Most of you were as surprised (clueless???) as I was after
this piece ran on the Forgotten Hits website yesterday
...
Kent ...
I never heard of this guy. I was wondering if you and your readers have ever
heard of
him.
Frank B.
Nope ... but we've found traces of "rock and roll" dating
back to the 1920's before ... so I'm not convinced that he "invented" the term.
One of these days we're going to run a very special "History Of Rock And Roll"
by our buddy Ed Parker, who has made this his lifetime study ... tracing back
the origins of all the different rock and roll phrases and stylings we've all
come to enjoy over the years. (kk)
WOW ... I HAVE NEVER HEARD HIS NAME BEFORE ... THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE WAITED TILL HE WAS GONE TO TALK ABOUT THIS!
THANKS, PAL.
SCOTT SHANNON
We've got a Hardrock Gunter disc. I'll have to check this out later in the week - thanks!
We've got a Hardrock Gunter disc. I'll have to check this out later in the week - thanks!
Ed Parker
Here are a couple of reactions we
received to yesterday's post ...
Kent,
In the first item mentioned today with your FH, was the name of Hardrock Gunter. It appears that most, if not all of your readers, were not familiar with him. I would like to add my name to that list. However, when I first saw the name, Hardrock Gunter, I knew immediately that I had one record by him. The record in question is one he recorded in 1955 on King Records out of Cincinnati called I'LL GIVE EM RHYTHM.
Now, I'll be honest with you, I can't remember when, where, how, why I have the record but I do (as Clarence 'Frogman' Henry would have said.)
One final thing. If you are like me, your records are filed or categorized where you can go lay your hands on them immediately. I went to the record and got it out. I just happen to file that one record 'between a rock and hard place'.
Larry
Greetings,
Kent,
Interesting story about the origins
of the expression, "rock and roll." While the majority of us baby boomers would
love to credit Elvis by saying his July 5, 1954 recording of "That's Alright
Mama" was the first rock and roll record, others say Ike Turners' Rocket 88 beat
him by a full three years.
But if you look further back --
even into the 1920's and 1930's, there are examples of the expression,
rock and roll in the 1934 Boswell Sisters single,
"Rock and Roll," but in that case the term was used to describe a ship at
sea.
Four years later, 1938, Chuck Webb,
a band leader -- featuring lead vocals by the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald --
had a swing hit, "Rock It For Me," which features the line, 'won't you satisfy
my soul with your rock and roll.'
A number of years ago, when I was
going through some old 1940's music magazines, I had come across the term 'rock
and roll' as it pertained to a Black expression. Thus, I knew that while Alan
Freed may have popularized the expression -- and tied it to the music -- he had
definitely not come up with the term.
Fred Vail
Treasure Isle Recorders,
Inc.
Music City,
USA
Since there's been talk about "the first Rock and Roll record" I've been
going through the early years of R&R just for fun.
In my travelings on the WWW I happened to find this list and thought it
might be of some interest.
I've seen some of these on folks first R&R lists.
Bill
http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs40s.html
This is a pretty cool site ... with all kinds of topics available for perusing ... check it out when you have a chance. (kk)
We could debate for years (and
some of us already have!) the origins of both the phrase "rock and roll" and the
style of music that came to be known under this expression.
As mentioned above,
Ed Parker has made it a study to trace back ALL of the true roots of rock,
finding early examples of doo-wop stylings in recordings predating the mid-'50's
by decades ... the early "call and response" of records like those by Ray
Charles well rooted in the church ... and even Chuck Berry licks ... which have
long credited Berry as the "inventor" and "innovator" ... used on other
recordings years earlier.
Over time, it's been easiest to
say the Elvis invented rock and roll ... but we all know this simply isn't true
... although he DID become rock's poster child and first major rock star. Many
have stated that The Rock Era began the week that Bill Haley's "Rock Around The
Clock" topped Billboard's Pop Singles Chart for the very first time. Others attribute it to the day Elvis, Scotty and Bill recorded
"That's All-Right Mama" in Sam Phillips' Sun Records studio back in
1954.
But rock music (particularly on
the black music charts) dates back considerably earlier. Songs like "Good
Rockin' Tonight" and "Rocket 88" are also often cited as the first rock and roll
songs.
For years now we've been promising
to run the "short version" of Ed Parker's "History And Roots Of Rock And Roll"
Series in Forgotten Hits. (We actually had him condense it down to one simple
post, which will run tomorrow on this page.)
Sure to spark even more debate and
examples, these are facts every real rock and roll fan out there needs to
know.
So drop back tomorrow for more on
this topic ... and feel free to share your thoughts and opinions with our
readers, too! (kk)
