Who Really Invented Rock 'n' Roll

Little Richard once said, "The blues had an illegitimate baby and we named it rock 'n' roll."

This is a fair and clever summary of what happened between 1949 and 1954, when black and white musical traditions cross-educated each other, and then disc jockey Alan Freed popularized the phrase "rock and roll," which was black slang for having sex.

Now along comes Rolling Stone magazine, huckstering a commercial myth to sell magazines, get advertising, and make a buck. Along the way, they falsify and simplify the history of America's music.

The current issue, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the creation of rock 'n' roll and is stuffed with advertisements, declares that Elvis Presley invented the music. This is revisionist history as a marketing gimmick.

No one person started rock 'n' roll. It was a black and white alloy of Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, Ike Turner, Hank Williams, Joe Turner, Louis Jordan, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly - and Elvis Presley.

Presley himself never claimed to have invented rock 'n' roll. He always talked about how much he was influenced by black gospel music and the blues, which he listened to on the radio growing up in Tupelo, Miss. His absorption of these black influences is what allowed him to have a black feel to his music when he entered the Sun Records recording studio 50 years ago.

In his remarkable biography of Mr. Presley, Peter Guralnick described some of the rhythm and blues 78 records that the young Elvis had owned, and once brought into a recording studio to transfer onto tape.

These records, purchased by the young Elvis, included "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" by Lloyd Price. And Big Mama Thornton's version of "Hound Dog," made three years before Elvis recorded his version. Mr. Guralnick also listed singles by Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Big Joe Turner, and Ivory Joe Hunter as Elvis possessions.

These are the black artists who preceded Elvis, influenced him, and contributed to the creation of what we now call rock 'n' roll but was then called R&B, or race music.

Rock 'n' roll was founded by many people - just like America. Elvis Presley was able to popularize it. But he was a humble person who never claimed he started anything. The one time I attended one of his press conferences, in Las Vegas in 1970, he talked about B.B. King, Ray Charles, and Ike Turner as musicians he admired growing up.

If you want to trace the roots and branches of rock 'n' roll just study the Billboard charts of bestselling single records.

The no. 2 record of 1950 was Fats Domino's "The Fat Man." And the no. 3 was "Long Gone Lonesome Blues" by Hank Williams, who wrote his own songs.

The no. 2 record of 1951 was "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston, produced for Chess Records by Ike Turner. It is about a new car and considered the first rock 'n' roll hit by most experts.

The no. 4 record of 1952 was "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," by the 17-year-old Lloyd Price. Elvis would later record this song twice.

The no. 2 record of 1953 was "Your Cheating Heart" by Hank Williams. The no. 3 record was "Hound Dog" by Big Mama Thornton. The no. 4 record was "Shake a Hand" by Faye Adams, which Bruce Springsteen performed for years.

The no. 1 record of 1954 was "Hoochie Coochie Man" by Muddy Waters. The no.5 record was "Shake Rattle and Roll" by Big Joe Turner.

The no. 1 record of 1955 was "Tweedle Dee" by Lavern Baker. The no. 3 record was "I Got a Woman," by Ray Charles. The no. 6 record was "I'm a Man" by Bo Diddley. And the number 10 record was "Baby, Let's Play House" by Elvis Presley. This was the year rock 'n' roll took over teen culture.

In 1956 Presley had the fourth best-selling single, "Heartbreak Hotel," which was behind the no. 2, "Why do Fools Fall in Love," by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. The no. 11 song that year was "Hound Dog" by Presley. This was his cover of Big Mama Thornton's original.

To gain some perspective on Rolling Stone's rewriting of history, I called one of the actual creators of rock 'n' roll, Lloyd Price. He was part of a press conference by black artists last Friday protesting Rolling Stone's whitewashing of the backbeat.

Mr. Price, an old friend who is usually laughing and serene, was quite angry. "Rolling Stone is making money off this hype," Mr. Price began. "They have an advertising deal with Miller Beer. And Miller Beer put seven white musicians on beer cans, and no blacks, and said these are the founders of rock and roll.

"I knew Elvis," he continued. "He did great things for the music. He never called himself the founder of rock and roll."

"This is media history, not real history. Rolling Stone started in 1967. So how can they say who started rock and roll in 1954? The fact is that Fats Domino sold more records than Elvis between 1953 and 1956. I loved Elvis, but it's a lie to say he invented anything."

Luckily, Mr. Price has been writing a memoir, by himself, without a ghostwriter. When it finds a publisher, it will be the truth, because Lloyd Price was present at the creation. He wrote "Stagger Lee" and "Personality." And is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.