Whether sex inspired rock and roll or whether rock and roll invoked themes of sexuality, there is little doubt that the two concepts were closely linked from rock’s beginnings.

Early rock and roll developed out of black rhythm and blues music, a genre which devoted its lyrics almost exclusively to stories of loves lost, loves almost had, or love twisted out of proportion. Rock and roll quickened the pace and turned up the volume of rhythm and blues, both literally and metaphorically so that love became sex. In class, we read Stephen King’s “Reggae Rastafari and the rhetoric of social control”. Though most of the reading was intended to chronicle Reggae and Jamaican popular music, similar themes are discussed by King, such as national identity, social change, technology and most relevant to my research of sex drugs and rock and roll, the use of erotic references in lyrics sung by Black artists, which provides us with the theory that they were demanding change. King writes:

“The urgency of Rock and Roll transformed rhythm and blues into a more emotional, grittier, stripped down music” (King, 35).

The Jamaican term “rude boy” that we learned, was popular during the same rock and roll era of the 1960’s. Rude boys were sexualized and regarded as violent, and are still erotically referenced today for example in Rihanna’s music, especially her song “Rude Boy” that I analyzed in one of my weekly assignments earlier in the semester. The reactions to Rocksteady music involved many noticing the people’s aggression. Where did this come from? Reggae and the styles preceding it, like rock and roll, were greatly shaped by both social change and technology.

David Szatmary states in his “Social Theory of Rock and Roll” that even the term “rock and roll” derived from sex. He notes that it was:

“[…]originally a black euphemism for sexual intercourse” (Szatmary, 1987, p. 15).

Whether or not Szatmary is correct in his assertion, there is little doubt that the heavy, simple, steady beat of rock and roll evokes a sexual rhythm. Early opponents of rock and roll were quick to pick up on this fact and used it as a basis for attack. For example, a 1956 Birmingham, Alabama concert given by Nat King Cole was disrupted by a delegation from the neo-fascist White Citizens Council. The leader of the group (who was apparently oblivious to the fact that Cole did not sing rock and roll) jumped on stage and warned of a N.A.A.C.P. plot to “mongrelize America” through the new form of music:

“Rock ‘n’ roll is the basic, heavy-beat music of the Negroes. It appeals to the base in man, brings out animalism and vulgarity.” (Larner, 1964, p. 44) (in “What do they get from Rock and Roll?)

Riftides article about the attack on Nat King Cole

Consciousness of the sexuality of the music — both by the performer and by the audience — remained a major factor in rock and roll through its early years. Blatant sexual themes appeared to be more acceptable when they came from black singers. Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally,” along with “The Girl Can’t Help It”, “Slippin’ and Slidin'” and “Good Golly Miss Molly” were full of innuendos, yet still received plenty of air play. On the other hand, Jerry Lee Lewis’s 1957 song, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” was banned on radio stations across the country for its sexual overtones (Szatmary, 1987, p. 37). That same year the Everyly Brothers’ “Wake Up Little Susie” was banned from the airwaves in Boston for its “suggestiveness”.

During the early 1960s, as rock and roll made its way onto television, rock’s sexual roots were reinforced visually by the twirls of the singer. Elvis Presley, who finally gained national dishonor with his television appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show (which elected to film Elvis from the waist up only) became the focal point for a great deal of anti-rock moralism. The New York Times reported that:

Presley’s “one specialty is an accented movement of the body that therefore has been primarily identified with the repertoire of the blonde bombshells of the burlesque runway” and Time flatly called Presley a “sexibitionist” (Szatmary, 1987, p. 46).

Larner’s (1964) analysis of rock and roll suggested that sensuality was an integral part of the rock rhythm and that rock, in turn, had developed out of a sensual need:

“There is a general need for rock ‘n’ roll, a need rooted in strong feelings… When the listener submits himself to the beat, he loosens his mind from its moorings in space and time; no longer does he feel a separation between himself and his surroundings. The difficult world of external objects is blurred and unreal; only the inner pulse is real, the beat its outer protection.” (Larner, 1964, p. 45).