Rock 'n' roll is now one of the most popular American genre of music. But hardly any of us know were it got its name or when it all started. It's name dates back to the movie TRANSATLANTIC MERRY-GO-ROUND, 1934, that featured the song "Rock and Roll" by Richard A. Whiting with lyrics by Sidney Clare. Although the rhythmic and harmonic characteristics of the song were hardly anything like the type of rock'n'roll that developed some two decades later, the name stuck. Stylistically, rock'n'roll is a mixture of swing music and rhythm and blues.

Rock 'n' roll got its popularity from small radio stations that promoted commercially this type of music with disc jockeys. One of the men most generally credited for helping popularize rock is Alan Freed, a disc jockey from Cleveland. Rock 'n' roll hit its peek in the 1950s with the introduction of Elvis Presley, the king of rock'n'roll. Since then this type of music has had its ups and downs with the British invasion (The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, etc...) and the scandals (drugs, alcohol, and underage women) but it will always have a place in the hearts of Americans