|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 3, 2020 12:56:13 GMT
I see a definite lack of 50's rock and roll on these lists. And part of the problem is that everything was geared towards singles back then. But I think if you're talking rock and roll, you gotta start at the beginning. Not with the British Invasion of 1964, nor with the surf music trend of slightly before that. So who do I put on the list to represent 50's rock and roll? I think most of us would agree on Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard. Buddy Holly, oddly enough, seems to be the 50's rocker that most younger fans are familiar with. I could not leave out Fats Domino; i think the Everly Brothers need to be on the list. But i could go on and on with this. Bo Diddley was a huge influence with his rhythms; Carl Perkins was a huge, huge influence on the Beatles, especially George Harrison. Where do i stop? Eddie Cochran? Ricky Nelson? Dion? i think i am more suited to giving a youngster a beginners guide on early rock and roll, up through about 1966. After that, it shoots off in a dozen different directions; too hard to represent with just 25 albums. I basically agree with you that those "early years" of Rock & Roll are critical to represent. However, like you said, that period was dominated by singles, and for the purpose of this thread we were limited to only 25 albums (though some picked more ).
|
|
|
Post by kds on Apr 3, 2020 13:02:37 GMT
1. Various - The Ultimate Rock and Roll Collection - The 1950s (https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Ultimate-RockRoll-Collection-The-50s/release/5951056) Good idea to go with a comp for the early years which includes SEVERAL of the great artists and songs. But, has to have Elvis in there for me. He's too important. Elvis is on the comp, along with Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Fats Domino. They may be more extensive comps that also include Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and maybe even Johnny Cash (who in his early years I think is just as important to rock and roll history as he is to country).
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Apr 3, 2020 13:04:22 GMT
i think i am more suited to giving a youngster a beginners guide on early rock and roll, up through about 1966. After that, it shoots off in a dozen different directions; too hard to represent with just 25 albums. I think the early days are probably best represented--if somebody is trying to be a stickler to my original guidelines (which by no means require strict adherence!)--by a few albums and a strong compilation or two (to get the key singles). Because realistically I don't think there were many great early albums, but obviously there was a ton of great (and important) early music.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Apr 3, 2020 13:04:48 GMT
I see a definite lack of 50's rock and roll on these lists. And part of the problem is that everything was geared towards singles back then. But I think if you're talking rock and roll, you gotta start at the beginning. Not with the British Invasion of 1964, nor with the surf music trend of slightly before that. So who do I put on the list to represent 50's rock and roll? I think most of us would agree on Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard. Buddy Holly, oddly enough, seems to be the 50's rocker that most younger fans are familiar with. I could not leave out Fats Domino; i think the Everly Brothers need to be on the list. But i could go on and on with this. Bo Diddley was a huge influence with his rhythms; Carl Perkins was a huge, huge influence on the Beatles, especially George Harrison. Where do i stop? Eddie Cochran? Ricky Nelson? Dion? i think i am more suited to giving a youngster a beginners guide on early rock and roll, up through about 1966. After that, it shoots off in a dozen different directions; too hard to represent with just 25 albums. That's the problem there in that the industry was so singles oriented. That's why I went went a comp, which I'll admit isn't as all inclusive as it could be, there may be better ones out there. That's another issue, like Kap said, it's pretty much impossible to tell the story of rock and roll with only 25 albums. You could easily pick 25 before making it out of the 1960s.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Apr 3, 2020 13:07:00 GMT
That's another issue, like Kap said, it's pretty much impossible to tell the story of rock and roll with only 25 albums. You could easily pick 25 before making it out of the 1960s. Definitely. And I am now borderline obsessed with the idea of what the Rock 101 course looks like. Whether it's 25 albums or not, whatever it is ... I have a problem. But also, I figure I've got like a month to go mostly at home. I may well actually do Rock 101.
EDIT: I also may well never remotely live up to the previous sentence.
|
|
|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 3, 2020 13:08:19 GMT
Good idea to go with a comp for the early years which includes SEVERAL of the great artists and songs. But, has to have Elvis in there for me. He's too important. Elvis is on the comp, along with Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Fats Domino. They may be more extensive comps that also include Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and maybe even Johnny Cash (who in his early years I think is just as important to rock and roll history as he is to country). I looked up this comp and didn't see Elvis on it, but I probably looked at the wrong one.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Apr 3, 2020 13:09:52 GMT
Elvis is on the comp, along with Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Fats Domino. They may be more extensive comps that also include Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and maybe even Johnny Cash (who in his early years I think is just as important to rock and roll history as he is to country). I looked up this comp and didn't see Elvis on it, but I probably looked at the wrong one. I copied the track list 1 Jailhouse Rock Performer – Elvis Presley 2 Peggy Sue Performer – Buddy Holly 3 Since I Don't Have You Performer – The Skyliners 4 At The Hop Performer – Danny & The Juniors 5 Blueberry Hill Performer – Fats Domino 6 Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home) Performer – The Impalas 7 Tell Me Why Performer – Norman Fox & The Rob Roys 8 It's Only Make Believe Performer – Conway Twitty 9 For Your Love Performer – Ed Townsend 10 Heartbreak Hotel Performer – Elvis Presley 11 Sea Of Love Performer – Phil Phillips (3) 12 Chances Are Performer – Johnny Mathis, Ray Conniff And His Orchestra & Chorus 13 Smoke Gets In Your Eyes Performer – The Platters 14 Hound Dog Performer – Elvis Presley 15 This I Swear Performer – The Skyliners 16 It's All In The Game Performer – Tommy Edwards 17 Chantilly Lace Performer – Big Bopper 18 Johnny B. Goode Performer – Chuck Berry 19 Pledging My Love Performer – Johnny Ace 20 La Bamba Performer – Ritchie Valens 21 Shout (Parts 1 & 2) Performer – The Isley Brothers 22 Sleepwalk Performer – Santo & Johnny 23 Love Potion #9 Performer – The Clovers 24 Chapel Bells Performer – The Fascinators (5) 25 Bye Bye Love Performer – Everly Brothers
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Apr 3, 2020 13:12:21 GMT
My first stabs at this actually include Elvis with a full album, the 1956 Elvis Presley. I think he is one of the few early rockers with an album that probably warrants a full album's inclusion. (The other guys from the earliest days I strongly consider full albums from are Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry.)
