Elvis the RocknRoll Years
In March 1956 Elvis shot to fame with his first single on RCA, Heartbreak Hotel. This blog takes a look at the story from that point, up to March 1958, when he was enlisted into the US Army – Elvis the rocknroll years.
Before he was famous
To find out what Elvis was up to before he became the King of Rock’n’Roll, check out the companion blog Elvis before he was famous. This covers Elvis’s early life up until he found international fame with his first RCA single, Heartbreak Hotel.
1956 Elvis the rocknroll years – First TV appearance
It’s interesting to note that when Elvis made his first appearance on national TV on The Dorsey Brothers’ Stage Show on 28 January, he didn’t perform Jailhouse Rock. Released the day before the TV appearance but not part of his set. He opened with a medley of Big Joe Turner songs, Shake Rattle & Roll and Flip Flop & Fly and ended with a Ray Charles song, I’ve Got a Woman. Scotty Moore, Bill Black and DJ Fontana backed Elvis on the show.
1956 was a phenomenal year for Elvis. Following the success of Jailhouse Rock, he went on to have eleven American Top-30 hits. Five of these reached #1, where he spent an astonishing 36 weeks. Similarly, in the UK he scored seven Top-30 hits.
Released on 23 March, Elvis Presley was his first American album. It became the first album-ever to sell one million copies. In Britain the album had the same cover but five different tracks. In the UK it was the first of three British albums on the HMV label. The other two were Rock’n’Roll No2 and the ten-inch The Best of Elvis.
Las Vegas debut
Elvis is remembered for his legendary 1970s appearances in Las Vegas but his debut there was much earlier, 23 April 1956. The gig was at the New Frontier Hotel, where he was billed as “The Atomic Powered Singer”. Scotty Moore, Bill Black and D.J. Fontana backed him for this two-week gig. Sadly, the Vegas crowd was not ready for Elvis yet and his reception was decidedly lukewarm. Elvis and Las Vegas became legend when he returned in 1969. Although, this would be a very different Elvis, without Scotty, D.J or Bill.
Blue Suede Shoes entered Billboard Top-40 on 28 April, as Elvis’s follow-up to Heartbreak Hotel. Elvis only managed to reach #20 with this cover of the Carl Perkins original. Perkins fared well with the song and it gave Sun Records their first million-seller.
RCA released a load of 45s and EPs at the time in America. On 31 August, Blue Moon was one of seven singles released that day. None were Billboard Top-40 hits but some did put in an appearance at the lower end of the Hot-100.
Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart wrote Blue Moon. It featured in the 1934 movie Manhattan Melodrama, as The Bad in Every Man. Shirley Ross sang the song in the movie. American gangster John Dillinger famously watched Manhattan Melodrama just before he was gunned down by the FBI in front of the Biograph Theatre in Chicago. Lorenz Hart rewrote the lyrics to turn it into Blue Moon. The Marcels recorded the song and made it a doo wop classic with their hit version in 1961. Interestingly, it missed the Top-40 for Elvis in America but the British release took him into the UK Top-10.
First appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show
For Elvis the rocknroll years were well underway. Despite not being a music show, The Ed Sullivan Show was an important opportunity for artists on American TV. Elvis’s debut on the show on 9 September attracted an audience of 60 million viewers, a staggering 82% audience share. He performed, Don’t Be Cruel, Love Me Tender, Ready Teddy and Hound Dog. As a result of being on the show, Elvis was now in a new league altogether. (The Ed Sullivan Show also broke the Beatles in America, when they appeared on the show in 1964. Moreover, it was the start of the two-year British Invasion, when UK artists dominated the American music scene.)
Love Me Tender opened at New York’s Paramount cinema on Times Square on 15 November. This debut movie originally had the title The Reno Brothers. Following this, the producers changed the movie’s name as the result of Elvis’s growing popularity. It was the only movie where Elvis’s character died and the only time that he did not receive top billing. The movie’s title song had already been in the American charts for 3 weeks when the movie opened.
