Rock and Roll !??

Dear Brother Old Coin,

I hope you are still interested in this topic.

Actually, "rock and roll" did not come from building materials.  The name of the music genre came from the verb usage of the words, with "rock" meaning "move or shake", and roll meaning "turn around".  Examples:

- The mother gently rocked the cradle while her baby slept inside.
- The sea was very rough today, and the waves rocked the boat violently.
- The diplomat "rocked the boat" at the conference by suggesting that U.S. President George W. Bush should be tried for war crimes for his decision to invade Iraq.  (Figurative use of "rock", the diplomat shook up the minds of the conference attendees)

- The ball rolled down the hill.
- As soon as its master sat down, the dog rolled over on its back, hoping to receive some tummy scratching.
- The student has already finished twice the number of exercises he normally does in a day, but is still able to do more!  He is really on a roll!  (Figurative use of "roll", the student's progress was running ahead like a ball rolling downhill, without regard to whatever is in its way)

Before rock and roll, music was static and there was little movement by the singers.  Rock and roll musicians such as Elvis danced and moved around a lot, so the genre was named after movement words, specifically those that signify pushing aside existing norms - see "rock the boat" and "on a roll" above.  Indeed, Elvis was extremely controversial at his time, with many believing that he would corrupt the minds of young people then.

Soon, rock and roll music would become part of the general counter-cultural movement in the 1960's that saw many social norms being challenged.  From that, "rock and roll" became representative terms for this rebellious attitude.  To this day, the song "we will we will rock you" is still often heard at protest rallies, to show the protesters' desire to "rock" the established political authority.

In "we built this city on rock and roll" (not build), the band (Starship) dismisses the existing socio-economic structure, saying that what matters is their counter-cultural attitude.  Their segment of society, i.e. their "city", is based on rock and roll and nothing else.