I see a lot of critics write about how Bill Haley stole his entire style from blues players. If you want to go that route, I'd say all of rock and roll is inextricably based off of blues music and that blaming Haley for it is the pioneer getting the arrow in the back.

Elvis and Buddy Holly quickly stole his thunder, yes. Chuck Berry was cooler. (Well, until all of that peeing on people business.) Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis were wilder. And getting the guy from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones to play Haley in that Shake, Rattle & Roll TV movie was a real crime against common decency.

But above it all, I think Bill Haley and all of his prime-era Comets stuff still holds up really well. I like his stuff more than any of those aforementioned guys (except maybe for Holly, sometimes). I hear that Haley's pre-rock C&W stuff with the Saddlemen was interesting too.

Not crap.

Releasing your first record a few months before Elvis Presley and Johnny Burnette released theirs doesnt make you a pioneer. It makes you the first to try to cash in on a burgeoning trend.

Anyway, I dont need no stinkin explanations of why he's important. All I need to do is listen to the records.

And look at that goofy haircut.



1, 2, 3 O'CRAP

Buddy Holly: not crap
Jerry Lee Lewis: not crap
Little Richard, Chuck Berry, all them guys: not crap

As a thought experiment, just imagine any of these guys doing "Rock around the Clock", and compare it to Haley´s actual version.

Bill Haley: crap