The origin of rock and roll music cannot be traced or attributed to any one artist, album or song. Nor can its birthplace be pinned to any one location. Rock and roll is the fusion of several distinct types of music; an unlikely collaboration of artists and styles that had existed prior to the 1950's. Rock and roll's unique and irresistible sound is a blend of the blues, country, folk and pop. Drawing influence from east and west of the Mississippi river and from both sides of the Mason-Dixon line, rock and roll is an amalgamation of American culture. Like all other revolutions rock and roll was not planned, it simply exploded onto the music scene forever changing it in the process.

The fact that rock and roll was a mixture of music from different regions and cultures meant an inevitable integration of people. Rock and roll transported black culture and emotion out of the confines of black communities and into white homes and vice versa. It represented white America's first love of something black. Never before had our country had such an infatuation with anything remotely connected to black culture. An obvious testament to rock's enduring power. Rock and roll was a stepping stone blacks used to slowly gain acceptance into a culture that had previously been off limits. It let blacks and whites take a peek into each others' lives, dissolving the barriers between the two groups. Although rock music caught on fast, from the start there was vehement opposition from all fronts. Rock and roll threatened to break the backbone of American society, its racial divide.

Rock music drew influence from a variety of sources but the blues are undoubtedly the strongest and of primary importance. There is no need to delve into the technical similarities between the two, even those with ears of stone can easily recognize the link. Blues and rock groups are essentially the same, comprising an electric guitar and a rhythm section. Rock music also has the beat and expressivity that defined the blues.

The blues have been around since the depression, but remained secluded within black communities. Only on a local scope were blues bands popular or significant. With no access to recording studios, theaters or radio stations the blues had a small and limited audience. The blues scene never exploded, it simply started at the Mississippi delta and slowly migrated north to Memphis, Chicago and New York. Each locale's brand of the blues had its own unique sound, the evolution expanding the base from which rock drew influence.

Its popularity spread slowly but surely, eventually enticing white listeners. For most, the sound was revolutionary and the more entrepreneurial knew the white market could be tapped. two independent record companies were key in introducing and promoting the blues to whites. In Memphis a man by the name of Sam Phillips was determined to bring the blues into wider recognition. In 1952 he started the independent label, Sun Records. Initially recording the music he loved-gritty, raw blues, Phillips was lucky to be surrounded by a plethora of talent. BB King, Howlin' Wolf and Roscoe Gordon are among the blues legends initially discovered and promoted by Phillips. Some of Sun Records' success can be attributed to the fact that during recording sessions Phillips did not overproduce or smooth out the music. He let the artists play their own styles, only modifying the sound enough to create a commercial success. "I feel strongly" Phillips once said "that a lot of the blues was a real true story. Unadulterated life as it was." Recording the blues he loved was only part of Phillips' vision, bringing that sound to a white audience was his top priority. He was once quoted as saying "If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and feel, I could make a billion dollars." Not until 1954 did Phillips find just the man to do it.

Sun Records' northern counterpart and stiffest competition was Chess Records who exploited the amplified, electric sound of the Chicago blues. Founded by two Jewish immigrants from Poland, Leonard and Phil Chess were both savvy businessmen and record producers. Like Phillips they extracted their best blues performances by letting the artists' sound go untouched. As owners of a local nightclub, the Chess brothers were frequently exposed to a wide variety of blues musicians whom they often signed to their label. Among the great blues performers to consistently record at Chess studios were Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson. Many other blues legends such as John Lee Hooker and Buddy Guy passed through the studio during their careers.

Radio Stations were as important as independent record labels in extending the blues and later rock and roll's popularity. In the late 1940's and early 1950's a handful of small underground radio stations started playing either live or recorded blues and rock and roll. Although many of the broadcasts were aimed at black listeners, the white community began to tune in, in increasingly larger numbers. These small radio stations were an outlet for independent record labels to air their material while the major labels had a stranglehold on large radio stations. The popularity of the blues and rock eventually caught the attention of some major radio stations. WLAC in Nashville changed their format to solid blues with great popularity and success. The after school radio show on WINS in New York "Alan Freed's Moondog Rock and Roll House Party" introduced teenagers to the sound and popularized the term rock and roll.

Rock and roll was now poised to emerge onto the pop charts. In 1954 a man by the name of Elvis Presley entered Sun Records' studio. While recording a song for his mother entitled "That's All Right Mama" Elvis was recognized by Sam Phillips as the man who would introduce mainstream white America to the sound of the blues.

Elvis had the charisma, voice and good looks and especially the black expressivity needed to accomplish the task. By combining the sound of country music and the blues and giving it a pop edge, Elvis was what people had been waiting to hear. The success of Elvis' early singles and performances placed him at the top of the charts and opened doors for new artists both black and white. In 1955 Sam Phillips sold Elvis' contract to RCA records for a mere $35,000. Although Phillips was criticized for the move, the money enabled him to promote a new wave of white rockers. Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were all products of post-Elvis Sun Records. With Elvis now under a major label, rock and roll had formally been born.

The eventual domination of rock and roll was not evident by the end of the 1950's. A series of events occurred that seriously jeopardized its continuance. Elvis Presley had joined the army, Little Richard gave up music for the church, Jerry Lee Lewis was surrounded by scandal for marrying his thirteen year old cousin, Chuck Berry was arrested and Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, Big Bopper and Ed Cochran died in a plane crash. For the next several years, the airwaves were filled with slick, overproduced bubblegum music. Frankie Avalon and the Everly Brothers took over the top of the charts, rock and roll appeared to have just been a fad.

