The oldest unironic hit

[Banana Banana]

What's the oldest rock/pop record/artist you should be proud to have in your collection in an non-ironic way.

Perhaps Jerry Lee Lewis with Great Balls of Fire in 1957?

Or Heartbreak Hotel from 1956?

But they seem way too obvious.

Any suggestions?

[Spearmint Rhino]

The oldest unironic hit

I've got a bunch of Charleston/big band swing recordings from the 1920s and unless I'm missing something, I don't see how irony and year of release are connected...

[Wyatt Earp]

The oldest unironic hit

I've got a bit of properly old blues, though to be honest I never listen to it. But if I did, I wouldn't listen ironically. There's some Sinatra somewhere as well, I think.

[Spearmint Rhino]

The oldest unironic hit

I've also got some ghostly, crackly old castrato recordings from the 1890s, which must be among the first recordings of a human voice ever. Anyway, they're wonderful.

[Wyatt Earp]

The oldest unironic hit

As for rock and roll, "Tutti Frutti" and "Maybellene" both came out in 1955, and "That's All Right" by Elvis came out in 1954! So, you know.

[Bruno]

The oldest unironic hit

Just about every opera singer originally recorded on wax cylinders, transferred to CD.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

The oldest unironic hit

If we stick to "pop" music, probably Blind Willie McTell or someone.

[Guest]

The oldest unironic hit

Does this count?

[Toby Gymshorts]

The oldest unironic hit

I've got some Charles Mingus somewhere, does that count?

[Gangster Octopus]

The oldest unironic hit

Paul Robeson?

[Andy C]

The oldest unironic hit

The oldest recordings I own are of music-hall performers from the first couple of years of the twentieth century, and Percy Grainger's recordings, originally on cylinders, of traditional singers from Lincolnshire made in 1908. Which is an astonishing document. The performances - especially those of Joseph Taylor from Saxby-All-Saints - are magnificent in their own right, but when you realise that these singers were mostly septuagenarians at the time of the recordings and they'd have learned these songs in childhood you suddenly realise that you're listening directly to England in the 1840s.

[Tony C]

The oldest unironic hit

"That's All Right" by Elvis came out in 1954! So, you know".

The family of Arthur Crudup are still waiting to get paid for it, apparently.

[Guest]

The oldest unironic hit

Those music hall recordings that Andy C mentions are every bit as fascinating as the recordings of folk songs he also talks about, although - inevitably - it's often a bit like if future generations were only able to judge Morecambe and Wise on the evidence of their 1983 shows (if you see what I mean).

The gentrification of music hall in its later years is very interesting - such a precursor of what's happened to pop.

[G-Man]

The oldest unironic hit

I'd like to get hold of the recordings by Alan Lomax, a musical anthropologist who made loads of field recordings of traditional folk songs, especially African-American. Without Lomax, much might have been lost.

[adams house cat]

The oldest unironic hit

They are available G-Man. I have them at home. I'll look them up and post the details.

[G-Man]

The oldest unironic hit

Oh, can you do uploads of MP3 files?