Hank Bruce Bert Joe Big Jim & More / Various

Instrumental music had, of course, always been hugely popular, long before the arrival of Rock'n'Roll - by the mid-50s, as ballroom dancing gave way to jiving, more strident, beatier instrumental styles began to emerge. American hits of the era were of course routinely covered, so we had Anglofied versions of numbers like 'Honky Tonk', 'Raunchy', 'Tequila' and 'Cerveza', care of George Chisholm & Bert Weedon, Ken Mackintosh, Johnny 'The Gash' Gray & Ken Jones, and Cherry Wainer respectively. We even managed to squeeze out a few home-grown goodies, most notably Lord Rockingham's XI's 'Fried Onions' and the chart-topping 'Hoots Mon'.