I was looking at this on the net yesterday, found a couple of interesting ones - one of the first ever true recorded 'distortion' guitar sound was 'Rocket 88' by Jackie Brenston (with Ike Turner), guitarist was Willie Kizar, apparantly dropped the amp off the roof of a car and liked the fuzzy sound!

check it out, great rock n roll tune aswell

another is 'Rumble' by Link Wray (1958 I think), apparantly he got the sound by poking holes in his speaker tube or slashing it with a razor blade (not sure which)... This song was also on Pulp Fiction I think... good song, nice warm distortion sound hehe

But yeah, there must be more who were the first guitarists/bands to play with actual distortion? (ie- one amp head through another or an actualy distortion pedal) and what songs did they record with distortion guitars?

I only know what is said to be the first on-purpose-use of guitar feedback - "I feel fine" by The Beatles.