Some called it the “devil’s music.”
When Elvis Presley first performed on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956, he shook his hips and rocked the microphone as teenagers screamed to his rendition of “Hound Dog.” An estimated 60 million people watched the performance, most on black-and-white televisions. The kids loved it. Some in older generations, however, were shocked to see the handsome singer gyrating his hips and questioned whether Elvis was bringing the “devil’s music” to impressionable teenagers.
It’s funny today to think that once upon a time some people found Elvis frightening. Here’s a look at some memorable Elvis quotes from people who were sure in 1956 that the man whose legacy today is still “The King” wouldn’t last five minutes in the music world.
— “His kind of music is deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac . . . It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people.” — Frank Sinatra
— ”He can’t last. I tell you flatly, he can’t last.” — Jackie Gleason
— “Mr. Presley has no discernible singing ability . . . For the ear he is an unutterable bore, not nearly so talented as Frank Sinatra back in the latter’s rather hysterical days at the Paramount Theater.” — Jay Gould, New York Times Critic
— “It isn’t enough to say that Elvis is kind to his parents, sends money home, and is the same unspoiled kid he was before all the commotion began. That still isn’t a free ticket to behave like a sex maniac in public.” —Eddie Condon, “Cosmopolitan,” December 1956
So how did Elvis respond to all the criticism? He took it with a grain of salt, according to one news account published in 1956. Said Elvis of his naysayers: ”I ain’t no saint, but I’ve tried never to do anything that would hurt my family or offend God…I figure all any kid needs is hope and the feeling he or she belongs. If I could do or say anything that would give some kid that feeling, I would believe I had contributed something to the world.”