Journeys With Jani

Alright. Rock ’n’ roll did not begin when somebody finally pressed record. It started way earlier… in juke joints with sticky floors, in little churches where the tambourine had an attitude, on front porches, in the Delta, in the hills, in places where folks didn’t have much except a voice, a beat, and something to say.

So when people ask what was the first rock ’n’ roll song what they’re really asking is… when did all those ingredients finally land in one pot at the same time and boil over?

Tonight’s starting point: “Rocket ‘88” (1951)

Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats (which was really Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm) cut this in Memphis at Sam Phillips’ studio. It’s widely cited as the first rock ’n’ roll record, or at

least the one that makes the best okay, fine, we’ll start here argument. And, if you have never heard it …Jear Desus!

Listen for what makes it feel like rock:

🎸 That driving backbeat that makes your shoulders move before your brain gets to vote yes

🎸 The rowdy sax

🎸 The boogie-woogie piano

🎸 And that famous gritty, accidental guitar distortion that sounds like trouble walking in the room 

Also… it wasn’t just important later. It hit No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1951. 

But I’m not letting Rocket ‘88 hog the whole spotlight!

Because if we’re talking the sound before it had a label, we have to tip our hat to the folks who were already doing it.

🎤 Sister Rosetta Tharpe, “Strange Things Happening Every Day” (recorded 1944, hit in 1945)

Gospel, electric guitar, boogie energy, holy-ghost meets Saturday-night rhythm. It became the first gospel record to cross over and it hit No. 2 on Billboard’s “race” chart. If rock ’n’ roll has a birth story, this is a big chapter. 

🎤 Fats Domino, “The Fat Man” (1949)

New Orleans piano triplets, that big rolling beat, the kind of groove that basically built the front porch of rock. It’s widely recognized as one of the earliest rock ’n’ roll records. 

My Ruling for Music Begins

Rock didn’t show up with a birth certificate. It showed up like a rumor… passed hand to hand, town to town, church to club, Black to white, country to blues to R&B, until one day it kicked the door open and everybody pretended they discovered it.

So for today, we’ll plant our flag on:

Song of the Day: Rocket ‘88

And we’ll keep the truth in the room… it had a whole lot of ancestors.

And because this is Journeys With Jani, I’m going to keep mixing it up, weekdays can be one song, one story. Saturdays and Sundays can absolutely be album weekend… because sometimes you need the whole meal, not just the appetizer.

If you want in on this daily music rabbit hole, send me a genre, artist, era, year, producer, record label… anything. I’ll get to you. Even if it takes me 365 days.

XOXO, Jani