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"Rock the Joint", also known as We're Gonna Rock This Joint Tonight, is a boogie
Boogie

Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm , groove or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie ....
 song recorded by various proto-rock and roll
Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a form of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its roots lay mainly in rhythm and blues, Country music, folk music, gospel music, and jazz....
 singers, notably Jimmy Preston
Jimmy Preston

Jimmy Preston was an R&B bandleader, alto saxophonist and singer who made an important contribution to early rock and roll.His first R&B hit was with "Hucklebuck Daddy", but his main claim to fame was to record, as Jimmy Preston and His Prestonians, the original version of "Rock the Joint" for Gotham Records in Philadelphia in 1949....
 and early rock and roll singers, most notably Bill Haley
Bill Haley

Bill Haley was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the mid-1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song "Rock Around the Clock"....
. Preston's version has been cited as a contender for being "the first rock and roll record
First rock and roll record

There are many candidates for the title of the first rock and roll record, but it is arguable whether any such thing exists. As with all forms of music, the roots of "rock and roll" are deep and wide....
", and Haley's is widely considered the first rockabilly
Rockabilly

Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, and emerged in the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a Portmanteau word of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development....
 record.

The song's authorship is credited to Harry Crafton, Wendell "Don" Keane and Harry "Doc" Bagby, who were musicians contracted to the Gotham label in New York, owned by Ivin Ballen (although a live version recorded by Haley in 1969 for Buddah Records
Buddah Records

Buddah Records was founded in 1967 by promotor Neil Bogart in New York City. It released a variety of music types, including bubblegum pop like the Ohio Express, the 1910 Fruitgum Company, solo performer writer-singer Melanie Safka, rhythm and blues artist Gladys Knight and the Pips, and rock and roller Captain Beefheart....
 was credited to James Bracken).






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"Rock the Joint", also known as We're Gonna Rock This Joint Tonight, is a boogie
Boogie

Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm , groove or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie ....
 song recorded by various proto-rock and roll
Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a form of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its roots lay mainly in rhythm and blues, Country music, folk music, gospel music, and jazz....
 singers, notably Jimmy Preston
Jimmy Preston

Jimmy Preston was an R&B bandleader, alto saxophonist and singer who made an important contribution to early rock and roll.His first R&B hit was with "Hucklebuck Daddy", but his main claim to fame was to record, as Jimmy Preston and His Prestonians, the original version of "Rock the Joint" for Gotham Records in Philadelphia in 1949....
 and early rock and roll singers, most notably Bill Haley
Bill Haley

Bill Haley was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the mid-1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song "Rock Around the Clock"....
. Preston's version has been cited as a contender for being "the first rock and roll record
First rock and roll record

There are many candidates for the title of the first rock and roll record, but it is arguable whether any such thing exists. As with all forms of music, the roots of "rock and roll" are deep and wide....
", and Haley's is widely considered the first rockabilly
Rockabilly

Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, and emerged in the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a Portmanteau word of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development....
 record.

The song's authorship is credited to Harry Crafton, Wendell "Don" Keane and Harry "Doc" Bagby, who were musicians contracted to the Gotham label in New York, owned by Ivin Ballen (although a live version recorded by Haley in 1969 for Buddah Records
Buddah Records

Buddah Records was founded in 1967 by promotor Neil Bogart in New York City. It released a variety of music types, including bubblegum pop like the Ohio Express, the 1910 Fruitgum Company, solo performer writer-singer Melanie Safka, rhythm and blues artist Gladys Knight and the Pips, and rock and roller Captain Beefheart....
 was credited to James Bracken). The song was influenced by earlier R&B recordings such as Wynonie Harris
Wynonie Harris

Wynonie "Mr. Blues" Harris , born in Omaha, Nebraska, was an United States blues shouter and rhythm and blues singer of upbeat songs featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics....
' 1948 R&B hit "Good Rockin' Tonight". Ballen passed the song to Jimmy Preston, who had recently had a hit with "Hucklebuck Daddy". The version by Jimmy Preston and His Prestonians was recorded in Philadelphia in May 1949 and released on the Gotham label, reaching # 6 on the national R&B chart later that year.

