Origins of rock and roll "Rock and Roll" Harris. These songs were generally classed as "race music" or, from the late 1940s, "rhythm and blues", and were barely known by mainstream white audiences. However, in 1951, Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed began broadcasting rhythm, blues, and country music for a multi-racial audience. Freed, familiar with the music of earlier decades, used the phrase rock and roll to describe the music he aired over station WJW (850 AM); its use also is credited to Freed's sponsor, record store owner Leo Mintz, who encouraged Freed to play the music on the radio. Originally Freed used the name
Rock and Roll Music 1966 - the performance from their June 30 show at the Nippon Budokan was included in 1996's "Anthology 2" - and was also performed during the Get Back/Let It Be Sessions in January 1969. It also served as the title song to the Beatles' 1976 compilation album "Rock 'n' Roll Music". The Beatles' version of "Rock and Roll Music" was released as a single in some countries. It topped the charts in Finland, Norway, the Netherlands (as double A-side with "No Reply"), Sweden and Australia. The single peaked at number 2 in West Germany. Sources have varied in crediting the