Song & Artist
Mystery Train – Elvis Presley; Don't Be Cruel – Elvis Presley with the Jordanaires
Wanda Jackson
One of the most remarkable early women of rock ’n’ roll; recorded fierce rockabilly tracks but never achieved major mainstream success due to the cultural conservatism of the 1950s.
Arguably the most important star in American pop history; established rock ’n’ roll as a mass-market force. Began in country, first recorded for Sun Records, and became a superstar on RCA.
Elvis Presley
Rockabilly
A blend of rock ’n’ roll and hillbilly traditions, rooted in country music but borrowing heavily from rhythm and blues.
Maybellene – Chuck Berry; Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
A pioneering rock ’n’ roll figure influential as a songwriter, lyricist, vocal stylist, and groundbreaking electric guitarist—credited with pioneering the guitar solo.
A singer, pianist, and songwriter whose R&B style crossed into the rock ’n’ roll market, making him the second biggest-selling artist of the 1950s, right behind Elvis Presley.
“Fats” Domino
Slap-back
A form of delay that repeats the sound only once about a split-second later, producing only a single echo without changing the overall acoustic feel.
Bill Haley and the Comets
A former country & western bandleader and his group who made history when their recording of “Rock Around the Clock” became the first rock ’n’ roll record to hit #1 on the pop charts in 1955.
The most popular urban folk-pop group of the late 1950s, known for smooth, apolitical folk performances and enormous LP sales.
Kingston Trio
A technique in which two nearly identical recordings of the same vocal or instrumental part are layered to bring that part forward in the mix.
Double-tracking
Doris Day
A hugely successful big-band and pop singer who charted consistently from the late 1940s to late 1950s. (Associated with “the creepy song.”)
A radio disc jockey who likely first used the term “rock ’n’ roll” in a commercial, generational sense and promoted national “rock ’n’ roll revues” featuring Black artists.
Alan Freed
A commercial and marketing term introduced to identify a new target audience for musical products—primarily the baby boom generation.
Rock ‘n’ roll
Buddy Holly
A clean-cut Texas-born artist who formed the Crickets and created an influential fusion of country, R&B, and mainstream pop.
A major African American performer known for an outrageous, flamboyant, and sexually ambiguous performance style; broke onto the pop charts in 1956 with “Tutti-Frutti.”
Little Richard
A wash of electronic sound used by engineers to simulate an acoustic space by creating dense echoes that fade over time.
Reverb