Test Time

I took a public speaking class in college (back in 1989). In it I learned something neat: The instructor said "When you stand before a group of people, no matter how small or how large, and in your speech you say the word 'house', in the minds of each person in the audience there will be a different picture of a 'house' ". He went on to say even if there are only 10 people who hear you say house, each person may have a different idea of what you mean by a house- one will picture their own house, one will imagine a huge mansion, another a humble trailer. His ultimate point was to be specific when giving speeches. Tell the audience what kind of house.

So I bloviated about all that just to get to my experiment here.

I'm curious to see what comes to your mind when asked a question:

Without automatically just naming your favorite band, I want you to tell me the first band name that comes to your mind who best represents "Rock and Roll"

The first two that popped into my mind were Alice Cooper and AC/DC.

I thought of old Van Halen and early Guardian

Elvis Presley.

I immediately thought of Led Zeppelin (might have something to do with the fact that they recorded a song called Rock and Roll).

Yeh, Zeppelin crossed my mind too, but I figured I'd keep it limited to my first choices.

Nineteen88 was the first band name to come to me… this is the second song of which I thought, the first was Rock And Roll…

Twisted Sister

Quote :

Twisted Sister

"I WANNA ROCK!!!!"

KISS (because the song "I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night" popped into my head when I saw rock and roll; Chuck Berry was second)

Led Zeppelin

weird... even though I think they are highly overrated.. the first band that came to mind was KISS.

^ I agree. They're definitely R&R, but I always seen them as a gimmick (a talented gimmick nonetheless). They crossed my mind when thinking of the ultimate representative of R&R, but I still went with my first choices. As with Alice Cooper and Twisted Sister, they had some gimmicky stuff that defined them (not using "gimmick" in a negative way). Talented bands, but could they truly be the representatives of the R&R genre ?

Observation time:

I think it's interesting, as I said in the opening of this thread, that everyone's definition would be different.
Elvis, for example, has been titled the King of Rock which would definitely come to mind for a test like this. Interestingly though, the majority of Elvis' songs weren't R&R. ACDC is definitely all R&R, but many other bands are on the same playing field as them when it comes to R&R. Led Zepp borrowed or outright stole songs from earlier blues and soul artists and if looked into, some of those early soul/R&B artists would much better represent the genre of R&R than Zepp ever did. And Guardian.. who picked Guardian ??? (oh yeh, that was me) - They came to mind cuz of their simple R&R sound, not too heavy, but not AOR - but like ACDC, there are many others in their league. And what about Van Halen- they weren't ALL R&R, Diamond Dave loved to do Sinatra style songs, quartet diddies and other fun songs that were no where near R&R. Ninteen88 had as their main purpose to create a classic album of R&R in it's truest form, and though they do a pretty good job of being a rep of R&R, most of the world has never even heard of them.

Now, these are my observations, and completely my opinions (except Led Zep, love them, but they were not original at all - if anyone's interested, I could list side by side comparisons of all the songs they stole from) - So do we define a band that represents R&R by time (Wiki says "elements of rock and roll can be heard in blues records from the 1920s"), do we define it by popularity (which R&R bands have stood the test of time and had the biggest followings), do we define it by our own personal favorites (such and such is/was my fav R&R band, so they would best rep) ? I'm probably making a fun thread out to be more complicated than it should be, but I just wanted to get my old brain gears squeeking away.

Anyone have anything to add to these observations ?
Hypothetically, if they were to create a monument to ONE R&R artist/band, who represented R&R in it's truest form, with some or all of the criteria listed above, who would it be ?
Now, instead of the first one that pops in your head, give it some thought and let's hear your answer based on all my bloviating.

I just thought we were supposed to come up with whatever we thought of first.. not after deliberation because I definitely would NOT have picked kiss.

I completely agree about Led Zepplin's music being "stolen" from the blues.  It makes sense because the band was built out of the ashes of The Yardbirds which was a British blues band.  However, what Zeppelin was doing to the blues was different than what pretty much anyone else had done to it.  Their pomp and swagger and distortion of the blues gave birth to what we now call Rock N Roll.  Ask any of those members of AC/DC, Kiss, Twisted Sister etc. and I bet none of them will deny the influence of Led Zeppelin on their own music.
Not that I am some Zeppelin fanboy, I have probably heard enough of their music over the the radio for the past 4 decades that I could never hear them again, and not miss 'em.

As for Rock and Roll having it's roots in the blues and r&b I would definitely say yes indeed!  If you ask many of those artists from the 50's and 60's many might even tell you the term "Rock n Roll" was a slang term for sex that came from the kids listening to the blues and r&b.

If I had to pick an "inventor of Rock n Roll" I would probably go with Chuck Berry.

unworthy wrote:

I just thought we were supposed to come up with whatever we thought of first.. not after deliberation because I definitely would NOT have picked kiss.

Oh, no, sorry, I don't usually come across clear enough. What I originally wanted was your first initial thought to be your answer.
Then after everyone threw their names out there, I changed things up and now I'm wanting everyone to take some time and give a rep of rock that is more historically accurate.

Which is where Staybrite hit the nail on the head with Chuck Berry - I'll have to agree that Berry's pretty much the origin of R&R and could very much be THE rep.

on another thought, I think what I'm asking is kind of impossible. There are so many R&R bands going clear back to the 50s that I don't think any ONE of them could be the final representative of R&R.

My own question is too hard for even me

not to mention I wasn't around then and whatever I say is purely heresay.

When I was a teen I polled quite a few people from my parent's generation (mostly born in the 1940's). I asked them "What was the first rock and roll song".  Some of them mentioned songs from Chubby Checker, Fats Domino, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, even Little Richard.  But the vast majority of them (more than half) picked a little song from Bill Haley and the Comets titled "Rock Around The Clock".
So that's what it seems many of the teens in the 50's thought (well at least the "white" teens anyway).

^ that's very cool.
My mom (born in '42) raised me with a great appreciation for all those bands from her teen years in the 50s and into the 60s - She also went to an all black school where her and only a handful of students were white. She agrees that those Staybrite listed were definitely of the original R&R-ers that her black friends even liked (mid to late 50s).
Haley's song was the original opening song for Happy Days, so it MUST  have been the original rock song right ?

Oddly enough Bill Haley and the Comets were not even the first band to record Rock Around the clock.