Now, Ike Turner’s “Rocket 88” is named by many rock critics and music historians as “the first rock and roll record”; what’s more, “Rocket 88” as recorded by Bill Haley and the Saddlemen is one of the very earliest recordings in what would later become known as “rockabilly”, the musical style pioneered by Elvis Presley and others.  The Saddlemen’s follow-up single, “Rock the Joint” is yet another contender for the first rock record, that is, the version of “Rock the Joint” as performed in 1949 by Jimmy Preston.  

(June 2013/1)