Editing Rock Around the Clock (section)

==Slow road to classic hit status==
As Gabler intended, "Rock Around the Clock" was first issued in May 1954 as a [[B-side]] to "Thirteen Women (and Only One Man in Town)".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.45cat.com/record/929124|title=45cat - Bill Haley And His Comets - Thirteen Women (And Only One Man In Town) / (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock - Decca - USA - 9-29124|work=45cat}}</ref> While the song did make the American ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]'' music charts (contrary to popular opinion that it was a flop), it was considered a commercial disappointment. It was not until 1955, when "Rock Around the Clock" was used under the opening credits and four additional times in the film ''[[Blackboard Jungle]]'',<ref name=pc5>{{Gilliland |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19751/m1/ |title=Show 5 - Hail, Hail, Rock 'n' Roll: The rock revolution gets underway. [Part 1] }}</ref> that the song truly took off.

Many versions of the story behind how "Rock Around the Clock" was chosen for ''Blackboard Jungle'' circulated over the years. Recent research, however, reveals that the song was chosen from the collection of young [[Peter Ford (actor)|Peter Ford]], the son of ''Blackboard Jungle'' star [[Glenn Ford]] and dancer [[Eleanor Powell]]. The producers were looking for a song to represent the type of music the youth of 1955 were listening to. The elder Ford borrowed several records from his son, one of which was Haley's "Rock Around the Clock".{{sfn|Dawson|2005|p=62}} In 2004, the song finished at #50 in [[AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Songs]] survey of top tunes in American cinema.

On July 9, 1955 "Rock Around the Clock" became the first rock and roll recording to hit the top of ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'''s Pop charts, a feat it repeated on charts around the world.{{sfn|Dawson|2005}} The song stayed at this place for eight weeks. The record was also no.1 for seven weeks on the ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]'' pop singles chart in 1955. The Bill Haley version also hit number three on the R&B charts.<ref>{{cite book |title= Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin|isbn=978-0898201604|page=242}}</ref> ''Billboard'' ranked it as the [[Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1955|No. 2 song for 1955]], behind [[Perez Prado]]'s "[[Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)]]".

In the UK, Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" was released on Brunswick Records (and Germany as well), reaching number 17 on the [[UK Singles Chart]] in January 1955, four months before it first entered the US pop charts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.45cat.com/record/05338|title=45cat - Bill Haley And His Comets - Shake, Rattle And Roll / A.B.C. Boogie - Brunswick - UK - 05338|website=45cat.com|access-date=2016-10-10}}</ref> The song re-entered the UK chart to reach number one in November 1955 for three weeks, and after a three-week break returned there for a further two weeks in January 1956.<ref name="500 Number One Hits">{{cite book
| first= Jo
| last= Rice
| year= 1982
| title= The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits
| edition= 1st
| publisher= Guinness Superlatives Ltd 
| location= Enfield, Middlesex, England
| page= 21
| isbn= 0-85112-250-7}}</ref> It re-entered the charts again in September 1956, reaching number 5. The song was re-issued in 1968, when it made number 20, and again in 1974, when it reached number 12. The song's original release saw it become the UK's first million selling single and it went on to sell over 1.4 million copies in total.<ref name="offchartco">{{cite book| title = The Million Sellers: The UK's Greatest Hits | publisher = [[Omnibus Press]] |edition = First | date = 2012| location=London, England| page = 9| isbn = 978-1-78038-718-5 }}</ref>

The band performed the song on the May 31, 1955 episode of Texaco Star Theater hosted by Milton Berle in an a cappella and lip-synched versions.<ref>"They go on the Milton Berle Show, May 31" Music as Written. Billboard Jun 4, 1955 page 22</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCuZvf4rvVQ | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/KCuZvf4rvVQ| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=Bill Haley & His Comets - Rock Around The Clock Milton Berle Show 1956 |publisher=[[YouTube]] |date=June 5, 1956 |access-date=October 10, 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref> On August 7, 1955, the band performed the song on ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]'', hosted by [[Ed Sullivan]].

On the heels of the song breaking into the Top 20 in the UK in 1968, Decca began plugging the single in the US, where it briefly re-entered the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' charts in June 1968, peaking at #118.

"Rock Around the Clock" became wildly popular with teenagers around the world. The single, released by independent label [[Festival Records (Australia)|Festival Records]] in Australia, was the biggest-selling recording in the country at the time. [[Columbia Pictures]] cashed in on the new craze by hiring Haley and his band to star in two movies, ''[[Rock Around the Clock (film)|Rock Around the Clock]]'' (1956) and ''[[Don't Knock the Rock]]'' (1957). In 1957, Haley toured Europe, bringing rock 'n' roll to that continent for the first time.

