Today, rock ‘n’ roll is a term loosely used to describe music sung by

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guitar-yielding bands. Strumming high volume electric guitars, plugged into machines that can distort the sound with a foot pedal has become the image of the genre. It’s even hard to imagine Elvis as the king of rock ‘n’ roll in such circumstances.

Rock ‘n’ roll has come a long way. So far that the original sound has been lost to the turnedup amp of most rock bands today. It has meshed in folk rock, country, blues, club rock and the turntable is the latest to invade the rock space. In the next few decades, the concept of rock ‘n’ roll will, without doubt, be a far cry from what it is now.

As some one rightly said, “Rock ‘n’ roll was an evolutionary process — we just looked around and it was here.... To name any one record as the first would make any of us look a fool.”

But that shouldn’t stop us from killing curiosity.

If the distorted sound of the guitar is a qualification for rock ‘n’ roll, the first rock song dates back to 1951. The song, Rocket 88, was sung in praise of the Oldsmobile Rocket V8 or Rocket 88, a just launched car by GM. The relation between rock ‘n’ roll and fast cars is not new after all.

Here are some of the albums that’ll give you a taste of the early rock ‘n’ roll, Elvis style.

Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock was first released as a single in 1957, to coincide with the release of Presley’s motion picture, Jailhouse Rock. The song is No. 67 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and was named one of The Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that shaped rock ’n’ roll.

The Beatles’ Abbey Road was the 11th studio album by the Liverpool lads. Abbey Road was released in 1969. The album opener Come Together was Lennon’s piece of art, which was played in different ways by different bands. It has been speculated that the verses, described by Lennon as intentionally obscure, refer cryptically to each of the Beatles (‘he’s one holy roller’ refers to the spiritually inclined George Harrison).

Chuck Berry is another among the pioneers of rock ’n’ roll. Of all the early breakthrough rock ’n’ roll artists, Chuck is a very important figure to the development of the music. Chuck’s You never can tell was immortalised in the Uma Thurman-John Travolta starrer Pulp Fiction. Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986.

Frank Zappa’s albums are considered essential in rock history, and he is regarded as one of the most original guitarists and composers of his time. Zappa received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.