Six-Five Special Various Artists 1957, value £50

SIX-FIVE Special began in February 1957, writes MICHAEL BROOKS. It was broadcasted by the BBC on a Saturday night at five minutes past six just after the football results. It opened with a steam train steaming through the credits and ran for 55 minutes. It consisted of young hopefuls performing cover versions of established American hits; there was virtually no one in the UK who could write rock 'n' roll songs at that time let alone play the music. The programme went out live, in fact just about everything on TV went out live then, there was no facility for recording programmes. If during a televised show, drama or play, something untoward happened, the screen would blank and a technical fault would be announced. If an actor forgot his lines the sound would be cut.

Six-Five Special was hosted by radio DJ Pete Murray who opened each programme with the above headline. It was originally set to run for six weeks but because of its enormous popularity, ran well into 1958. It was the first programme of its kind. Rock 'n' roll already had a bad press. Following the release of the film Blackboard Jungle, it had led to seats being ripped out in some cinemas, there were fights in the streets and headlines in the newspapers announcing 'Rebels at the Gates.' When rock singer Tommy Steele was about to go on tour the newspapers had a field day, the headlines read: 'Lock Up your Daughters.' Tommy played 12 shows to 30,000 people. There was no violence, no one fell under the spell of what some termed 'Devil Music.'

Six-Five showed that young people could have a good time without causing any trouble and helped to make rock 'n' roll respectable. It introduced a new found market among teenagers to whom fashions and music became all important. Singers like Sinatra, Crosby, Laine and Como were no longer the flavour of the decade. The young Americans were on the way: Elvis Presley, Pat Boone, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Buddy Holly. Their music was travelling across the UK like an express train. It was the time of the teenager, no more hand-me-down music from their parents, who shook their heads in disbelief wondering how this sort of thing could happen? This is simply a unique album depicting a time of innocence with great music about to erupt that changed everything.