Arguably the most popular music style in the world, rock and roll has broken a lot of cultural ground in the past sixty plus years. But who was the first to play the fast-tempo blues that took the world by storm? I'll give you a tiny hint: it wasn't Elvis.
In all honesty, we probably cannot track down who was literally the first person to ever play that style but we can trace it back to a handful of artists around 1949-1954. Ike Turner, Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and countless other musicians culminated in this era to produce a sound that was becoming increasingly popular.
The first rock and roll hit, according to many music historians, was "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brentson in 1951. 1954 was the year Elvis recorded "That's All Right" and Big Joe Turner released "Shake Rattle and Roll." By 1955 rock and roll (radio disc jockey Alan Freed popularized the name) was in full swing.
The matter of who had the first rock and roll song is largely irrelevant. That it exists at all is what matters. When the blues had a baby and named it Rock and Roll, who knew how much it would change the world.
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