Bill Haley & His Comets was one of the earliest acts to be called Rock & Roll, a term used for boogie-woogie bands marketed to white teenagers directly. Their first hit was in 1953 with Crazy Man, Crazy!, the same year Elvis Presley recorded his first single, That’s All Right.

The next year, Rock Around the Clock became the biggest hit of their career, with a guitar solo that became the Stairway to Heaven of kids trying to show off their six-string chops.

He followed it up with a cover of a boogie-woogie hit, Shake, Rattle, and Roll by Big Joe Turner, but with some of the best, naughtiest lyrics removed.

As newer bands overtook the Comets in the late fifties, their pop success waned, but they continued to make comebacks in nostalgia performance popularity for decades.