|
|
|
Post by kds on Apr 3, 2020 13:12:46 GMT
That's another issue, like Kap said, it's pretty much impossible to tell the story of rock and roll with only 25 albums. You could easily pick 25 before making it out of the 1960s. Definitely. And I am now borderline obsessed with the idea of what the Rock 101 course looks like. Whether it's 25 albums or not, whatever it is ... I have a problem. But also, I figure I've got like a month to go mostly at home. I may well actually do Rock 101.
EDIT: I also may well never remotely live up to the previous sentence.
I also tend to use "rock" and "rock and roll" synonymously. After all, rock is short for rock and roll..........right?
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Apr 3, 2020 13:15:46 GMT
Yeah, but you know terminology and how it gets messy. I think "rock" has over time come to include heavier music with less swing, where rock and roll still seems to refer mostly to the earlier, swinging blues kind of music. And then rock and roll was the inclusive term.
But frankly I'd use them interchangeably in casual use (as I accidentally just did in writing Rock 101!).
|
|
|
Post by kds on Apr 3, 2020 13:24:24 GMT
Yeah, but you know terminology and how it gets messy. I think "rock" has over time come to include heavier music with less swing, where rock and roll still seems to refer mostly to the earlier, swinging blues kind of music. And then rock and roll was the inclusive term.
But frankly I'd use them interchangeably in casual use (as I accidentally just did in writing Rock 101!).
I guess I can see that. But, then you get into hard rock, and there's definitely some hard rock that qualifies as rock and roll. Then you get bogged down in labels, and wind up making a tree of bands with 24 subgenres like Sam Dunn did, and that was just with heavy metal. Point being, let's not overthink this too much.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Apr 3, 2020 13:29:35 GMT
100% agree about not overthinking. That's why, as I said, for me this whole thing is broad. I'm happy to get into the discussions about terminology with people who really care, and I think depending on what people are doing in different situations, it might be warranted. But for purposes of this thread, all I had in mind was very big-umbrella rock and roll, probably broad enough to be more like "popular music since the birth and dominance of rock and roll." But that's a long term!
|
|
|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 3, 2020 13:30:35 GMT
My first stabs at this actually include Elvis with a full album, the 1956 Elvis Presley. I think he is one of the few early rockers with an album that probably warrants a full album's inclusion. (The other guys from the earliest days I strongly consider full albums from are Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry.) I considered Elvis Presley, too, but it lacked too many of his hits and better material, so I went with the Sun Sessions which might've been more important.
I know that you're leaving it open to the poster to take the topic in any direction they prefer. I tried to walk a fine line in choosing mostly single artist-specific albums, but where necessary, going with a comp. However, if you really want the 25 best albums to represent the era and to teach the fictional Rock & Roll 101 course, then obviously compilation albums are the way to go, just for economical reasons. But that's too easy.
For example: - The Best Of Motown - The Disco Era - The British Invasion - The Best Of Punk Rock
- The Beatles 1 - The Beach Boys - Sounds Of Summer ...and on and on
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Apr 3, 2020 13:36:20 GMT
Work-In-Progress Report:
So far, I am surprised at how many '80s albums strike me as really important to the big picture of rock and roll (not to say I like them all ... it's the decade whose essential albums I least like overall). But also I've noticed something that surprises me: as of now, I have two '90s albums and zero albums from this century. Zero.
I really like a lot of music from this century. A LOT. But really, as I think through why I'm including what I'm including, I think there are fewer and fewer albums that are broadly important and really make a lasting mark on the culture (maybe because of splintering upon splintering of markets, whatever).
EDIT: and for reference, I am currently sitting at 48 albums.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Apr 3, 2020 13:45:33 GMT
My first stabs at this actually include Elvis with a full album, the 1956 Elvis Presley. I think he is one of the few early rockers with an album that probably warrants a full album's inclusion. (The other guys from the earliest days I strongly consider full albums from are Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry.) I considered Elvis Presley, too, but it lacked too many of his hits and better material, so I went with the Sun Sessions which might've been more important.
I know that you're leaving it open to the poster to take the topic in any direction they prefer. I tried to walk a fine line in choosing mostly single artist-specific albums, but where necessary, going with a comp. However, if you really want the 25 best albums to represent the era and to teach the fictional Rock & Roll 101 course, then obviously compilation albums are the way to go, just for economical reasons. But that's too easy.
For example: - The Best Of Motown - The Disco Era - The British Invasion - The Best Of Punk Rock
- The Beatles 1 - The Beach Boys - Sounds Of Summer ...and on and on
I can see one major era I'd leave out. I think it's fair to mention disco, and the effect it had on rock and roll, but I would've include Disco overall.
|
|