History Main / ALittleSomethingWeCallRockAndRoll

* [[Characters/SupermanJimmyOlsen Jimmy Olsen]] is "The Red-Headed [[Music/TheBeatles Beatle]] of 1,000 B.C.!" (''Franchise/{{Superman}}'s Pal Jimmy Olsen'' #79, 1964) Hooray for UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} indeed.
* Now for a non-time-traveling example. [[Creator/BongoComics Radioactive Man]] (yes, [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson's]] [[{{Defictionalization}} favorite superhero]]) is a nuclear-powered heroic being who gained his superpowers in 1952 and [[DiscoDan hasn't altered his technological or cultural sensibilities since]]. On his last adventure before [[EarnYourHappyEnding being reunited with his long-lost parents]], in 1996, RM ventures out into the city on a dark and stormy night to confront the neocommunist villain Dr. Crab, who plans to use a device called an airwave silencer to censor all the city's radio and TV networks for disseminating "capitalist propaganda." After winning a fight with another villain in an alley, RM is starting to round a street corner when he hears an ominous "DOOM, DOOM, DOOM!" approaching the intersection. RM is frightened by the sound, and wonders if Dr. Crab "has some weird, fiendish new weapon." But just as he is preparing for a possible fight to the death, the sinister sound is revealed as nothing more than a ghetto blaster pumping out hip-hop beats as it is carried by a Music/VanillaIce-like teenager. (RM gives him a stern lecture about staying out past curfew.)
* Used in an early Magazine/{{MAD}} parody of ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'' called "Flesh Garden", in which the evil alien emperor pits Flesh Garden against the great enemy of all - a man in boxing gloves.

** Despite predating rock 'n' roll, the 1949 musical version uses an unformed version of the trope, having the protagonist (played by Music/BingCrosby) teaching Myth/KingArthur's minstrels to perform big band music.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "Time Is Money", Huey, Dewey, and Louie wow prehistoric "caveduck" Bubba with the [[TheEighties Eighties]] "tunes" they [[TimeTravel brought back in time]].

%%* An alien girl sends WesternAnimation/TheBeatles to a distant planet in the episode "Day Tripper", where their playing of the song has the inhabitants dancing among the rock formations. %%of what series?

** ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'' also uses this after Jaylah uses "Sabotage" by the Music/BeastieBoys to [[spoiler:disrupt the signal coordinating Krall's swarm ships.]]

* Aliens visiting the Earth rather than time travel, but Secret Scout David introduces the WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaucers}} to rock music; they find the sounds incredibly painful and can't imagine why humans would like it. Eventually, during a concert where David and his band members had been performing in costumes of the Dinosaucers, the Tyrannos end up kidnapping them from off stage, forcing the real deal to briefly stand in for the band, and they're unable to do so with any semblence of ability.

Sooner or later, a time traveler will need to impress the historical types with an artifact or idea from his own era. Sometimes, this may be as simple as ThisIsMyBoomstick; but if said time traveler is a teenager with a penchant for music, these primitive screwheads are about to witness [[TitleDrop A Little Something We Call Rock And Roll]].

Future civilizations are not immune to this {{trope}}. Those which have [[LostTechnology forgotten their roots]] may be initially bemused by the crude back beat rhythm, but will learn to "get down" with it. In other cases, they might view the time-traveler's music as "classical" or see it as stuffy "old people" music.

In seriously reality-challenged situations, the time traveler may be able to construct or otherwise produce an electric guitar capable of all the feedback and distortion necessary for a properly face-melting, dad-enraging solo. In other cases, the time traveler may have simply brought a walkman or reproduce rock-like sounds on period instruments. The ultimate pinnacle of radness occurs when our hero has cobbled together a complete band of historical persons and taught them to build and play crude drum sets and keytars built from available materials. Bonus points if they have somehow discovered and harnessed electrical power to make this work.

It's a similar situation when a historical person is brought from the past to the present. This also increases the likelihood of their adopting present day music and slang. And CoolShades.

* Now for a non-time-traveling example. [[Creator/BongoComics Radioactive Man]] (yes, [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson's]] [[{{Defictionalization}} favorite superhero]]) is a nuclear-powered heroic being who gained his super powers in 1952 and [[DiscoDan hasn't altered his technological or cultural sensibilities since]]. On his last adventure before [[EarnYourHappyEnding being reunited with his long-lost parents]], in 1996, RM ventures out into the city on a dark and stormy night to confront the neocommunist villain Dr. Crab, who plans to use a device called an airwave silencer to censor all the city's radio and TV networks for disseminating "capitalist propaganda." After winning a fight with another villain in an alley, RM is starting to round a street corner when he hears an ominous "DOOM, DOOM, DOOM!" approaching the intersection. RM is frightened by the sound, and wonders if Dr. Crab "has some weird, fiendish new weapon." But just as he is preparing for a possible fight to the death, the sinister sound is revealed as nothing more than a ghetto blaster pumping out hip-hop beats as it is carried by a Music/VanillaIce-like teenager. (RM gives him a stern lecture about staying out past curfew.)

-->-- '''Marty [=McFly=]''', ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', after getting a little into playing "[[Music/ChuckBerry Johnny B. Goode]]"

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' used this as one of its main gimmicks, especially in the first film, whose protagonist is a rock-loving teenager from 1985 stuck in 1955 (three years after rock was technically invented, but it was still new so whatever):

* Non-time-travel example: at one point in the miniseries ''Series/TheTenthKingdom'', Virginia, trapped in a rural part of a a fairy-tale world, must compete in a singing contest wherein all songs must relate to sheep and shepherding. She chooses "We Will Shear You", in the style of Queen's "We Will Rock You".

-->-- '''Marty [=McFly=]''', ''Film/BackToTheFuture''