On July 5, 1954, Elvis Presley recorded his first single. That’s reason enough for BMG Records, which distributes the Presley catalog, to declare the date as the birthday of rock ‘n roll. “But the marketing blitz, by BMG as well as other companies, reopens a nagging debate: Just when did rock really begin? It’s an issue that has long been tinged with racism, specifically the notion that it took a white man to make it rock ‘n roll, whereas before it was only R&B and what was then described as ‘race music.'”