Bill Haley & His Comets

Bill Haley & His Comets were an American band that helped launch rock and roll as a distinct commercial genre in the early 1950s, bridging Western swing and boogie-woogie with the raw energy of rhythm and blues. Formed around bandleader Bill Haley, the group built its sound on a driving backbeat, slap bass, and Haley's affable vocal delivery, aimed squarely at the emerging teenage record-buying audience.

Their breakthrough came with «Rock Around the Clock», which became one of the defining anthems of the new genre after its use in the film Blackboard Jungle, introducing millions of young listeners to rock and roll and turning the song's guitar break into an aspirational riff for a generation of aspiring guitarists. They followed with a cleaned-up cover of Big Joe Turner's «Shake, Rattle and Roll», softening some of the original's lyrics for mainstream radio while keeping its rhythmic drive.

As younger, more provocative performers such as Elvis Presley and Little Richard rose to prominence later in the decade, the Comets' commercial dominance faded, but Haley remained a touring and recording act for decades, later enjoying a long afterlife through rock and roll revival shows and nostalgia tours that kept «Rock Around the Clock» in the public ear.