The "I'm Older Than Rock 'N Roll!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading my latest edition of "The Saturday Evening Post," which is one of my all-time favorite magazines.  Came across a story titled "WHO PUT THE BOMP (IN THE BOMP-BAH-BOMP-BAH-BOMP)?  Also had a sub-title of 70+ YEARS OF ROCK 'N' ROLL!   Bill Haley & his Comets' "Rock Around the clock" raised the curtain on the age of Rock 'N' Roll and gave my parents, as well as all of my friends' parents, a big pain in the butt.  Haley's new song and dance style created a pulsating rhythm that created an entire new dance style...The jitterbug!  "Rock Around the Clock" was said to be America's first rock 'n' roll song.  Took me a year or so to get to know how to do the jitterbug, but once I had developed my own style, nothing could stop me.  Only problem was there was only one girl in my high school class who danced like me.  Pat J. was a bit shorter than I was, but we had a good time dancing the jitterbug together while students in 9th grade.  Then, wouldn't you know it, she up and found a new boyfriend and I had to give up the jitterbug, since my next girlfriend, a neighborhood girl I had known for a long time, didn't like to go dancing.  Well, when rock 'n' roll first hit the airwaves, parents all over the United States were going nuts.  I remember my mom telling me I can't dance that "dirty" dance, but she never made me turn the TV off when Bandstand came on every afternoon after school left out.  She actually sat and watched...to make sure it was OK for me to watch.  I believe she enjoyed the dancing just as much, if not more, than I did.  Well, Bill Haley and His Comets,' which was founded in 1952, continued until Haley's death in 1981.  From late 1954 to late 1956, the group placed nine singles in the Top 20, one of those a number one and three more in the Top Ten.  The single, "Rock Around the Clock" became the biggest selling rock and roll single in the history of the genre and retained that position for some years.  Before Bill Haley began with Rock, he had been a country music performer.  His group also featured a few famous musicians, but Bill remained the star.  Many consider Bill Haley & his Comets' to be as revolutionary in there time as the Beatles were a decade later.  The group was considered to be at the forefront of Rock 'N' Roll during the genre's formative years being followed in the mid-1950s by more risqué acts such as Elvis Presley and Little Richard.  With the arrival of these two gentlemen, Haley declined in popularity.  He and his group remained popular in Europe and eventually had a comeback as a nostalgia act in the 1970s, along with many of his contemporaries.  In the mid-1940s, Bill Haley performed with the Down Homers and formed a group called the Four Aces of Western Swing.  The group that eventually became the Comets initially formed as "Bill Haley and the Saddlemen" and performed mostly country and western songs.  At the time, Haley was considered one of the top cowboy yodelers in America.  Many Saddlemen recordings were not released until the 1970s and 1980s with songs such as "Rose of My Heart" and "Yodel Your Blues Away."  Ever hear of either one of those songs?  At the time the group had a pianist, accordion player and steel guitarist.  Haley began his rock and roll career with what is now recognized as a rockabilly style in a cover of "Rocket 88" recorded for the Philadelphia Holiday Record label in 1951.  That was followed in 1952 by a rhythm and blues song called "Rock the Joint".  Halley knew it was time for a new name for his musical style.  A friend suggested he call the band the Comets and it was adopted in the fall of 1952.  The original members were Haley, Johnny Grande, Bill Williamson and Marshall Lytle.  Haley gained his first national success with an original song called "Crazy Man, Crazy."  Remember that...since I don't!  It was really a blend of R&B, western and pop music, but was pushed as the first ever "Rock 'n' Roll" record.  It was said to have been the first Rock 'n' Roll recording to be played on national television when it was heard on Omnibus in 1953.  The group changed and added a few musicians until on April 12, 1954 the group came out with "Rock Around the Clock" which would become Haley's biggest hit and one of the most important records in Rock 'n' Roll history.  "Shake, Rattle and Roll" followed in 1954, but never gained the same amount of fame as did "Rock Around the clock" did.  It was Haley's first gold record.  Elvis actually ended up recording it in 1956, using Haley's arrangement.  In 1955 Haley's band members quit the Comets in a salary dispute and formed their own group, so Haley hired several new musicians to take their place.  Other hits followed such as "See You Later, Alligator", "Don't Knock the Rock", "Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie", "Rudy's Rock" and "Skinny Minnie."   It was on the Milton Berle show the night of May 31, 1955 that Bill Haley and the Comets performed "Rock Around the Clock".  Berle predicted that the song would go to Number 1, calling the band "A group of entertainers who are going right to the top."  This was one fo the earliest nationally televised performances by a rock 'N' roll band and provided the new musical genre a much wider audience.  I can still see my Mom and Dad watching and shaking their heads in pain.  Bill Haley and the Comets were the first rock 'N' roll performers to appear on the CBS television musical variety program "The Ed Sullivan Show on August 7, 1955.  Bill Haley and the Comets appeared on American Bandstand hosted by Dick Clark on ABC television twice in 1957.  I can still remember most of those shows.  Then, the band's popularity began to go downhill after sexier and wilder act such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard began to dominate the record charts.  Finally, "Skinny Minnie" hit the charts in 1958, but Bill Haley had little success after that.  Haley and a few of his musicians did form another group called "The Kingsmen" and had a hit titled "Weekend".  (note) This is not the same group that sang "Louid, Louie).  Haley and his group did tour the United Kingdom and Australia in 1957, but his popularity faded quickly after that with new and younger musicians taking over from him.  But, I'll always remember that first time I saw him on TV!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.