ike turner, the backbeat and the devil
Ike Turner, who died last week, is best remembered as a first class villain. But to paraphrase Shakespeare, I've come to bury Ike, not to praise him. Ike's evil will live long after him, the good interred with his bones. He had an important part in the history of Rock and American popular music he should be remembered for. Before I delve into Ike, first, to better understand his role, here's a quickie history of the development of Rock in popular music.

Early forms of Rock have roots in late 19th century with black Gospel artists. The excellent and oft quoted website, Morgan Wright's HoyHoy.com, lays it all out in The Dawn of Rock 'n Roll:

The term "Rock and Roll" was originally a nautical term which has been used by sailors for centuries. It refers to the rock (fore and aft motion) and roll (sideways motion) of a ship. The expression can be found in English literature going back to the 1600's, always referring to boats and ships. The term entered black spiritual music in the 1800's, but with a religious meaning, and was first recorded as such on a phonograph in 1916, in a minstrel recording of black Gospel on the Little Wonder record label called "The Camp Meeting Jubilee."

Now, here is where Rock and Roll music came from. Before 1947, the only people who talked much about "rocking" were black Gospel singers. They were singing, "Rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham," and "Rock me Jesus," and "Rock me in the cradle of Thy love," and "Rock me Lord," and "Rock Daniel," and "I Call Jesus My Rock" etc., going back to the late 19th century. "Rocking" was a term used by African Americans for the rapture they experienced at certain religious events, and the term also referred to the powerful rhythm found in the music that accompanied that religious experience.

Then, in 1947, Roy Brown did a Blues called "Good Rockin' Tonight" that was a parody of Gospel, where instead of rocking the Lord, he had church people like Deacon Jones and Elder Brown rocking in a secular manner. "Good Rockin' Tonight" was the first time the Gospel meaning of rocking (of souls) and the secular meaning (dance, sex) were fused together in the same song. The joke was taken from Louis Jordan's "Deacon Jones" of 1943, in which a Deacon was stealing money from the collection plate, getting drunk on the sacramental wine, and having sex with all the female congregants. Brown took the Deacon one step further and had him rocking. Even the opening line, "Have You Heard The News," is a parody of Gospel, since the word "Gospel" literally means "good news," which Roy Brown would have known because he grew up in church, where preachers are always talking about whether you have heard the news (about Jesus).

Roy Brown: Good Rockin' Tonight - 3.98MB

The record sold, but Brown's version did not have much of a rocking beat. Even though Brown used both meanings of "rocking" in the lyrics of the song, at this point there was still a wide chasm between Gospel music and Blues.

Along comes Wynonie Harris. He covered Browns record, also in 1947, but it was to become, based on what followed it, one of the most important recordings in music history. He caught Brown's joke, about these church people "rocking," but to add to the parody he changed the rhythm to an uptempo Gospel beat, thereby fusing Gospel and Blues in a spectacular manner. The difference between Wynonie Harris' version and Brown's is the Gospel rhythm of rocking on the 2nd and 4th beat of the 4/4 measure, as you hear in Wynonie's rocking hand-clapping, like there had been in uptempo Gospel music for decades, as seen above.

When Wynonie Harris' version of Good Rockin' Tonight was cut in December of 1947 and hit the charts in 1948, it started a revolution. Although Harris wasn't the first to sing Blues with a Gospel beat, as others like Big Joe Turner had been doing this for years, it was Harris' record that started the "rocking" fad in Blues and R&B in the late 40's. After Harris' record, there was a massive wave of rocking Blues tunes, and every black singer had a rocking Blues record out by 1949 or 1950. It was a sweeping fad that changed R&B forever. "Rocking" was in, Boogie Woogie was out, and most R&B artists were trying like mad to out-rock each other. This new music had an extremely powerful beat.

Good Rockin' Tonight

Wynonie Harris idolized Big Joe Turner. When Harris decided to cover Roy Brown's "Good Rockin' Tonight," which itself had been a mild and non-rocking record, Harris used the Gospel element of hand-clapping on the back-beat (something Turner was famous for) to give it the "rocking" rhythm which had been heard in Gospel music for many years. The song is basically a parody of Gospel music, with mention of a deacon and an elder doing a distinctly different type of "rocking" than Gospel preachers would have approved of, and not the kind of rocking you would have done in the bosom of Abraham. This record is what started the whole "rocking" craze in Blues in the late 1940's, which would eventually lead to the greatest musical revolution of all time. This is probably the most important recording in the history of Rock and Roll. Without this record, Rock and Roll probably never would have happened.

