rock 'n' roll timeline
1929: "Shake It And Break It But Don't Let It Fall Mama" - Charlie Patton
1930: "Blue Yodel #9" - Jimmie Rodgers
1930: The song "Death Letter Blues" seems to have originated with the Delta blues singer Son House,
although its roots may go back before that. Son House recorded "My Black Mama Parts 1 & 2" (aka "Death Letter") in 1930.
1931: "Your Southern Can Is Mine" - Blind Willie McTell (ragtime)
1937: 'Count Basie' releases "One O'Clock Jump", a cross of swing and R&B
1938: Saxophonist Louis Jordan leaves Chick Webb's sax section to form his Tympany Five.
This might well mark the beginnings of what we know as Rock and Roll.
1938: "Roll 'em Pete" - Big Joe Turner and pianist Pete Johnson
1938: Sister Rosetta Tharpe was recording shouting, stomping music in the 1930s and 1940s that in some ways
contained major elements of mid-1950s rock and roll. She scored hits on the pop charts as far back as 1938
with her gospel songs, such as "This Train" and "Rock Me", and in the 1940s with "Strange Things Happenin'
Every Day", "Up Above My Head", and "Down by the Riverside."
1942: Louis Jordan launches "jump blues" (rhythm and blues) with "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie"
1942: Los Angeles bluesman T-Bone Walker incorporates jazz chords into the blues guitar with "I Got A Break Baby"
1945: "Caldonia" - Louis Jordan
1946: "That's All Right" - Arthur Crudup
1946: Carl Hogan plays a powerful guitar riff on Louis Jordan's "Ain't That Just Like a Woman"
1947: "Open The Door Richard" becomes the smash of the year with five different artists hitting the Top Three on the R&B Charts with a version, including its writer Dusty Fletcher. The comical song about a drunk trying to get into his apartment while his roommate is there with a woman signal a loosening of sexual mores, which become an R&B hallmark.
1947: "Chicken Shack Boogie" - Amos Milburn
1947: "Move It On Over" - Hank Williams
1947: "Oakie Boogie" - Jack Guthrie
1947: Roy Brown writes and cuts "Good Rockin' Tonight" in Texas
1948: Detroit R&B saxophonist Wild Bill Moore releases "We're Gonna Rock We're Gonna Roll"
1948: John Lee Hooker records "Boogie Chillen'" for Modern Records, a single which topped the
R&B charts in 1949
1949: "Ooo Ouch Stop" - Big Joe Turner
1949: Scatman Crothers cuts "I Want To Rock And Roll" (1949), with Wild Bill Moore on saxophone
1949: Fats Domino cuts "The Fat Man," a new kind of boogie
1951: "Hey Good Lookin'" - Hank Williams
1951: "How High the Moon" - Les Paul and Mary Ford
1951: "Rocket 88" - Jackie Brenston & (19-year-old) Ike Turner
1953: Elvis Presley makes his first (private) recordings
1953: The Orioles' "Crying in the Chapel" is the first black hit to top the white pop charts
1953: Bill Haley's "Crazy Man Crazy" is the first rock and roll song to enter the Billboard charts
1954: Elvis Presley releases his first singles, "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky"
1955: "Bo Diddley" - Bo Diddley (introduced a new, pounding beat, and unique guitar playing that inspired many artists)
1955: Ray Charles creates "soul" music with "I Got A Woman," a secular adaptation of an old
gospel song
1955: Carl Perkins records "Blue Suede Shoes"
1955: Chuck Berry cuts his first rock and roll records, the first ones to have the guitar as the main
instrument, and invents the descending pentatonic double-stops (the essence of rock guitar)
1955: "Tutti Fruiti" - Little Richard
1956: Buddy Holly has his first official recording session
1956: Presley's first film, Love Me Tender
1956: James Brown & The Famous Flames' first recording, "Please Please Please"
1956: Johnny Cash's rockabilly days
1957: Chuck Berry writes, records, and releases "Rock and Roll Music" (which is covered by The Beatles in '64)
1957: John Lennon forms The Quarrymen, meets McCartney, adds him to the group (Harrison joins in 1958)
1957: Buddy Holly's "That'll Be The Day" hits #1 on the Billboard charts
1957: Buddy Holly and Sam Cooke make their first appearances on the same The Ed Sullivan Show
