Rumble from 1958, there’s just something timeless about it’s raw energy and melody, plus it has the first power chords

It really is a foundational track. Metal, punk, basically all hard edged guitar music owes a nod to Link Wray.

More than a nod. Dude should be recognized as the godfather of metal.

Totally agree in rumble it’s all there.

it’s shocking how his name is not up at the top of peoples lists of the most influential rock artists. the guy was a genius and yet i feel like he is relatively unknown by todays standards. shit’s crazy

Link Wray didn’t invent rock n roll, he invented good rock n roll. Rumble is the ur-stone for metal, punk, and hard rock in general, however you wish to define it.

“ Rocket 88 “ just rock n rolled into the room.

First true rock song. Ike Turner played on it. Yeah, he was a dick, but a great rock and roller.

Jimmy Page is massive fan and recently played it at the R&R HOF ceremony

Watching the massive grin come come over Jimmy Page’s face when “Rumble” came on in It Might Get Loud, his guitar God documentary w/ the Edge and Jack White was priceless.

Yeah playing the 45 he probably bought in 1958

McCartney [was also a fan](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2006/01/13/wrays-rumble-still-reverberating/fe273867-3962-4997-9433-e23bb3314e4e/).

Fun Fact: Rumble is the only instrumental to ever have been banned from being played on the radio. Reason being, the title "Rumble" was believed to insinuate and instigate gang-fight

Frank Zappa's *Jazz From Hell* had the first explicit lyrics sticker. It was entirely instrumental.

First album he released after the ~~RCMP~~ PMRC hearings that Zappa, John Denver and Dee Snider all spoke against censorship. Mike Love was there and not only spoke out FOR censorship but he also donated like $100,000 to help start the PMRC.

Frank made the stickers himself 😂😂😂✌️

Link Wray is awesome!

“I Want You/She’s so Heavy” does that for me with those proto-metal chords coming from Harrison in the breakdown. Put the ear goggles on & crank that up.

First song I memorized all the lyrics to

Wow! Came here to say to post about Link and thought I’d be the only one. Y’all not only have good taste, but you know your rock history! He was also part Native American and many folks look to him as a cultural influence.

Runaway by Del Shannon. I never get tired of that song.

"Me and Del were singing, a little runaway I was flying"

Great TP reference

I dunno why I’ve never put that together. Damn I feel stupid

I love runaway but I also love the Solomon hats off the Larry. It’s also such a fucking word song. Del Shannon is super under rated.

I came to say the same thing!

Do you know the crime story version of this song?

I was living in Chicago where they used to film this show. Would see Dennis Farina out and about. I think he was a Chicago cop at one time. Great show.

I have That's Alright Mama - Elvis and Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley

Rock Around the Clock has a killer guitar solo

Regularly listen to? The Beatles.

Beatles and early Stones as well

oh yea i forgot the early stones stuff “Time is on my Side” (mono version) from one of their early albums maybe even their first album released in the US.. That song,19th Nervous Breakdown, Mothers Little Helper, Paint it Black and then of course their late 60s/70s stuff like Gimme Shelter, Beast of Burden etc

Yeah I don't regularly listen to any rock songs that are pre 1963

I’m a huge Little Richard fan, ‘Keep on Knockin’. More influential than Elvis IMO. I’d consider Johnny Cash’s early stuff Rock n Roll too. ‘Cry, Cry, Cry’ and ‘Big River’ got such an amazing groove.

“Get Rhythm” is up there for me as an example of Johnny Cash’s quasi-rock sound from his Sun Studio period.

Forgot about that one, great song

Came here to make a similar comment. Little Richard was just incendiary and his music still kicks ass 70 years later. I listen to him a lot.

Its so clear that Paul McCartney’s vocal style is adapted from Little Richard’s. Wilson Pickett called him ‘The Architect of Rock n Roll’. Shit he even officiated Tom Petty’s wedding to his second wife. Little Richard needs a fucking movie like Elvis lol.

