Chapter 13: Rock and Roll Pt. 1
Bill Haley (1925–1981) is often remembered as one of the first performers to introduce rock and roll to a national audience. While his claims to have invented the genre were unequivocally false, he played a significant role in introducing it to mainstream consumers. Haley began his career as a country performer and radio disc jockey, known for his distinctive yodeling style. His early band, The Four Aces of Western Swing, later evolved into The Saddlemen, performing mostly country material. However, Haley and his band frequently incorporated R&B covers into their sets, disguising the style enough to avoid alienating traditional country audiences. This early experimentation laid the groundwork for his signature sound.
In 1951, Haley recorded a cover of Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner’s “Rocket 88,” a song widely considered a foundational rock and roll track. While his version did not achieve major commercial success, it was enthusiastically received by teenage audiences, particularly white listeners unaccustomed to hearing this style in mainstream venues. Sensing the music’s crossover potential, Haley rebranded his group as Bill Haley and His Comets and began to focus more explicitly on R&B-inspired material.
Haley's breakthrough came with his 1954 recording of “Rock Around the Clock,” a high-energy number originally cut by Sunny Dae and the Knights. Initially receiving little attention, the song exploded in popularity after it was featured in the opening credits of the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle, a gritty drama about teenage rebellion. The film’s association with youthful defiance gave the song cultural significance well beyond the charts, and it became a generational anthem. “Rock Around the Clock” peaked at number one on the pop charts in July 1955 and remained in the Top Ten for 40 weeks, ultimately becoming one of the best-selling singles of the decade.
That same year, Haley had another major hit with “Shake, Rattle, and Roll,” a cover of Joe Turner’s raucous R&B original. While Turner's version featured risqué lyrics like “You’re wearin’ those dresses, the sun comes shinin’ through,” Haley’s rendition altered the line to “You’re wearin’ those dresses, your hair done up so nice,” softening the sexual overtones to suit more conservative listeners and radio stations. This pattern of sanitizing Black R&B songs for white consumption was typical of the era, and Haley was among its most commercially successful practitioners.
Musically, Haley’s style was shaped by multiple traditions. His background in country and western brought certain rhythmic and instrumental techniques, particularly in his guitar and vocal phrasing, while his R&B influence, especially from bandleader Louis Jordan, was evident in his use of shuffle rhythms and horn-driven arrangements. Producer Milt Gabler, who had previously worked with Jordan, applied similar production techniques to Haley’s recordings, helping to craft a sound that was both familiar and fresh to 1950s audiences.
The band’s instrumental setup reflected this hybrid style. In addition to country instruments like steel guitar, the group included drums and saxophone, elements associated with R&B and jump blues. This blend of styles allowed Haley and his Comets to reach audiences across the three major music markets—country, R&B, and pop—mirroring the genre-blurring ethos of early rock and roll itself.
Following the success of “Rock Around the Clock,” Haley released several more hits, including “Dim, Dim the Lights” (1955), one of the first so-called "white" records to appear on the R&B charts, as well as “See You Later, Alligator” and “Corrine, Corrina.” He also starred in the 1956 film Rock Around the Clock, one of the earliest examples of the teen rock musical and a harbinger of future pop-culture synergies between music and cinema.
However, despite his contributions to the genre, Haley's popularity began to wane by the late 1950s. At nearly 40 years old, with a receding hairline and a clean-cut image, Haley lacked the rebellious charisma needed to fully embody rock and roll’s emerging youth culture. While he helped break down barriers between musical genres and racial markets, he ultimately could not serve as the long-term face of the rock revolution. That role would soon be filled by a younger, more electrifying performer: Elvis Presley, whose rise in the mid-1950s shifted the center of rock and roll’s energy and appeal.