Rockabilly and Sun Studios
In July of 1954 a 19 year old truck driver for
Memphis’ Crown Electric showed up at Sun Studios to record a record. Although he
told Sam Phillips that it was for his mother it was actually an attempt to be
noticed by the Phillips, who was a local celebrity with a few successes under
his belt. The takes were nothing special, just covers of Bing Crosby and Ernie
Tubbs songs. Fortunately during a break the truck driver began experimenting
with a few rock and roll tunes that he knew. One of them was an up tempo rock
and roll song called “That’s all right” by Arthur Cruddup. Phillips eyes lit up
and word began to spread around the Memphis area of a new and incredibly
talented singer called “Elvis Presley.” Sam Phillips and Elvis helped to quickly
spread the popularity of “rockabilly” style rock and roll. It became so popular
so quickly that many people even to this day believe that this is the origin of
rock and roll music. During
the
late 50’s the myth that rock and roll began at Sun Records in ‘54 was believed
by so many mainstream Americans that is became established “fact”. The story
made the music more palatable to that audience and was picked up on and further
perpetuated by unscrupulous promoters and the major label music executives that
had latched onto rock and roll by this time.
Elvis started an avalanche
of artists that imitated the rock and roll and country & western fusion that at
the time was believed to be the origin of the rock and roll sound. (See origins
of rock and roll for more info on the real origins of the rock and roll sound)
It eventually was called rockabilly, and catapulted Elvis to mega-stardom that
had never been seen before in the USA.
Few studios ever make such
and incredible impact on music as the infamous Sun Studios in Memphis. The tiny
studio at 706 Union Ave is little more than a single room, a glass window, and a
tiny control room with a simple recording console. Sam Phillips however was a
genius at recognizing the emerging talents of the groups of musicians that
frequented his studios helping to jumpstart the careers of blues and rockabilly
legends such as Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Howlin’ Wolf, Carl Perkins, and Johnny
Cash. He was known for his dedication to capturing the perfect take and would
roll tape until he did unlike most recording studios of the time.
In 1955 "Rock Around the
Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets cemented the rockabilly sound and became a
huge hit. Hyper-excited teens swarmed their concerts, causing riots in some
cities and setting the stage for the “rock and roll” explosion. Few people
actually credit the film industry that was instrumental in the songs success. It
had been released in 1954 to limited success and only became a huge hit after
its inclusion in the opening sequence of the hit movie Blackboard Jungle.
A classic rockabilly style
song "Rock around the Clock" topped the U.S. charts for several weeks, and
spread the rock music craze to Britain, Australia and Germany setting the stage
for successful tours later that decade and the coming “British Invasion” of the
‘60s. Rock and roll was taboo on many radio stations at the time but it did
start to get limited airplay in certain markets mostly after midnight. Wanting
to capture a wider market, producers began to release white versions of the
previously primarily black music. Many of Elvis' early hits were covers, like
"That's All Right" and "Hound Dog".
Black performers began to be
able to sell their music to “white” labels but only to be recorded by white
performers and usually they were inferior to the recordings. Also many of the
performers were cheated out of the revenue they were promised and were given
little or no credit for their creations. This lead to oddities like Pat Boone
recording stale sterile versions of Little Richard songs. Fortunately as rock
and roll grew in popularity the original versions began to surface and gain
radio play.
In ‘55, Phillips famously
sold Elvis Presley's contract and masters to RCA for $35,000, at the time an
unheard of deal but in retrospect perhaps the worst mistake in music history. To
his credit he then went on to discover and record Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis
and Carl Perkins. He sold the Sun Studios in the 1960s which some argue brought
an end to the golden age of rockabilly music.
Silver Dragon Records Presents the
History of Rock Music
Thank
you for your interest in
Houston Rock Record Label Silver Dragon Records.
Below is some information on our
record label and website catering to rock fans and musicians.
Houston Rock Record Label Silver Dragon Records
presents
rock band Lazarus X
and the their latest independent CD release
Weapon of Love.
Lazarus X's combines determined hard hitting rock with haunting and soulful
melodies which struck a chord with many
underground
rock music fans. Some fans received a preview of the
publicity photos
and
underground
rock CD WOL at a
rooftop listening
party a day before it was released
and the response was amazing. Check out
Rock Band Lazarus X
merchandise like
The Weapon of Love Tour T-Shirt and
the
Weapon of Love CD
or preview one of their songs by
downloading a
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Silver Dragon Records is a
Houston
rock record label
producing and promoting experimental, hard rock and alternative metal albums. We
provide 24 bit digital recording in a
quiet
private studio
free of distractions. If you think we are the label for you
submit a
demo to our record label and let us tell you how we can help your
band with
artist promotion,
publicity, marketing, recording, mastering, help in marketing a demo or shopping
for a major label deal. We are happy to offer musicians our online resources
like our
musicians
toolkit for recording audio, our
museum of rock
music history and our
Houston rock music resource.
Thank you for checking out
music history or rock genres and subgenres and enjoy the above links.
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