Wynonie Harris: Good Rockin' Tonight - 3.97MB

Just as Rock and Roll was getting off the ground in 1948, there was a record ban, which effectively stopped it in its tracks. From Early Rock-'n'-Roll and Jukeboxes:

The jukebox industry, however, had a big problem with the record ban of 1948. The industry did not know for sure if it was going to be a total change for 33 1/3rpm, and that no 78rpm shellac records would be pressed in the years to come. As a consequence, it was considered a good idea by the manufacturers to try to make mechanisms for the smaller 45rpm vinyl records developed by RCA.

By the time the record ban ended, so had the "rocking" fad - black R&B artists moved on to new sounds. More from Morgan Wright's HoyHoy.com:

By the time R&B was becoming heard on radio stations, the 78 RPM format had just recently been replaced by the new 45 RPM records. Radio stations had just bought all new records and dumped out the old ones, since the 78's were heavy and cumbersome, and broke easily. By 1951 and 1952, the only demo records being shipped to radio DJ's were the new 45's. Unfortunately, all the early R&B had been recorded on the old 78's, so when R&B started being played on the radio, these 78's were already in the dumpster. Later on, when "golden oldies" were being played, that meant old 45's, since the 78's had long since been discarded. So, these Hoy Hoy era 78's were never played much on the radio.

This is where Ike Turner's importance comes into play. He was one of the few black artists that kept the Rock and Roll flame alive until white artists such as Bill Haley and Elvis Presley came along and adopted it. He bridged the gap between 1948-1954 with rockin' tunes like Rocket 88, which was among the earliest distorted guitar tones ever recorded - think about that the next time you hear Jimmy Page wailing a guitar lead during a Led Zeppelin song. He discovered, developed, collaborated and recorded with pioneers such as Sam Phillips, Johnny Ace, Bobby "Blue" Band, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Otis Rush, Elmore James, Richard Berry, Little Walter, Little Milton, Muddy Waters, Fred Wesley and Jimi Hendrix, who was fired for his incessant, uncontrolled feedback. After The Rolling Stones toured with Ike during the sixties, they borrowed shamelessly from his band, as Mick Jagger turned his stage persona into a male version of Tina Turner. Here's an example how Ike became part of pop music's lexicon, with a song that features Delores Johnson (aka Flora Williams) singing lead - Tina's one of the background singers, see if you can make her out in the crowd.

The Ikettes: I'm Blue (The Gong Gong Song) - 2.88MB

The main riff for I'm Blue was appropriated in 1993 by Salt N Pepa for Shoop:

Salt-N-Pepa: Shoop - 5.29MB

The music speaks for itself. Ike contributed greatly to Rock, though it's not likely to overshadow his deeds outside it. Though credited or not, his sonic legacy will last long after people forget who Ike Turner was.

As shown, Rock was born from Gospel, which is still vibrant today. One of its better practitioners are the Blind Boys Of Alabama, formerly the Five Blind Boys Of Alabama. They've been through quite a few changes over the decades, all along remaining relevant to the permeations of popular music. A few years ago, they recorded a version of Tom Wait's Way Down In The Hole for the opening music for HBO's The Wire, one of television's better shows. The lyrics urge help in keeping "the Devil way down in the hole". It always reminds me of an old Twilight Zone episode where some poor soul falls for Satan's sad story and releases him from captivity, to the endangerment of all humankind:



YouTube: The Howling Man
Here's Waits' original song.

Tom Waits: Way Down In The Hole - 3.29MB

The Blind Boys Of Alabama make it their own with this soulful version.

The Blind Boys Of Alabama: Way Down In The Hole - 4.70MB

Tom and the Blind Boys join together for a holiday appropriate song.

The Blind Boys Of Alabama & Tom Waits: Go Tell It On The Mountain - 6.18MB

Hopefully, those of you that are celebrating the holiday season are experiencing a wonderful one. I have another post or two coming up before the new year is upon us, see you then.