Popular music from 1956 to 1964 was characterized by the fact that the performer was merely a tool used by the producer to create a hit song. Most performers of the time were simply image and voice, very few of the top 40 singles were not written by producers. Not until the arrival of the Beatles and Bob Dylan on the music scene did rock and roll make its return, with a new creative impulse. As artists and poets, the Beatles and Dylan legitimized rock and roll as an art form. The early sound of the Beatles was equal parts blues and pop. Their melodies were catchy yet powerful, and the songs had enough charisma to propel the Fab Four to the top of the charts and resuscitate rock and roll. As the Beatles success soared, the group ventured into new sonic realms, defying even rock and rolls liberal norms. Through the use of layered, complex music and the addition of orchestral instruments and the sitar, the Beatles expanded rock's horizons. Amazingly, with their amount of experimentation, the Beatles were still able to write popular and catchy songs. Their music became so increasingly complex that they were only able to perform live for two years. Stage performances simply could not capture their intricate sound. Retreating to the studio, the Beatles focused on their albums. The Beatles were the first band to give precedence to the album over the single. Consequently they invented the "concept album" with the seminal Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. No other band exerted as much creative influence or garnered as much commercial success as the Beatles. During their six year career they had twenty number one singles- Elvis only had seventeen.

While the Beatles appealed to exuberant teenagers, Bob Dylan was the voice of the slightly older, introspective and subdued audience. As arguably the greatest poet and lyricist in the history of music, Dylan revived folk music in America. His emergence ushered in a wave of other folk artists. Simon and Garfunkel and Peter, Paul and Mary, two pop/folk groups can credit their success in part to Dylan. He will be remembered as both a great performer and songwriter. Some of the most memorable songs of the sixties are Bob Dylan covers. Jimi Hendrix's electrified version of "All Along the Watchtower" and the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man" are more recognizable as covers then as Dylan originals. Playing both acoustic folk and electric rock and roll, Dylan ranks among the most influential musicians of all time.

The creative expansion brought about by the Beatles and Bob Dylan broke down all the barriers within rock and roll. Their revolutionary sounds and spirit spawned many sub categories of rock such as surf, psychedelic, glam and punk. Although rock music was testing new waters, the biggest bands stuck to their roots. The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and The Who all played white electric blues. "I Cant Get No Satisfaction" "Stairway to Heaven" and "My Generation" are timeless youth anthems. These groups proved that whites had the ability to play authentic albeit distorted blues.

Groups like the Beatles represented the feel good vibe of the 1960's, songs like "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Love Me Do" were teenage love ballads. In 1969 the Woodstock festival promoted peace and love. Rock music reflected a brightness in America despite the Vietnam War and race riots. The antithesis to this optimism emerged in the early 1970's with bands like The Velvet Underground. Lou Reed, lead singer and creative vein of the Velvet Underground was a direct challenge to that feeling. He sensed that like himself, people were frustrated and dissatisfied with life. Reeds music was the disturbing voice of societies' outcasts; the heroin addicts, prostitutes and cross dressers he was surrounded by in New York. His songs dealt with drug use ("Heroin","Waiting For the Man","White Light/White Heat") sadomasochism ("Venus In Furs") and religious abandonment ("The Black Angel's Death Song"). And Reed's classic solo "Walk on The Wild Side" is a harrowing showcase of urban refugees. The nature of the Velvet Underground's music made it a commercial failure. None of their albums cracked the top 100. They told their life as it was, never smoothing the edges for popularity. Their muscical style was as unconventional as their lyrics. They explored areas of electronic feedback and distortion like no one had before. Only now do critics realize the band's importance to rock and roll. Now considered the first alternative band ever, the Velvet underground were as unconventional with their music as with their lyrics. Brian Eno is quoted as saying "Only a handful of people purchased the Velvet Underground's first album, but everyone who did went on to form their own band."

If America feels anything about rock and roll it is not impartiality. Although it was an incredibly successful phenomenon, it has received as much scorn and contempt as adulation. Nostalgically we remember rock and roll as a battle between parents and teenagers, the rebellious post war baby boomers versus their strict depression and war era parents. With the prosperity following World War II, teenagers had much more free time and spending money than ever before. This meant that the teenage market had a demand for entertainment and enough money to buy records.

Rock and Roll was originally black slang for sexual intercourse and the music's beat had an undeniable sexual feel to it. This, coupled with teenager's propensity to dance made it licentious in the eyes of parents. Numerous attempts by PTA's, churches and schools to ban rock and roll ultimately failed. Record smash-a-thons and such only incited more passion within teenagers. For most, rock and roll was a forbidden pleasure.

Rock music encountered the same venom and hostility from the south. In Alabama, the governor on behalf of the White Citizen's Council denounced it as "animalistic nigger bop". Seeing that rock music was a step towards integration, it is not surprising it was attacked so harshly from those with racial prejudice.

Although rock music is still criticized today in much the same way it was in the 1950's, very little evidence has been found justifying its evil. The moral majority still use the same arguments and tactics to try and purge certain forms of music from our society. The battle against rock and roll is an attempt to silence the voice of a section of society that has the right to be heard. Whether or not the purge is successful, the music will still beat on in our souls. Music is the voice of America, not the political or historical one we learn in text books, but the voice of the blue collar worker, the junky and the inner city teenager.

Rock and roll has been a key player in bringing these separate worlds together. Although it has not completely dissolved racial intolerance, it has significantly blurred the lines separating us. Music, especially rock and roll is an open forum for all people to shout out their individual and varied viewpoints. It is a showcase of American life and a true reflection of our society.