很多早期的白人摇滚名作都是翻唱或借鉴已有的黑人节奏布鲁斯歌曲。从40年代末到50年代初,节奏布鲁斯发展出了更强烈的节奏和更狂野的风格,以适合当时流行的大众舞蹈。[33]虽然此时黑人音乐仍然被许多白人经营的电台所忌讳,但音乐家和制作人们很快发现了摇滚乐的潜力,并且竞相投资白人对黑人音乐的翻唱活动。[34]大多数猫王普雷斯利早期的成名作都是翻唱自黑人节奏布鲁斯,包括《没事了,妈妈》(That's All Right, Mama)、《肯塔基的蓝月亮》(Blue Moon of Kentucky)等。[35]
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^P. Hurry, M. Phillips, and M. Richards, Heinemann advanced music(Heinemann, 2001), pp. 153–4.
^ 13.013.1Schafer, William J. Rock Music: Where It's Been, What It Means, Where It's Going. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1972.
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^M. T. Bertrand, Race, Rock, and Elvis: Music in American Life(University of Illinois Press, 2000), pp. 21–2.
^A. Bennett, Rock and popular music: politics, policies, institutions(Routledge, 1993), pp. 236–8.
^ 17.017.117.2K. Keightley, "Reconsidering rock" S. Frith, W. Straw and J. Street, eds, The Cambridge companion to pop and rock(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 116.
^N. Kelley, R&B, rhythm and business: the political economy of Black music(Akashic Books, 2005), p. 134.
^R. Aquila, That old-time rock & roll: a chronicle of an era, 1954–1963(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2000), pp. 4–6.
^J. M. Salem, The late, great Johnny Ace and the transition from R & B to rock 'n' roll Music in American life(University of Illinois Press, 2001), p. 4.
^M. T. Bertrand, 'Race, rock, and Elvis Music in American life(University of Illinois Press, 2000), p. 99.
^E. Wald, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock N Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 111–25.
^P. D. Lopes, The rise of a jazz art world(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 132
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^Ennis, Philip H.(1992), The Seventh Stream – The Emergence of Rocknroll in American Popular Music, Wesleyan University Press, p. 201, ISBN 978-0-8195-6257-9
^R. Aquila, That old-time rock & roll: a chronicle of an era, 1954–1963(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2000), p. 6.
^C. Deffaa, Blue rhythms: six lives in rhythm and blues(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1996), pp. 183–4.
^J. V. Martin, Copyright: current issues and laws(Nova Publishers, 2002), pp. 86–8.
^R. Aquila, That old-time rock & roll: a chronicle of an era, 1954–1963(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2000), p. 201.
^G. C. Altschuler, All shook up: how rock 'n' roll changed America(Oxford: Oxford University Press US, 2003), pp. 51–2.
^D. Hatch and S. Millward, From blues to rock: an analytical history of pop music(Manchester: Manchester University Press ND, 1987), p. 110.
^M. Campbell, Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes on: Popular Music in America(Publisher Cengage Learning, 3rd edn., 2008), p. 172.
^M. Campbell, ed., Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes on(Cengage Learning, 3rd edn., 2008), p. 99.
^R.Dale, Education and the State: Politics, patriarchy and practice(Taylor & Francis, 1981), p. 106.