...that the founders of rock'n'roll, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and the like should have obtained a copyright on "Rock'n'roll" although they were not the ones who coined the phrase. That's accredited to Alan Freed. Shoot, even R&B can no longer honestly stand for Rhythm and Blues, since the recordings coming out in that genre contain neither. Hey, I guess labels aren't much good.
Connie B Gaye coined the name "Country Music" and complained about its demise when I interviewed him in the early 1980's (He was from Lizard Lick originally)
If only he could see things now.
Connie shared some things I cannot share in this venue, but I WILL share that Col Tom Parker, Elvis' manager offered to sell Connie his contract once. Do not recall what time that was, but it was in cooperation with Gaye that the Colonel had Elvis appear on a small fifteen minute show on what was then WMAL Television, channel 7 in DC. A young fellow named Jimmy Dean, way before "Big John" his hit record, or the sausage empire.
Dean lived across the street from the Hagers, friends of mine and used to share the story of when they saw a pink Caddy out front and noticed Elvis getting in and followed him a ways. Three guys started a fight with Elvis at the Esso station up the road and were in pretty bad shape after the King kicked butt. That's their story, and I'm sure they're stickin' to it.
So rock no longer rock's and many proclaimed as stars of the genre wouldn't know it if it came up and bit them...well, you know. We've already addressed R&B and Connie, who coined the phrase "Country Music" wouldn't recognize it now, save the nasal and yodel same ole.
Sometimes change bites
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