Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'n' Roll

by Martin Hawkins and Colin Escott

Book Overview

Memphis, Tennessee. The early 1950s. The Mississippi rolls by, and there's a train in the night. Down on Beale Street there's hard-edged blues, on the outskirts of town they're pickin' hillbilly boogie.

At Sam Phillips' Sun Records studio on Union Avenue, there's something different going on. "Shake it, baby, shake it " "Go, cat, go " "We're gonna rock..."

This is where rock 'n' roll was born-the record company that launched Elvis...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312081995
• ISBN13: 9780312081997
• Release Date: July 1992
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

For the true to heart and those new to great music!

Coming from an age group that barely remembers the days of Sun Studio's most talented performers and songwriters, this book drives home the importance and impact of the many talents that emerged from this Memphis-based shrine.This is a must read for anone who loves rock-n-roll, blues, jazz, or just wants to learn more about the hardships, the triumphs and the many lessons learned in the music industry.Many top idols are present, but what makes the book such a worthwhile reading are the writings on those less known. My hats off to a true tribute for the sounds and artists of the south!

The definitive history of the definitive indie label.

Have you heard the news? Good Rockin' Tonight is the encyclopedia for all fans of Sam C. Phillips' groundbreaking Memphis Recording Service and Sun/Phillips International labels. Colin Escott and Martin Hawkins, whose expert commentaries appear in the liner notes of many Sun CD reissue packages, deliver thorough accounts of the players and events in the Sun story. Full chapters are devoted to Sun's best-known players (Sam Phillips, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley) and the landmark events (the recording of Rocket 88, the arrival of Howlin' Wolf, and the birth of Rockabilly), but the real highlight is the attention to the lesser-known players like Joe Hill Louis, Scotty Moore, Sonny Burgess, Billy Riley, and Roland Janes. They didn't top the charts, but were as important to the creation of the "Sun Sound" as Perkins, Lewis, Cash and Presley were to its export outside the Memphis city limits, and in Good Rockin' Tonight they receive the recognition they deserve. Escott and Hawkins round out the Sun story with a complete discography of all the Sun and Phillips International singles, EPs and LPs released while both labels were active.Sun was the first powerhouse independent record label of Rock & Roll music. It's catalogue, performed by rough-edged musicians who turned out consistently innovative material and a Top Ten hit here and there, has been exhaustively reissued over the past ten years, much to the delight of Sun connoisseurs. Sadly, the same can't be said of material written about Sun: most of the books (several also written by Escott and Hawkins) are now out of print. Good Rockin' Tonight stands alone as the most comprehensive work dedicated to Sam Phillips and the record label whose influence on popular culture deserves much more.