First rock band ever?

Question

Rock music is a genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States.

What is the first band that could be determined as Rock?

I mean the first band that had some different features from the past genres and that determine the passage to this new gerne known as Rock.

I have some ideas, such as The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who...

Help me in this deep research!

Answer 1

If we are talking about 'Rock' distinct from 'Rock n' Roll', then it should have these features:

• Power chords, or at least aggressive chords on guitar, featuring the minor pentatonic scale
• Guitars are distorted (amplifiers)
• Driving drums
• A guitar solo would be a boon here

A lot of suggestions have been given to the forefathers of the early rock n roll landscape.

• The Beatles were a pop band more than anything. None of their albums featured anything this driving until the White Album
• The Dave Clark Five emulated the Beatles sound. They are, therefore, more pop (or rock n' roll if that offends some) than Rock
• The Animals released House of the Rising Sun in early 1964. Wikipedia identifies this as one of the earliest Folk Rock songs. This song lacked distorted guitars (the organ was the prominent voice)
• Surf Rock started as early as 1961. The signature guitar sound of Surf Rock lacked distortion (but featured reverb)

This leaves two real contenders:

• The Kinks released 'You Really Got Me Now' in 1964
• The Who released 'My Generation' in 1965, about a year later

Both of these songs satisfy the conditions above. Both have distorted guitars and angsty vocals. Both have guitar solos.

The Kinks, FTW.

EDIT: since there is discussion based on the comment to my first answer, I will put that back up here:

Chuck Berry is the first musician to play a guitar in a Rock fashion. Whether or not his backing band were all playing what you might consider Rock, none of us might be playing Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, etc. without Chuck Berry.

You have to mention his name as The Inventor.

Answer 2

So this is a work in progress. I am quite versed in Canadian music but not so much rock & roll history so bear with me.

Features I will be focusing on:

1. There is no headliner. The headliner is the band. So no Dick Dale & The Del-Tones. No Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks.

2. The drummer must tour with the band. Bands in the early days of rock n roll did not have a consistent drummer as they were often forbidden in some of the venues that would hold rock & roll concerts. This was a major reason for the prominence of individual headliners in the early days.

3. The band must have begun as a rock n roll band. This excludes bands like The Four Lads (who began as a doo-wop band).

4. I will posit that rock & roll is in fact rock and try not to separate "classic rock" and "oldie rock" as others may be wont to do. I posit this as rock bands through the years do in fact turn back and play these tunes with the understanding that they are in fact rock & roll.

5. I will posit that rockabilly is not rock & roll as it has a unique development pattern stemming from the late 1930s early boogie period. Songs with pronounced backbeats are rock & roll, songs without are to be reviewed for further study.

6. The minimum components of any candidate band will have at least one guitarist, one bassist and one drummer. Any further instrumentalists must not overwhelm these components, but compliment as in creating a sustaining tone or creating rhythmic embellishments. There may or may not be a vocalist or two (or more!)

So, the first band.

The Four Frantics were formed in 1955 but as far as I can tell, their first recording was in 1959.

This is not a complete answer, suffice to say, but it will be a launch pad when I find more when I take a bit more time to look at what is out there.

Answer 3

The Beatles definitely weren't the first band. The reason being that their whole band layout is inspired by Buddy Holly and the Crickets (who are also the reason for their name being after an insect). Buddy Holly was super influential on virtually every rock 'n' roll band of the 1960s and, in my opinion, kickstarted the whole band concept.

Answer 4

The Frantics are not Rock. Rock has a feel or essence that can't be measured on paper. It's deep and strong and true to itself. It's heavy guitars have no room for pop, rockabilly etc. We didn't get the full experience until we heard Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple and a few others. My personal choice for the epitome and beginning of Rock is Led Zeppelin's albums I (Jan. 1969), and II (Oct. 1969). No one before them is stronger.