jan 1, 1955 - Bill Haley and “Rock around the Clock”
Description:
Bill Haley (1925–81) would seem an unlikely candidate for the first big rock ’n’ roll star, but in the early 1950s this leader of various obscure western swing groups was seeking a style that would capture the enthusiasm of the growing audience of young listeners and dancers, and he accurately sensed which way the wind was blowing. He dropped his cowboy image, changed the name of his accompanying group from the Saddlemen to the Comets, and in 1953 wrote and recorded a song, “Crazy, Man, Crazy,” that offered a reasonable emulation of dance-oriented black rhythm & blues music.
Haley and the Comets recorded commercially successful cover versions of rhythm & blues hits in the mid-1950s, notably “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” (Number Seven, 1954) and “See You Later, Alligator” (Number Six, 1956). But they attained their unique status in pop music history when their record of “Rock around the Clock” became, in 1955, the first rock ’n’ roll record to be a Number One pop hit. It stayed in the top spot for eight consecutive weeks during the summer of 1955 and eventually sold over twenty-two million copies worldwide having featured in the opening credits of the 1955 movie Blackboard Jungle. “Rock around the Clock” quickly achieved massive popularity—and forged an enduring link that has connected teenagers, rock ’n’ roll, and movies ever since.
“Rock around the Clock” demonstrated the unprecedented success that a white group with a country background could achieve playing a twelvebar blues song driven by the sounds of electric guitar, bass, and drums. It proved a portent of the enormous changes that were about to overtake American popular music and opened the floodgates for artists like Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Buddy Holly. “Rock around the Clock” also helped prepare a receptive mass audience for the sounds of rhythm & blues, and for black artists building on the rhythm & blues tradition.
