It was 50 years ago today that Elvis recorded "That's All Right, Mama" at Sun Records in Memphis, TN, singing & playing acoustic rhythm guitar with Scotty Moore on lead electric guitar & Bill Black on upright bass.

According to the Hard Rock Cafe, Rolling Stone, & the city of Memphis, said event was the birth of rock-n-roll.

Not everybody agrees. Bo Diddley calls it "the biggest lie ever told" (apparently he hasn't been following politics these past 3 years) & it's a fact that Bill Haley & the Comets had already had hits with "Crazy, Man, Crazy" & "Rock Around the Clock."

Furthermore, Elvis was probably not as "original" as some folks thought. Until his dying day, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup cursed the "white boy who stole his act." (If he did, however, did he cost Crudup any money or fame? After all, sadly, commercial radio wasn't going to promote a black artist like Crudup in those days, anyway.)

To me, what really made Elvis's early sound interesting was not anything Elvis did, but the guitar work of Scotty Moore, but I disgress.

Despite the controversy, if you believe that it all started with Elvis (John Lennon once said, "There was nothing before Elvis."), then today you can celebrate rock's 50th birthday. Have fun!

Happy BD R&R! We love rock & roll (the 50's-70's stuff)...