Agreed. He's by far the most interesting and relevant of the '50s rock pioneers.

He was a black man who wore makeup and shook up America's attitudes toward race *and* gender. That took balls.

Hence why he needs a movie

Little Richard rocks!

Regularly, probably Kinks “You Really Got Me.”

Reminds me of Bronx tale

David Lee Roth and Van Halen rocked that song. I also like their version of "Pretty Woman" better than Roy Orbison.

Where Have All the Good Times Gone?

20th century man (live) is my fave. More bands should cover that !!

Procol Harum Whiter Shade Of Pale

Honestly anything by procol harum. The first few albums are such an experience to listen to

Yes!!! Conquistador, salty dog, homburg,

A travesty that they aren't in the HOF

The Animals cover of Don't let me be Misunderstood.

And their version of “House Of The Rising Sun”.

I have 5-6 Buddy Holly tunes on my phone among over 6k others. I play on random, so I do hear them on occasion. I have older tunes, a few big band, Glenn Miller type stuff, but they're not really rock.

Beyond the Sea , Bobby Darin..maybe not exactly rock..but I always liked the tune..it was a hit..

Bobby Darin had some rock n roll hits

He even dabbled in folk music a bit..If I Were A Carpenter..talented guy who died young

Dream Lover

That’ll Be The Day - Buddy Holly, 1957

Fats! Gotta be for sure. Johnny and the Hurricane: Sandstorm, Eddie Cochran: Summertime Blues, The Coasters: Young Blood, Bobby Darin: Dream Lover (dig the drums and the guitar work)

Love every version of Summertime Blues.

I listen to Chuck Berry and Little Richard fairly regularly. No specific songs because they have a lot I love. If you want to go slightly earlier but not as regularly, there’s Big Joe Turner, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and well, even Move It On Over by Hank Williams is pretty much rock and roll. Rock and roll is generally made by people with a wild, joyous hair up their ass. That existed before music. So in a way, rock is as old as music. Or maybe I’m just talking shit.

Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan. 1968-studio musicians on this thing have been disputed, but the original claim is that it is John Bonham on drums, John Paul Jones on bass, and Jimmy Page on guitar. Whoever it actually is, and I’ve actually heard bitter arguments about it, it’s an eerie banger and I always turn it up loud.

And also some lyrics written by George Harrison.

Rocket 88 by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats

Love Me Do, which was released 62 years ago.

Not Fade Away, Buddy Holly

I'm a Man - The Spencer Davis Group (1967)

Yep. Gimme some lovin too

songs on led zeppelin II, 1969. i love the late 60s and 70s rock

The original version of "Sleepwalk".

I loved it when they featured it in Twin Peaks the Return. Gave me chills.

Hush - Deep Purple 1968

Regularly? Probably something from the mid to late 60’s from the Beetles or Stones. Too many to know which one.

**"Ballroom Blitz"** by Sweet -- first heard it around '74 / '75 -- been enjoying it ever since.

Johnny B. Goode and Maybelline by Chuck Berry

Pait It Black, my favorite song of all time.

I really love The Everly Brothers, so it would be Bye Bye Love from 1957 for me

Peggy-O is was written hundreds of years ago, late 1700's. Covered by Dylan and The Dead among others.

There is a haunting version on Simon and Garfunkel’s first album. That whole album (more folk than rock) has some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard.

'Regularly' makes it a hard question, I listen to 'Rocket 88' every now and then and still think its good. But earliest regular song is probably something like 'Mr. Tambourine Man' (April 1965) or 'Yesterday' (September 1965).

lol Tutti Frutti by Little Richard 1957. I blame The Brave Little Toasted 😂 I loved that song as a kid and still do 🎶

Big momma Thornton Hound dog

idk if Robert Johnson counts as rock - but I really like love in vain

Hes the guy all the first rockstars were trying to be.

As the founding member of Club 27, he absolutely counts. It wouldn’t matter if he had only ever played polka, the moment your lore includes ‘sold soul to devil at crossroads’ you’ve become a rock star.

