1953
CRAZY MAN CRAZY * BILL HALEY WITH HALEY'S COMETS * ESSEX 321 * USA
At least two firsts are ascribed to Crazy Man, Crazy it is cited as being the first recognized Rock and Roll record in the charts, and the first Rock and Roll recording to be played on American national television. Bill Haley started his recording career in 1959 as Bill Haley and the Saddlemen, recording Country and Western, it was his cover of Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston's Rocket 88 in 1951, which kick-started his Rock and Roll career. He followed Rocket 88 with a cover of Jimmy Preston's Rock The Joint, by which time Rock and Roll was off and there was to be no turning back. After the success of these covers it was decided that Haley's backing group had to have a different name, and when the above Crazy Man, Crazy, written by Haley, and Marshall Lytle, the Comets bass player, they were known as the more trendy Comets (in the 1950s anything out of space was really in [I wonder why!]). Crazy Man, Crazy was the groups first British release, issued as a 78 RPM only on the London label # L 1190.