Eyes pop, limbs jerk and quiffs get increasingly mussed in frenetic time to the beat Ñ it's rock'n'roll folks, and it's a lot wilder than the modern taste for 50's kitsch would have it. By going back to basics with a well-chosen array of original material, the Fondation Cartier's current exhibition, "Rock'n'Roll 39-59", is able to capture the sheer ebullience of rock's formative years. Footage of Elvis snarling his lip whilst his hips gyrate in provocative spasms is still frankly obscene, whilst a clip of Jerry Lee Lewis shows him convulsing like a man possessed, bashing out the notes of Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On with rabid fervour. Such energy proved infectious, as rock mania took America by storm, breaking out of the narrow classifications that then ruled music distribution. A series of letters recount the manager of Sun Records' difficulty in getting Elvis airtime from DJs who wanted to "keep Country country"."The record is going ALL THREE WAYS Ñ Pop, Country and R&B", he writes "everybody from white teenagers to old colored people are buying it..."

The secret to this cross-demographic appeal lay in its very hybrid nature which was at first so difficult to market. As an excellent introductory "sound map" at the beginning of the exhibition demonstrates, rock melded traditions from all over the United States, from boogie-woogie and gospel to big band jazz and bluegrass. More than that, it combined black and white culture, urban and rural ex