| Summary: | Popular music histories have paid close attention to the connection between the rise of rock’n’roll in the United States in the 1950s, and a wave of “moral panic” spread by media all around the world. Yet, the way the meanings linked with the new rock’n’roll were “translated” into different music scenes and national cultures, and acknowledged by local audiences, deserves more consideration. The Italian case offers a meaningful example. The article will analyse how rock’n’roll was introduced to the Italian public by the media around 1956, in association with images of youth, rebellion, and violence, before the music itself (i.e.: rock’n’roll records, rock’n’roll movie soundtracks, etc.) was made available in Italy. The impact of rock’n’roll on Italian popular music – as well as the general process through which new music genres spread worldwide – cannot be fully understood without considering paradoxes as such.
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