{{Blockquote| 'It's very hard to tell what made me first decide to play the guitar. ''Rock Around the Clock'' by Bill Haley came out when I was ten, and that probably had something to do with it.' | [[David Gilmour]], from [[Pink Floyd]]|<ref>{{cite web| title=Shades of Pink – The Definitive Pink Floyd Profile| work=The Source Radio Show| first=Charlie|last=Kendall| url=http://www.pinkfloydfan.net/t1483-gilmour-waters-mason-wright-shades.html| year=1984| access-date=July 27, 2011| url-status=usurped| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927080840/http://www.pinkfloydfan.net/t1483-gilmour-waters-mason-wright-shades.html| archive-date=September 27, 2012| df=mdy-all}}</ref>}}

In 1964, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded a sequel song entitled "Dance Around the Clock". Haley actually recorded this song on five occasions (a [[Spanish-language]] version for [[Orfeón]] of [[Mexico City]] and an English version for the US label [[Newtown Records]] (both in 1964), two live versions for [[Buddah Records]] recorded in New York in 1969 (neither of which were released for 25 years), and once more in [[Nashville, Tennessee]] for the [[Sweden|Swedish]] [[Sonet Records]] label in 1970). Despite these efforts, the song was not a commercial success.

Haley would re-record "Rock Around the Clock" many times over the years (even scoring a substantial hit with a version recorded for [[Sonet Records]] in 1968), but never recaptured the magic. In 1974, the original version of the song returned to the American charts when it was used as the theme for the movie ''[[American Graffiti]]'' and a re-recorded version by Haley was used as the opening theme for the TV series ''[[Happy Days]]'' during its first two seasons. In the UK, the song again reached the top 20 and as of 2013 remains the only non-Christmas single to have done so on five separate occasions.<ref name="offchartco" /> The original version was also featured in the 1978 film ''[[Superman (1978 film)|Superman]]'', heard playing on a car radio just prior to [[Glenn Ford]]'s final scene in the film; Ford, as noted earlier, had starred in ''Blackboard Jungle''. In 1981, about a year before Haley's death, a portion of the 1954 recording was featured in the opening credits of Season 6 of ''[[Austin City Limits]]''.

During the 1970s, Haley shortened his performances of "Rock Around the Clock", dropping one verse and the second instrumental break from most performances. However, his last known recorded performance of the song, at a November 1979 [[Royal Variety Performance|command performance]] for [[Queen Elizabeth II]], was a complete version.

Following Haley's death in February 1981, a number of major tributes involving "Rock Around the Clock" occurred. That fall, a TV special marking the 30th anniversary of ''[[American Bandstand]]'' saw an all-star "supergroup" perform the song (accompanied by 1950s-era footage of Haley and the Comets). In 1982, Haley's original recording was given the [[Grammy Hall of Fame Award]]. An excerpt from the recording was included in "Haley's Golden Medley", a hastily compiled single in the "[[Stars on 45]]" mold which made the UK record charts in 1982, reaching number 50. In 1989, Haley's original Decca recording was incorporated into the "dance mix" single "[[Swing The Mood]]", credited to [[Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers]], but legal considerations forced the album version to substitute a patchwork of re-recordings from the 1950s and 1960s (in Haley's case, a 1968 version of "Rock Around the Clock" recorded for Sonet Records). Since "Swing the Mood" was still on the sales charts going into 1990, it meant that Haley's "Rock Around the Clock", in one way or another, appeared on UK or US sales charts in five consecutive decades.

"Rock Around the Clock" is often cited as the biggest-selling vinyl rock and roll single of all time. The exact number of copies sold has never been audited; however, a figure of at least 25 million was cited by the ''[[Guinness World Records|Guinness Book of World Records]]'' in its category "Phonograph records: Biggest Sellers" from the early 1970s until the 1990s, when the advent of compact discs led to Guinness discontinuing the category. Guinness consistently listed "Rock Around the Clock" as having the highest claim of any pop music recording, coming second in sales only to [[Bing Crosby]]'s 1942 recording of "[[White Christmas (song)|White Christmas]]", which was also listed as having sold 25 million copies. Haley's version alone is estimated to have sold 15 million copies, with a total of 30 million copies counting all versions.<ref>{{cite book|title=Understanding Popular Music|last=Shuker|first=Roy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hIEJyToJYl0C&q=%22rock+around+the+clock%22+%2215+million%22|quote=The record was a hit in America, then worldwide; eventually selling 15 million copies.|page=220|publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=Abingdon, England|year=2013|isbn=9781134564798|access-date=October 3, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock|last=Barnett|first=David C.|url=https://www.npr.org/2000/07/01/1076106/rock-around-the-clock|quote=Since its release more than 40 years ago, "Rock Around the Clock" has sold over 25 million copies in over 30 languages.|work=[[NPR]]|date=2000-07-01|access-date=2020-10-03}}</ref> A frequently used piece of promotion regarding the song is that it is said to be playing somewhere in the world every minute of the day.