How I Learned To Love Rock And Roll

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I have been spending quite a lot of time listening to rock and roll (and other music from the rock and roll 'era' c.late 50s). This was sparked by a sudden and complete infatuation w/"Chantilly Lace" by the Big BOPPER.

So I wanted to ask - what do my fellow Poptimists think about rock and roll? Do you like it? Do you listen to it? How does it stack up next to pop now (or pop from a more recent then)? Is it pop at all? Is it rock? Does the path of listening to rock and roll lead inexorably to the Stray Cats? etc. etc.

Here are some things about rock and roll which relate to other Poptimist concerns:

- The tracks are generally very short.
- They are often quite goofy.
- They sound like they were done very quickly.
- They mostly came out on single.
- There was a hell of a lot of it.
- There are a lot of boys with guitars around.
- Rock and roll is pretty old.
- Chunks of it are very revered.
- It gets revived a lot.

HMMMMMM. Over to you crazy comments box cats!

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

Well, I knew of r'n'r before no wave, but I didn't get round to an appreciation of it till recently. Partly its bcz it seemed to be packaged in these compilations with plenty of tracks and er...so I ended up not knowing where to start. Whereas no wave ws easier -- get 'No New York' and off you go and despite whatev one may say about the quality of that partic comp it ws a start.

Still only have about 10 tracks/the odd record/comp as far as r'n'r goes.

[koganbot]

The Contortions' "I Can't Stand Myself" was definitely more rock 'n' roll than James Brown's original version. I once heard them do a cover of "Jailhouse Rock."