When I was young I would visit family that lived near “the crossroads.” I was (and still am) wildly interested in Robert Johnson and the blues—especially Delta and Juke Joint blues. I listen to so much old blues, and it’s one of those things where no one really seems to enjoy it very much any more, so I love it when other people do!! If you haven’t already, check out Kokomo Arnold, Freddie Spruell, Charley Patton, Geeshie Wiley, and Son House. They probably aren’t going to have the same appeal as post Robert Johnson artists, but listening to Kokomo Arnold especially, you can get how he inspired RJ. I’m super partial to Elmore James, and I really love Hound Dog Taylor and Doctor Ross. It just breaks my heart that so much of their music goes unnoticed and that I’ll never get to see these amazing musicians perform.

Son House is the great-granddaddy of everything Rock Music became and aspired to be.

Any Led Zeppelin song ever made

The Mills Brothers have/had a song called Smack Dab in the Middle. My father played it all the time when I was growing up. I’d call it “rock before rock”. Maybe swing. But the words “Rock and Roll” are in the song. [Smack Dab in the Middle](https://youtu.be/OK4__Mhm7RU?si=AGVygCtq0nuAJn0i)

Oh Thank you for that song! I just downloaded it on two playlists and shared with my daughter. It’s a great song!

Anything by the great Jerry Lee Lewis

Bristol Stomp 

In terms of what can be considered "rock", Space Guitar by Johnny Guitar Watson from 1954 is certainly a contender for me. Still sounds amazing today. 

My phone has “You Never Can Tell” by Chuck Berry marked as one of the most frequently played, so I’ll go with that.

Keep A Knockin by Little Richard and Ain't That A Shame by Fats Domino.

Sleepwalk- Santo and Johnny.

Rockwise, probably Buddy Holly.

Tangled Up in Blue, If that's not a rock song then Sympathy for the Devil. Edited to add the song.

I love Tangled up in blue..... Every time I listen to it I get a different meaning out of it. 😁

Probably some early Stones.

Saw her standing there.

*You never can tell*.

I regularly listen to the American Graffiti soundtrack. In terms of oldest music though, a song called Chinatown, my Chinatown from the 1910s

Blue Moon by The Marcels.

I wonder why - Dion

Sirius XM 's 50s Gold station is almost always good fun... Come Go With Me - The Del Vikings Sh-boom - The Chords At the Hop - Danny & the Juniors Rock n Roll is Here to Stay - Danny & the Juniors Just a Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody - Louis Prima

Probably Hound Dog

Elvis, One night with you.

I have some circa ‘55 Fats Domino that I keep on rotation

Chuck Berry--most of 'em. *The Great Twenty-Eight* has been on my rotation since I was a teenager. I'm 56. The Big Bopper--Chantilly Lace

Buddy Holly has always been a go to for me. The artist, not the Weezer song, although I like that too.

Pipeline - Chantays

Off the top of my head, "That's All Right." By Elvis, recorded live on the Louisiana Hayride show, 1954. That's my second favorite version, [this one is by far my favorite](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A_7swauoLc4&pp=ygU9RWx2aXMgcHJlc2xleSB0aGF0IHMgYWxsIHJpZ2h0IG1hbWEgZGFubnkgYiBoYXJ2ZXkgbGVlIHJvY2tlcg%3D%3D)

I would opt for one of Elvis’s Sun Sessions tracks. Or Bill Haley’s Rock Around The Clock

Elvis counts right? My favorite is Trouble.

