Order Number: ISBN 978-3-00-076086-0
Art: Book & CD (English edition) Postage 17 Euros
Label: Hydra
Bill Haley shook the musical world with his songs when the term rock & roll did not yet officially exist. With "Rock Around The Clock" in 1954, he not only sang the anthem of this new music genre, but also the best-selling rock song of all time to this day. Bill Haley And His Comets were the most successful rock & roll band in the world for half a decade.
He was also the first to bring this new music across the ocean to Europe, on record, on film and live. His hotly anticipated two-month European tour in 1958 caused a sensation in countries like Germany, France, Belgium, Austria, Italy, etc. The worldwide headlines about the riots, made the touring business with this music almost come to a standstill for years. Only with the Beatles, who were also Bill Haley fans, things got better again. Even in later decades, there were hardly any concerts where hundreds of police, water cannons and tear gas bombs were used. Despite the opposition of the parents' generation, the establishment and politics, Bill Haley paved the way for this music, which today is an integral part of pop culture.
The book traces in detail, on the basis of the Bill Haley European tour in 1958, what life was like "on the road" in the early years of rock music and how the post-war youth, often considered hoodlums, tried to break free from the constraints of society and parents and how their awkward reactions fueled the whole thing.
In addition to hundreds of mostly unpublished photos and documents, contemporary witnesses and musicians also have their say. One chapter is devoted extensively to the ambivalent relationship between Bill Haley and Elvis, who began as an unnamed musician in Haley's support act, only to eventually knock him off his throne.
The enclosed CD includes:
TV Show BRT, Bruxelles
1 The Saints Rock And Roll
2 Shake, Rattle And Roll
3 Rudy´s Rock (instrumental)
4 Giddy Up A Ding Dong (vocal Al Pompilli)
5 Tequila (instrumental)
6 Rock The Joint (vocal Joe Olivier)
7 See You Later, Alligator
8 Rock Around The Clock
9 Mambo Rock
German Newsweek October / November 1958
10 The Saints Rock And Roll
11 Corrine, Corrina
12 Razzle Dazzle
13 Rip It Up (Fragment)
Movie: Hier bin ich – hier bleib ich November 12, 1958
14 Vive La Rock And Roll (duett Caterina Valente)
15 Hot Dog Buddy Buddy
LP Rockin Around The World (Decca Records DL 8692)
16 Pretty Alouette
17 Piccadilly Rock
18 Rockin´ Rollin´ Schnitzelbank
19 Vive La Rock And Roll
20 Come Rock With Me
21 Wooden Shoe Rock
22 Me Rock A Hula
23 Oriental Rock
24 Rockin´ Matilda
25 El Rocko
26 Rockin´ Rita
27 Jamaica D.J. (vocal Billy Williams
