Max Picks …songs from 1955

I want to start something called “Max Picks” and go through every year from 1955 to around 1990 or so. Right now I’ll try to get these in on Wednesday after Star Trek. When Star Trek ends on August 26th I might move it to the weekends. I will try to make each of these short and sweet. This post will hopefully be the longest one I write only because of telling you about it. I will pick 5 songs out of each year…now of course I’m breaking my rule in the first one! You will see why.

I won’t just pick hits as we go along. In the 80s there will be some “alternative” music and I will try to mix it up. The reason I am starting in 1955? The first song below is the reason. It helped jumpstart Rock and Roll.

1955

Ok, let’s get this rolling. The huge hit this year? The one you will know later on in Happy Days. Bill Haley and His Comets Rock Around The Clock. It was one of the most important rock songs of all time. This one was huge in America and it popped into the UK charts in 1955. Whether you are a rock fan, pop fan, heavy metal fan, or anything in between…1955 helped kick it all off.

Here…a middle age looking man takes the world by storm. The following year it would be in the movie of the same name featuring Bill and his Comets. Take it away big fellow. 

Mr. Chuck Berry also debuted with his first single…the classic Maybelline. The song was written by Chuck Berry and the song just flat out rocks. This song and its beat influenced young kids like Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and many more.

Now one of my favorites from the year and decade. The one and only Fats Domino Ain’t That A Shame. I love Cheap Tricks version but Fats is Fats…he was one of the most understated rockers of this decade. This song was written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew.

I could not have this without the Big E! Elvis Presley…I’m stuck between two songs to pick. Heartbreak Hotel and Mystery Train. So…on my first post in this…I’m going to pick both! This is the Elvis that I love… before the Army and Tom Parker took his soul away. Junior Parker wrote this song and the great Sam Phillips produced it. Heartbreak Hotel was written by Mae Boren Axton (Hoyts Mom!) and Tommy Durden. Tom Parker got Elvis’s name writing credits but he didn’t have anything to do with it but singing.

Since we have thrown in rockers…I thought I would try a ballad that’s been in a lot of movies and was huge at the time. The Penguins doing Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine) written by Curtis Williams, Gaynel Hodge, and Jesse Belvin.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

84 thoughts on “Max Picks …songs from 1955”

  1. Great new series! Awesome Max. I love the Cheap Trick version of Ain’t Thats A Shame as well as its so cool when the bass, guitars and drums build up the tune then playoff each other at the end of the song..
    Look forward to this dude….

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    1. Thanks man! It’s going to be fun to do to go through every year…I’m not sure when to stop but it will be sometime in the 90s.

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    1. Not counting the blues records and all of that…I would say the popularity of rock started here with Haley and Elvis…with Chuck Berry warming up in the bullpen.

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  6. Nice idea for a series! I’m looking forward to the coming posts… This was such a big year. Bill Haley may have had the biggest hit, but when you listen to it in comparison to ‘Maybelline’ it sounds so lightweight.

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    1. I think it will be fun. Heck…I just thought of something…I hope this isn’t too close to what you are doing…but I’m not going by charts believe me. In 1982 you will NOT see Men Without Hats lol.
      I just need to find an ending year…I’m thinking when Cobain passes.

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      2. Oh yea! Don’t you know! I’ll be picking things like The Replacements and REM around that time….I’m not going by charts….just what I like.

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      5. Oh no…I’m not going by the damn charts…in the eighties I would be sunk…no I’m not a journalist…I only write about what I like lol

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  11. I got a box set of all this old music when I was a kid. It was chock full of stuff that shaped a young CB’s love of rock n roll. A a whole I love it and as individual songs I love them. I’ll be watching and listening to what you have in store. Hail Hail.

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  12. Haley is from south Texas and started out as a country musician. Good that he made the switch to “the devils music” as our preacher used to call it. Poor Chuck, never learned to tune that guitar. Good post. I used to have some old Sun 45s from a garage sale but gave them away. Wish I still had them even though they were from folks I never heard of. I recently re-watched American Graffiti and that brought back the good ole days of Wolf Man Jack, cheap booze and hamburger joints.

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  14. Good start to this series! Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think of Fats as a rock ‘n’ roller. Maybe it’s just that he brought a healthy helping of New Orleans with him. His rock ‘n’ roll felt different. Whatever, he’s definitely one of its daddies…

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    1. Not really Vic…these are really easy. I’m not going to put the chart position…just what I like from that year…so they will be pretty easy to make. It’s picking the songs that are hard. So many good ones.

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  19. Cool! I feel like I’m not well schooled in the 1950s, but I know all these. I remember Paul Simon talking about how the oxymoron in Earth Angel impressed him as a youth.

    I wonder if it’s worth thinking about a more SEO-friendly title for this series?

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    1. I’m with you on this…I’m more than willing to change it…someone mentioned Kenny Rogers…and yea…it’s one of his songs. I just don’t know what to change it to.
      I thought about “the best of XXXX” or something like that but nothing sounded right.

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      2. You knw what I thought of?
        I changed the title to this one yesterday….”Max Picks…. The year XXXX”
        I thought of the Grateful Dead with their “Picks”

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  25. What a great concept. Somebody (with obvious good taste and musical history) picking his favorites (not chart toppers, but personal favorites) for the year.

    As noted in the comments, leaving stuff out is more of an issue than picking records to mention.

    And who can question these choices? All greats.

    Although I wonder why one of the commenters would differentiate the New Orleans feel and groove of Fats Domino from rock and roll. Interesting idea that I would immediate reject and then come back to ponder. But no, the music of New Orleans is an integral part of rock and roll.

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