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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Memphis Celebrates Rock 'N' Roll's 50th
By Barry A. Jeckell
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Pegging the day Elvis Presley (news) recorded a version of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right" -- July 5, 1954 -- at as the date "rock" and "roll" were married, Memphis will celebrate 2004 as the 50th anniversary.
A year of events in the Tennessee city will mark the occasion that sparked a revolution from Sam Phillips (news)' tiny Memphis Recording Service studio and his Sun Records label.
Helping to spearhead the effort will be a group of "musical ambassadors" appointed by Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton. The group consists of Memphis native Justin Timberlake (news), blues legend B.B. King, soul great Isaac Hayes (news) and former Presley sideman Scotty Moore.
"Having played lead guitar for Elvis' 1954 recording of 'That's All Right,' it's a thrill for me to be a part of this historic celebration," Moore said in a statement.
"The blues and rock 'n' roll have always been closely connected, feeding off one another," says King, who has performed on the city's storied Beale Street for decades. "It's that mixing of styles that has made Memphis such a fertile ground for musicians."
"The many sounds of Memphis shaped my early musical career and continue to be an inspiration to this day," adds Timberlake.
For Hayes, the occasion will return him to the place where he began his career, writing and performing songs such as Sam and Dave's "Soul Man" at the city's legendary Stax Records label. "Rock 'n' roll began in Memphis," he said. "And the city continues to be a focal point of enormous musical creativity today."
The celebration will kick off with "Countdown on Beale" on New Year's Eve, followed by the annual events surrounding Presley's Jan. 8 birthdate. Appropriately, the yearly late summer "Elvis Week" activities, set for Aug. 7-16, will be incorporated into the 50th anniversary theme.
Along with events still in the planning stages, Memphis hopes to lead a "global moment in time" where radio stations around the world will be encouraged to play "That's All Right" simultaneously on July 5.
A Web site (http://www.50yearsrocknroll.com/) has been created as an information center for the anniversary events.
Reuters/Billboard
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| glencar |
Mamphis is a great downtown. I liked that BB King place. The casinos in Tunica are a rip but what the hell. I wish I'd ahd more time down there. |
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| egon |
so they use the date of a recording by a WHITE dude
as the birth of rock & roll?
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
quote:
egon wrote:
so they use the date of a recording by a WHITE dude
as the birth of rock & roll?
Yeah. On one hand that's crazy. I'm sure Little Richard doesn't agree with that as he was the ONE. But than again this is Elvis. |
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| egon |
nothing against elvis at all.
and everybody steals from everybody, that's how new things are born.
but it is funny that they basically say that a white man started/invented r&r... |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
quote:
egon wrote:
but it is funny that they basically say that a white man started/invented r&r...
LOL. Yeah it was Little Richard who started R&R. Right? Isn't that the historical record? Rock n Roll began on Little Richards Piano. I think that is the case. If I'm wrong correct me. |
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| Gazza |
ok..for what its worth - I think youre wrong... |
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| glencar |
Wasn't it Rocket 88? |
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| Honky Tonk Man |
glencar is right. It was Rocket 88 by Ike Turners band.
Personaly, i think Elvis started Rock 'n Roll. He may not have cut the first RnR record but he was the first person people sat up and took notice of. Nobody had anything like "Heartbreak Hotel" when it came out.
Rock 'n Roll's roots are in the Blues and RnB but it was white kids with gel combed through their hair which really made it.
Alex |
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| Gazza |
>LOL. Yeah it was Little Richard who started R&R. Right? Isn't that the historical record? Rock n Roll began on Little Richards Piano. I think that is the case. If I'm wrong correct me.
Little Richard's first single (Tutti frutti) came out in 1955. Elvis' first single (Thats All Right) was released in summer 1954.
Elvis didnt "invent" rock n roll (IMO no one did...it 'evolved') but he was certainly on the scene before Little Richard was.
To the general public (ie white americans who werent exposed to black music) I'd have thought most people date the birth of the style of music to Bill haley's "Rock around the clock" which came out around April 1954.
For me, the first classic rock n roll recording is Big Joe Turner's "Shake rattle n roll" - still one of the greatest singles of all time. Amazing how he got away with such graphic lyrics about blow jobs in, what, 1952 or 1954?
Actually,as Pat Boone's recording of "Tutti Frutti" was a bigger commercial success than Little Richard's , which came out just before it, maybe it was Pat who brought that style of music to the public consciousness!
"Pat Boone - The TRUE King Of rock 'n' Roll" - has a nice ring to it, don't ya think?
