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Today in Music History: Rock n' Roll!

Posted at 7:20 AM on January 20, 2012 by Jill Riley
Filed under: Music History

Birthdays:
Leadbelly was born on this day in 1888 (Influential '20s-'40s acoustic folk/blues legend and American icon). He died on December 6, 1949, in New York.

This Day in Music:
In 1958, St. Louis radio station KWK completed a "record breaking week," with station management banning all rock n' roll music from the airwaves. The deejays gave every rock record in the station library a "farewell spin" before smashing it into smithereens. The station manager at KWK, Robert Convey, called the action "a simple weeding out of undesirable music." Ultimately, his plan would be far from successful. Sorry, Bob.

Now, onto the man who coined the term "rock n' roll."
In 1965, DJ Alan Freed died in Palm Springs, California. Having coined the term "rock 'n' roll," the self-styled "Moondog" profited from the genre's growth with his definitive package tours and payola received from labels. A government investigation into the payola practice, however, ended up ruining his career.

In 1968, Bob Dylan tries to build bridges with the folk community he left behind by "going electric". He and the Band perform at a Carnegie Hall tribute to Woody Guthrie, sharing a bill with Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Odetta and Ramblin' Jack Elliott.

1973, Rock 'n' roll wildman Jerry Lee Lewis performs at the Grand Ole Opry for the first time. The Opry officials ask him to play only country music and refrain from using any obscenities. But guess what? The Killer played "Great Balls of Fire" and "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On" before exclaiming, "I am the rock 'n' rollin', country and western, rhythm and blues singin' (expletive removed)!

History Highlight:
Paul Stanley of Kiss is 62 today. Since there were a lot of mentions of rock n' roll in our Music History segment today, we played the one song that will make you want to "Rock and Roll All Nite."

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