The genesis of rock and roll: Where and when did it all begin? Some have claimed that Elvis Presley’s 1954 cover of bluesman Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s “That’s All Right” is the definitive first rock and roll recording. Others trace the “first” R&R record back to 1951 and a song entitled “Rocket 88,” recorded by Jackie Brenston (a saxophonist and singer with Ike Turner’s band) and his Delta Cats at Sam Phillips’ studio in Memphis, where Elvis also later recorded.
If you took a poll among those old enough to even speculate about THE song signifying the birth of rock and roll, likely a top vote-getter would be Bill Haley and the Comets’ 1955 #1 hit, “Rock Around the Clock.”
(Ironically, Bill Haley also recorded “Rocket 88” around the same time but it was more of a country-western/rockabilly version of the song.)
RATC and its “players” offer some interesting stories about this formative period in the history of music, particularly American music.
Prior to recording the rock and roll breakthrough, “Rock Around the Clock,” Haley had been a country artist, in fact a yodeler.
“[Haley’s] band initially formed as Bill Haley and the Saddlemen c.1949-1950, and performed mostly country and western songs, though occasionally with a bluesy feel…It soon became apparent that a new name was needed to fit the music the band was now playing. A friend of Haley’s, making note of the common alternative pronunciation of the name Halley’s Comet to rhyme with Bailey, suggested that Haley call his band The Comets. (This event is cited in the Haley biographies Sound and Glory by John Haley and John von Hoelle, and Bill Haley by John Swenson.)” —Wikipedia
The authorship of “Rock Around the Clock” is credited to Max C. Freedman and Jimmy De Knight. Not much information is available on Freedman but De Knight, whose real name was James E. Myers, as well as the producer of RATC, Milt Gabler, are legendary figures of the 50s and 60s recording scene.
“James E. Myers is forever cemented in rock history – his influence on the music industry is undeniably massive as the co-author of ‘Rock Around the Clock,’ the song cited by John Lennon, Elton John, and many others as being the single most inspiring song for a generation…After his four-year stint in combat, Myers…continued writing songs; became a producer, promoter, and booking agent; and started both Cowboy Records and (for music publishing) Myers Music Inc. It was as a booking agent and promoter that Myers became connected to Bill Haley. Although Myers was working with Haley for some time, Myers’ classic ‘Rock Around the Clock’ wasn’t recorded by Haley due to contractual issues, until after Sonny Dae & His Nights recorded a version that settled on the local Philadelphia chart in 1952. Haley, disappointed with Essex, his label at the time, asked Myers to help him get signed to a major, and Myers set up a lucrative deal with Decca…” —Allmusic.com
At the RATC recording session in 1954, “producer Milt Gabler (who had produced Louis Jordan…as well as Billie Holiday) insisted the band work on a new song (for them) entitled ‘Thirteen Women (and Only One Man in Town)’ (previously written and recorded by Dickie Thompson) which Gabler wanted to promote as the A-side of the group’s first single for Decca.” —Wikipedia
“Not only was Milt Gabler present at the birth of rock and roll, but in a sense he also helped deliver it by virtue of having produced such founding fathers as Louis Jordan and Bill Haley. On top of that, Gabler also produced records for the likes of Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Weavers, the Ink Spots and Louis Armstrong. From jazz to rhythm & blues to gospel to folk to rock and roll, Gabler has been a force in popular music for much of this century. But his imprint has been felt most strongly in the world of jazz, where he carved out multiple niches as a music retailer, label founder, club impresario and record producer.” —Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Gabler, who died in 2001, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 by his nephew, the famous comedian and actor Billy Crystal. In 2005, Crystal produced a documentary and CD tribute to Gabler, The Milt Gabler Story.
SIDEBAR: Milt Gabler was also a gifted and successful songwriter. In fact, he co-wrote with Bert Kaempfert one of my favorite songs from my childhood, L.O.V.E. by Nat King Cole. I don’t know why but every time I went skiing, I heard this song in my head and sung it to myself as I swished down the slope! jh
“Rock Around the Clock” was not an immediate hit and few would have believed, at least initially, that the tune was about to usher in a new age in popular music.
