Get your speakers ready, because this will be much easier and more enjoyable if you listen to the music in the links.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.etymonline.com/columns/post/book-nerd-rock-and-roll
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I can’t believe you skipped gospel and Sister Rosetta Tharpe as the godmother of Rock and Roll. Just listen to her rip that Gibson.
What went into the word, not the thing.
Check out Wynonie “Mr. Blues” Harris and his recording of “Good Rockin’ Tonite” from 1947. Rock and Roll was a term applied to music appealing to teenagers (primarily White) that was African American in origin. Application of the term to music was initiated by influential Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed. He was interviewing Billy Ward of Billy Ward and The Dominoes in 1951 when the refrain from their newest hit song “60 Minute Man” came on: “I’m Rockin’ I’m Rollin’ All Night Long, I’m Your Sixty Minute Man.” Freed then remarked that is what we will call this music, Rock and Roll.