Rock and roll

Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s[1][2] from musical styles such as gospel, jump blues, jazz, boogie woogie, rhythm and blues,[3] and country music.[4] While elements of what was to become rock and roll can be heard in blues records from the 1920s[5] and in country records of the 1930s,[4] the genre did not acquire its name until 1954.[6][7]

According to journalist Greg Kot, "rock and roll" refers to a style of popular music originating in the U.S. in the 1950s prior to its development by the mid-1960s into "the more encompassing international style known as rock music, though the latter also continued to be known as rock and roll."[8] For the purpose of differentiation, this article deals with the first definition.