Rock and Roll或Rock&Roll，也有簡稱Rock的搖滾樂在1950年代出現於美國，然而其音樂中的元素則可以追溯到早在1920年代的藍調音樂。
早期搖滾樂融合了藍調音樂、布基樂以及爵士樂，並受到美國傳統民謠音樂、教會福音樂以及鄉村音樂的薰陶。再向上追溯，甚至早在十九世紀的紐約的五分區，便可以找到融合非洲音樂以及愛爾蘭音樂的搖滾樂雛形。
“Rocking 搖滾”一詞最初是被唱聖詩 （gospel）的美國南部歌手使用。（並非傳統聖詩，而是黑人那種帶有背面節拍'backbeat'的R&B，是搖滾的前身之一），意指一種使人精神上升上天堂的音樂。
可是到了40年代，這一詞是用作雙關語，字面上定義為一種舞蹈，裏面卻隱含着**的意義；例如 Roy Brown（藍調歌手）當時的歌是叫“Good Rocking Tonight”。這種歌因當時一般被貶為叫做“種族音樂 race music”（音樂界對R&B的代稱）而很少被音樂界的主流——白種人所聽到。
1951年，在俄亥俄州的克里夫蘭市裏有個叫 Alan Freed的DJ，開始為他的白人聽眾播出這種音樂，而就是Freed被譽為第一個為這種震撼的R&B音樂奠定“Rock and roll， 搖滾樂”這個稱號。對於何張唱片稱得上是第一張搖滾樂唱片仍然存有許多爭議。
候選者包括Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats在1951年的《Rocket 88》，以及後來更廣為人知的《Maybellene》、《Johnny B. Goode》（Chuck Berry）或《Bo Diddley》（Bo Diddley）、《Rock Around the Clock》（Bill Haley & His Comets），或者按照滾石雜誌（RollingStone magazine）2005年富有爭議的觀點：Elvis Presley（貓王）在孟菲斯（美國田納西州西南部一城市）為SUN records廠牌發行的第一支單曲《That`s all right》。一些歷史學家追溯的更遠，他們指出，類似Fats Domino之類40年代音樂家的曲風難以與搖滾樂相互區分，其中包括：《Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby？》（Louis Jordan）、《The Oakie Bookie》（Jack Guthrie,1947）以及《Rock Me to Sleep》（Benny Carter and Paul Vandervoort II,1950）。
那些較早具有影響力和先驅精神的藝術家們於1955年開始被記錄：Bill Haley, Elvis Presley,Fats Domino,Little Richard,Chuck Berry,Jerry Lee Lewis。
2. 求一篇寫搖滾的英語短文Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll or rock 'n' roll) is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music. Though elements of rock and roll can be heard in country records of the 1930s, and in blues records from the 1920s,rock and roll did not acquire its name until the 1950s.The term "rock and roll" now has at least two different meanings, both in common usage. The American Heritage Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary both define rock and roll as synonymous with rock music. Encyclopædia Britannica, on the other hand, regards it as the music that originated in the mid-1950s and later evolved "into the more encompassing international style known as rock music." For the purpose of differentiation, this article uses the second definition, while the broader musical genre is discussed in the rock music article.In the earliest rock and roll styles of the late 1940s and early 1950s, either the piano or saxophone was often the lead instrument, but these were generally replaced or supplemented by guitar in the middle to late 1950s. The beat is essentially a blues rhythm with an accentuated backbeat, the latter almost always provided by a snare drum. Classic rock and roll is usually played with one or two electric guitars (one lead, one rhythm), a string bass or (after the mid-1950s) an electric bass guitar, and a drum kit.Rock and roll began achieving wide popularity in the 1960s. The massive popularity and eventual worldwide view of rock and roll gave it a widespread social impact. Bobby Gillespie writes that "When Chuck Berry sang 'Hail, hail, rock and roll, deliver me from the days of old,' that's exactly what the music was doing. Chuck Berry started the global psychic jailbreak that is rock'n'roll."Far beyond simply a musical style, rock and roll, as seen in movies and on television, influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language. It went on to spawn various sub-genres, often without the initially characteristic backbeat, that are now more commonly called simply "rock music" or "rock."。
3. 英語搖滾簡介ROCK MUSIC
rock music is not only a music style,but actually the attitude and philosophy of life.so the rock is different from other normal pop musics.The rhythm of rock is very intense and the lyrics for the song are so newfangled.when it comes out, Persons in the world were conquered in a flash.
Early rock music comes from many kinds of music,mainly include blues,R&B and country music.it also absorbs the elements of troditional pop music,jazz and folk music.all these effects build a structure which puts blues as a main status.
the rock music which borns in America had a great change when it comes to the early 1960s,The beatles went into the market of America,Americans are so amazed at The beatles,so someone called the event"the frist invasion of Britain".
as the time passed,the styles of rock now is profuse and colorful.such an Heavy Metal,Punk,Goth Metal,Blues-Rock and so on.
自已寫的，由於字數有限，只重點介紹了一下起源和種類，希望樓主滿意。
