brains behind “rocket 88″ belonged to ike turner who was a genius when it came to picking songs and producing hit records. just ask anna mae bullock who became tina turner and ike’s wife for many years. now you know the story of the first rock n roll record. hail! hail! rock n roll.

~ Widmarc Clark