Elvis wasn’t the first rock ‘n’ roller. Little Richard wasn’t, either. I’d argue that Sister Rosetta Tharpe was.
In the mid-1930s, the concept of female guitarists was practically unheard of. Tharpe was only 23 in 1938 when she released her first record, “Trouble in Mind.” The record featured her song, “Rock Me,” which shows off her eclectic mix of gospel and rock. She continued to be a blues and gospel trailblazer in the 1940s and 50s, when hotels were still segregated, which forced her to sleep on buses despite being a successful touring musician.
Tharpe didn’t invent blues – blues has roots that date back to the music enslaved Africans brought to North America during the transatlantic slave trade – but her innovation paved the way for countless artists who followed.
B.B. King is often called the “King of Blues.” He recorded his first record in 1949 and revolutionized the blues guitar style, from which many blues – and, later, rock and roll – guitarists drew inspiration. He left his mark on the music industry with a new style of soloing that popularized bending and vibrato techniques that virtually every guitarist uses to this day.
Other artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf influenced some of the most iconic rock musicians of the 1960s, like The Rolling Stones, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Led Zeppelin.
As a big Led Zeppelin fan (and proud owner of a Les Paul nicknamed Jimmy), I was borderline offended at first when a friend of mine called them “the most overrated cover band of all time.” After some reflection and research, I realized my friend had a point. Several Led Zeppelin songs were originally composed by blues musicians. Two of their most famous songs, “Bring It On Home” and “Whole Lotta Love,” got them in hot water for copyright infringement. Led Zeppelin released “Whole Lotta Love” in 1969, seven years after Muddy Waters recorded “You Need Love,” with lyrics by Willie Dixon. Listening to the two songs, it’s easy to notice the similarities. Led Zeppelin’s version is stylized with their heavy rock and roll sound, but some of the lyrics are almost the same.
Led Zeppelin’s song goes “You need coolin’/ Baby I’m not foolin’/ I’m gonna send ya/ Back to schoolin’.” Muddy Waters’ “You Need Love” goes “I ain’t foolin’/ You need schoolin’/ Baby you know you need coolin’.”
Dixon didn’t get any credit for Led Zeppelin’s version until 1985. Interestingly enough, Willie Dixon wrote both allegedly stolen songs and both cases were settled outside of court.
This was somewhat of a common occurrence for blues-rock musicians in the 1960s and ‘70s. Because blues so heavily influenced early rock bands, the blues sound embedded itself in the DNA of the genre.
Also intrinsic to rock is Les Paul. As the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame put it, “You can’t talk guitars without Les Paul.”
I didn’t know anything about him until I owned his signature model, which he created with Gibson. Les Paul is such a household name that many people don’t even think about who Les Paul actually was. But they should.
Not only was Les Paul a famous musician who played everything from jazz to pop to blues to country, but he was also one of the most prolific inventors of the 20th century, responsible for both the solid-body electric guitar and multitrack recording.
To truly appreciate Les Paul, you have to go beyond his iconic guitar model and recognize his impact on the way we actually make music. Before him, music was recorded in single tracks with little space for the layered, complex sound we associate with rock music. It was like trying to paint the Mona Lisa with one color. Les Paul gave us the whole palette with multitrack recording, which allows musicians to record instruments or parts separately and combine them into one polished track. This technique has been a staple of the music industry for decades.
We owe much of rock history to blues, from the subject matter to the culture to the sound itself. It’s easy to focus on the names that are synonymous with rock – Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix – but it’s important to recognize the people who laid the foundation for them. Without artists like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, B.B. King and Muddy Waters, there would be no Elvis, Rolling Stones or Hendrix.
The next time you pick up a guitar or rock a Rolling Stones t-shirt, remember that rock didn’t just happen. Rock is a long chain of innovation over the years, and every artist who came before laid the groundwork for the sound we know today. It’s not just a genre. It’s a legacy, and its roots run deep into the heart of the blues.
