Rock Around the Clock

Sonny Dae and His Knights (1954). Excerpt from "The 50 Songs that Gave Birth to Rock and Roll"

In 1953, songwriter Max Freedman scribed a 12-bar blues rocker alongside music publisher and promoter James E. Myers, merging the cadences of Hank Williams’s “Move It On Over” with a familiar nursery rhyme.

In doing so, they authored what would ultimately become the first rock and roll #1 in history. Its path there would have a few twists and turns, though. The first twist passed through Richmond, Virginia, where an Italian-American singer named Sonny Dae fronted a novelty combo called the Knights.

Sonny Dae and His Knights were a decidedly small-time act, most notable at that time for their regular appearances on the Old Dominion Barn Dance radio show—a far cry from the Grand Ole Opry. Though Myers did work closely with a client named Bill Haley, a conflict with the bandleader’s record label prevented the two from collaborating on “Rock Around the Clock.”

Thus, Myers trucked Sonny Dae and His Knights into a studio in Philadelphia to cut this comparatively nastier version of “Rock Around the Clock.” (Note: This is the only song in our account that was unavailable for inclusion in our Spotify playlist. A YouTube video is included here below).

Sonny Dae’s take is tight, lean, and just a few shades more menacing than the version that would change the world. A minimal jump blues boogie with rumbling piano leads and a cymbal-riding clatter, this original version barely notched on the R&B charts.

It did, however, inform Bill Haley’s recording a year later. Though recorded in 1954 and released as a B-Side with minimal initial impact, Bill Haley & His Comets’ “(We’re Gonna) Rock around the Clock” was selected to accompany the opening credits of Blackboard Jungle, the following year.

This “teenage problem film”—exploring the burgeoning youth culture and its rock and roll soundtrack—made Haley’s song a #1 hit on the Pop charts, the first rock and roll song to accomplish this feat.

“(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock” held the top spot on the charts for seven weeks and ranked as Billboard’s second-biggest song in 1955. This seems like a perfect place to leave you, because Bill Haley’s occupation of the top pop spot announced rock and roll’s future dominance, a position it would hold for much of the later 20th Century..

At the end of 1955, Bill Haley’s smash hit was the only rock and roll song in the Billboard’s Top 30. By the end of 1956, Elvis Presley would own five of the top 15 slots.

See the full list of 50 Songs that Gave Birth to Rock and Roll