Rock 'n' Roll Is Here to Stay

I remember when I got my first “rock ‘n’ roll single.” It was August 1957, the baby boom was at its peak, and the King was still the King. Like millions of other fans, I extended the King's reign by buying what was then Elvis Presley's number one single, “Teddy Bear.” Maybe I decided to make that eventful purchase after watching a new network television program, American Bandstand, which ABC began showing every weekday afternoon. Since I was only eight years old, I might have thought about stuffed animals as I listened to Presley sing, “Baby, let me be/Around you every night/Run your fingers through my hair/And cuddle me real tight.” The teenagers who danced on Bandstand, though, knew that “Teddy Bear” was about something else. So did the couples who listened to other Presley hits like “I Need Your Love Tonight” and “A Big Hunk O' Love” on the car radio while sitting in the back seat when out on dates. Eventually, I too learned why Elvis's suggestive lyrics and pulsating performances titillated teenagers and alarmed adults. By then, as Danny and the Juniors proclaimed in their pop anthem, “rock ‘n’ roll [was] here to stay,” and, as teen idol Ricky Nelson crooned, I was “old enough to love.”

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