Bill Haley: Rock Around the Clock (1954). By the time the country-and-western bandleader with the kiss-curl glued into place on his forehead had them rocking into the wee small hours, the popular music explosion was already in full swing, led by Elvis Presley with his recordings on the hillbilly Sun label. Jazz had equated music with rebellion, but the postwar generation came up with a considerably more explosive - and ultimately, considerably more profitable - combo: music and sex.