As far as I'm concerned this movie gave birth to rock and roll. I remember sitting in the theatre at age fifteen; the lights went down and suddenly this incredible music filled the theatre. It was electrifying. Any other really old guys and gals have a similar experience?
shareI had heard that this movie was the first to use a rock-n-roll "soundtrack."
However it's just the one song at the beginning and the end! I was very suprised to discover that. I didn't see it way back when. I saw it yesterday so maybe it had a different effect then. I was a bit disappointed after much being made of the rock.
Marianne
I had known Bill Haley for quite awhile by the time this movie came out. I was a kid at the time, and when I sat in the theater and the music started I was amazed. I could not believe my ears, Bill Haley and the Comets from Chester, Pennsylvania had made it all the way to Hollywood,, and around the world on the rock and roll super-highway. By the way Vic Morrow was the best in this movie, in my opinion he was always better than James Dean when it came to capturing a character such as a tough minded sulking troubled teenager of the fifties.
sharewhile listening to the commentary when watching the DVD, Jamie Farr (then Jameel Farrah in the credits) and Peter Ford were talking about how, when the film started and ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK blasted into the theatre, the whole crowd got up and started dancing! It created such a kafuffle that many theaters cut the sound from the beginning of the flick sso as to avoid any "outbursts" - party poopers, huh? LOL!!!
http://www.t-paul.com
I saw the movie when it came out. I was 5!! My older cousins took me along. I remember there were only kids - teenagers- and they got up and danced in the aisles to the opening . I stood on my chair to see everything. This was at a palacial theater called the Stanley in Jersey City. It's still there. Oddly enough its a Jehovah Witness hall now.
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<gave birth to rock n roll?? i truely doubt having a rock n roll song open and close a film really gives birth to a entire genre of music, unless that was like the first time they used rock n roll music in films...or one of the first.>
It says this in the trivia section for this film:
This film launched the Rock and Roll era by using "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets as its theme music. The song was chosen for the theme after it was heard among records owned by Peter Ford, the son of the film's star, Glenn Ford. For years it was thought the producer's daughter had discovered the song, but this has since been proven incorrect. "Rock Around the Clock" went to No. 1 around the world and eventually sold an estimated 25 million copies.
So exposure in a hit movie was a great way to extend the new genre of rock 'n roll music to the general public of the mid 1950s. So it's safe to say it led the way. The fact that Rock Around the Clock was also very catchy & dancable didn't hurt either.
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Rock 'n' roll? I was a teen then. Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino--that was rock 'n' roll. Bill Haley and His Comets were pop fodder, just a little above Pat Boone and Tommy Sands.
Kenneth Rorie
I think you're underrating Haley, krorie, whose recording career preceded those of all you mention but Domino. When "Rock Around the Clock" came out in 1954, there wasn't that much like it, save Haley's own earlier recordings. Haley had already been one of the very few white artists to make the R&B charts, yet his music sounded a little different from most other R&B songs, and notably was dominated by guitar and drums.
In any case, while it's overstating things to say that one song or one artist gave birth to rock and roll (Domino, for one, certainly helped), "Rock Around the Clock" was the first rock 'n' roll song to top the Billboard charts, and this was because of the movie. The song had already been released in 1954 and become a mild hit, but its use in The Blackboard Jungle put it over the top the next year. It may be that Elvis and Chuck Berry and Little Richard would have been too powerful to ignore in any case, but it may also be that this song being used in this movie allowed rock and roll to become such a commercial force that within three or four years the biggests stars of the previous decade (Eddy Fisher, Patti Page, etc.) had virtually become oldies acts.
You bring out some very good points for your views and I tend to agree to some extent with them. Much depends on how rock 'n' roll music is defined. Certainly, Bill Haley's music was different and much more upbeat than that of such pop singers as Eddie Fisher and Patti Page, but was it really rock 'n' roll as performed by Little Richard, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis among others or was it more of a transitional music from crooning and big band pop to rock 'n' roll? Fats Domino claimed that his music hadn't changed from the time it was called rhythm and blues until it came to be termed rock 'n' roll, but it truth there was a difference. Listen to his early recordings and compare them with his later recordings. The same with Bill Haley. Compare his "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" with Joe Turner's version or Elvis' version. I'm not disparaging Bill Haley and his Comets. They released some great recordings and as you maintain helped popularize rock 'n' roll and make it more acceptable for older listeners. You do make a good case for your side of the story. Thanks for your response.
Kenneth Rorie
Haley's background was western swing and rockabilly which doesn't really merit singling him out as a rock'n'roll traitor when he obviously belonged to the tradition that assimilated and filtered black music for almost a couple of decades. Rock'n'roll was a social phenomenon; all those musical elements that made it have been around in various mix and match editions previous to it.
And despite of Haley having a reputation for being a polished copycat I must say that hearing the tune in its historical context made it sound incredibly exciting and fresh again. Amazing, considering how cliched it became since. So urgent and just perfect in capturing the disgruntled, hormone overloaded teen revolution.
man that must of been one great experience to hear a song like that for the first time ever. especially as the opening to a pretty good flick. they sure dont make em like this anymore...
shareRight on!
shareElvis Presley created rock and roll.
shareWhat about all the (more talented) black performers who preceded Elvis? Elvis did not create rock and roll - he did make it into a performance (rather than music) act and had an enormous impact on creating its popularity.
share"Elvis Presley created rock and roll."
Actually, Glenn Miller did. He crossed that "line" with boogie and the rest followed. That's why, when dj's play a montage of songs from very early rock & roll, they end with Glenn Miller. He began it with the boogie. When he did, alot of people were outraged and walked out on his shows. Truth.
Yes, I saw it at the Forum, Fulham Road in London. It was the first movie I saw where couples got up and jived (danced) in the aisles to the opening credits!
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I havnt seen this buy my Dad was going on about the rock and roll in it! LOL!
They were just playing an American Top 40 from 1970 and Casey Kasem was on there talking about how this film launched this song which launched rock and roll. The AT40 Episode is from the week in 1970 thats the same as the week this hit #1 in 1955
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