Green River

The third studio album by American rock and roll band Creedence Clearwater Revival

Forty Licks

A double compilation album by The Rolling Stones.

Elvis

The second number one album of Elvis Presley

Abbey Road

Album by The Beatles, which is named after their studio.

Dark Side of the Moon

Studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd

1950's

In 1951 Alan Freed was a disk jockey in Cleveland, and he was playing an exciting new kind of music his listeners couldn't get enough of. It was basically rhythm-and-blues that for the first time was crossing over from black audiences and culture to white audiences, appealing to both. Freed called it rock-and-roll. The term stuck and rock music was born - or at least this innovative new sound had a name.

The decade of the 1950s can be called the birth of rock-and-roll, although the music can trace its origins deeper back into time. That's something for historians and musicologists to debate, but most of us know what we're talking about when we think of the great rock-and-roll of the 1950s.

Of course, rock in these early days was dominated by a handful of major artists, the biggest of which was Elvis Presley. Some say his "That's All Right (Mama)" was the first true rock-and-roll record. Others say the first true rock recording was "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston, released in 1951, but that's yet another subject of debate.

While Elvis sucked up most of the oxygen in the 50s rock world, there were plenty of other major players, such as Buddy Holly, who had monster hits, including "Peggy Sue" and "That'll Be The Day" A less prolific act was Bill Haley and the Comets, whose huge hit, "Rock Around the Clock" probably defines what rock was all about in that decade. Other biggies of the 1950s were Jerry Lee Lewis, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper and many more.

But 50s rock music was a huge decade for African American acts, and perhaps even dominated by black artists. The biggest were the likes of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, Ray Charles - and also black groups, such as The Platters, The Coasters, The Crows and more.

Another gigantic name and talent to emerge from the 1950s was Carl Perkins, the man who wrote the mega-hit, "Blue Suede Shoes." Perkins is credited with inventing a unque style of rock called "rockabilly." Rockabilly is a combination between rock, country and R & B styles, and remains influential to this day.

When talking about 1950s rock music, one must also give special mention to something called "doo-wop." This was a vocal-based style of rhythm-and-blues which emerged in African American communities in the 1940s, but exploded into popularity in the 1950s, and was considered a class of rock music. The Ink Spot and The Chiffons were popular doo-wop groups. There were many white doo-wop groups, however, including The Slades, The Cleftones and The Fleetwoods. Many of these great artists are covered today by new bands.