Two years later, Bill Haley and the Saddlemen
Bill Haley & His Comets

Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was one of the earliest groups of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest...
 had already achieved some success with their cover of Ike Turner
Ike Turner

Ike Wister Turner was an United States musician, bandleader, talent scout, and record producer. His first recording, "Rocket 88" by "Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats," in 1951, is considered by some to be the "First rock and roll record" ever....
's (and/or Jackie Brenston
Jackie Brenston

Jackie Brenston was an United States Rhythm and blues singer and saxophone who recorded, with Ike Turner's band, the first version of the proto-rock and roll song "Rocket 88"....
's) "Rocket 88
Rocket 88

"Rocket 88" is a rhythm and blues song that was first recorded at Sam Phillips' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on 3 March or 5 March 1951 ....
", but were looking for another hit. They were persuaded by their producer, Essex Records
Essex Records

Essex Records was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1951 in music by Dave Miller primarily to record contemporary country and western, rhythm and blues as well as jazz and gospel....
 owner Dave Miller
Dave Miller (producer)

Dave Miller was a record producer and founder of Essex Records in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1951. The label had little popular success, being know mostly for it's the release of the early Bill Haley & His Comets recordings....
 to cover "Rock The Joint" - a song which, like "Rocket 88", had already been successful with R&B audiences. Haley recorded the song (the exact location is unknown but is believed to have been recorded in the band's hometown of Chester, Pennsylvania
Chester, Pennsylvania

Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, with a population of 36,854 at the 2000 census. Chester is situated on the Delaware River, between the cities of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware....
 ) in February or March 1952, but made up verses of his own to appeal to his country audience, named a succession of hillbilly dances (such as the Sugarfoot Rag and Virginia Reel) in place of Preston's hucklebuck and jitterbug, and also used different instrumentation on the track, and more back echo. In particular, Haley's version used a prominent percussive slapped bass, played by Marshall Lytle
Marshall Lytle

Marshall Lytle , who also goes by the name Tommy Page, is an United States rock and roll musician, best known for his work with the groups Bill Haley & His Comets and The Jodimars in the 1950s....
 , and electric guitar by Danny Cedrone
Danny Cedrone

Danny Cedrone was an United States guitarist and bandleader, best known for his work with Bill Haley & His Comets on their epochal "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954....
, with a lick which he duplicated three years later on "Rock Around The Clock
Rock Around the Clock

"Rock Around the Clock" is a 12-bar blues from 1952 in music, written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers . The song is ranked #158 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time....
".

Although Haley's version did not chart when released on Essex Records
Essex Records

Essex Records was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1951 in music by Dave Miller primarily to record contemporary country and western, rhythm and blues as well as jazz and gospel....
 in 1952, it was enough of a hit in Chicago to win him a short residency in a jazz club there - although this was cut short after many of his black audiences walked out. Nevertheless, Haley's version of "Rock The Joint" - three years before "Rock Around The Clock" - was an important milestone in the development of rockabilly
Rockabilly

Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, and emerged in the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a Portmanteau word of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development....
 through the coming together of R&B and country styles. The recording was remade in 1957 by Haley for Decca Records
Decca Records

Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 in music by Edward Lewis . Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
, by which time his band had been renamed Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets

Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was one of the earliest groups of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest...
 (it was released by Decca Records
Decca Records

Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 in music by Edward Lewis . Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
 the title "New Rock the Joint" as the original version was still in circulation). He later re-recorded the song for Sonet Records
Sonet Records

Sonet Records is a jazz record company founded in Sweden in 1956.Sonet Records was established by Sven Lindholm and Gunnar Bergstr?m, who managed the label into the 1980s....
 of Sweden in 1968 and numerous live versions were also recorded by him. After his death, members of the Comets who had served with Haley between 1951 and the early 1960s reunited and recorded several more versions of the song, such as for the 1994 Hydra Records album You're Never Too Old to Rock. It was covered and released by Reverend Horton Heat in 1996 on his album It's Martini Time
It's Martini Time

It's Martini Time is the title of the fourth album by Reverend Horton Heat. It was released by Interscope Records in July 1996. It's Martini Time is the first Reverend Horton Heat album to feature Scott Churilla on drums, following Taz Bentley's departure from the band in 1994....



Sources

  • Jim Dawson, Rock Around the Clock: The Record That Started the Rock Revolution! (Backbeat Books, 2005).
  • John W. Haley and John von Hoelle, Sound and Glory (Dyne-American, 1990).