Rock and Roll? Where Did It Come From?

R&R was slang in the 50's for s$x, or so my mother told me a few years ago when we were discussing music. R&R blossomed from jazz, which had its roots in African and Gospel music. You could say that nearly all music except classical here in the U.S. owes its birth to the music that the slaves from Africa played over the years on the plantations and later as freedmen. Before that there were only folk songs and imports from Europe. That's just a brief history as I know it, there's actually a lot of fascinating history behind all of the music we hear now.

COuld have been WOlfman JAck he said it alot on his radio show. ANd I remember something about down south they tried to get some one to stop paying the music they called the devils music the DJ locked his self in the booth and played it for hours and would holler lets rock and roll till the y gotthe door busted down and took him to jail

To begin with Alan Freed first used the phrase. He was a Cleveland disc jockey. Started in the fifties. Here is the link I found: http://www.history-of-rock.com/

I have no idea where the term "rock n roll" came from. I guess it's weird to think about how it relates to the type of music... Maybe because it's rockin'. . Who knows. But I'm glad it exists, that's for sure! It's my favorite kind of music!

Disc jockey Alan Freed supposedly started the widespread usage of the phrase "Rock and Roll", however he certainly didn't invent it! No one person really started it, and in fact, few people would agree on what constitutes Rock and Roll. Back in the 40's/50's, there were different kinds of rock music, just as there are now. Is it universal? Probably!

Rock and roll is kind of weird music the most use by the young age people.It is like when they sing,with weird scary bad sounds,when they sing it..It is very weird,and most of that is influence to others, i think that is made by those rocky people.

Rock and roll is the standad term for a kind of music. In the 1950's, a group called Bill Haley and the Commets had a hi with a song called Rock Around The Clock, which was the first rock and roll hit, and gave birth to the entire genre. If you look up rock And Roll on sites like Wikipedia, you will read the rest of the story.

I am wondering if the term was coined when Elvis hit the music scene. I was originally going to say The Beatles or The Rolling Stones but then I remembered that Elvis was considered the King of Rock and Roll. Anyone have any other opinions?