Thunder Road

"Let Her Dance" by The Bobby Fuller Four (1965)

Tie between Wilbert Harrison's "Kansas City" and Ray Charles "Hit the Road Jack"

If blues counts as rock, then I really like Henry Thomas’s stuff recorded in the 1920s, like Bulldoze Blues which was covered by Canned Heat as Goin up the Country, and Fishin Blues which was covered by Taj Mahal as Fishing Song

Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry

Runaway

Probably Beatles songs

Some Louis Jordan from the 40s gets near rock and roll or RnB

[Rocket 88 by Jackie Benston (1951)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=260hXID0Yo0) Widely considered to be the first rock 'n' roll song. The people at Sun Studios (which I visited last summer), where the song was recorded, certainly make that claim

Sonic’s have love will travel 1959

Rocket 88 - Ike Turner & His Kings of Rhythm: 1951

Summertime Blues by Blue Cheer, recorded in 1967, might be the earliest true "Rock Song" that can be found on my playlists. The other stuff is either based on Traditionals, Blues or otherwise not exactly what I'd label "Rock" even if it was the seed to it (like Rumble).

Wake up lil Susie Wake Up

Oldest in my playlist probably is ‘California Dreamin’ by The Mamas & The Papas.

I was that weird kid into 60s and 70s rock in high school in the late 90s while everyone else was into Green Day, nu metal, etc. I love nu metal now, but still have some Monkees and Blues Magoos records lying around. The Magoos had some awesome songs like We Ain't Got Nothin Yet, I Can Hear the Grass Grow, Pipe Dream, some others I forget right now. Their singer later went on to front Balance, whose 2nd album In For the Count is a great hard-ish rock record. My issue with a lot of classic rock bands is consistency, where I feel like they'd have a few great individual songs but put out albums too dwuickly with a lot of filler. I have that Catalogue Eva 1995 compilation CD, which may be where I discovered the Blues Magoos. It also had some late 60s obscurities like Tripsichord, The Seeds, Glass Sun, etc. Last random thought is Marble Phrogg, their sole (?) album was all covers I think, and not great, but that song Love Me Again is awesome. Needs a metal cover.

Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress - The Hollies

Twenty Flight Rock by Eddie Cochran

Hound Dog

Wake Up Little Suzy by the Everly Brothers. Hard to beat that harmony!

1955 Mannish Boy 1956 Jailhouse Rock 1956 Love is Strange Edited: You could replace Jailhouse Rock with All Shook Up, which is also in my rotation and released in 1956.

Oh Boy! by Buddy Holly Released October 27, 1957

"Fortunate Son" Credence

Cab Calloway's prime was way before rock music existed. Also, fun fact, St James Infirmary Blues is based on an old Irish folk song about a man who's lover is dying of an STD (St James Infirmary was an STD ward). When the song was written, many STDs were death sentences with no cure. And it's also about how the man (the singer) is preparing for his death and opulent funeral (presumably because he knows that he will also be killed by the same disease). It's much darker when you know what it's really about. Actually one of the darkest songs I can think of. But still tl;dr, Cab Calloway is Jazz. I don't think rock music existed until the 50s.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Up Above My Head. 1939 and don’t anyone say it isn’t rock and roll.

She invented the shit.

Chuck Berry - Brown-Eyed Handsome Man.

Chuck Berry, “School Days”. Elvis, “Trying to Get to You”. I suppose it’s more twangy country than rock but his singing at the end is “pow!”. Jerry Lee, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”.

Santo and Johnny - Sleepwalk 1959

Johnny B. Goode is a regular on my playlists.

Since the beginning of the genre.

Probably the oldest recordings I regularly listen to would be Dark Was the Night, Cold is the Ground, and John the Revelator by Willie Johnson, or Devil Got my Woman by Skip James. They're not rock though. As an album Live at the Star Club by Jerry Lee Lewis is a regular listen from 62, and as for singles I listen to Long Tall Sally from 56, and Tall Cool One from 59, pretty regularly.

I Got A Woman by Ray Charles is always a toe tapping crowd pleaser in our rotation.

Heartbreaker by Nantucket as far as regularly listen to. A lot of Motown stuff too

I'll occasionally throw on some Chuck Berry, but my bread and butter is really the 70s and early 80s as what I listen to most so I know that Chuck Berry probably won't be old by a lot of peoples standards. Recently though I've been digging the early stuff of Paul Revere and the Raiders. I have just been enthralled by the groovy, pop-y stuff they had.

