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~~Lord Larehip~~ · 09-01-2014, 11:16 AM

So this was the state of American music by the time the 50s arrived. A new generation of kids who were denied big band music due to the AFM strike and grew up on minority or specialty music were coming of age. There was a problem, though--racism. Racism was institutionalized in American society. Many white parents were absolutely opposed to their lily white children listening to n-igger blues. They forbid their children to buy such records.

This presented a big problem for record store owners eager to sell kids records because this was the majority of the record-buying market--teenies and tweenies. The kids didn't know big band from classical and didn't give a fig for Sinatra. They loaded up their record bins with jump blues but many kids were afraid to buy them because of their parents. This was the fifties when kids still didn't question or reject their parents' values.

A Cleveland record store owner named Leo Mintz decided to try another tack. Mintz hoped a radio program of such music aimed at young white listeners would increase sales of these records and he was perfectly happy to sell them. Mintz wanted a local DJ on station WJW named Alan Freed to host the show and Freed jumped at the opportunity to make his mark on modern music.

The station was all for the idea. The question was how to market the records. Terms as "jump," "R&B" or "blues" were out. White parents were hip to them and knew them as euphemisms for "jigaboo music." So Freed decided to call it "rock and roll." Then Freed set about popularizing the term in 1951 when he started his Moondog Rock ‘n’ Roll Party radio program on WJW-Cleveland.

According to one source, Freed took the phrase “rock ‘n’ roll” from a 1922 song by Trixie Smith while another source says it came from the lyrics of Billy Ward & the Dominoes’ 1951 release, the blatantly sexual "Sixty Minute Man," which contains the line, “I rock’em, roll ‘em all night long.”

My Man Rocks Me Trixie Smith - YouTube
“My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll” by Trixie Smith, original 1922 version. Smith re-cut the number in 1938 with the great Sidney Bechet on clarinet. Many bands have recorded covers.

Dominoes - Sixty Minute Man - The First Rock and Roll Record?!?! - YouTube
“Sixty Minute Man” by Billy Ward & the Dominoes from 1951. The sexual innuendo is even more pronounced than in Trixie Smith’s number. The soprano vocal on this recording is Clyde McPhatter.

The program’s theme music was an R&B instrumental called “Blues for the Red Boy” by Detroit’s own Todd Rhodes (formerly pianist for McKinney's Cotton Pickers--one of the world's earliest big bands in the 20s).

Todd Rhodes - Blues For The Red Boy - YouTube
“Blues for the Red Boy” by Todd Rhodes & His Toddlers, 1949. I have recordings of some of Freed’s old broadcast and this song is clearly heard as the theme music that kicked off each program. It became so popular as a result that rock ‘n’ roll fans voted it one of the most influential songs of the 50s even though it was actually released in 1949.

But how old is the term "rock and roll"?

The earliest known use of “rock and roll” in a song was in 1916 by a male religious quartet apparently called Little Wonder that used the phrase “rockin’ and rollin’” on their recording “The Camp Meeting Jubilee.” A state of religious rapture among Southern black Christians, Pentecostal in nature, involved energetic dancing, heavy swaying and even lying on the floor rolling from side to side and hence rocking and rolling in direct relationship with god—what they call “baptized in the Holy Spirit.” But the term “rocking and rolling” was also a secular metaphor for sex or dancing in a sensual manner. Each word was also used by itself but the custom of using both together must have been early as evidenced in the 1922 Trixie Smith recording, “My Man Rocks Me with One Steady Roll.” In the 1934 movie Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round the Boswell Sisters perform a song called “Rock and Roll” referring to the motion of a ship on the ocean. Harlem drummer Chick Webb and Ella Fitzgerald released a 1937 recording called “Rock It for Me.” In 1939, Buddy Jones released “Rockin’ Rollin’ Mama” and Big Joe Turner & Pete Johnson recorded “Roll ‘Em Pete.”

THE CAMP MEETING JUBILEE - 1916 - LITLE WONDER #339 - YouTube
“Camp Meeting Jubilee” by “Male Quartette” from Little Wonder Records, 1916.

Rock and Roll - the Boswell Sisters - YouTube
“Rock and Roll” by the Boswell Sisters, 1934.

Scatman Crothers- I Want To Rock and Roll - YouTube
“I Want to Rock and Roll” by Scatman Crothers, 1949.

In 1950, actress Betty Grable was billed as “The First Lady of Rock and Roll” the year before Alan Freed started using the term on the air. Also in 1950, John Lee Hooker’s “Roll and Roll” was released and a year later Tommy Scott released “Rockin’ and Rollin’” as a rail-riding hobo song. In 1951, there was Tiny Bradshaw’s recording “Train Kept A-Rollin,’” the original version. And Gunter Lee Carr released a novelty song called “We’re Gonna Rock.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci4EQDD4CqA
The one and only Tiny Bradshaw from 1951.

Tommy Scott - Rockin' And Rollin' - YouTube
“Rockin’ and Rollin’” by Tommy Scott, 1951.

