1955–1959 · USA, Britain and Sweden
Rock'n'roll awakens youth’s lowest instincts!
Rock'n'roll
Panic meter
The verdict
Rock was seen as wild, sexual and dangerous. It became the West’s best-selling popular music – and Elvis got a stamp.
Reality meter
What was said?
When rock'n'roll broke through in the mid-1950s, it was accused of stirring up the young. Clergy and politicians called it jungle music, and racist groups in the American South wanted it banned. When the film Rock Around the Clock was shown in Britain in 1956, audiences slashed cinema seats.
Elvis Presley's hip movements were considered so indecent that on his third appearance on Ed Sullivan's show, in January 1957, he was filmed only from the waist up.
The verdict: what happened next?
Rock became the dominant popular music for several decades, and in 1993 Elvis got his own US postage stamp. Those who once danced to it went on to become parents who worried about the next style of music.
The trouble in the cinemas was real, but it was rare and short-lived.
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