Feb 5, 1957:
The American Invasion begins, as Bill Haley and the Comets storm Britain
Back home in the United States, Bill Haley and the Comets were already passé. Their role in launching the rock-and-roll revolution was unquestioned, but it had been almost two years since "Rock Around the Clock" exploded on the scene, and in the meantime, a certain young man from Memphis had come along and changed the rules of the game. Elvis Presley, with his good looks and world-altering charisma, had made it nearly impossible for a slightly paunchy 30-year-old like Bill Haley to compete in the youth market in the United States. But Bill Haley and the Comets weren't in the United States on this day in 1957*they were in England, disembarking from the Queen Elizabeth at Southampton and preparing to launch the first European tour ever by a major American rock-and-roll act.
The birth of rock 'n' roll for me?" said Pete Townshend several decades later, "Seeing Bill Haley and The Comets....God, that band swung!"
Bill Haley and the Comets may have aged out of rock-and-roll stardom back home, but they were greeted as heroes on this day in 1957 by a nation where rock and roll was just starting to explode.
That is a "Rockin Around the Clock" bump!
05-Feb-2012 13:20:05
