The 5 Kings of Rock and Roll

Even though several artists don’t appear in the picture above, they got at least two of them right.

There are at least 5 artists that significantly launched Rock n’ Roll into the stratosphere.

While there were others that were highly influential as well, these are the ones that bands like the Beatles honed their musical craft with before coming to America.

1. Elvis Presley — Named the King of Rock n Roll, Elvis was on TV in early 1956 and arguably got a head start against most of his contemporaries. In fact Elvis’ influence was so strong that we changed music forever in less than two years. He was in the army as early as 1958 (only to be discharged from the reserves one month after the Beatles took over America)
2. Chuck Berry — I was tempted to name Chuck Berry first because where would Rock n’ Roll be without the guitar? Arguably just as important as Elvis, the Beatles included one or two Berry songs on their earliest recordings there by reintroducing Chuck Berry to the next musical generation. And guitarists everywhere still play his music today.
3. Little Richard — I think Little Richard did two things at once. He introduced the piano as a valid musical instrument in the Rock n’ Roll genre. Additionally while Elvis and Chuck Berry could be a little more laid back, every song that Little Richard played was like a stick of dynamite that went off before the very first downbeat.
4. Jerry Lee Lewis — What can be said about Jerry Lee Lewis? If Little Richard set the world on fire then Jerry Lee literally set his own piano on fire (or at least he did in the movies). Like Elvis and Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee had his own Hollywood Biopic even though his catalog of well known songs is much shorter than the others on this list.
5. Buddy Holly — Arguably one of the biggest influences on the Beatles (as well as the Everly Brothers) Buddy’s influenced countless bands by writing his own songs and his unique West Texas singing style. More importantly, he was the first person out of the group to have his life story told in the eponymous Buddy Holly Story.

Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison both had their day in the Sun, but in both cases they seemed to get their recognition once early Rock n’ Roll was revitalized in the 1980s.

Probably the most current and popular out off all of those films would be Johnny Cash’s “Walk The Line”. Even though he lived the Rock n Roll lifestyle, I don’t think he hung his hat on Rock n’ Roll in the same way that Elvis, Buddy and Little Richard did.