To describe the Auteur Theory of Rock as a mimicking poor relation to the Politique des Auteurs of the cinema initially clears but ultimately muddies the water which supports this important new mode of rock 'n' roll study.

The role of the director in the Bazin-Godard-Truffaut mode of movie analysis is filled in a comparably all-important manner by the singer. This role, to oversimplify by way of introduction, is to personalize unmistakably the final product. More than creating a recognizable style (for in the main, the human voice is inherently distinctive), the rock auteur utilizes his style to transcend his material. The content of the artist's songs is subjugated, and in fact it sometimes becomes difficult to differentiate within the auteur's oeuvre.

The attacks on the rock theory are the same as those on the Cahiers du Cinema idea--that a fetish is made of personality, that a balanced criticism is sacrified, that competence replaces genius as the ideal. But a look at the following registers clearly shows that the great artists by any standard are the great auteurs; and while many singers who enjoyed contemporary success are dismissed by this evaluation, history will prove that these were the tide-riders, and the auteurs will stand as the forces that supplied the shock that generated the waves.

While acceptance of the auteur theory is currently spreading to many quarters (Ellen Willis gives oblique recognition to it in the April 6 New Yorker), this is the first attempt, to our knowledge, to relate it comprehensively to a significant segment of the rock 'n' roll catalogue.

Limiting the study to white individual artists perhaps increase the resemblance of this paper to Andrew Sarris's rankings of American directors in Film Culture (to continue the cinema parallel). But this is a fertile field, without question, and while the categories of "groups" and Negro performers may be of equivalent stature, the category of white individuals is schematically the logical starting point and should provide more handles for the novitiate to grasp.

The Pantheon (First-Rank Auteurs)

ELVIS PRESLEY

BUDDY HOLLY

EVERLY BROTHERS

BRENDA LEE

RICKY NELSON

ELVIS PRESLEY: It would be hard to devise any theory of criticism in which the number one position would go to anyone but Elvis. His influence on those who followed cannot be underrated: his hip-swinging set the style for performance, and the hard-driving toughness of Hound Dog and Treat Me Nice spawned a whole generation of imitations, from Fabian, Sal Mineo, and Joey Castle to Conrad Birdie. Only the Everly Brothers can match Elvis's dual line of songs--distinct yet composed of the same ingredients--that both define the pinnacle. Don't Be Cruel, Blue Suede Shoes, and Too Much led down to Teddybear, Wear My Ring, and on to Little Sister, Return to Sender, and Devil in Disguise (one of the few masterpieces in the recently-released Elvis' Golden Records--Volume 4). And while some critics have proclaimed the death of this line, the King's current smash, U.S. Male, is meaner, ornier, and harder rocking than all but the most vintage Presley. The other line, less spectacular but qualitatively better, has flowed equally, from I Want You, I Need You, I Love You through Don't Love Me, Fame and Fortune, Any Way You Want Me, to I Can't Help Falling In Love, and his last chart-topper, Crying in the Chapel.

BUDDY HOLLY was perhaps the first canonized auteur, after his tragic death in 1959. The number of Holly admirers has grown so steadily that Coral Records has managed to "discover" six albums-worth of material since the plane crash. Holly's style was the vehicle for the rise of Bobby Vee and Tommy Roe among others, and the early wave of the British sound in 1964, including a Beatles period, can be traced back to the shy Texan. The rolling beat of Peggy Sue and Tell Me How lived, as little else of the '50's did, well into the '60's, and the Holly hiccup that gracenotes the title phrase of Oh Boy and gives "love" second and third syllables is one of rock's top trademarks.

The EVERLY BROTHERS, while not strictly an individual, are not a group either, and their overwhelming auteurisme cries for inclusion here. Their pleasant-blending thirds and Nashville nasality give them perhaps the only sound in rock that can carry with genuineness, distinctiveness and positive effect into the field of Christmas carols. As with Elvis, Don and Phil's records were consistently two-sided, with the uptempo line of Bye, Bye Love, Bird Dog, Claudette, Wake Up Little Susie, Problems and Poor Jenny balancing the ballads: Love Of My Life, Devoted to You, Crying in the Rain, Love Hurts, Don't Aks Me To Be Friends, Maybe Tomorrow

BRENDA LEE, diminutive in stature, stands head and shoulders above everyone else on the distaff side of the rock picture. Since she recorded Jambalaya as a 12-year-old, she has simply overpowered every song that has come her way. Her big voice is best in the slow numbers like I'm Sorry and Losing You, but her delicately-wielded heavy bass is just as characteristic in the rockers--Dum, Dum, Sweet Nothins, That's All You Gotta Do--in which she employs another trademark, her non-piercing screams.