Unsung heroes of rock 'n' roll : the birth of rock in the wild years before Elvis / Nick Tosches ; with a new preface.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tosches, Nick.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rock musicians--United States--Biography.

Rock musicians.

United States.

Rock music--United States--History and criticism.

Rock music.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xiii, 274 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Edition:

First Da Capo Press edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Da Capo Press, 1999.

Summary:

Long before Elvis Presley entered Sam Phillips's Sun Records studio in 1954, rock 'n' roll was being performed and recorded by the likes of Big Joe Turner, Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris, The Clovers, The Dominoes, The Midnighters, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Wanda Jackson, and Johnny Ace. More than just a series of shrewd and evocative portraits of these and sixteen other performers, this book is also a paean to a forsaken time of relentless excess, sudden ruin, and fierce music. For this edition, the author has contributed a new listing of recent CD reissues. From 1945 to 1955, from Chinese hillbillies to Elvis's long-lost twin brother, here are the Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll.

Contents:

Jesse Stone: He Who Controls Rhythm 12

Big Joe Turner: Steak for Breakfast, Gal Meat on a Rainy Day 22

Nat King Cole: Beyond Pink Cadillacs 30

Louis Jordan: Hep and the Art of Alto-Sax Repair 39

Wynonie Harris: The Man Who Shook Down the Devil 45

Charles Brown: From the School of Cool, Endlessly Drifting 54

Ella Mae Morse: The Cow-Cow Girl 64

Cecil Gant: Owl Stew, and All That 69

Amos Milburn: The Chicken-Shack Factor 72

Roy Brown: Good Rockin' Tonight 77

Louis Prima: Gleeby Rhythm Is Born 82

Ming and Ling: The Chinese Hillbillies 89

The Treniers: Their God Wore Shades 92

Stick McGhee: Spo-Dee-O-Dee: How to Get It, How to Use It 99

Young Bill Haley: The Lounge Act That Transcendeth All Knowing 103

Roy Hall: See, We Was All Drunk 109

Hardrock Gunter: The Mysterious Pig-Iron Man 114

Merrill Moore: The Saddle, Rock & Rhythm Man 119

Skeets McDonald: Whom in the End the Tattooed Lady Slew 123

The Clovers: Absalom, Absalom! Doo-Wah, Doo-Wah! 127

The Dominoes: The Glory of Bubbonia 133

Jackie Brenston: To the Package Store in Style 139

The Midnighters: From the Sins of Annie to the Twist 145

Jimmie Logsdon: The Man Without a Subtitle 150

Screamin' Jay Hawkins: Horror and the Foot-Shaped Ashtray 155

Wanda Jackson: Laced by Satan, Unlaced by the Lord 165

Johnny Ace: Number One with a Bullet 170

Esau Smith: The Hairy and the Smooth 176

What That Was: A Chronology of the Coming of Rock 'n' Roll 185

Archaeologia Rockola 201

Old Noise, New Plastic: Unsung Heroes on Compact Disc 259.

Notes:

"This Da Capo Press paperback edition ... is an unabridged republication of the revised edition published in New York in 1991, with several textual emendations, a new preface, and a new listing of recent CD reissues, ... reprinted by arrangement with the author"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-266) and index.

Includes discography.

ISBN:

0306808919

OCLC:

40489141