Frank Sinatra listening to a playback at a recording session.

SANDY KOZEL

Elvis Presley sang "That’s Alright Mama" during a recording session at Sun Studio on July 5, 1954. He was on acoustic rhythm guitar, Scotty Moore was on electric lead guitar, and
Bill Black was on string bass¹. The song was originally
written by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup.  

From left, Elvis Presley, Bill Black, Scotty Moore and Sam Phillips at Memphis Recording Service, 706 Union Avenue,
in 1954. On the night of July 5 that year, Phillips would
record the threesome doing “That’s All Right.”

Released on June 21, 1965, the Byrds’ debut album, Mr.
Tambourine Man, marked the beginning of the folk-rock
revolution. In just a few months, the Byrds had become
a household name, with a #1 single and a smash-hit
album that married the ringing guitars and backbeat of
the British Invasion with the harmonies and lyrical depth
of folk to create an entirely new sound.

By the spring of 1965, Bob Dylan’s presence in the world of
music was beginning to be felt well outside the boundaries
of his nominal genre. Within the world of folk music, he had
been hailed as a hero for several years already, but now his
music was capturing the attention and influencing artists like
the Byrds, the Beatles and even a young Stevie Wonder. 
       
With Dylan as a direct inspiration, popular music was about to
change its direction, but so was Dylan himself. On June 16,
1965, on their second day of recording at Columbia Records’
Studio A in Manhattan, he and a band featuring electric guitars
and an organ laid down the master take of the song that would 
make that change: “Like A Rolling Stone.” It would prove to be
“folksinger” Bob Dylan’s magnum opus and, arguably, the
greatest rock and roll record of all time.

It was the fourth of 11 takes that day that yielded the six-minute-
and-34-second recording that very nearly didn’t become a big
hit single.

On April 12, 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded
“(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock.” If rock and
roll was a social and cultural revolution, then
“(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock” was its
Declaration of Independence, and if Bill Haley was
not exactly the revolution’s Thomas Jefferson, it
may be fair to call him its John Hancock.