On This Day (May 7, 1955) : Bill Haley & His Comets Released ‘Rock Around The Clock’.
By Verity Vincent
Originally released in the May of 1954, ‘Rock Around the Clock’ failed to make the anticipated impact on the music industry. As a B side to ‘Thirteen Women (and Only One Man in Town)’, the track did make the U.S Billboard charts, but it was the film ‘Blackboard Jungle’ that catapulted the song in 1955.
Starring Sidney Poitier, Anne Francis and Glenn Ford, the movie was full of teenage angst, hot off the heels of ‘Rebel Without a Cause’. ‘Rock Around the Clock’ featured in the opening credits which cemented the song as an anthem for the rebellious youth of the mid-fifties, and bought Rock n Roll into mainstream culture around the world.
Written by Max Freedman and James Myers, the song sits at a very modest 158 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
