The term Rock n Roll was first used by Alan Freed in his radio show (which used to air on WJW) in 1951. The origins of rock and roll are traced back to the sounds of gospels, rhythm and blues and many other African American music styles, along with influence from country music
Over the passage of time through 1940’s to 21st century the rock and roll music has transformed tremendously. And soon it started to merge into a more international, heterogeneous and eclectic variant known as ‘Rock’. Every successive decade in late 20th century has seen new waves in the rock music, which can now subsequently be classified into different subgenres of rock music for example progressive rock, psychedelic rock, experimental rock etc. But this classification is not only limited to time, but on the area where the music was being produced, like southern rock originated in the southern states of US, while ‘Latin” rock has its roots in Latin culture and sounds.
Along with the change in general music taste the instruments used to play that music also changed. In the early rock ‘n’ roll music, keyboard or saxophone were considered the ‘lead’ instruments, while ‘double bass’ or ‘string bass’ was used for bass. But by mid 1950’s electric guitar replaced saxophone while double bass was replaced by bass guitar.
In the late 1950’s a lot of small groups called Beat bands started showing up in the streets and ballrooms of major urban cities of UK mainly in Liverpool. These groups were highly influenced by the American rock n roll idols like Buddy Holly and the Crickets. The main bands which benefited from this beat boom the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds and the Kinks (Palmer, 1990). By early 1960’s many groups from UK had topped the American Music charts. The Beatles’ first appearance on The Ed Sullivan show on February 9th 1964 is seen as a milestone in American pop culture. In the coming years more and more British bands were dominating with no 1 hits on top charts. The British invasion also played an important in systemizing of the process of how the music was made, and started the culture of band groups which typically consisted of 3-5 members, 2 on electric guitars, 1 on bass guitar, 1 on drums and 1 on vocals, and generally all members contributed towards writing and producing music.