From onepocket.org Rules:
2.2 The opening break begins with ball in hand behind the head string. On the break, the cue ball may contact either a cushion or any ball in the rack first, but in either case, after contacting at least one ball, an object ball must be pocketed, or the cue ball or at least one object ball must contact a rail, otherwise it is a one foul penalty. As long as a legal stroke is employed from behind the head string on the break, the incoming player must play the balls where they lie – there are no re-racks for a pocket scratch or failure to contact a cushion or pocket a ball on the break.
Rules state it's a foul. The old timers rule that the game doesn't start until a legal ball is struck on the break (1 ball in 9-ball, etc) does not exist anymore. Doesn't mean you can't play like that, it's just not what's written in any rule book anymore. Heck, I've played in places that wouldn't allow the cueball to hit a rail first and they stated that the cueball must hit a rail afterwards. It's not in a rule book but it was the house rule so you played that way.
Dave