Rocket “88”

This article describes the rhythm and blues song. For the English boogie band of the same name, see Rocket 88 .

Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats: Rocket "88"

Rocket “88” (alternatively: Rocket 88 ) is a rhythm and blues song that Ike Turner and his band Kings of Rhythm recorded for the first time in March 1951. When marketing, however, the band name Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats was used. The song had a major influence on the development of rock 'n' roll in the following years . Many authors consider Jackie Brenston's version of Rocket “88” to be the first, or at least one of the earliest, rock 'n' roll recordings.

History of origin

Born in Clarksdale , Mississippi , musician Ike Turner has performed regularly with his band Kings of Rhythm in his hometown and in cities in the Mississippi Delta since the first few years after the war . Since 1950, Jackie Brenston , also from Clarksdale, has belonged to the band, who primarily played the tenor saxophone , but after the departure of the singer Johnny O'Neal also repeatedly took over vocal roles. In early 1951, the music producer Sam Phillips invited the then 19-year-old Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm to a recording session in Memphis , Tennessee , through BB King's mediation . The recordings took place in the studios of the Memphis Recording Service , a forerunner of Sun Studios founded in the summer of 1950 . One condition was that the band recorded their own piece. Brenston, who was a little older than the band leader, suggested a song on the themes of girls, alcohol, and cars. He wrote the text and is considered a composer , while Turner is “only” listed as an arranger . Brenston immediately resorted to the Cadillac Boogie recorded by Jimmy Liggins in 1947 and adopted meter and text structure as well as the main features of the content. However, he replaced the Cadillac , a car from a US manufacturer of luxury automobiles, with the Oldsmobile 88 , a recently introduced, sporty vehicle with an eight-cylinder engine that was nicknamed "Rocket" in advertising. Brenston later explicitly confirmed that he had copied the Cadillac Boogie .

Oldsmobile 88 ("Rocket")

In terms of content, the song describes on the one hand the car and its technical features, on the other hand its effect on girls and finally a trip together that ends in a pub. When Brenston sings about cruisin ' and boozin' along , these storylines are "inseparable":

Vee-eight Motor, and this modern design, black convertible top and the gals don't mind.

“ V8 engine and this modern design, black convertible roof, and the girls don't do that. "

Another motif that was popular at the time was the number 88 , the typical number of keys on a piano . Pete Johnson published the instrumental pieces Rocket 88 Boogie (Part 1 + 2) with this motif as early as 1949 .

The original recording

Cast and recording

The recording location for Rocket “88” in Memphis, Tennessee, shortly thereafter known as “Sun Studio”

Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm recorded Rocket “88” on March 3rd or 5th, 1951 in Sam Phillips' studio in Memphis. The band was made up of Brenston (vocals), Turner (piano), Raymond Hill (tenor saxophone), Willie Kizart (guitar) and Willie Sims (drums). Sam Phillips produced the recording.

The special features of this recording include, on the one hand, Ike Turner's piano intro, which Little Richard took over unchanged for Good Golly Miss Molly a few years later , and, on the other hand, the distorted sound of the guitar. Rocket “88” is considered to be one of the first recordings with distortion. The effect was accidentally caused by damage to the guitar amplifier . Depending on the source, the band's tube amplifier fell off the roof of the truck on the way to Memphis, was damaged in the leaky trunk by rainwater or by careless handling when emptying the trunk due to a tire change. The unusual, new guitar sound became the model for the so-called "Fuzz Guitar", a distortion effect that is usually created with a special effects device, the Fuzzbox . Eventually, the saxophone playing of the then 17 year old Raymond Hill reached a new, previously unknown level of "roughness and ferocity."

Each band member received US $ 20 for recording. Brenston sold the rights to the song to Sam Phillips for $ 910.

Four months after Rocket “88” , Brenston and the Delta Cats recorded a follow-up version with My Real Gone Rocket (Chess number 1469), which was musically very similar, but had little success.

success

Print advertisement for Rocket 88 .

Sam Phillips licensed the Chicago record label Chess Records, founded in 1950, with the release of the song. Rocket “88” got the number 1458 on Chess . Come Back Where You belong was on the B-side . Chess released the record nationwide in April 1951. She was not assigned to Ike Turner, but to Jackie Brenston, who was also listed as the sole writer of the song. The Kings of Rhythm received the name Delta Cats, alluding to the Mississippi Delta, for this release. The decision for this type of marketing was made by Chess; there had been no coordination with Ike Turner.

Sam Phillips' relationships with various disc jockeys resulted in numerous radio stations playing Rocket “88” over and over again. Among them were radio stations with white audiences. According to Ike Turner, Rocket “88” was one of the first recordings by black musicians to find its way onto white radio programs. In the summer of 1951, the recording reached number one on the Rhythm & Blues charts and stayed there for more than a month. Rocket “88” was Chess Records' first number one hit in the segment.

The success of the recording led to a falling out between Turner and Brenston and caused the Kings of Rhythm to fall apart. Turner saw himself as being defrauded because he was not named as the songwriter, nor was his name or band associated with the title. Brenston, in turn, wanted to be the new front man of the Kings of Rhythm in view of the success, which Turner refused. Brenston left Turner and, encouraged by Sam Phillips, took individual members of the Kings of Rhythm with him. After making several unsuccessful recordings for Chess, he returned to Turner in 1955 and took a place as second saxophonist. In 1961 he separated from Turner for good , meanwhile severely alcoholic .

