Ike Turner, pretty much the inventor of rock and roll, has died. He\’ll be remembered of course as the husband of Tina Turner rather than the astonishing musician he was. A pity.
So here\’s what is generally agreed to be the first rock and roll record ever.
1951, if you can believe that.
Yes, it’s a pity he’ll be remembered for breaking his wife’s nose but what can you do? Poor Ike.
“That’s All Right Mama” by Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup, circa 1946?
Feeble rubbish. If you want to hear real Rhythm Music, try The Rhythmakers recordings of 1932. A good example is “I would do anything for you” – the rhythm section is Zutty Singleton, Pops Foster, Fats Waller, Jack Bland and Eddie Condon. The front line includes Red Allen and Pee Wee Russell. Compared with that, Rock music is thin, insipid stuff that descended into formulaic, overwrought, mechanical tosh even faster than Swing did. Music for drongos.
“El Kapitan” by Memphis Slim, recorded sometime in the 1940’s?
OK, not strictly rock’n’roll, but it has the world’s finest fucked up drum break about two minutes in.