The First Rock n Roll Song – 5 Candidates

From mental_floss –

Though commercially successful singles like Bill Haley & The Comets’ “Rock Around The Clock” (1954), Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti” (1955) and Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” (1956) were among the songs that popularized the genre and made it a household word, they didn’t invent it. To find the birth cry of rock ‘n’ roll, we have to go a little further back. And if we define rock ‘n’ roll as the collision of blues, country and Tin Pan Alley pop, with a manic spirit and, as  put it, a backbeat you can’t lose, then the following are all leading contenders for the song that changed popular music forever. The five candidates are :

1. “That’s All Right, Mama” – Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup (1946)

2. “Good Rockin’ Tonight” – Wynonie Harris (1948)

3. “Rock This Joint” – Jimmy Preston and his Prestonians (1949)

4. “Saturday Night Fish Fry” – Louis Jordan & The Tympany Five (1949)

5. “Rocket 88” – Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (1951)

Listen to all 5 songs HERE