Meaning: The first rock 'n' roll song?

The original recording of Rocket “88” was often referred to as the first rock 'n' roll song in the late 1960s. It is believed that this assessment was due to Sam Phillips. In the current literature this is seen in a more differentiated manner. Most authors consider the song to have a particular influence on the development of rock 'n' roll, but do not see Rocket “88” as “the first rock 'n' roll song.” Today the history of rock 'n 'Roll is mostly understood as a process that has evolved over several months or years. Rocket “88” was another step in this process. Ike Turner saw in "88" Rocket retrospect a pure rhythm - & - blues number, which, however, the path to rock 'n' roll have paved: In his view, it would have the rock 'n' roll without Rocket "88" not given .

The piano intro

Musical classification

Regarding the structure, Rocket “88” still follows the usual pattern of the Twelve-bar Blues with twelve bars each and a largely predetermined harmony sequence. At 170 beats per minute , the song is unusually fast for its time, which is why it is sometimes classified as an up-tempo number . Stylistically it is based on jump blues and contemporary swing combo music . The rough playing and the enthusiastic singing style in connection with the distorted guitar, the concise piano playing and the saxophone solo were unusual and novel from the point of view of some observers.

Influence of the song on other artists

Saw a renaissance Rocket "88" in 1966 by its inclusion in the compilation Chicago / The Blues / Today! , a compilation of important blues songs on three long-playing records , which has received numerous praise from critics and musicians. The performer on this recording is the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet.

In honor of the song, the boogie band founded in 1978 around Alexis Korner , Ian Stewart , Bob Hall and Charlie Watts gave themselves the name Rocket 88 . A Californian blues band founded in 1980, whose style is sometimes referred to as "Rock-a-Boogie", was called Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88s .

The song experienced another revival in 2003 when it was included in the CD box Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey along with the documentary and accompanying book by the American director Martin Scorsese .

Cover versions

Over the years a number of cover versions of Rocket “88” were made :

• Bill Haley and The Saddlemen (June 1951)
• Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet (April 1966)
• Johnny Mars (1976)
• Nine Below Zero (1980)
• Downchild Blues Band (1981)
• Mitch Woods (1984)
• Andy J. Forest Band (1989)
• Warrior Soul (1991)
• Pepe Ahlqvist (1991)
• Buster Poindexter (1994)
• Nappy Brown & Kip Anderson (1996)
• The Alligators (1996)
• Bernard Allison (1997)
• Joey Welz (2001)
• Rob Stone & The C-Notes (2003)
• John Lindberg Trio (2006)

literature

• Nick Tosches: Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll . Da Capo Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-306-80891-9 .

Web links

• song lyrics

Remarks

1. ↑ On the first publication of the recording, the number 88 is placed in quotation marks; quotation marks are usually missing in later publications. Practice in the literature is inconsistent. Nick Tosches' standard work Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll (Da Capo Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-306-80891-9 , pp. 139 ff.), Regularly uses quotation marks in the chapter on Jackie Brenston, Peter Guralnick's biography about Sam Philipps (Peter Guralnick: Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll. 2015, ISBN 978-0-297-60949-0 ), however, does not.
2. ↑ An exact dating is no longer possible due to a lack of clear documents.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Robert Palmer in: Jim Miller (Ed.): The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll. MacMillan, 1981, ISBN 0-330-26568-7 , p. 11.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} David Cheal: The Life of a Song: 'Rocket 88'. www.ft.com, November 13, 2015, accessed March 23, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Nick Talevski: Rock Obituaries - Knocking On Heaven's Door Omnibus Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-85712-117-2 , p. 51.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Hunter Schwarz: The History of Rock 'n' Roll in 25 Songs: Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats - “Rocket 88”. www.rhombusmag.com, March 6, 2011, accessed April 14, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Nick Tosches: Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll . Da Capo Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-306-80891-9 , p. 138. (English)
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Bill Dahl: Biography Jackie Brenston. www.allmusic.com, accessed March 23, 2017 . 
7. ^ John Shepherd: Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Volume II. A&C Black, 2003, ISBN 0-8264-6322-3 , p. 286 (English).
8. ^ Robert Palmer: Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta. Penguin Books, 1982, ISBN 0-14-006223-8 , p. 222. (English)
9. ↑ Peter Guralnick: Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll. 2015, ISBN 978-0-297-60949-0 , p. 194 (English).
10. ↑ Nick Tosches: Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll . Da Capo Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-306-80891-9 , p. 144.
11. ^ ^{A b} Holger Petersen: Talking Music. Insomniac Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-55483-058-9 , p. 156.
12. ^ ^{A b c} Edward Komara, Peter Lee: The Blues Encyclopedia. Routledge, 2004, ISBN 1-135-95832-7 , p. 146.
13. ↑ Rick Kennedy, Randy McNutt: Little Labels - Big Sound. 1999, ISBN 0-253-33548-5 , p. 92.
14. ↑ Overview of the cover versions on the website www.secondhandsongs.com (accessed on March 23, 2017).