Little Richard was the stage name adopted by Richard Wayne Penniman, a gospel and rhythm & blues singer who was also a rocker, a homosexual, a Seventh Day Adventist, and an extraordinary personality. He invented one of the most emblematic battle cries to ever rouse a generation of young people confronting a much-needed new world... and rock ’n’ roll. The cry was a lyric from Tutti Frutti that went “A Wop Bop A Loo Bop A Lop Bam Boom!” Just one look at this album’s titles tells you all you need to know about the importance that this man represents in Fifties’ music history. In addition to Tutti Frutti you can find Long Tall Sally, Lucille and Good Golly Miss Molly, to name only a few. Nobody can imagine what Rock ’n’ Roll would have been without Little Richard. He was a mighty inspiration for such major artists as Prince and The Rolling Stones, and he fully deserves his place at the top of the pyramid that today we call “the influencers”.
It is the fusion of Gospel, Blues and Jazz that gives birth to new rhythms during the 50’s in the United States. Black artists are the first ones to associate upbeat tempo with jazz and blues. But it is a revolution of the minds that gives to the 50’s its frenetic momentum that rocks the old world into the modern world. Every single area is touched by the revolution : music and painting, obviously, but also and maybe mainly society at large, ways of consuming, the new industrial era, urban life, advertising, marketing and design. The movement develops in every dimension. Rock’n’Roll is the permanent mark left by the youth of that time, embracing the new world and giving it the rhythm that fits.
The Masters of Rock collection traces back the history of these great Rock’n’Roll figures without whom Rock and music in general would not be what they are today. And just like a natural phenomenon, Rock was born at the same time as the LP, absolute revolution in the music world which marked every generation since 1950 and until today. The world could not go round without the collection that pays homage to Vinyl Records and Rock’nRoll : Masters of Rock