YMMV / Bill Haley & His Comets

• Awesome Music: "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" (obviously), "See You Later Alligator," "Shake, Rattle & Roll," and "Razzle Dazzle" are all definite classics of the rockabilly heyday; it's almost impossible not to tap a toe or move something while they're playing. "Rock Around The Clock" is a song so good, you could almost divide the 20th century between what happened before and after it became a hit. Also, "Skinny Minnie," which is atypical of Haley's style.
• Epic Riff: "Skinny Minnie" has a particularly intense, rapid-fire riff that sounds kind of Dick Dale-ish.
• Genre Turning Point: Rock and roll, in some form or another, under one name or another, had existed for years before the spring of 1955. There had been hit records in the genre for several years prior to 1955. But it was the release of "Rock Around the Clock" that blasted the genre into the mainstream and opened the floodgates.
• Memetic Hair: Bill Haley's kiss curl hairstyle became a trend among men in the 1950s, and to this day all one needs is a closeup of the curl to identify Haley. Many rockabilly artists have also adopted the curl.
• Misattributed Song:
  • Country/folk music composer Bill Halley was active in the 1920-1930s and composed a number of songs that are still performed today, most notably "Miss the Mississippi and You". It is commonplace (especially on YouTube) for one L in his surname to be dropped and the song erroneously attributed to Bill HALEY. It doesn't help that Haley's name is also frequently misspelled as Halley.
  • YouTube is also prone to people failing the spot check and misattributing recordings by Buddy Holly to Bill Haley, and vice-versa.
• Signature Song: Haley could've retired right after "Rock Around The Clock" and he'd still be set for life.

---