The first time John Lennon heard Elvis Presley: “It was the end for me”

The discovery of Elvis Presley was a monumental wake-up call for John Lennon, who was first introduced to The King thanks to his hit song ‘Heartbreak Hotel’. Although their relationship was strange, with The Beatles knocking the American off his mountain of relevancy, which created a sense of bitterness towards the group, he was also partly responsible for their evolution.

When Lennon grew up in Liverpool, rock ‘n’ roll was still relatively inaccessible and felt like an out-of-reach American concept. He tried to devour as much music from artists such as Little Richard, but it was a hard task for a teenager from the other side of the world in the late 1950s. Bizarrely, in a wild turn of events, only a few years later, The Beatles were sharing a bill with Little Richard in Hamburg.

Before The Beatles, Elvis was the biggest star on the planet, and Lennon was aware of him prior to even hearing a drop of his music. Initially, the Beatle was sceptical of this new kid on the block who was receiving rave reviews from the musical press. However, once he heard ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, Lennon understood why he’d garnered such immense attention.

The book John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band includes candid reflections from Lennon on his life, including his school years. Underneath one photograph taken at Quarry Bank School in 1957, he looks back on his relationship with one particular school friend who was responsible for him becoming a fan of Elvis.

Lennon said: “This fella I knew called Don Beattie showed me the name Elvis Presley in the New Musical Express and said he was great. It was ‘Heartbreak Hotel’. I thought it sounded a bit phoney: ‘Heart-break Hotel’.”

He continued: “The music papers were saying that Presley was fantastic, and at first, I expected someone like Perry Como or Sinatra. ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ seemed a corny title and his name seemed strange in those days. But then, when I heard it, it was the end for me. I first heard it on Radio Luxembourg. He turned out to be fantastic. I remember rushing home with the record and saying, ‘He sounds like Frankie Laine and Johnnie Ray and Tennessee Ernie Ford!’”

From that moment, Lennon was a devoted fan of Presley and famously visited his estate in Bel Air with the rest of The Beatles. The evening was a success, with Lennon saying Elvis was “great”, but the good times didn’t roll forever. Their relationship later took a dark turn when Presley visited The White House in 1970 and accused them of being “anti-American” to President Nixon.

Additionally, a year later, Presley told FBI director J. Edgar Hoover: “The Beatles laid the groundwork for many of the problems we are having with young people by their filthy unkempt appearances and suggestive music.”

Although Lennon became an enemy to Presley, the impact of ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ remained a seismic moment in his musical life and showed him the full extent of the power of rock ‘n’ roll.