Juri wrote:
"Yes, but Bill Haley and his Comets aren't actually very
hardboiled. They are, well, more cozy than hardboiled... at
least to my mind."
I think part of this is that the song has become divorced
from time and setting. Innocuous enough as the theme to Happy
Days, the inclusion of
"(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock" in Blackboard Jungle
was quite controversial -- and the only rock 'n' roll in the
film. Director Richard Brooks wanted to open with one song to
set the image of
"troublesome youth." So he chose this year-old song by Bill
Haley and the Comets. The studio bought unlimited use of the
song in that picture for $5000. For just $2500 more they
could have owned the song outright, but saw no need to,
figuring there would be no further profits from it.
The song went to number one.
It also caused riots, full-fledged riots, when cops were
called to force dancing kids in the audience back into their
seats. It also sparked a riot at Princeton University on May
17,1955, when numerous students started playing the song out
their dorm windows, gathered in the quad, blocked streets,
opened fire hydrants, etc. Four students were expelled, 30
were disciplined.
It should also be pointed out that while most found the
movie, and book before it, controversial for its depiction of
out-of-control youth and juvenile delinquency (so troubling
that the studio felt they had to put a disclaimer at the
beginning of the movie), it was banned through much of the
south simply for its depiction of an integrated high
school.
Mark
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