# experimental rock from the 50''



## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

Lets face it the 1950'' rock n rolls music was conservative you guys remenber elvis right.Than if i know the underground a bit in rock The monks or link wray were the first instigator of experimental rock in 1965-66 .Im not talkings about the stupid monkeys but the obscure american band that use fuzz ect.

Ockay here is my question, before the 60'', were they marginal rocker that were not mainstream that become forgotten that play loud experimental rock in the 50''.What was underground in the 1950 for rock n rolls and did not get air play because people were too conservative

were there electric guitar laden rock band, like heavy instrumental rock or experimental rock?

Im asking you this because i use to be a fan of link wray for an early rocker his stuff was wild hey?


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

1950s Rock sounds conservative to us because it has been around for so long. But how can the first of something new be decried as conservative? Elvis himself shocked some folks in his day with his antics.

Buddy Holley's use of drums on Peggy Sue was pretty out there for the time.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

if you like Link Wray there's a piece recorded in 1953 by Johnny Guitar Watson called Space guitar





Or Willie Joe and his Unitar (1956)









Lightnin' Hopkins - Hopkin's Sky Hop (1953)





Mel Smith - Pretty plaid skirt (1958)


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Good post and examples of 50's innovators like Johnny Guitar Watson, who was also a key influence on young Frank Zappa. Johnny Guitar Watson also played on some of Zappa's later albums.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Hubert Sumlin was playing with a distorted guitar sound in the early 50s with Howlin' Wolf. As far as radio airplay goes, things were much different than today. It was more regional with all of the independent stations.

I don't know how loud bands could play back then, but it certainly wasn't anything like Hendrix. They didn't have Marshall amplifiers.


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## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

indeed johny guitar Watson was super cool , this is the sound i was looking for the other were interresting as well, thanks norman bates, for this nice selection of pionner experimental rockers.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

deprofundis said:


> indeed johny guitar Watson was super cool , this is the sound i was looking for the other were interresting as well, thanks norman bates, for this nice selection of pionner experimental rockers.


I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for because it's a blues, but for a 1954 song the distortion was really heavy. The guitarist is Pat Hare





and in this one if possible is even heavier





and talking of heavy distortion this one was made in 1950: Joe Hill Louis - Boogie In The Park


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Though it hardly feels experimental or innovative now, the music of Les Paul and Mary Ford at the time was very original. Not exactly rock and roll, but indeed all rock guitarists owe a debt of gratitude to Les Paul.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Hasil (pronounced "Hassel") Adkins, nicknamed "The Haze", did some extraordinary stuff in the rockabilly vein way back in the '50s and early '60s, when the tracks for _OUT TO HUNCH _were laid down:









Here Hasil performs his own tune "No More Hot Dogs" --


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## Guest (Jul 13, 2015)

I was going to post "Space Guitar" but someone beat me to it and Hasil Adkins. Here's my favorite Haze clip on youtube:






Had to post this:






There was no other song with a beat like this in the 50s. It marks the start of hard rock. Eddie's older brother, Bob, wrote it as a rockabilly but Eddie's girlfriend, a songwriter named Sharon Sheely (wrote "Poor Little Fool" for Ricky Nelson), wanted this hard-driving beat that Little Richard would use to punctuate songs except she wanted to use it as the main riff. Richard's drummer, the great Earl Palmer, was a close friend of Eddie's and was playing drums for him and knew what Sharon was talking about and started playing the beat and Eddie caught on. He overdubbed himself on guitar and electric bass with Earl on the drums and that's how this song got made. The start of the hard rock genre. Eddie's nephew, also named Bobbie, played guitar for Steppenwolf so I guess that hard rock sensibility rubbed off.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Guitar Slim got a distorted (for the times) tone from his Les Paul:


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Another Guitar Slim classic:


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