1957: "Great Balls of Fire" - Jerry Lee Lewis
1957: "I Put A Spell On You" - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
1958: "La Bamba" - Ritchie Valens
1958: Wanda Jackson, "Queen of Rockabilly" (opening for Elvis as early as '55)
1958: Elvis is drafted into the Army
1959: Buddy Holly dies at 22 in a plane crash (along with Ritchie Valens and "The Big Bopper") on Feb. 3, "The Day The Music Died"
1960: Lennon's Quarrymen change their name to The Beatles in tribute to Buddy Holly & The Crickets
1960: Elvis appears on The Ed Sullivan Show following his release from the Army
1961: The Beach Boys form
1962: The Beatles release their first singles, "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You"
1962: The Rolling Stones form, taking their name from Muddy Waters' "Rollin' Stone (1950),"
which likewise inspired Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone (1965)"
1963: The Kinks form
1963: Louie, Louie - The Kingsmen
1963: The Beach Boys' first big hits are "Surfin' USA," "Surfer Girl," and "Be True To Your School"
1964: The Who forms
1964: "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks hits #1 on the US singles charts
1964: The Beatles come to America and appear on The Ed Sullivan Show
1964: The Rolling Stones have their first big hits, "Not Fade Away" (Buddy Holly cover) and "Little Red Rooster" (Howlin' Wolf cover)
1965: Bob Dylan makes the switch from folk to folk-rock with Bringing It All Back Home which opens with the song,
"Subterranean Homesick Blues", a fusion of Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business" and Woody Guthrie's "Taking It Easy"
1965: "I Can't Explain"/"My Generation" - The Who
1965: Wooly Bully - Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs
1966: "96 Tears," a garage rock classic reaches #1 on the Billboard charts
1966: Wild Thing - The Troggs
1966: Pet Sounds, SMiLE, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's, Blonde on Blonde
1966: Bob Dylan crashes his motorcycle, breaks his neck
1967: Brian Wilson breaks down
1969: The Beatles break up
http://www.history-of-rock.com/rock_and_roll_timeline.htm
http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/best_timeline-r1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_and_roll
1930: "Blue Yodel #9" - Jimmie Rodgers
1930: The song "Death Letter Blues" seems to have originated with the Delta blues singer Son House,
although its roots may go back before that. Son House recorded "My Black Mama Parts 1 & 2" (aka "Death Letter") in 1930.
Click to view1931: "Your Southern Can Is Mine" - Blind Willie McTell (ragtime)
1937: 'Count Basie' releases "One O'Clock Jump", a cross of swing and R&B
1938: Saxophonist Louis Jordan leaves Chick Webb's sax section to form his Tympany Five.
This might well mark the beginnings of what we know as Rock and Roll.
1938: "Roll 'em Pete" - Big Joe Turner and pianist Pete Johnson
1938: Sister Rosetta Tharpe was recording shouting, stomping music in the 1930s and 1940s that in some ways
contained major elements of mid-1950s rock and roll. She scored hits on the pop charts as far back as 1938
with her gospel songs, such as "This Train" and "Rock Me", and in the 1940s with "Strange Things Happenin'
Every Day", "Up Above My Head", and "Down by the Riverside."
1942: Louis Jordan launches "jump blues" (rhythm and blues) with "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie"
1942: Los Angeles bluesman T-Bone Walker incorporates jazz chords into the blues guitar with "I Got A Break Baby"
1945: "Caldonia" - Louis Jordan
1946: "That's All Right" - Arthur Crudup
1946: Carl Hogan plays a powerful guitar riff on Louis Jordan's "Ain't That Just Like a Woman"
1947: "Open The Door Richard" becomes the smash of the year with five different artists hitting the Top Three on the R&B Charts with a version, including its writer Dusty Fletcher. The comical song about a drunk trying to get into his apartment while his roommate is there with a woman signal a loosening of sexual mores, which become an R&B hallmark.
