ELVIS PRESLEY- The 100 Most Essential Songs (#1). This concludes the Elvis 100 Countdown.

Caffè Lattè presents:

THE 100 MOST ESSENTIAL SONGS BY

ELVIS

Elvis Aaron Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1935. His family relocated to Memphis, where the teenager absorbed the blues, gospel and country music. Young Elvis cut records for personal use and came to the attention of Sun Records. Sam Phillips recognized potential in the youth: a white singer with a ‘black’ sound. From these humble origins, Elvis influenced countless other white rockers and achieved sales that were unprecedented.

These 100 songs corroborate that Presley is the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”…

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Hear the songs on the special Spotify playlist regularly updated as the countdown continues:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6KLsvwG7sBR45Xzq2WUWMD?si=1b8724d6f6744b89&pt=7a4da6b5756f5effebbb68199f80442e

E  1

 

JAILHOUSE ROCK

Elvis had already scored a major smash with “Hound Dog”, a song penned by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, but that was a remake of Big Mama Thornton R&B hit. “Jailhouse Rock” was the first hit song written by the duo specifically for Presley. They were asked to come up with some songs for a future film soundtrack. One request was for a key production number set in a jail. It ended up being the title song for Elvis’ next film vehicle. Leiber & Stoller met him for the first time on April 30, 1957; the day he was to record the song. The session took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood.

The distinctive intro was created by guitarist Scotty Moore and drummer D. J. Fontana. Their objective was to emulate the sound of rocks being pounded by a chain gang. The song was used for the film’s climactic scene. It remains an iconic screen moment.

Leiber & Stoller had injected humour in their songs for R&B group The Coasters. They applied the same approach in the lyrics for “Jailhouse Rock” with its tongue in cheek references to intimacy between prisoners. Elvis cut the song with his usual instinctive precision.

RCA unleashed the single on September 24. Both sides of the disc were written by Leiber & Stoller and entered the Billboard Chart as a double A-sided release. With “Treat Me Nice”, “Jailhouse Rock” created history in the UK. This was the first single to enter the chart at #1. Before Elvis, this feat was believed to be implausible to achieve. The film opened in the US on October 21. That same day, the single topped the American chart. The disc reigned there for 7 weeks.

The success of the single proved that Elvis and rock ‘n’ roll could no longer be disnissed as a fad. Rock music had finally entrenched itself into popular culture, led by its King: Presley. He would continue to dominate the charts into the 1960s and beyond.