Wholesale Rulers of Rock 'n' Roll

12" Wooden Ruler made in U.S.A. from American-grown basswood. Disk jockey Alan Freed at radio station WJW in Cleveland, Ohio, popularized the term Rock and Roll in 1954, although he probably didn’t invent it. Our ruler celebrates the full range of rock ‘n’ roll, but with a heavy emphasis on the musicians of the mid- and late 1950’s and early 1960’s. African-American musicians in this period include Chuck Berry, a prolific songwriter, and Little Richard. For each musician on our list we have chosen one of their songs, usually the best-known, most influential, or otherwise most iconic of their oeuvre, along with the year of that song’s release. The “head” image is that of Buddy Holly, tremendously recognizable with his thick-rimmed glasses, who was tragically killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, on the way to a gig. Fellow musicians Ritchie Valens and “The Big Bopper” as well as the plane’s pilot died in the same crash on February 3, 1959, called “The Day the Music Died”.