By BRENDAN TENAN
Staff Writer
Welcome to another edition of “Bang Your Head with Brendan.” Instead of offering up reviews of the latest albums rock and metal have to offer, I thought I would take the opportunity this week to look at the history of rock ‘n roll. I was hoping to have this column prepared earlier, but the last month just flew by and I didn’t have the chance to finish it in time for February.
While the month we use to celebrate black history in America has come and gone already, I have lately found myself still thinking about the many contributions from early African- American singers and musicians.
Perhaps I’m wrong, but it seems to me that not enough people realize that rock ‘n roll originally was a uniquely African American style of music, evolving out of the blues and early R&B. From its earliest incarnations, black singers and musicians have played a very important role in pushing the genre’s development forward. Some of them have become celebrated icons, while others have been overshadowed by those who came after them and faded into obscurity as a result. So, as a way of showing my respect and appreciation to them, I have created a list of my ten favorite African American blues and early rock ‘n roll singers and musicians.
10. Elmore James: Among the earliest blues musicians to utilize amplification, James was also known as “King of the Slide Guitar.” His guitar’s tone and his own voice were as unique and recognizable in his day as B.B. King’s or Howlin’ Wolf’s. His slide guitar style influenced many notable slide musicians, including John Mayall and The Allman Brothers. Such songs as “The Sky is Crying” and “Bleeding Heart” have
been covered by everyone from Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughn. He even received a shout out from The Beatles during John Lennon’s slide guitar solo on the song “For You Blue.”
9. Robert Johnson: This man, quite simply, is the “King of the Delta Blues,” and is one of the earliest bluesman to have his music recorded. Legend has it Johnson sold his soul to the devil
in order to live a life as a musician. His songs have become blues standards, and have been covered by everyone from B.B. King to Buddy Guy to Eric Clapton, arguably Johnson’s most famous admirer. Some of his most famous songs include “Sweet Home Chicago,” “Kind Hearted Woman Blues,” “Hellhound on my Trail,” and his most famous song, “Cross Road Blues,” which was popularized by Clapton and his band, Cream.
8. Bo Diddley: Creator of one of the most famous and iconic early rock ‘n roll riffs. Bo Diddley is one of the men responsible for the musical evolution from the blues to rock ‘n roll. His signature, driving riffs from the trademark rectangular guitar he invented led to a more aggressive sound that had rarely been heard from guitar players before him. His style, tone, and rhythm were an influence to everyone from Elvis to The Beatles to Jimi Hendrix. Classic Bo Diddley songs include “I’m a Man” and “Bo Diddley.”
7. T-Bone Walker: Walker was one of the earliest guitar players to have a fl are for showmanship. Long before Jimi Hendrix burst onto the scene in the mid-’60s, TBone was playing blistering guitar solos with the guitar behind his head and picking the strings with his teeth. In addition to being a terrific showman, Walker was a tremendous songwriter as well. His biggest hit, “Stormy Monday,” is said to have given a young B.B. King the inspiration to pick up a guitar for the fi rst time, and has been covered by a number of artists ranging from Clapton to the Allman Brothers Band.
6. Muddy Waters: How important is Muddy Waters to the history of rock? One of his songs was later used as the name for a popular British band that made their way to America in the mid- ’60s. You may have heard of them: The Rolling Stones. That alone is enough to cement one’s legacy in rock history, but Waters is responsible for more than that. Considered by many to be the “father of modern Chicago blues,” Waters helped set a new sonic template by taking the old Delta blues style and electrifying it, with just a touch of distortion mixed in for good measure. His songs and style seem simple at first, but he created a sound all his own. Waters’ catalogue features a mix of rollicking masculine songs (“I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man,” “I’m Ready”) and early rock ‘n roll classics (“Mannish Boy,” “Forty Days and Forty
Nights”).
5. B.B. King: What can I say that hasn’t already been said about the legendary B.B. King? His single, bent-note soloing style has inspired everyone from The Beatles and Clapton to Slash and Joe Perry from Aerosmith. His powerful, vibrating baritone voice has been able to conjure up so many vivid emotions and images in the lyrics he sings on classics like “The Thrill is Gone” and “How Blue Can You Get.” His trusty guitar, Lucille, has become an extension of his own singing voice as he’s successfully blended blues, jazz, swing, and pop into his own sound. One of the biggest thrills for me during my time at Saint Rose was getting to see him perform at the Massry Center’s 5th Anniversary Gala last spring, as well as meeting him and talking to him briefly after the show. For a man approaching 90 years
old, B.B. King still has it.