1947: "Chicken Shack Boogie" - Amos Milburn
1947: "Move It On Over" - Hank Williams
1947: "Oakie Boogie" - Jack Guthrie
1947: Roy Brown writes and cuts "Good Rockin' Tonight" in Texas
1948: Detroit R&B saxophonist Wild Bill Moore releases "We're Gonna Rock We're Gonna Roll"
1948: John Lee Hooker records "Boogie Chillen'" for Modern Records, a single which topped the
R&B charts in 1949
1949: "Ooo Ouch Stop" - Big Joe Turner
1949: Scatman Crothers cuts "I Want To Rock And Roll" (1949), with Wild Bill Moore on saxophone
1949: Fats Domino cuts "The Fat Man," a new kind of boogie
1951: "Hey Good Lookin'" - Hank Williams
1951: "How High the Moon" - Les Paul and Mary Ford
1951: "Rocket 88" - Jackie Brenston & (19-year-old) Ike Turner
1953: Elvis Presley makes his first (private) recordings
1953: The Orioles' "Crying in the Chapel" is the first black hit to top the white pop charts
1953: Bill Haley's "Crazy Man Crazy" is the first rock and roll song to enter the Billboard charts
1954: Elvis Presley releases his first singles, "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky"
1955: "Bo Diddley" - Bo Diddley (introduced a new, pounding beat, and unique guitar playing that inspired many artists)
1955: Ray Charles creates "soul" music with "I Got A Woman," a secular adaptation of an old
gospel song
1955: Carl Perkins records "Blue Suede Shoes"
1955: Chuck Berry cuts his first rock and roll records, the first ones to have the guitar as the main
instrument, and invents the descending pentatonic double-stops (the essence of rock guitar)
1955: "Tutti Fruiti" - Little Richard
1956: Buddy Holly has his first official recording session
1956: Presley's first film, Love Me Tender
1956: James Brown & The Famous Flames' first recording, "Please Please Please"
1956: Johnny Cash's rockabilly days
1957: Chuck Berry writes, records, and releases "Rock and Roll Music" (which is covered by The Beatles in '64)
1957: John Lennon forms The Quarrymen, meets McCartney, adds him to the group (Harrison joins in 1958)
1957: Buddy Holly's "That'll Be The Day" hits #1 on the Billboard charts
1957: Buddy Holly and Sam Cooke make their first appearances on the same The Ed Sullivan Show
1957: "Great Balls of Fire" - Jerry Lee Lewis
1957: "I Put A Spell On You" - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
1958: "La Bamba" - Ritchie Valens
1958: Wanda Jackson, "Queen of Rockabilly" (opening for Elvis as early as '55)
1958: Elvis is drafted into the Army
1959: Buddy Holly dies at 22 in a plane crash (along with Ritchie Valens and "The Big Bopper") on Feb. 3, "The Day The Music Died"
1960: Lennon's Quarrymen change their name to The Beatles in tribute to Buddy Holly & The Crickets
1960: Elvis appears on The Ed Sullivan Show following his release from the Army
1961: The Beach Boys form
1962: The Beatles release their first singles, "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You"
1962: The Rolling Stones form, taking their name from Muddy Waters' "Rollin' Stone (1950),"
which likewise inspired Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone (1965)"
1963: The Kinks form
1963: Louie, Louie - The Kingsmen
1963: The Beach Boys' first big hits are "Surfin' USA," "Surfer Girl," and "Be True To Your School"
1964: The Who forms
1964: "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks hits #1 on the US singles charts
1964: The Beatles come to America and appear on The Ed Sullivan Show
1964: The Rolling Stones have their first big hits, "Not Fade Away" (Buddy Holly cover) and "Little Red Rooster" (Howlin' Wolf cover)
1965: Bob Dylan makes the switch from folk to folk-rock with Bringing It All Back Home which opens with the song,
"Subterranean Homesick Blues", a fusion of Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business" and Woody Guthrie's "Taking It Easy"
1965: "I Can't Explain"/"My Generation" - The Who
1965: Wooly Bully - Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs
1966: "96 Tears," a garage rock classic reaches #1 on the Billboard charts
1966: Wild Thing - The Troggs
1966: Pet Sounds, SMiLE, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's, Blonde on Blonde
1966: Bob Dylan crashes his motorcycle, breaks his neck
1967: Brian Wilson breaks down
1969: The Beatles break up
http://www.history-of-rock.com/rock_and_roll_timeline.htm
http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/best_timeline-r1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_and_roll