The Beginning of Rock 'N' Roll
“The Beginning of Rock ‘n’ Roll”
During early January of 2000, Murray Horwitz, vice president for National Public Radio's cultural programming, and producer Elizabeth Blair wanted to conduct a survey for their listeners. The NPR staff produced the works for the ballot and requested their listeners to cast a vote for “The 100 most important American works of the 20th century.” The audience was asked for suggestions of songs ranging from symphonies to pop melodies. The ballots started rolling in, with no end in sight. Before long Horwitz and Blair had approximately a list of 300, not the 100 that they had originally had planned. To help their progress, they asked a variety of 18 musicians to contribute in this survey. When the two lists arrived, the staff found that their choices of music were not that far apart. With a little more help from the NPR staff, “The 100 most important American works of the 20th century” was born.
When reading the archive of the top one hundred, two particular songs reached out and caught my attention. Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel” became the biggest hits of his career. The story behind each of the songs is what makes them even more special to Elvis and his fans. “Hound Dog” was written in 1952, by lyricist Jerry Leiber and composer Mike Stoller. Both coming from Jewish families, they shared their love for rhythm and blues. “Hound Dog” was originally written for Big Mama Thorton, with her powerful singing voice described as “scary and growling”. In 1953, her fans carried her to the number one spot, for seven weeks on the Billboard R&B charts.
It was 1956, when Elvis Presley heard Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys do a remake of “Hound Dog”. Elvis fell in love with the song and asked the band if he could record his own version of the song. Within weeks, Elvis had added the song to his live show. Elvis said the song created a comic relief and his “gyrations” got big reactions from his fans. So much, that he made
During early January of 2000, Murray Horwitz, vice president for National Public Radio's cultural programming, and producer Elizabeth Blair wanted to conduct a survey for their listeners. The NPR staff produced the works for the ballot and requested their listeners to cast a vote for “The 100 most important American works of the 20th century.” The audience was asked for suggestions of songs ranging from symphonies to pop melodies. The ballots started rolling in, with no end in sight. Before long Horwitz and Blair had approximately a list of 300, not the 100 that they had originally had planned. To help their progress, they asked a variety of 18 musicians to contribute in this survey. When the two lists arrived, the staff found that their choices of music were not that far apart. With a little more help from the NPR staff, “The 100 most important American works of the 20th century” was born.
When reading the archive of the top one hundred, two particular songs reached out and caught my attention. Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel” became the biggest hits of his career. The story behind each of the songs is what makes them even more special to Elvis and his fans. “Hound Dog” was written in 1952, by lyricist Jerry Leiber and composer Mike Stoller. Both coming from Jewish families, they shared their love for rhythm and blues. “Hound Dog” was originally written for Big Mama Thorton, with her powerful singing voice described as “scary and growling”. In 1953, her fans carried her to the number one spot, for seven weeks on the Billboard R&B charts.
It was 1956, when Elvis Presley heard Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys do a remake of “Hound Dog”. Elvis fell in love with the song and asked the band if he could record his own version of the song. Within weeks, Elvis had added the song to his live show. Elvis said the song created a comic relief and his “gyrations” got big reactions from his fans. So much, that he made