ROCK OF AGES
| Published date | 02 April 2024 |
| Publication title | Evening Chronicle |
The track, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this month, was the first record to sell a million copies in Britain alone and it has featured in 14 films and been recorded in 35 languages.
It can be heard in everything from 1973 movie American Graffiti by Star Wars director George Lucas and animated TV series Family Guy to BBC drama Ballykissangel.
It was also the original theme tune to US comedy series Happy Days starring Henry Winkler as the Fonz when the sitcom began in 1974.
Rock Around The Clock was recorded by Bill Haley and The Comets in New York on April 12, 1954, at the Pythian Temple Studio. It became the anthem of the new rock 'n' roll music genre. Before Elvis Presley was topping the charts with Heartbreak Hotel, Bill was leading the rock revolution.
He and The Comets also appeared in the 1956 movie Rock Around The
Clock about an orchestra manager discovering what was replacing big band music.
The movie's publicity proclaimed "The Music. The Dancing. Rock 'n' Roll at its beginning" and Queen Elizabeth requested a copy of the film to be shown at Buckingham Palace.
The first full-length rock 'n' roll movie also featured music group The Platters, but there was no doubt Bill Haley was the film's big star singing, "Oh, Strauss discovered waltzes, the Handy found the blues, then Haley came along with a rocking song".
He went on to explain "R is all the rock, here's the band, it a-moving, O more than act, it's a go-go, grooving, C what I mean is a heart action, K like a kiss it's a cool attraction. Ooh, it'll getcha getcha, I gonna betcha, R-O-C-K, Rock!"
When the movie had UK teens up and dancing, one theatre manager in London stopped the film and appealed to them to return to their seats.
Some small towns even banned the film and the Rank Organisation restricted screenings.
The Hollywood Reporter also said teenagers in Norway stormed through the streets of Oslo after the film's first showings shouting "more rock!".
BRIT fans the
It is said Bill and the entire band were paid $40,000 for playing nine songs in the movie and the success of the film led to Don't Knock The Rock featuring both Bill and Little Richard in a tale about a DJ trying to show parents that listening to rock 'n' roll would not turn their children in juvenile delinquents. Posters announced "Rock 'n' Roll Will Save...
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