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 & Roll (The Velvet Underground song) has appeared in a number of films, including "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints", "Rock 'n' Roll High School" and "SLC Punk!" A clip of the Velvet Underground performing the song is played on completion of the Rock & Roll wonder in "Civilization IV". In addition, the quote about researching the technology "Radio," read by Leonard Nimoy, is "...then one fine morning she puts on a New York station... You know, her life was saved by rock & roll." The quote is credited to Lou Reed. Mitch Ryder's band, Detroit, which featured Lou Reed's future guitarist Steve Hunter, performed one