rock and roll

Pop music born of a fusion of rhythm and blues, and country and western, and based on electric guitar and drums. Its sound usually features an energetic driving rhythm and heavy insistent beat. The music is usually in four-beat time (often 4/4) with a strong accent on the second and fourth beats. In the mid-1950s, with the rise to fame of Elvis Presley, it became the heartbeat of teenage rebellion in the West and also had considerable impact on other parts of the world. It found perhaps its purest form in late-1950s rockabilly, the style of white Southerners in the USA. The blanket term ‘rock’ later lost any specific meaning and is often applied to a multitude of styles.

The term rock and roll was made popular by US disc jockey Alan Freed (1922–1965) beginning in 1951 on radio and in stage shows hosted by him.