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Elvis Presley was not the music innovator of the '50s. He was the biggest star the music world had ever produced up to that point, his success was universal, and it was mainly thanks to him that rock 'n' roll spread in the west. Millions of young girls lost their heads when "Elvis the Pelvis" showcased his famous hip-swiveling moves, but the true architects of the musical revolution were Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and Eddie Cochran.
To frame the artist, it's worth mentioning that Jimi Hendrix considered him the only white musician from whom he had learned something. At just sixteen, he joined Hank Cochran (they were not related) to form the Cochran Brothers, a duo that played country. The partnership ended when Eddie met Jerry Capehart, who became his manager and would accompany him throughout his short life. After an unsuccessful audition at Sun Records with Sam Phillips, he found a home at Liberty Records, for which he recorded "Twenty Flight Rock", a track that already captures the essence of the music that would make him famous—a very rhythmic and no-frills sound that makes you move to the beat of the guitar. He also appeared in the film "The Girl Can't Help It".
Despite being very young, Eddie soon proved to be a talented singer, songwriter, session musician, and guitarist, quickly becoming an expert in the field of recording. He was one of the first to employ the technique of overdubbing (vocal and instrumental overlays). While mom and dad listened to "Mantovani" and "Ray Conniff", in '58 he composed "Summertime Blues", one of the great masterpieces of rock 'n' roll, which made him a youth idol. It was covered numerous times by other artists, perhaps the most famous cover being by "Who".
I discovered Eddie Cochran while reading some interviews with punk musicians, who claimed to have drawn most of their inspiration from his music. This shows that punk is a return to the origins of rock 'n' roll, from which it took the prodigious revolutionary charge, with the difference that in '77 the songs were played with angry energy, and the lyrics were irreverent, often offensive. "Sid Vicious" relaunched two of Cochran's tracks, "C'mon Everybody" and "Somethin' Else", keeping the cadence and melodic structure almost unchanged, only altering the visual impact and interpreting them roughly.
He had not yet turned 22 when he died in a car accident in 1960, after a triumphant tour in England. Despite a very brief career, he quickly became a cult figure, an artist who, with just a handful of songs, managed to find a place in music history. Four records in which all the pioneering work of this legendary rocker is contained, his compositions, covers, and other recordings indicative of his artist life.
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