As you may gather from parts 1 to 3, one can seesaw on the debate of the beginning of R&R. What I am attempting to demonstrate is that R&R was perhaps a spontaneous eruption of interest but not of a type of music. There are other artists and songs I could identify as forming the roots of R&R, but as I’ve discovered, much was borrowed from the past. Chuck Berry responded when asked about his music and his ‘original’ sound and I am paraphrasing here; he mentions many influences, that he used guitar riffs, lyrical hooks and performing tricks from other people.

Beginnings of Rock and Roll (Part three)

“Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats, released April 1951

There has been much attention paid to the song “Rocket 88” as being the ‘first’ R&R song. A huge amount of writing has been done on this song and there’s also very diverse opinions about it. Here is my take. First we need to acknowledge it’s a great song. As of 2018 the Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame added a category of single songs, “Rocket 88” was among the first group recognized.