Erin ’s Reviews > Before Elvis: The African American Musicians Who Made the King > Status Update

Rock 'n' Roll is theft.

"You have a bunch of niggers teaching social equality stirring up racial hatred."

Ike Turner(Tina's abusive husband)'s Rocket 88 is considered the first rock 'n' roll record.

Big Mama Thornton's recording of Hound Dog was one of the biggest R&B hits of 1953, selling half a million copies.

"In order to get my message over, there were things that were almost dangerous to say, but you could sing it."

Of the ingredients of Rock 'n' Roll, Black gospel is the least appreciated.

"I will say this again, this is a white man's country and always will be, and any negro who doesn't agree to this had better move on".

The Delta was the unholy land of American music, a place of unremitting poverty, unpunished violence, and unbounded whiskey, teeming with cotton and itinerant guitarists, blossoming with unlettered poets.

Arthur Crudup is one of the most influential people in music history and you've never heard of him.