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"Rock N' Roll"

R

radiolover78

Star Participant
Is this term/phrase still used at some radio stations or in general? I only know of one station that uses the term and it is 101.5 WPDH in Poughkeepsie, NY. Their slogan is "The Home of Rock N' Roll". How many other stations use the wording "rock n' roll"?

Also, it seems like "rock n' roll" was replaced with "classic rock" or plain "rock". What's your take?<P ID="signature">______________
Kevin

</P>
 
> Is this term/phrase still used at some radio stations or in
> general? I only know of one station that uses the term and
> it is 101.5 WPDH in Poughkeepsie, NY. Their slogan is "The
> Home of Rock N' Roll". How many other stations use the
> wording "rock n' roll"?
>
> Also, it seems like "rock n' roll" was replaced with
> "classic rock" or plain "rock". What's your take?
>
101 FM WRIF in Detroit..."The home of Rock N Roll" BABY!!!!
 
Just plain "Rock" has been the shortcut term, both to describe the music, and radio station formats - since the mid 1960s. This is nothing new. It's probably because it's shorter and quicker to say in an age when people talk in acronyms. Everybody knows what "R&B" means - it's rare that you hear anybody say "Rhythm and Blues."
 
radiolover78 said:
Is this term/phrase still used at some radio stations or in general? I only know of one station that uses the term and it is 101.5 WPDH in Poughkeepsie, NY. Their slogan is "The Home of Rock N' Roll". How many other stations use the wording "rock n' roll"?

Also, it seems like "rock n' roll" was replaced with "classic rock" or plain "rock". What's your take?<P ID="signature">______________
Kevin

</P>
Click to expand...

If the kids on American Bandstand in 1957 couldn't dance to it, then it ain't rock & roll.
 
Among musicians, "Rock & Roll" (or Rock 'n' Roll or sometimes Rock and Roll) is a very specific genre of music that became popular in the 1950's, though some musicologists credit Ike Turner's Rocket 88 as being the first Rock & Roll song.

As time passed, and musical innovators and pioneers expanded the boundaries of Rock & Roll, the word "Rock" began to be applied to all the various sub-genres, while the original term "Rock & Roll" was reserved for music that was consistent with the earliest forms of the genre. However, since there is no official regulatory agency or academic consensus for officially codifying musical terms in pop music like there is in classical music, there is a high degree of flexibility and leeway in the use of all terms that describe genres of rock music.

Of course, the suits running radio also have their own jargon and terms, which are often quite different from the terms that musicians use when discussing music.
 
Avid Listener said:
Among musicians, "Rock & Roll" (or Rock 'n' Roll or sometimes Rock and Roll) is a very specific genre of music that became popular in the 1950's, though some musicologists credit Ike Turner's Rocket 88 as being the first Rock & Roll song.
Click to expand...

If I had ever heard that as a 50's teen (and I don't remember ever hearing it then) we would have said it was "Be Bop" and not "Rock n Roll". I think Alan Freed is credited with using the RnR term the first time but it actually was a common term from the 20's to describe the sex act (in Black jargon). Those of us growing up out West did not listen to Freed and I doubt many of us even knew who he was back then so the term didn't come into common usage in the Western states until the 60's (although some Pop and Country music was called "Rockabilly" in the late 50's).
 
landtuna said:
(although some Pop and Country music was called "Rockabilly" in the late 50's).
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Among musicians, "Rockabilly" is a separate genre from Rock & Roll, though they are closely related. Early Rock & Roll was always very close to both Country & Western and Rhythm & Blues, with elements of both. When the mix between C&W and R&B leans more heavily towards upbeat C&W dance music, you get "Rockabilly". It's best described as Rock & Roll with a hillbilly/honky-tonk attitude and swagger. The differences are very subtle. As I said earlier, there is a high degree of flexibility and leeway in the use of all terms that describe genres of rock music. Today, Rockabilly is a popular niche genre with quite a few live acts doing well specializing in that genre. It's much bigger in Europe. Check out the music of Irish Rockabilly singer Imelda May for an example.
 
I was trying to remember old radio station slogans to illustrate my point - that just "rock" is nothing new. My memory ain't what it used to be, so I could only remember one - from the early 70s album rock era, KLOS in Los Angeles used the slogan "Rock N'Sterero." , a clever slogan that you could take to mean either 'Rock in Stereo' (then new), or 'Rock and Stereo.' Either way, it's a lot more catchy than "Rock N'Roll N'Stereo." The shortest slogans are generally the most memorable ones.
 
landtuna said:


If I had ever heard that as a 50's teen (and I don't remember ever hearing it then) we would have said it was "Be Bop" and not "Rock n Roll". I think Alan Freed is credited with using the RnR term the first time but it actually was a common term from the 20's to describe the sex act (in Black jargon). Those of us growing up out West did not listen to Freed and I doubt many of us even knew who he was back then so the term didn't come into common usage in the Western states until the 60's (although some Pop and Country music was called "Rockabilly" in the late 50's).
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I actually don't remember hearing the term "rockabilly" used in the 1950s to described a type of music. Guy Mitchell had a Top 10 hit in 1956 with a song called "Rock-A-Billy", but it was a pop song. The Johnny Burnette Trio did "Rock Billy Boogie" in 1956, but it wasn't a hit so nobody heard it. I do remember revival artists like Robert Gordon, Dave Edmunds, and the Stray Cats in the '70s and early '80s using the term "rockabilly".
 