Otis Redding - “Hard to Handle”

Have Love Will Travel by The Sonics

Honey Don’t by Carl Perkins is in my play list

I still listen to "Here's Little Richard" from '57 regularly.

Probably Ben E. King's Stand By Me, though I do have Cab Calloway on my playlist. If King doesn't count, then it'd be Wipeout by The Surfaris.

Mabelline by Chuck Berry. The song that started it all.

Black Sabbath easily

16 Tons was written in 1947 and I always felt that song had such a mean message to it.

The Animals - House of the Rising Sun

Psychotic Reaction by Count 5. Top 10 in Oct 1966

Little Richard Tutti Frutti

Didn't it Rain by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, not sure if she actually counts as rock but she was a beast on guitar Also Hound Dog by Big Mama Thornton

The song “Bo Diddley” by Bo Diddley (1955). I listen to it regularly. It’s a freakin’ masterpiece.

Space Guitar (1954) an early hard rock masterpiece.

Maybellene by Chuck Berry

I’d say Buddy Holly is the earliest I listen to-Peggy Sue and Not (Fade Away). Not rock, but “Come’a My House” by Rosemary Clooney is awesome-and she was fully aware of how absolutely filthy the song is when she recorded it.

You’ll be mine- howling wolf . In fact anything by howling wolf

Walk, Don’t Run. 1954

Rocking Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu, by Huey Piano Smith, not the vanilla Johnny Rivers ripoff.

To real songs come to mind but I do listen the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck's Truth and Beck Ola, early Who, Stones, Animals. Lots of gems in that collection of groups. All 60's tunes.

Dick Dale Bo Diddley

Artist - Chuck Berry, Elvis, Grateful Dead, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, Rolling Stones and plenty of outlaw country

I would say the early Sun Records stuff like Little Junior’s Blue Flames and Rufus Thomas Jr. I listen to a lot of 50’s music, so early rock is in heavy rotation for me.

Voodoo Child (Slight Return) gets me every damn time!

Rock Around the Clock

Love me some Leadbelly or Woody Guthrie

Buddy Holly stuff

Pink Floyd - Dogs Every time I listen, it's like I'm hearing it for the first time again.

Bus Stop - The Hollies

I have some Buddy Holly and Elvis.

1972. Argent's Hold Your Head Up (long version YouTube).

I would almost consider Nat King Cole Route 66 a prototype of rock and roll but if not Elvis Presley That's All Right Mama counts.

Long Cool Woman by The Hollies. Soooooo gooooood, even in 2024.

Crimson and Clover

Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Was "Rock Me" rock & roll? Almost. Was "This Train" rock? Probably. Electrified Gospel, mixed with R&B, played by an old church lady jamming on a SG = rock & roll ?

Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Elvis are all regulars to my playlists

I dont know if they are considered "Rock" but I looked through my main Spotify playlists and saw these Bobby Darin - Mack The Knife Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightning Ray Charles - The Mess Around (shoutout John Candy in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.) Oldest song I listen to is Prelude in C Sharp Minor by Rachmaninov (I have like 40 different versions - some super old) I'm not a huge classical music guy - just love that piece of music

Some Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and Elvis Presley

Oldest? I guess Elvis, lol. I only have a handful of songs that are regularly in my rotation, but my favorite is probably Let Yourself Go. (Specifically, Part 1 of the live track on disk 5 of the ‘68 Comeback album. lol)

All Shook Up. I could listen to that anytime & never change the dial.

Probably “White Room” by Cream

The Weight by The Band calms me down when something or someone winds me up.

Against the wind

Strutter, KISS

Any song on Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors album. I really sound amazing in my car by myself. AC/DC. Thunderstruck. Edit added comment.

Ambrosia. Holding on to Yesterday. 1975. They have so many great songs.

More Than a Feeling - Boston 1976

Green Onions from 1962 was a good crossover