The affect of Little Richard on audiences exterior the US was like a delayed response. After spending all of 1956 making his identify on the American charts, it was on December 14 that yr that his identify lastly made its first, and initially fleeting, look on the British singles charts, with “Rip It Up.”
By July of 1956, the tune was already turning into his third American hit of the yr, occurring to succeed in No.17, whereas its flipside, “Ready Teddy,” charted in its personal proper, hitting No.44. Richard had beforehand made No.17 along with his first home success, “Tutti Frutti,” following it with one other of his timeless staples, the No.6 hit “Long Tall Sally.” That had a well-liked flipside too, with “Slippin’ and Slidin’ (Peepin’ and Hidin’)” going to No.33.
Then the “Georgia Peach,” born Richard Penniman, lastly entered the British chart at No.30, and it regarded as if one of many large new American rock’n’roll sensations of the yr was on his approach to transatlantic acclaim. However not but. Per week later, the tune was nowhere to be seen.
However, “Rip It Up” stands tall amongst Richard’s towering assortment of rocking originals, one other testosterone-fuelled anthem of youth through which he celebrates the weekend by choosing up his lady in his “88,” an Oldsmobile Rocket 88. Lee Allen (tenor) and Alvin Tyler (baritone) performed the important, pressing saxophones, Ernest McLean guitar, and Frank Fields bass, with Earl Palmer offering the backbeat.
Not ripping it up for lengthy
A number of of the weekly music papers in Britain on the time produced their very own charts, all of them created utilizing lower than exhaustive or foolproof methodology by at this time’s requirements. The one that’s utilized in official chart historical past, from the primary UK singles chart in 1952 till 1960, was that of the New Musical Categorical, which was produced through a phone ballot of outlets. This had been prolonged from a Prime 20 to a Prime 30 earlier in 1956, and “Rip It Up” was on the NME survey for December 14 within the anchor place. However it didn’t seem on the itemizing once more.
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In 1957, London Information caught up on Richard’s earlier US hits within the UK, with “Long Tall Sally” charting in February, ten months after its American debut, peaking at No.3. Then got here the belated look, and solely at No.29, of “Tutti Frutti,” 13 months late. Much more oddly, he then had a No.15 UK hit with a tune that didn’t make the US charts in any respect, “She’s Got It.”
After that, finally, there have been consecutive Prime 10 UK hits with “The Girl Can’t Help It” and “Lucille.” However with “Rip It Up,” Little Richard took his first, unsure steps in direction of constructing his British viewers. In 2020, the tune underlined its longevity by being chosen, in a brand new model by Butcher Brown, as ESPN’s Monday Evening Soccer theme.
Purchase or stream “Rip It Up” on the expanded Right here’s Little Richard: 60th Anniversary Version.