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TheFonz said:
I actually don't remember hearing the term "rockabilly" used in the 1950s to described a type of music. Guy Mitchell had a Top 10 hit in 1956 with a song called "Rock-A-Billy", but it was a pop song. The Johnny Burnette Trio did "Rock Billy Boogie" in 1956, but it wasn't a hit so nobody heard it. I do remember revival artists like Robert Gordon, Dave Edmunds, and the Stray Cats in the '70s and early '80s using the term "rockabilly".
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"Rockabilly" was an insider term in the 1950's. I learned it from older guys in the 60's. It wasn't a term commonly used on the radio or in other media. Fans might not have been familiar with the term, but musicians involved in the genre used it. An anecdote I remember from my guitar teacher was that he always knew if he was going to play on a rockabilly recording session because they'd tell him to bring his Telecaster and leave his Gibson at home.
 
TheFonz said:
I actually don't remember hearing the term "rockabilly" used in the 1950s to described a type of music.
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The music of Buddy Holly was described as "rockabilly" - a cross between rock and hillbilly music (similar to Bluegrass).
 
The "roll" was already rolling away from "rock" even in Fonz's day...Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock," Elvis's song and movie "Jailhouse Rock," Chuck Berry's "Reelin' and Rockin'," and movies like "Rock, Pretty Baby," "Don't Knock The Rock," and "Rock, Rock, Rock!"

Any stations playing roll music?
 
JeffM said:
The "roll" was already rolling away from "rock" even in Fonz's day...Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock," Elvis's song and movie "Jailhouse Rock," Chuck Berry's "Reelin' and Rockin'," and movies like "Rock, Pretty Baby," "Don't Knock The Rock," and "Rock, Rock, Rock!"

Any stations playing roll music?
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Well then, how do we explain the Stones' "It's Only Rock & Roll"? Or ELO's "Rock & Roll Is King"?
 
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landtuna said:


The music of Buddy Holly was described as "rockabilly" - a cross between rock and hillbilly music (similar to Bluegrass).
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Yes, but not in the mainstream in the 1950s. We never heard a DJ say "here's a rockabilly song by Buddy Holly" or "here's a doo wop song by the Del Vikings". It was all rock & roll back then.
 
TheFonz said:
Yes, but not in the mainstream in the 1950s. We never heard a DJ say "here's a rockabilly song by Buddy Holly" or "here's a doo wop song by the Del Vikings". It was all rock & roll back then.
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In my part of the country the mid-50's "rock n roll" was called "be bop" and gradually the rock label caught on but not before Rick Nelson sang "Be Bop Baby".

You are correct though in that I never heard a song intro as "doo wop" or "rockabilly" unless the DJ was describing the performers.
 
landtuna said:




You are correct though in that I never heard a song intro as "doo wop" or "rockabilly" unless the DJ was describing the performers.
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Interesting. In your town in the 1950s you actually heard a DJ call Buddy Holly a rockabilly performer?
 
TheFonz said:
Interesting. In your town in the 1950s you actually heard a DJ call Buddy Holly a rockabilly performer?
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My view is that Rock & Roll is like Country & Western. The second half of the category was dropped as the genre changed. Today, what was C&W is simply referred to as country music.
 
TheFonz said:
Interesting. In your town in the 1950s you actually heard a DJ call Buddy Holly a rockabilly performer?
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I heard a DJ describe his music as rockabilly. I remember it well because I had never heard the term before.
 
TheFonz said:
Yes, but not in the mainstream in the 1950s. We never heard a DJ say "here's a rockabilly song by Buddy Holly" or "here's a doo wop song by the Del Vikings". It was all rock & roll back then.
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In musical taxonomy, "Rock & Roll" was a high level classification. Below it were subdivisions, sub-subdivisions, etc. Rockabilly is not an alternative to Rock & Roll, Rockabilly is a subset of Rock & Roll. All Rockabilly is Rock & Roll, but not all Rock & Roll is Rockabilly.

landtuna said:
I heard a DJ describe his music as rockabilly. I remember it well because I had never heard the term before.
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In those days, DJs were allowed to do more than read liner cards. However, if a DJ described Buddy Holly's entire catalog of work as Rockabilly, he was wrong. Peggy Sue was Rockabilly. That'll Be the Day was probably not, though experts might disagree with each other. Words of Love definitely was not Rockabilly.

And my usual disclaimer for this thread. There is no official sanctioning authority to proclaim with authority what terms in rock music mean. There is, at most, something of a general consensus. Musicians have their jargon. Radio people their jargon. Both sets of jargon are different in many ways.
 
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