# The 9 Best Rock and Roll Tracks of All Time Rhythm and blues played faster, sold to teenagers, and briefly the most disruptive thing in America. A five-year window in which the record industry discovered a market it did not understand and never fully regained control of. - **Origin:** Memphis and Chicago, 1954 - **Tempo:** 130–180 BPM - **Also known as:** rock 'n' roll, rockabilly, fifties rock - **Tracks:** 9 - **Updated:** 2026-08-30 - **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/rock-and-roll/ ## The list ### 1. [Chuck Berry](https://waxonia.com/artist/chuck-berry/) — [Johnny B. Goode](https://waxonia.com/track/chuck-berry--johnny-b-goode/) *1958 · Chess* The opening lick is the genre's national anthem, and the lyric invents the idea of the guitarist as protagonist. Berry wrote the rules and everyone since has been filling in the form. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Chuck%20Berry%20Johnny%20B.%20Goode) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=T_WSXXPQYeY) ### 2. [Little Richard](https://waxonia.com/artist/little-richard/) — [Tutti Frutti](https://waxonia.com/track/little-richard--tutti-frutti/) *1955 · Specialty* The most explosive four seconds of introduction anybody has recorded. The original lyric was unprintable, the cleaned-up version is still barely contained, and nothing has ever sounded this free. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Little%20Richard%20Tutti%20Frutti) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ivhauEr3KxU) ### 3. [Elvis Presley](https://waxonia.com/artist/elvis-presley/) — [That's All Right](https://waxonia.com/track/elvis-presley--thats-all-right/) *1954 · Sun* An Arthur Crudup blues, cut almost by accident at the end of a session. Whatever you think of what followed, the performance itself is loose, delighted and completely alive. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Elvis%20Presley%20That's%20All%20Right) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=DCP_g7X31nI) ### 4. [Bo Diddley](https://waxonia.com/artist/bo-diddley/) — [Bo Diddley](https://waxonia.com/track/bo-diddley--bo-diddley/) *1955 · Checker* A rhythm rather than a song, and the only one on this list that is still being used as a rhythm sixty years later. Named after himself, which was fair. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Bo%20Diddley%20Bo%20Diddley) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yeZHB3ozglQ) ### 5. [Jerry Lee Lewis](https://waxonia.com/artist/jerry-lee-lewis/) — [Great Balls of Fire](https://waxonia.com/track/jerry-lee-lewis--great-balls-of-fire/) *1957 · Sun* Piano played as an act of aggression, by someone who genuinely believed he was damning himself by recording it. That tension is audible and it is what makes the record. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Jerry%20Lee%20Lewis%20Great%20Balls%20of%20Fire) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=w6VBlQbf-KU) ### 6. [Eddie Cochran](https://waxonia.com/artist/eddie-cochran/) — [Summertime Blues](https://waxonia.com/track/eddie-cochran--summertime-blues/) *1958 · Liberty* Two acoustic guitars, handclaps and a complaint. The first great record about teenage powerlessness, and structurally the ancestor of every punk single on this site. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Eddie%20Cochran%20Summertime%20Blues) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=NKLhq2RubiM) ### 7. [Gene Vincent](https://waxonia.com/artist/gene-vincent/) — [Be-Bop-A-Lula](https://waxonia.com/track/gene-vincent--be-bop-a-lula/) *1956 · Capitol* Slap-back echo, a hiccupping vocal and almost no content. Rockabilly at its most atmospheric — the sound is the song and it has aged better than most of the lyrics here. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Gene%20Vincent%20Be-Bop-A-Lula) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vDU9FP5_B2M) ### 8. [Buddy Holly](https://waxonia.com/artist/buddy-holly/) — [Peggy Sue](https://waxonia.com/track/buddy-holly--peggy-sue/) *1957 · Coral* Jerry Allison's paradiddles on the toms, a guitar tone nobody had bothered with before, and a songwriter who wrote, played and produced. The self-contained band starts here. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Buddy%20Holly%20Peggy%20Sue) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1sWvwBYEzvE) ### 9. [Bill Haley & His Comets](https://waxonia.com/artist/bill-haley-and-his-comets/) — [Rock Around the Clock](https://waxonia.com/track/bill-haley-and-his-comets--rock-around-the-clock/) *1954 · Decca* Not the best record on this list and comfortably the most consequential. A B-side that a film soundtrack turned into a global event and a moral panic. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Bill%20Haley%20%26%20His%20Comets%20Rock%20Around%20the%20Clock) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdufzXvjqw) --- Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.