Here's Little Richard - Little Richard
The more you try to pinpoint when exactly rock was born, the more confusing the question gets. Rock and roll may have been around for years before the late 50s, evidenced by the burgeoning Chicago blues, R&B, and jump-blues scenes. Even then, plenty of contenders arose that had legitimate claims to starting modern rock: Fats Domino ("The Fat Man"), Bill Haley ("Rock Around The Clock"), Bo Diddley (well, "Bo Diddley"), Chuck Berry ("Maybellene") among so many others. No one can agree on when rock and roll began, but by the recording of "Tutti Frutti" in September 1955, it was pretty darn hard to argue that rock hadn't been invented yet.
So, if Little Richard wasn't truly the "architect of rock and roll" as many claim, what did he bring to the table? If you ask me, it's not just the musical style, not just the songwriting, not even his vocal prowess that made him so integral. The trait that secured his place in the rock n' roll altar was that shredding wildness within his soul. If you pay close attention to pop music before Little Richard, there was always a level of restraint that prevented them from descending into pure madness. Maybe Fats's "All By Myself" and Chuck's "Maybellene" were pretty aggressive for their time, but even then, the lead instrument (the only real brash element to each) was forced into a rigid order.
Little Richard, on the other hand, couldn't be constricted by anything. He took a look at all of the R&B music in the day and likely found it dull as can be. He probably went, "gee, why is this stuff so slow and boring? Where's the energy?" and decided to do it completely differently. "Tutti Frutti" sounds like Little Richard, with his god-given visceral scream, literally ripping out any imposed chains of genre conventions. The song is considerably looser than any contemporary R&B song, the whole band dancing around in a mad frenzy. There isn't a shred of subtlety or politeness to his vocal performance: he just screams his fucking head off where each of those "Wop bop a bams" feels like a giant blast of animalistic ferociousness.
In other words, "Tutti Frutti" was unique because it was the sound of rebellion. Yes, it is dance music, but it's not the "have carefree, happy fun" kind of dance music: it's the "we're gonna party so hard it's gonna become a goddamn riot" kind of music. On this rebellious front, the only one who could compete with him at the time was Sun-era Elvis with songs like "Milkcow Blues Boogie," and even then, it was more of an echoey aggressive mystique than this sweaty chaotic hysteria. Richard did not create rock n' roll, but he was absolutely the architect of its wild, frenzied, pull-out-the-stops spirit.
Yet, this thing wouldn't have worked nearly this well if it wasn't for the songwriting. His melodies flow incredibly smoothly with those immaculate vocal hooks. It's one thing to rock the house and another to make those rave-ups memorable. Just hear how beautiful the melodies of "Slippin' And Sliddin'" and "True, Fine Mama" are. He doesn't have to scream much on either: the flow is just that sweet and wonderful. No wonder many artists found it easy to cover his songs: Beatles, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Deep Purple, Everly Brothers, CCR, Sonics, Animals among many others. Though, none of them formally surpassed the originals because his voice is still vital in carrying them. "Jenny Jenny" is a great composition, but only Little Richard, with his head-spinning vocal acrobatics, could have made the song the monster it is.
This style is so blissfully melodic, so head-bangingly kickass, so unbelievably awesome from all angles that it almost makes you forget that there is one central flaw of Little Richard: this is pretty much the only thing he can do. If you look at the eight prominent rockers here, practically ALL of them follow this same style. Some of them are louder and harsher than others, but it's clear that out of all the heavyweights of the rockabilly movement, Little Richard was probably the most limited. If he isn't bashing the shit out of those R&B grooves or belting his voicebox out, he becomes rather dull. That's probably why the other slower four songs here are rarely discussed: they just don't stand out from the typical R&B stuff from the day. This is because he has a very small bag of vocal tricks: he knows power all right, but he doesn't have enough variety of expressiveness to make a song like "Baby" or "Oh Why?" interesting. "Can't Believe You Wanna Leave" is at least solid because he is a bit rougher with the performance, but it's hard to want to listen to these slower songs when you have the likes of Ray Charles, Ruth Brown, and Jackie Wilson still around.
Fantastic review!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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