S.O.D. "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats

8/15/2015     The year was 1951 and the genre is Rock and Roll/R&B to bring about an important song in music history.  The song features one of the first examples of distortion or fuzz guitar and feedback ever recorded.  This is played by guitarist Willie Kizart. The story or legend of how the distortion came about has to do with Kizart's amplifier being damaged after falling from the roof of the car while traveling with the band on Highway 61 from Mississippi to Tennessee.  They attempted to use wadded newspaper to hold the cone in place on the amplifier which created the unintentional distortion.  

     Brenston and Ike Turner wrote the tune where Brenston is credited and Turner is not.  The original recording is credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats who were actually Ike Turner's Rhythm Kings.  Music critics and musicians alike consider this tune to be one of the first if not the first rock 'n' roll record ever.