As is often the case, Hollywood and the motion picture industry played a huge role in “breaking” RATC and its performers, Bill Haley and the Comets. Perhaps appropriately, it was not a Hollywood star or producer that brought the song into the limelight, but the pre-teen son of film legend Glenn Ford, Peter.
“In the fall of 1954, I was a precocious fifth grader who loved music. Between the Beverly Hills Music Shop and Wallich’s Music City at Sunset and Vine, I was a busy lad indulging myself in the thing I loved most—my music. I loved rhythm and blues or ‘race music’ as it was formally known in the late 1940s. My mother was ‘raised’ on the stage working with black performers as early as the 1920s, and she understood and encouraged my interests. Mom had Fats Waller, Ink Spots, and Art Tatum records that I loved. In fact, she played her Waller discs so much that she wore away the vinyl. Meanwhile, I introduced her and dad to Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton’s ‘Hound Dog,’ the Midnighters featuring Hank Ballard, and the wonderful ballads of Johnny Ace. I was the only ‘black’ white kid I knew in Beverly Hills at the time, and I was proud of it.
“One of the records I bought during the fall of 1954 was ‘Thirteen Women (and Only One Man in Town),’ recorded by a rockabilly group called Bill Haley and The Comets. Earlier I had purchased my first Haley record called ‘Crazy Man Crazy’ and knew that this Haley fellow was on to something. I looked forward to their next release. When I brought ‘Thirteen Women’ home and played it I didn’t like it. As many kids did in those days, I turned the record over to discover the real A-side: ‘Rock Around the Clock.’ How Decca Records could have thought that ‘Thirteen Women’ could have been the A-side was a mystery to me. Still, ‘RATC’ sold well rising to number 23 on the charts before the end of the year.
“On October 4, 1954 my father was signed by MGM to star in what everyone felt was going to be a controversial film about a hot topic that was recently making news: juvenile delinquency. The film was called Blackboard Jungle. Pandro Berman was the producer and Richard Brooks was chosen to direct and write the screenplay from Evan Hunter’s novel…Richard Brooks and my father would meet away from MGM during production to discuss the film. Working on a short schedule with no rehearsals with mainly non-actors was a test for everyone. Richard stopped by our house on occasion to visit dad and talk about the production. It was on one of these visits that Richard heard some records I owned. One of them was ‘Rock Around the Clock.’ I now know that he borrowed that record and some others on one of his visits.
“Joel Freeman, who was the assistant director on Blackboard Jungle, recalled that toward the end of production, which would have been mid-December 1954, Brooks called him into his office to hear some records that he thought might possibly be used in the opening of the film. He played Joel three songs and they agreed that Haley’s up-tempo ‘jump blues’ tune was the perfect choice…
“MGM eventually purchased the rights to ‘RATC’ for $5,000 from Decca Records with the condition that they could only use the music three times in the film. It has been written that for $2,500 more they could have owned the song outright. The producer of Haley’s recording, Milt Gabler, once claimed that MGM bought the song for a dollar…
“Brooks, having found what he wanted, would now also use the music in the beginning of the film over the opening credits as well as at the end…
“By July 5, 1955, seven months after Richard Brooks first heard my 78 RPM copy of the record at my house, ‘RATC’ was the top selling single in the nation. It stayed on the charts for eight weeks, eventually selling more than 25 million copies. After a good deal of research, I now feel that I can say with certainty that I played a small but, pivotal role in launching a musical revolution. Thanks to a unique set of circumstances, the musical passion of a 5th grader helped ‘RATC’ become, as Dick Clark called it, ‘The National Anthem of Rock & Roll.” —Peter Ford
Bill Haley died in 1981 from the affects of a brain tumor. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
SIDEBAR: In 1974, the original version of the song returned to the American charts when it was used as the theme for the movie American Graffiti and a re-recorded version by Haley was used as the opening theme for the TV series Happy Days.