Elvis Presley Strongly Disliked This Legendary Rock Band—and They Ultimately Surpassed Him in Sales

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Elvis Presley Strongly Disliked This Legendary Rock Band—and They Ultimately Surpassed Him in Sales
https://collider.com/elvis-presley-stro ... e-beatles/

By
Gabrielle Ulubay
Published 2 hours ago
Gabrielle Ulubay is a Music writer at Collider. She has previously been published in The New York Times, Bustle, HuffPost Personal, and other magazines, and wrote at Marie Claire for nearly three years. Her interests have spanned film, politics, women's lifestyle, and, of course, music. She has a BA in history from Northeastern University and a MA in Film and Screen Media from University College Cork, Ireland, which have facilitated her passion for using art and media to analyze the sociopolitical landscape. Born and raised in New Jersey, she has since spent time in Boston, Ireland, Cuba, and Montreal, and currently lives in New York City. You can find highlights of her work at gabrielleulubay.com.


In conversations about classic rock, it’s inevitable to make mention of both Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Both acts helped popularize rock music around the world, catapulting the distinctly American genre (pioneered by early icons like Chuck Berry and Big Mama Thornton) into the global stratosphere. Presley, in particular, inspired countless rock acts, including The Beatles themselves. By all accounts, the band members considered Presley their “rock ‘n’ roll idol,” and they were starstruck when they finally met him in August 1965. But despite their admiration for and commonalities with the “Suspicious Minds” singer, The Beatles' goodwill was far from mutual, especially as the band progressed and experimented in their own music careers.

But how did their relationship devolve from laid-back jam sessions into all-out contempt? From politics to patriotism to generational differences, a litany of factors played into Presley’s eventual dislike for one of rock’s most beloved boy bands. Ahead, the saga that prompted Presley to call Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr “a real force for anti-American spirit.”

Elvis and The Beatles’ First Meeting Was Awkward and Underwhelming

The Beatles first had the opportunity to meet Presley during their North American tour in the summer of 1965. According to The Beatles Anthology, the band had been trying to meet their idols for years, but had been brushed off. McCartney explained, “We felt we deserved to be brushed off. After all, he was Elvis, and who were we to dare to want to meet him? But we finally received an invitation to go round and see him when he was making a film in Hollywood.”

During the meeting, The Beatles were awestruck, gaping at Presley in silence before eventually blurting out a series of awkward questions. Lennon, in particular, questioned why Presley chose to “do all these soft-centered ballads for the cinema” at the time rather than “good old rock ‘n’ roll.” Presley, in turn, was quiet, making polite small talk with the stammering band before finally quipping “If you damn guys are gonna sit here and stare at me all night, I’m gonna go to bed.” The band then snapped out of their reverie and began playing music with Presley, after which conversation became easier.

While the two acts began to discuss touring, fans, and film opportunities with relative ease, the meeting certainly didn’t mark a friendship or even a professional partnership. The cultural and artistic differences between the two were starkly evident, with Lennon prompting Presley further about his lack of rock singles and Presley responding that he was prioritizing his film career. Presley also talked about his upcoming movie, a Western-themed musical, and gifted The Beatles a set of his albums along with wagon-shaped table lamps and “gun holsters with gold leather belts”—wildly on-the-nose artifacts of commodified Americana, thrust at a group of English musicians credited with the so-called British Invasion that would soon take over American airwaves. The gulf between The Beatles and Presley was already clear, and it would only continue to widen in the coming decade.

By 1970, Elvis Hated The Beatles and Sought to Dismantle Their Influence


In conversations about classic rock, it’s inevitable to make mention of both Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Both acts helped popularize rock music around the world, catapulting the distinctly American genre (pioneered by early icons like Chuck Berry and Big Mama Thornton) into the global stratosphere. Presley, in particular, inspired countless rock acts, including The Beatles themselves. By all accounts, the band members considered Presley their “rock ‘n’ roll idol,” and they were starstruck when they finally met him in August 1965. But despite their admiration for and commonalities with the “Suspicious Minds” singer, The Beatles' goodwill was far from mutual, especially as the band progressed and experimented in their own music careers.

