I'm going to cut against the grain here and discuss the big names in music history. I'll take a brief look at what they did and the influence they had on future acts. There will be no unknown people here, all bands or artists will be well known, even if it's by name alone, but hopefully one or two people will find it interesting enough to explore the music of those who shaped the course of music.

There will also be suggested albums for further listening, which may be a classic album or may be a compilation depending on the artist, as well as sample tracks from YouTube to give a taste for those who have yet to hear anything by them. The articles will be short and concise, just a quick intro and the reasons they deserve their place in history. The reason for this journal is simple: there is a lot of forum activity for current artists and new artists and lesser known acts. However, the big names in music, despite being important, don't get much of a look in these days (see George Harrison thread) and surprisingly some people are completely unaware of what they have done, what they sound like, who they have influenced and so on. So anyone who isn't aware, which will hopefully be in the minority here, can eventually browse through here and pick out someone they want to explore but were too afraid to ask.

The sound of Rock & Roll was beginning to take shape gradually over the course of first half of the twentieth century. As a genre that took it's influence from so many other styles (blues, boogie woogie, country, rhythm and blues etc) it was some time before it's own unique style had a clear voice. The early 1950s saw some singles released that hinted at what was to come but when people turned on their radio in 1955 and heard Tutti Frutti, there was no doubt that this is how Rock and Roll was meant to sound.

Little Richard is often credited as cementing the sound of Rock and Roll, his infamous "A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!" intro to Tutti Frutti, combined with his screeching vocals and boogie woogie piano burst onto the music scene and things were never the same again. He even calls himself the architect of Rock and Roll, which is hard to deny as hit's like Long Tall Sally, Good Golly Miss Molly, Tutti Frutti, Rip It Up and Lucille are all staples of the genre.

Born Richard Wayne Penniman on December 5, 1932, he was only 22 when he re-defined popular music with his first single, a far cry from the churches he played at as a child. However, Rock and Roll wasn't received well by all, some viewed it as immoral and un-Christian, and Little Richard's persona played a part in that too. As a black, homosexual, flamboyant man who wore make-up when performing, he quickly enraged parents who were worried about the bad influence he could be having on their children.

Suddenly, in 1957, Little Richard stepped down from the limelight. His religious upbringing had caught up with him and he was having personal conflicts between his career and his beliefs. He stopped making music and became a born-again Christian. He would later come back in the early 60's, but his two year stint from 1955-1957 would be his most memorable and important.

The influence of Little Richard is a testament to the respect that later artists had of him. Otis Redding said that he was inspired by him to enter the music business. Mick Jagger's performance style was heavily influenced by that of Richard's and he states him as his first idol. Jimi Hendrix said that he wanted to do with his guitar what Little Richard did with his voice. As Rock and Roll was a huge influence to many big artists, most say that Little Richard was their first inspiration, from David Bowie and Rod Stewart to Bob Seger and John Fogerty. James Brown states that Little Richard put the first funk into rock and roll, which would later go on to have a huge effect on Brown's own career and sound.

Suggested Listening



Trivia

Tutti Frutti was voted by Mojo as the number one record that changed the world.

In 1962 he came back into music and toured Europe, at one time he was supported by some band called The Beatles.

He once starred as himself in an episode of Columbo.

He performed the theme song to television series The Magic School Bus.

Les Paul. The first thing that springs to mind is the iconic guitar, but a lot of people fail to look beyond that to consider the man behind it. Those that do, however, discover a man who changed how music was made and how it sounded perhaps more than any other single individual.

I had Les Paul on my list to do and, after his death this week, decided to bump him up and talk about him now.

Lester William Polsfuss was born in 1915, started playing the harmonica at eight and then moved onto the guitar. He ended up playing semi-professionally when he reached thirteen and then joined a radio band at seventeen. He regularly played country music and then moved on to jazz in the 1930's playing on the Radio and released a couple of records in 1936.

Despite this promising career it was all threatened when he had a car crash in 1948. His right elbow and arm were shattered and he was told that he wouldn't have movement in it. Determined to continue his love for playing the guitar he told the surgeons to set his arm in a position of holding and picking a guitar, they did this and that was the position his arm continued to be for many years.

In the 50's he and his wife Mary Ford sold millions of hit singles and where a hugely popular couple. Their recordings took full advantage of the technology and techniques that Les Paul was creating and perfecting. The rest of his life he made music on and off, semi-retiring, but when he was 90 he won two Grammys for his Album Les Paul and Friends: America Made World Played.

But his music was only the background to everything else he was well known for. His technique of playing, his timing, licks, trills and so on were fairly unique among other guitarists of the day and heavily influenced how they played and how later musicians would play music.

He made one of the first solid body guitars named The Log and went to Gibson with it in 1945/46 but they rejected it. It wasn't until the Fender Esquire, the first commercially successful solid body electric guitar, was made in 1950 that Gibson and Les Paul finally got together again and designed what would become the famous Gibson Les Paul. It is unknown how much of the design actually came from Les Paul, but it looks as though it was really limited as Gibson already made electric hollow guitars and already had their own ideas for how it should look. Indeed, some accounts state that other than agreeing for his name to appear on the guitar, he had no other contribution to its design. Needless to say, though, the Gibson Les Paul had a huge impact on music, it's iconic look can be seen in the hands of some of the most successful and important guitarists of the twentieth century.

Another innovation was multi-track recording. In 1948 Les Paul's "Lover (When You're Near Me)" became the first recording where multi-tracking was used. It involved eight different parts of Paul playing the guitar, some were played at half speed and sped up. During the years he perfected his technique and the technology used and would go on to co-design the first eight-track recording deck. As well as this invention he is also responsible for overdubbing, delay effects, phasing effects and many more, all which would open up a whole new world of how to create music in the studio.

Suggested Listening



The Millennium Collection: The Best of Les Paul

Trivia

His early aliases were Red Hot Red and Rhubarb Red

At one point he backed Bing Crosby

He is in the Grammy Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, National Inventors Hall of Fame and the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame

Godfather of Steve Miller, from Steve Miller band, and also gave him his first guitar lesson.



A snippet of Chasing Sound, a feature length Les Paul documentary that can be found here