09-01-2014, 11:16 AM	#11 (permalink)
~~Lord Larehip~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 899	So this was the state of American music by the time the 50s arrived. A new generation of kids who were denied big band music due to the AFM strike and grew up on minority or specialty music were coming of age. There was a problem, though--racism. Racism was institutionalized in American society. Many white parents were absolutely opposed to their lily white children listening to n-igger blues. They forbid their children to buy such records. This presented a big problem for record store owners eager to sell kids records because this was the majority of the record-buying market--teenies and tweenies. The kids didn't know big band from classical and didn't give a fig for Sinatra. They loaded up their record bins with jump blues but many kids were afraid to buy them because of their parents. This was the fifties when kids still didn't question or reject their parents' values. A Cleveland record store owner named Leo Mintz decided to try another tack. Mintz hoped a radio program of such music aimed at young white listeners would increase sales of these records and he was perfectly happy to sell them. Mintz wanted a local DJ on station WJW named Alan Freed to host the show and Freed jumped at the opportunity to make his mark on modern music. The station was all for the idea. The question was how to market the records. Terms as "jump," "R&B" or "blues" were out. White parents were hip to them and knew them as euphemisms for "jigaboo music." So Freed decided to call it "rock and roll." Then Freed set about popularizing the term in 1951 when he started his Moondog Rock ‘n’ Roll Party radio program on WJW-Cleveland. According to one source, Freed took the phrase “rock ‘n’ roll” from a 1922 song by Trixie Smith while another source says it came from the lyrics of Billy Ward & the Dominoes’ 1951 release, the blatantly sexual "Sixty Minute Man," which contains the line, “I rock’em, roll ‘em all night long.” My Man Rocks Me Trixie Smith - YouTube “My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll” by Trixie Smith, original 1922 version. Smith re-cut the number in 1938 with the great Sidney Bechet on clarinet. Many bands have recorded covers. Dominoes - Sixty Minute Man - The First Rock and Roll Record?!?! - YouTube “Sixty Minute Man” by Billy Ward & the Dominoes from 1951. The sexual innuendo is even more pronounced than in Trixie Smith’s number. The soprano vocal on this recording is Clyde McPhatter. The program’s theme music was an R&B instrumental called “Blues for the Red Boy” by Detroit’s own Todd Rhodes (formerly pianist for McKinney's Cotton Pickers--one of the world's earliest big bands in the 20s). Todd Rhodes - Blues For The Red Boy - YouTube “Blues for the Red Boy” by Todd Rhodes & His Toddlers, 1949. I have recordings of some of Freed’s old broadcast and this song is clearly heard as the theme music that kicked off each program. It became so popular as a result that rock ‘n’ roll fans voted it one of the most influential songs of the 50s even though it was actually released in 1949. But how old is the term "rock and roll"? The earliest known use of “rock and roll” in a song was in 1916 by a male religious quartet apparently called Little Wonder that used the phrase “rockin’ and rollin’” on their recording “The Camp Meeting Jubilee.” A state of religious rapture among Southern black Christians, Pentecostal in nature, involved energetic dancing, heavy swaying and even lying on the floor rolling from side to side and hence rocking and rolling in direct relationship with god—what they call “baptized in the Holy Spirit.” But the term “rocking and rolling” was also a secular metaphor for sex or dancing in a sensual manner. Each word was also used by itself but the custom of using both together must have been early as evidenced in the 1922 Trixie Smith recording, “My Man Rocks Me with One Steady Roll.” In the 1934 movie Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round the Boswell Sisters perform a song called “Rock and Roll” referring to the motion of a ship on the ocean. Harlem drummer Chick Webb and Ella Fitzgerald released a 1937 recording called “Rock It for Me.” In 1939, Buddy Jones released “Rockin’ Rollin’ Mama” and Big Joe Turner & Pete Johnson recorded “Roll ‘Em Pete.” THE CAMP MEETING JUBILEE - 1916 - LITLE WONDER #339 - YouTube “Camp Meeting Jubilee” by “Male Quartette” from Little Wonder Records, 1916. Rock and Roll - the Boswell Sisters - YouTube “Rock and Roll” by the Boswell Sisters, 1934. Scatman Crothers- I Want To Rock and Roll - YouTube “I Want to Rock and Roll” by Scatman Crothers, 1949. In 1950, actress Betty Grable was billed as “The First Lady of Rock and Roll” the year before Alan Freed started using the term on the air. Also in 1950, John Lee Hooker’s “Roll and Roll” was released and a year later Tommy Scott released “Rockin’ and Rollin’” as a rail-riding hobo song. In 1951, there was Tiny Bradshaw’s recording “Train Kept A-Rollin,’” the original version. And Gunter Lee Carr released a novelty song called “We’re Gonna Rock.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci4EQDD4CqA The one and only Tiny Bradshaw from 1951. Tommy Scott - Rockin' And Rollin' - YouTube “Rockin’ and Rollin’” by Tommy Scott, 1951. Last edited by Lord Larehip; 09-01-2014 at 12:20 PM.