Roll Over Beethoven

Roll Over BeethovenFrank Zappa said that rock and roll arrived in 1955 with the opening sequence of The Blackboard Jungle. When the titles flashed on the screen, Bill Haley and the Comets started blasting "one, two, three o'clock, four o'clock rock" on the soundtrack. Rock and roll had been around for a few years by then, but as Zappa--who was 15 at the time--pointed out, no one had ever heard it that loud before. It was a qualitative difference. Isn't playing rock and roll this loud i...