Rock the bop

Posted by TheFallen on April 09, 2003

In Reply to: Rock the bop posted by Anders Klitgaard on April 09, 2003

: : What's the meaning "rock the bop"?

: : Thanks

: I don't know. You're Bob, you tell me! :-) Could it be to do with musical genres? Rock music influencing or taking the place of Bop, which of course is some sort of Jazz. If not, then maybe a more general meaning of "rock" is implied, as in "this thing rocks!" (i.e. is very good). Thirdly, there's the the "rock" of "rock me baby" or "if you won't rock me, somebody will." What "rock" means here exactly is anyone's guess. I'm guessing it's something that rhymes with rock...
: Cheers
: Anders

Pure guesswork, given the fact that no context is provided, but I'd say that it's clearly musical. I think that the verb "rock" here means to play music loud and excitingly and the noun "bop" is referring to the music being played. Anders is right in that "bop" originally strictly meant a type of complex jazz, but I think that it evolved in more general usage to mean any type of music with a danceable beat - cf the verb "to bop" that just means to dance.

• Rock the bop ESC 04/10/03