On March 21st, 1952, the world witnessed the birth of a new genre of music: rock and roll. The venue was the Cleveland Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the performer was none other than the legendary Alan Freed, a local DJ who had been playing a mix of rhythm and blues, jazz, and country music on his radio show.
Freed was one of the first DJs to realize the potential of the new sound emerging from African-American musicians, who had been blending blues, gospel, and swing music into a new style that was both upbeat and danceable. He called this style “rock and roll,” a term that had previously been used as a euphemism for sex in blues music.
The concert, billed as the “Moondog Coronation Ball,” was intended to be a fundraiser for charity, with tickets priced at just $1.75. But demand for the event was so high that the 10,000-seat arena was soon filled to capacity, with an estimated 20,000 more people outside hoping to get in.
The concert was plagued with technical difficulties from the start, with the PA system failing to work properly and the crowd becoming restless. The performers, which included Paul Williams and The Hucklebuckers, Tiny Grimes and His Rocking Highlanders, and Varetta Dillard, struggled to be heard over the noise.
Despite these problems, the concert was a huge success, and it helped to establish rock and roll as a legitimate form of music. It also cemented Cleveland’s place in the history of rock and roll, a fact that is celebrated to this day with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is located in the city.
The Moondog Coronation Ball remains a landmark moment in the history of music, and it continues to inspire new generations of musicians to this day. It showed that a new kind of music could bring people together, regardless of race or background, and that it could be a force for positive change in the world.