It was not all plain sailing for the King of Rock’n’Roll. In late 1956 a fan’s husband punched Elvis at a hotel in Toledo. Sheet metal worker Louis Balint was arrested. He claimed that his wife’s infatuation with Elvis had ruined his marriage. He received a fine of $19.60 but failed to pay and wound up in prison.
The Million Dollar Quartet
The Million Dollar Quartet famously jammed at Sun Studios in Memphis on 4 December. Carl Perkins was in Sun studios to record his latest single Matchbox. Sam Phillips had recently signed Jerry Lee Lewis to Sun and he was playing piano. Elvis Presley, who was now with RCA, dropped in. As did Johnny Cash, who had previously recorded on the Sun label. Sam Phillips recorded the ensuing jam session but it was several decades before it found a release. Johnny Cash left the studio shortly after posing for the iconic photo of the four of them, with Presley seated at the piano and Marilyn Evans seated on the piano. Marilyn was Elvis’s girlfriend at the time. The jury’s still out as to whether or not Cash sang on the actual recording.
On 8 December Billboard reported that Elvis had set a new sales record in Canada. A hit record usually made around 100,000 sales. Hound Dog and Don’t Be Cruel sold over 225,000 copies. Love Me Tender sold 135,000 copies in 16 weeks!
“Elvis has left the building”
The famous expression “Elvis has left the building” was heard for the first time on 15 December. It came after his final performance at the Louisiana Hayride. Compere Horace Logan uttered the immortal words, “Elvis has left the building” in an attempt to settle the rowdy crowd and encourage them to listen to the remaining acts on show.
The end of a staggering year of success came with Elvis having an unprecedented ten singles on the 29 December 1956 issue of the Billboard Hot-100.
He released his first single for RCA, Heartbreak Hotel, on 10 January. At the beginning of 1956 he was virtually unknown outside of the South but by the end of the year he was the undisputed King of Rock’n’Roll.
Elvis the rocknroll years – 10 singles in Hot-100
Billboard Hot-100 issue 29 December 1956
Despite having ten singles on the chart that week, Guy Mitchell kept Elvis off the #1 spot. He was spending his fourth week at #1, with Singing the Blues.
That week you could find Elvis at:
2: Love Me Tender – From soundtrack of his first movie Love Me Tender.
7: Love Me
26: Don’t Be Cruel
38: When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again
47: Old Shep – Written and recorded by Red Foley in 1935. The first song Elvis ever performed in public, at a talent show in Tupelo on 3 October 1945.
54: Hound Dog – Written by Leiber & Stoller for Big Mama Thornton.
54: Poor Boy – From the soundtrack of his first movie, Love Me Tender.
70: Any Way You Want Me – B-side of Love Me Tender
78: Paralyzed – on the album Elvis
93: Blue Moon – Written by Rodgers & Hart, originally for the movie Manhattan Melodrama.
For Elvis, the rocknroll years were well and truly underway!
1957 Censored on The Ed Sullivan Show
Elvis appeared on his third and final Ed Sullivan Show on 6 January. The producers censored his performance so that viewers could only see him from the waist up. He fell foul of CBS’s guardians of good taste. After seeing Elvis’s gyrating performances on previous shows, the TV audience this time was only shown Elvis from the waist up. His performance included Hound Dog and the Otis Blackwell penned Don’t Be Cruel. At the end of Elvis’s set, despite the censorship decision, Ed Sullivan had nothing but praise for the young singer, “I wanted to say to Elvis Presley and the country that this is a real decent, fine boy, and wherever you go, Elvis, we want to say we’ve never had a pleasanter experience on our show with a big name than we’ve had with you”.
The Jordanaires finally received a label credit on Elvis’s ninth American hit single, Too Much. The Jordanaires had previously sung backing vocals for Elvis but this was the first label credit.