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| glencar |
Did the Stones ever do anything by Elvis besides "You Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog"? |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
I just found again a 1997 interview with Little Richard which I tried to repost an excerpt. Unfortunately I lost it and for some reason the page won't open. Oh well. At any rate he claims to be the "originator", emancipator etc how ever he puts it. I'm sure he's said it more than once. But I suppose as Gazza said it "evolved" more than anything. He also talks about Pat Boone doing that song in the same interview.LOL. I saw Macca on TV a few years back look into camera and say something to the effect that yes it was you Little Richard etc etc....yanking his chain a little bit I think. Anyway let the historians sort it out. |
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| Gazza |
>Did the Stones ever do anything by Elvis besides "You Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog"?
theres a scene in "Charlie is my darling" where Mick and Keith are arsing around at the piano and Mick does an over the top Elvis impersonation on (if I remember right) "Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me" and "Thats when your heartaches begin".
Keith of course has recorded solo piano versions of songs like "Don't" which was a hit for Elvis in 1958 and "Dont be Cruel" (1956) amongst others.
Elvis and the Stones have both officially released recordings of the following songs:
I'm Moving On, Gomper (OK,I'm kidding)...
Elvis recorded the following songs which have also been performed by the Stones but not released :
Aint That Lovin' You Baby, Big Boss Man, Blueberry Hill, High heel Sneakers, Hound Dog, I Got My Mojo workin', Johnny B. Goode, Little Egypt, Memphis Tennessee, My Baby (aka My Babe - the Stones have also played this live as well as "Little Baby" which is basically the same song)
Of course, it would be stretching it a bit to say that these songs are primarily associated with Elvis more than anyone else, with the exception of "Hound Dog" |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
All that besides....Little Richard is a great man. I never saw him live but I'm sure he puts on a good show.
Hall Of Fame (sorry that page STILL won't open)
He claims to be "the architect of rock and roll," and history would seem to bear out Little Richard's boast. More than any other performer - save, perhaps, Elvis Presley, Little Richard blew the lid off the Fifties, laying the foundation for rock and roll with his explosive music and charismatic persona. On record, he made spine-tingling rock and roll. His frantically charged piano playing and raspy, shouted vocals on such classics as "Tutti Frutti," "Long Tall Sally" and "Good Golly, Miss Molly" defined the dynamic sound of rock and roll. Onstage, he'd deliver wild, piano-pounding epistles while costumed in sequined vests, mascara, lipstick, and a pompadour that shook with every thundering beat. His road band, the Upsetters, has been credited by James Brown and others with first putting the funk in the rock and roll beat.
In a 1990 interview, Little Richard offered this explanation for the birth of rock: "I would say that boogie-woogie and rhythm & blues mixed is rock and roll." His frenzied approach to music was fueled by a genuinely outrageous personality. He was born Richard Penniman during the Depression in Macon, Georgia, one of twelve children who grew up in poverty in the Deep South. As a youngster, he soaked up music - blues, country, gospel, vaudeville - which was part of the fabric of life in the black community. He learned to play piano from an equally flamboyant character named Esquerita (who also recorded rock and roll early on for Capitol Records).
Little Richard first recorded in a bluesy vein in 1951, but it was his tenure at Specialty Records beginning in 1955 that made his mark as a rock and roll architect. Working at Cosimo Matassa's now-legendary J&M Studio in New Orleans with producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell and some of the Crescent City's finest musicians, Little Richard laid down a stunning succession of rock and roll sides over the next several years, including "Rip It Up," "Slippin' and Slidin'," "Lucille," "Jenny Jenny" and "Keep a Knockin'," in addition to the songs previously mentioned. He also appeared in rock and roll-themed movies such as Don't Knock the Rock and The Girl Can't Help It (both from 1956).
The bubble burst in late 1957 when, succumbing to the rigors of fame and personal conflicts engendered by his religious upbringing, Little Richard abruptly abandoned rock and roll to enroll in Bible college. However, he was lured back by the British Invasion in 1964, regaining his popularity as a concert performer and a living embodiment of the music's roots in the Fifties. He has launched successful comebacks in every decade since and remains an active performer and icon - and an inimitable reminder of the joyful frenzy that galvanized rock and roll into being more than forty years ago.
December 5, 1932
Richard Wayne Penniman, a.k.a. "Little Richard," is born in Macon, Georgia.
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| glencar |
I heard "Rocket 88" on the way home tonight. Excellente! |
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