1) Robert Johnson invented rock and roll, and is the rightful King of it. Elvis Presley's title should be amended to "Poster Boy of Early Rock and Roll."
Tongue in cheek I'm sure. Boogie Woogie is the real progenitor to rock and roll, not Robert Johnson who is strickly blues, arguably the most influential blues artist of the 20th Century. Chuck Berry, Little Richard are more closely aligned with Louis Jordan who probably made the 1st rock and roll recordings in the late 40's that could be directly linked to the phenomona that was to become R&R. Caldonia sure sounds a lot more like 50's rock and roll than "Crossroads".
R&B kind of melded into the Rock era through the British and American rock groups of the 60's that idolized Johnson, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and other Delta bluesman not to mention some of the Motown artists who never seem to get airplay in these discussions. Yeah, along with Sam Cooke and Otis Reading what about Marvin Gaye, or are we now back to R&B, or are they part of rock and roll? Seems like a paradox.
The 60's rockers didn't come close to the raw emotion and style demonstrated by the Masters, a rich boy's take if you will. Yeah they dusted it off and polished it up but you can't duplicate the experience of what blues originated from. Of course this is only one man's opinion but a different take from some of the comments above. I never saw a direct link between blues and early rock and roll. Where does Ray Charles fit into the equation? He is never mentioned in the R&R debate but must be considered the first mainstream R&B artist that can be directly linked to the old bluesmen in both style and content yet unique and original in his own right.
It just seems numerous elements of 20th Century music came together at a certain time and place and a new phenomena came out of the mix. R&B, Boogie Woogie, Swing all contributed to the advent of rock and roll. As much as I love R Johnson, he gets entirely too much credit.
