VIEWED WITH 21st century hindsight, the two radical gold-finished guitars released by Gibson in 1952 appear about as rock and roll as they come. In fact, that term was barely in use when the Les Paul and ES-295 arrived that year, and neither was conceived with rock in mind, even though both would help define its look and sound.
The March 1951 single “Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats (a front for Ike Turner and His Kings of Rhythm) is often cited as the first rock and roll song, but the genre didn’t fully hit