But how did their relationship devolve from laid-back jam sessions into all-out contempt? From politics to patriotism to generational differences, a litany of factors played into Presley’s eventual dislike for one of rock’s most beloved boy bands. Ahead, the saga that prompted Presley to call Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr “a real force for anti-American spirit.”

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Elvis and The Beatles’ First Meeting Was Awkward and Underwhelming
Andy Griffith, Imogene Coca and Elvis Presley on The Steve Allen Show.
Image via NBC
The Beatles first had the opportunity to meet Presley during their North American tour in the summer of 1965. According to The Beatles Anthology, the band had been trying to meet their idols for years, but had been brushed off. McCartney explained, “We felt we deserved to be brushed off. After all, he was Elvis, and who were we to dare to want to meet him? But we finally received an invitation to go round and see him when he was making a film in Hollywood.”

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During the meeting, The Beatles were awestruck, gaping at Presley in silence before eventually blurting out a series of awkward questions. Lennon, in particular, questioned why Presley chose to “do all these soft-centered ballads for the cinema” at the time rather than “good old rock ‘n’ roll.” Presley, in turn, was quiet, making polite small talk with the stammering band before finally quipping “If you damn guys are gonna sit here and stare at me all night, I’m gonna go to bed.” The band then snapped out of their reverie and began playing music with Presley, after which conversation became easier.

While the two acts began to discuss touring, fans, and film opportunities with relative ease, the meeting certainly didn’t mark a friendship or even a professional partnership. The cultural and artistic differences between the two were starkly evident, with Lennon prompting Presley further about his lack of rock singles and Presley responding that he was prioritizing his film career. Presley also talked about his upcoming movie, a Western-themed musical, and gifted The Beatles a set of his albums along with wagon-shaped table lamps and “gun holsters with gold leather belts”—wildly on-the-nose artifacts of commodified Americana, thrust at a group of English musicians credited with the so-called British Invasion that would soon take over American airwaves. The gulf between The Beatles and Presley was already clear, and it would only continue to widen in the coming decade.

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By 1970, Elvis Hated The Beatles and Sought to Dismantle Their Influence

Presley was deeply patriotic. In addition to starring in a number of Americana-centered films, he served in the U.S. military from 1958 to 1960 and popularized “American Trilogy,” a trio of songs stressing American pride. Towards the end of his career, amid his waning fame and worsening health issues, he became increasingly conservative and insistently sought an audience with then-president Richard Nixon.

When he eventually met with Nixon on December 21, 1970, Presley stressed his patriotism. According to official meeting notes, he told Nixon that he was “on [his] side,” insisting that “he wanted to be helpful, that he wanted to restore some respect for the flag which was being lost. He mentioned that he was just a poor boy from Tennessee who had gotten a lot from his country, which in some way he wanted to repay.” And the foremost way he wanted to repay his debt to America was, apparently, combating the influence of The Beatles.

“Presley indicated that he thought The Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit,” the notes read. “He said that The Beatles came to this country, made their money, and then returned to England where they promoted an anti-American theme.” The anti-American themes in question were drug use, political protest, and other links to the hippie movement that swept the 1960s and 1970s.

If you ask The Beatles, though, Presley was simply out of step with youth culture and riddled with bitterness over the fact that The Beatles had eclipsed his influence in the U.S. and abroad. “I think at the time he may have been a little threatened,” McCartney said of their early relationship in Anthology. “I think the success of our career started to push him out a little, which we were very sad about, because we wanted to co-exist with him. He was our greatest idol, but the styles were changing in favor of us.

Despite his legendary status, Presley’s rancor never made a dent in The Beatles’ popularity, and although his music remains influential, his swinging style gave way to the psychedelic and hard rock elements that dominated the latter half of the century. Presley passed away in 1977—the same year that two Beatles compilation albums, Love Songs and The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, were released, and just three years before John Lennon’s murder.