Was this the first song to use guitar distortion?
Some say that if it ain broke, don’t fix it. But if it weren’t for rock musicians’ strange desire to break something that was working perfectly well, we wouldn’t have guitar distortion, undoubtedly the most important effect in the guitar player’s arsenal. Distortion has proved an immensely versatile tool for everyone from the British Invasion bands of the 1960s to the shoegazers of the early 1990s and beyond. Without it, the guitar solos of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton would be painfully straight-laced affairs, and you can wave goodbye to heavy metal and grunge. Truly, distortion was the making of rock music. But where did it all begin?
Unlike today’s solid-state combos, early guitar amps didn’t include in-built distortion. In fact, they were designed to recreate the sound of the electrified guitar as cleanly and accurately as possible.
It wasn’t long, however, before guitarists had worked out that by pushing these valve amps really hot, they could get some pretty gritty effects. Chuck Berry is often regarded as one of the earlier players to experiment with distortion, but he was in no way the first. Players have been dabbling with the effect since the 1940s, but it wasn’t until the early 1950s that we got the first recording featuring a distorted guitar. Cue ‘Rocket 88’.
Released in 1951, ‘Rocket 88’ is an ode to another piece of American engineering: the Oldsmobile Rocket 88 motor car. Recorded by Ike Turner, the track celebrates what, in 1949, was the fastest car on the road. Small but powerful, the Rocket 88 came out in 1949 and featured a large vale V8 engine. No wonder, then, it became a common sight in the NASCAR races of the 1950s.
Turner’s song was written on the way to Memphis to take part in a recording session organised by BB King. After jamming themselves into a car with all their gear, they set off on the long drive from the deep south, where they’d been gigging for the last few weeks. They must have forgotten to close the boot properly because, somewhere along the way, one of their amps fell out and hit the tarmac.
They screeched to a halt, kicking up a cloud of southern dust. On salvaging the amp from the roadside, Turner and co were relieved to find it bruised but in working order, the woofer having taken the brunt of the damage. At the studio, Turner shoved paper inside the caved speaker and handed it over to guitarist Willie Kizart. Though initially doubtful, the musician changed his tune when he heard the gritty sound emanating from his scuffed amp.
The popularity of ‘Rocket 88′ might have something to do with Dave Davies’ decision to carve up his Vox AC30 with a razor blade 13 years later and record ‘You Really Got Me’ with The Kinks. It wasn’t until 1965, however, that somebody had the bright idea of creating a device that would allow guitarists to simulate the sound of a blown-out amp without the need for a self-destruct button. This was the fuzz box. The age of distortion had well and truly begun.
