The term “rock and roll” is defined by Greg Kot in Encyclopædia Britannica as the music that originated in the mid-1950s and later developed “into the more encompassing international style known as rock music“.[7] The term is sometimes also used as synonymous with “rock music” and is defined as such in some dictionaries.[12][13]
The phrase “rocking and rolling” originally described the movement of a ship on the ocean,[14] but by the early 20th century was used both to describe the spiritual fervor of black church rituals[15] and as a sexual analogy. A retired Welsh seaman named William Fender can be heard singing the phrase “rock and roll” when describing a sexual encounter in his performance of the traditional song “The Baffled Knight” to the folklorist James Madison Carpenter in the early 1930s, which he would have learned at sea in the 1800s; the recording can be heard on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website.[16]
Various gospel, blues and swing recordings used the phrase before it became widely popular; it was used in 1940s recordings and reviews of what became known as “rhythm and blues” music aimed at a black audience.[15]
In 1934, the song “Rock and Roll” by the Boswell Sisters appeared in the film Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round. In 1942, before the concept of rock and roll had been defined, Billboard magazine columnist Maurie Orodenker started to use the term to describe upbeat recordings such as “Rock Me” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe; her style on that recording was described as “rock-and-roll spiritual singing”.[17][18] By 1943, the “Rock and Roll Inn” in South Merchantville, New Jersey, was established as a music venue.[19] In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio, disc jockey Alan Freed began playing this music style, and referring to it as “rock and roll”[20] on his mainstream radio program, which popularized the phrase.[21]
Several sources suggest that Freed found the term, used as a synonym for sexual intercourse, on the record “Sixty Minute Man” by Billy Ward and his Dominoes.[22][23] The lyrics include the line, “I rock ’em, roll ’em all night long”.[24] Freed did not acknowledge the suggestion about that source in interviews, and explained the term as follows: “Rock ’n roll is really swing with a modern name. It began on the levees and plantations, took in folk songs, and features blues and rhythm”.[25]
In discussing Alan Freed’s contribution to the genre, two significant sources emphasized the importance of African-American rhythm and blues. Greg Harris, then the Executive Director of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, offered this comment to CNN: “Freed’s role in breaking down racial barriers in U.S. pop culture in the 1950s, by leading white and black kids to listen to the same music, put the radio personality ‘at the vanguard’ and made him ‘a really important figure'”.[26] After Freed was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the organization’s Web site offered this comment: “He became internationally known for promoting African-American rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll”.[27]
Not often acknowledged in the history of rock and roll, Todd Storz, the owner of radio station KOWH in Omaha, Nebraska, was the first to adopt the Top 40 format (in 1953), playing only the most popular records in rotation. His station, and the numerous others which adopted the concept, helped to promote the genre: by the mid 50s, the playlist included artists such as “Presley, Lewis, Haley, Berry and Domino”.[28][29]