History of Rock 'n Roll

Rock and Roll (also known as Rock 'n' Roll), is a genre of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and became popular in the early 1950s, and quickly spread to the rest of the world. It later spawned the various sub-genres of what is now called simply 'rock', usually accompanied by lyrics. The beat is essentially a boogie woogie blues rhythm with an accentuated backbeat, the latter almost always provided by a snare drum. Classic rock and roll is played with one electric guitar or two electric guitars (one lead, one rhythm), an electric bass guitar, and a drum kit. Keyboards are a common addition to the mix. In the rock and roll style of the early 1950s, the saxophone was often the lead instrument, replaced by guitar in the mid 1950s. In the earliest form of rock and roll, during the late 1940s, the piano was the lead instrument, and indeed, among the roots of rock and roll is the boogie woogie piano of the big-band era that dominated American music in the 1940s.
The massive popularity and eventual worldwide scope of rock and roll gave it an unprecedented social impact. Far beyond simply a musical style, rock and roll influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language. Many of its early stars, notably Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and Bill Haley of the group Bill Haley & His Comets , built movie and/or television careers around their music.
The term "rock and roll", which was black slang for dancing or sex, appeared on record for the first time in 1922 on Trixie Smith's "My Baby Rocks Me With One Steady Roll". Even earlier, in 1916, the term "rocking and rolling" was used with a religious connotation, in the phonograph record "The Camp Meeting Jubilee" by "Male Quartette."[1] The word "rock" had a long history in the English language as a metaphor for "to shake up, to disturb or to incite". The verb "Roll" was a medieval metaphor which meant "having sex". Writers for hundreds of years have used the phrases "They had a roll in the hay" or "I rolled her in the clover". In 1934 the Boswell Sisters were referring to the rock and roll of waves in their song "Rock and Roll" Country singer Tommy Scott was referring to the motion of a railroad train in the 1951 "Rockin and Rollin".(Wilkipedia) Link