4. Howlin’ Wolf: I’ll admit that I’ve only really become aware of the great Howlin’ Wolf in the last two to three years. But in that short time, he’s quickly become one of my all-time favorite blues artists. His trademark raspy howl was unlike anything audiences had ever heard before. His friendly rivalry with Muddy Waters helped ignite the Chicago blues scene in the early ‘50s, as the two men presented powerful but different interpretations of the blues and early rock. While Muddy was usually a little more polished in his sound, Wolf had a musical style that was rougher around the edges and was described as fearsome at times by audiences, because of both the power of his music and Wolf’s imposing height and physique (6 feet 3 inches tall, and close to 300 pounds). Wolf’s music has lived on long after his death almost forty years ago. Songs such as “Smokestack Lightnin’,” “Back Door Man,” “The Red Rooster,” and “Spoonful” have become established blues-rock standards.
3. Jimi Hendrix: While he obviously wasn’t one of the early blues or rock pioneers, there’s no
denying that Jimi Hendrix is one of the most important contributors to the sounds and styles that have become standards in rock music. Considered by many to be the greatest guitar player of all time, Hendrix opened the scope of the electric guitar’s sound by utilizing amps that were over driven and distorted and wahwah pedals. He was instrumental in developing the use of feedback from his amps. While he wasn’t
the first to utilize feedback and distortion, Hendrix took what had originally been gimmicks and turned them into a way to express his art and emotions. There’s one thing that often gets overlooked when talking about Jimi Hendrix: he was a great singer and songwriter. For all of his hard charging, distorted anthems like “Purple Haze” and “Fire,” Hendrix also wrote beautiful, slower songs like “Little Wing” and moody masterpieces like “Hey Joe.” He was even able to take other artist’s classic songs, like Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and make them uniquely his own. Jimi Hendrix made an incredible amount of contributions to rock ‘n roll in his short career, and the genre, as a whole, is better because of it.
2. Chuck Berry: With all due respect to his contemporaries, Chuck Berry is arguably the founding father of rock ‘n roll. Another showman on the guitar, Berry took the sounds of rhythm and blues from his era and helped mold it into a new musical style. He developed a new style of picking the strings that made songs sound faster than they really were, giving them more urgency and excitement. His lyrics about the life of American teens and consumerism in the early ‘50s, along with expertly crafted guitar solos and showmanship, helped propel this new genre into the mainstream. “Roll Over Beethoven,” “No Particular Place to Go,” and “Johnny B. Goode” still carry the same level of excitement as they did when Berry fi rst wrote them over fifty years ago. His influence can be seen and heard virtually everywhere, from the earliest of the British Invasion bands to American garage bands like the Amboy Dukes and MC5. And of course, who will ever forget that classic prom scene from Back to the Future?
1. Little Richard: It was a toss up for quite a while between Chuck Berry and Little Richard to determine who I would rank as number one and number two. Ultimately I gave the ever so slight edge to Little Richard, who I consider to be among the first “wild man” lead singers in rock music. He is also a virtuoso piano player, and inspired the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and John Lord from Deep Purple. However, it is arguably his voice and rhythmic patterns in his lyrics that have had the greatest influence. His trademark shrieks, yells, and “wooos” have influenced generations of singers. Paul McCartney himself has freely admitted that he learned how to utilize his screams in songs like “Oh! Darling” and “Hey Jude” from what Little Richard did in “Tutti Frutti” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly.” Even Lemmy Kilmister has said that Little Richard’s distinctive voice and refusal to try to sound polished or “put on any airs” greatly influenced him when developing his own voice as a singer. With a roster of admirers ranging from a former Beatle to the founding member of Motorhead, how can anyone deny the importance of Little Richard’s contributions to the genre? Obviously there are countless more artists who played an integral part in developing rock ‘n roll. These are merely ten of my favorites, and I think it’s a good place to start for anyone looking to explore the early history of rock and the blues. Until my next column, focusing on new releases, do yourselves a favor and check out these great artists. Without them, we wouldn’t have rock ‘n roll as we know and love it today.
