Other than die-hard fans and music journalists, few people would have recognized the name of Franny Beecher before stories surfaced Monday about his death at age 92. Beecher was the longtime lead guitarist of seminal rocker Bill Haleys band, the Comets.

Thats one reason that in 2012, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finally got around to formally acknowledging several of the bands without whom Haley and many other rock, pop and R&B stars previously inducted individually would have been solo acts stranded singing a cappella.

To complete the story on the early inductions of James Brown, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, Hank Ballard and Smokey Robinson, the hall welcomed the musicians who were crucial to the music they brought to the world: the Famous Flames, the Comets, the Crickets, the Blue Caps, the Midnighters and the Miracles. Coming up in April, the next group to be honored with the Rock halls award for musical excellence will be Bruce Springsteens longtime cohorts, the E Street Band.

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Some obituaries noted that Beecher actually wasnt the musician who came up with the incendiary guitar solo in Rock Around the Clock that helped create the template for several generations of rock guitar heroes who followed. That was session guitarist Danny Cedrone, who died in 1954, just a few weeks after recording what would be come one of the flashpoint songs in the birth of rock n roll.

Then Beecher joined the Comets, having honed his considerable chops playing with King of Swing Benny Goodman and with singer Buddy Greco.

Rock Around the Clock generated few ripples upon its original release in 1954, the B side of Haleys single Thirteen Women (And Only One Man in Town). But it exploded a year later when it was used during the opening of the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle.

The exuberant song, and its thinly veiled reference to all-night sex, not only tied in perfectly with the films theme of juvenile delinquency, but also gained considerable sonic impact when pumped through movie theater sound systems rather than the tiny speakers common to record players and radios of the time.

Beecher was the guitarist most young fans first saw when Haley went on tour after Rock Around the Clock hit the top of the Billboard singles chart, and he was the one who was with the group as its hit streak continued with Burn That Candle and See You Later Alligator.

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Appreciation: Franny Beecher, lead guitarist of Bill Haley's Comets