Rock music roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly spread to much of the rest of the world. Its immediate origins lay in a melding of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music, with country and western. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music (then termed "race music") for a multi-racial audience, and is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music. Debate surrounds which record should be considered the first rock and roll
Rock & Roll Band record contract before their first live gig." Billy Baker of the "Boston Globe" called "Rock and Roll Band" "one of the biggest rock anthems of the 1970s." Scott Tady of "Beaver County Times" described "Rock and Roll Band," "Smokin'" and Boston's first four singles as having "helped set the foundation for classic-rock radio." "Boston Globe"'s Sarah Rodman credited "Rock and Roll Band" as one of the songs that helped drive sales of "Boston" to over 17 million copies. "The New Rolling Stone Album Guide" called "Rock and Roll Band" a "cleaned-up boogey ["sic"] crowd pleaser..." Jamie Reno of "San Diego"