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I'm sticking my neck out here. I mostly work on classicals. But I listen to a variety of styles--mostly "Americana", or maybe "Jazz, Blues, Country roots music" (with a little Fado, Zydeco, Norteno...even Rock n Roll thrown in--Chuck Berry, yes, Bruce Springsteen, no).

My question is: when did recorded, deliberate, overdrive distortion begin? Clue: I wouldn't be asking this if the google answer had it right. One more clue: I may be clueless. I'm hoping the historians here will educate me.

One of the first recorded use of distortion was by the Beatles on I Feel Fine heres the bit from Wikipedia

"I Feel Fine" is a riff-driven rock song written by John Lennon[3] (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and released in 1964 by The Beatles as the A-side of their eighth British single. The song is notable for the first use of guitar feedback by any major musician.[

Dave

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The Who and Jeff Beck followed soon after....

Of course, way back in the 50's Link Wray used to slice his speaker cones with a razor for a fuzzy sound.
(see if you can find a really early version of "Rumble"..... too nasty, too tasty!)

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

That's a good question, since it shares its answer with the question, "What was the first recorded rock and roll song?" Ike Turner's Rocket 88, Sun Studios, 1951. IIRC, the fuzz is most apparent on the last chord. But that could be all wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_88

EDIT: I think I made the acoustic guitar guy's error of confusing fuzz with distortion...

Actually I think the feedback on 'I feel Fine' is there to sustain and swell the note, and the effect on there is a buzz, either on the fret or on a fingernail...just my opinion though (I'll check later, I have an original 45 rpm!). Charlie Christian certainly achieved a little distortion but it's hard to say if it was deliberate. I would say that 'fuzz' could be considered as a part of the group of sounds that would be described as electronic distortion.

Alan

I think it goes back to harmonica players. I know Little Walter used to do this as far back as the early 50's, and maybe even into the 40's, and I know he did it on purpose. I don't know that he's the first, but you'll have to go back further than this at least I think Walter also played guitar, but I can't say I've ever heard any of his guitar work. It makes me think he probably did this for guitar too, though, and I know the guitar on a lot of his work has some dirt to it.

Here's one that goes back to 1955.

Elmore James is typically credited with being the first guy to turn his amp up all the way for the "effect" it created which would be distortion. though it was not typically that fuzzbox sound that came into vogue in the 60's. His recordings of "Dust my broom" (1951) & "Please find my baby" (1952) are some of the first known recordings of this new sound. I believe Robert Palmer makes mention of this in his book "Deep Blues"

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

I heard that somebody way back when ( maybe Elmore?)
had a tear in the speaker, and they kept recording or playing.

Absolutely the early Blues players. Little Walter on harp, Willie Johnson (Howlin' Wolf) and Elmore on guitar. These guys were overdriving their amps while the Beatles and Stones were in day care.

I've heard the torn speaker story before, I think it was Ike Turner's band.

This is a tricky question in the sense that early amps all distorted at any level,-more pronounced at higher volumes-, but none had high gain. On the other hand all amp manufacturers were attempting to eliminate distortion, so in one sense all early guitarists were utilizing distortion on a low level. So it comes down to intent; if an early player did not like at least mild distortion his only option was to play acoustic, or buy a large amp and turn the guitar down (which meant in most cases you were playing two quietly to be heard, do to low wattage).
If you want to make the question simpler you are forced to follow the technology and ask a different question, such as "At what point in time did amplifier technology allow guitarists to choose a clean sound over a distorted sound, and which artists were the first to choose the distorted sound, especially a higher gain distortion"?
This makes it easier but even so if you were to ask those players what there inspiration was for choosing the distortion many would tell you they were trying to emulate the sound of early blues artists.

Thanks all, for the responses. I've been going back and listening to the cuts that have been mentioned. Lots of great music. Alan, I particularly enjoyed listening again to Charlie Christian. I have his recordings with Goodman, but I hadn't heard this live recording at Minton's:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x52x5hjpD5k There's definitely some distortion there. Not over the top, but a much grittier tone than many of the jazz guitarists that came after him. Yes, intent is hard to prove. Maybe he was just trying to play loud enough to hold his own with the horns. Or maybe he was embracing the sort of raspy tone that the horn players used. I like the idea of the distorted harmonica connection. I think trumpets, and especially saxophones were staking out this ground even earlier. (Maybe trombones got there first?) Here's the cut I keep coming back to. Listen to Big Bill Broonzy's brief intro in 1947: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjrvmzCqGl8 I think he's the first guitarist to turn it to 11. Youtube doesn't have it, but his intro to Plow Hand Blues, from the same session, is much more like the Christian at Minton's tone. So what do you think? Deliberate? And what was Big Bill playing? It looks like a Gibson to me, but someone here can probably be more precise. One more side of "deliberate": live recordings tend to have a raunchier tone. Who knows how much of that is accidental? And who knows how many guitarists were routinely using distortion in their live performances, but had their tone "cleaned up" by the record producers, or recording engineers. I'm pretty sure that situation continued well into the rock era.

There is an article in the August 12 issue of Vintage Guitar about the very first fuzzboxes. A good read for those who found this topic interesting.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

This is a thorny subject - and the debate continues actually... the use of distortion,
as pertains to sound recording and overloading the console via recording levels.
distortion as pertains to gear modification as Link Rays famous punched speakers,
distortion as pertains to amplifier overdriving tubes,
then theres distortion as pertains to circuitry distortion - ala defective recording consoles, or actual electronic distortion units such as boosters and other early forms of circuit based designs that could induce distortion completely another....
It depends how you look at it - there are many purists out there who will argue thier case.. that it only counts if its amp distortion - others pedal purists etc - Personally Im not going to fan the flames even though I have an opinion..
Cheers
Charlie