Elvis scored his first UK #1 in mid-1957 with All Shook Up. Released on the HMV label, his eleventh UK hit kept him at the top of the charts for seven 7 weeks.
That summer his second movie, Loving You, premiered at the Strand Theatre in Memphis. The soundtrack included Teddy Bear and Lonesome Cowboy.
Elvis in Canada
Apart from a handful of concerts in Canada, Elvis only ever performed live for audiences in the USA. On 31 August his last appearance in Canada was at Vancouver’s Empire Stadium. The concert posters billed the Jordanaires and The Bill Black Combo separately. Soon after Elvis’s performance started, some of the 20,000 fans present rushed the stage. The organisers halted the show and the fans returned to their seats. The show started again but another stage-rush resulted in a premature end to the show.
Music critic for the Vancouver Province, Ida Halpern, described Elvis’s performance as “an artificial and unhealthy exploitation of the enthusiasm of youth’s body and mind … One could call it subsidized sex”.
Elvis’s third move, Jailhouse Rock, hit the screens in late 1957. The title single, his nineteenth American hit, spent seven weeks at #1.
The final concert came on 10 November 1957 and was the first of two performances in Hawaii. Elvis was about to join the US Army. After that, his fans would have to wait for his next live concert appearance on 31 July 1969 – when he opened in Las Vegas.
1958 End of Elvis the rocknroll years
Elvis reported on set for the movie King Creole on 13 January 1958. The US Army gave Elvis a two-month deferral period to enable him to complete his fourth movie.
The accolades still kept coming for the King. On 24 January Jailhouse Rock became the first-ever single to enter the UK charts at #1. This gave Elvis his 21st UK hit single.
Don’t entered the Billboard Top-40 on 27 January. It stayed at #1 for 5 weeks, his 10th #1 and 16th American hit single.
The B-side, I Beg of You, entered the charts the following week and gave Elvis his last American hit before joining the US Army.
His final UK chart success came at the end of February with Don’t. It peaked at #18 and gave Elvis his 22nd UK hit single.
Elvis joined the US Army
On 24 March 53310761, Elvis Presley joined the US Army . The Memphis Draft Board did the honours and he succumbed to his Army haircut the following day. From there he proceeded to Fort Hood, Texas for six-months basic training.
During leave on 10 and 11 June he cut his last recordings for nearly two years. He recorded five songs, I Need Your Love Tonight, Ain’t That Loving You Baby, I Got Stung, A Fool Such as I and A Big Hunk O’ Love. Session musicians included guitarist Chet Atkins, drummer DJ Fontana and pianist Floyd Cramer
In October Elvis arrived at his German base in Friedberg, near Frankfurt, where he spent the next year and a half. In mid-September 1959 he met 14-year old Priscilla Beaulieu. Promotion came in January 1960 when he was promoted to Sergeant. His US Army discharge on 5 March 1960 brought two years of service life to an end.
Elvis is Back – 1960
On 20 March he was back in the studio working on his new album Elvis Is Back! He recorded his first post-army single Stuck on You. Filming for his 5th movie, GI Blues, started shortly afterwards.
He was back but this was a very different Elvis that returned from the Army. This was a new fluffy Elvis, light-years from his 1950’s persona.
For Elvis the rocknroll years were over. In the 1960s he reinvented himself as a Hollywood matinee idol. Consequently, treading a completely different path to the rest of the rock’n’roll world.
The beat music of the early 1960s morphed into rock music in the mid-1960s. The British Invasion came and went. After that, rock splintered into sub genres, psych, prog, glam, metal and a whole lot more.
Meanwhile, in the 1960s Elvis Presley was in splendid isolation. He made three movies a year. All of which were successful at the box office. The hit records continued around the world, even though the songs were mostly taken from his movies. Despite this, the days of touring and live gigs were over – for now.
And then came 1970s Elvis. The movies were over – welcome, Elvis the ultimate cabaret act
What a guy – Elvis Presley is unique in the annals of rock’n’roll history…
