3. Bill Haley and the Comets’ Rock Around the Clock
Rock Around the Clock is often cited as the first rock and roll record. It was not. Big Joe Turner had preceded it with Shake, Rattle, and Roll in 1954, (#1 on Billboard’s chart) and Haley had an earlier hit with Crazy Man, Crazy the year before that. But it can be said Rock Around the Clock was the first rock and roll anthem, which resonated with teens across the United States, and later Europe. It was an anthem that grew slowly, the song was not a hit when it was released in May 1954, on the B side of a single which featured Thirteen Women. In 1955 the song was used over the opening credits for the film Blackboard Jungle.
On August 7, 1955, Bill Haley and the Comets appeared on the popular Sunday evening television program Toast of the Town. The following month the program changed its name to The Ed Sullivan Show, in deference to the fact that most fans called it by that name anyway. By then Rock Around the Clock was a popular hit with teenagers in Britain, Germany, and Australia, scoring places in the top twenty, as well as in other locations worldwide. American music, including the newly christened rock and roll genre, became much in demand across the globe, and the American film industry was ready to supply it.
