May 5, 1956, was a busy day for Elvis Presley: in the course of 24 hours, he landed his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, bombed his first appearance in Las Vegas, and inadvertently set off a new era of rock ‘n’ roll that would ultimately lead to his own demise.
Videos by American Songwriter
All in a day’s work for the King.
Elvis Scored His First No. 1 Hit While Laying An Egg In Vegas
Elvis Presley might have started his career at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, but that career didn’t really take off until he switched over to RCA Victor two years later. Presley released his first single on his new label in late January 1956, and by early May of that year, he had landed his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. “Heartbreak Hotel” knocked Les Baxter’s “The Poor People of Paris” out of the chart’s top spot, where the classic Presley track would remain for almost two months. The track spent a total of 27 weeks on the chart, eventually leaving the top 100 in September.
Ironically, while Presley’s single was soaring to the top of the charts, he was experiencing one of his first career lows in Sin City. Although he would later become synonymous with his Las Vegas residencies in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the young rock performer struggled to win over the crowd at the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas the night of May 5, 1956. Historians described the performance as Presley laying an egg, that is to say, completely bombing. The crowd in Las Vegas was a far cry from the frenzied teenage girls who normally attended (and screamed through) Presley’s shows. These folks were quiet, reserved, and from Presley’s vantage point on the stage, a bit cold.
The future King of Rock ‘n’ Roll left the show sullen and annoyed at the crowd’s lack of enthusiasm. He ended his two-week run at the hotel the day after his single hit No. 1, on May 6, 1956. Presley addressed the crowd: “Tonight’s our last night. We’ve had a pretty hard time, uh, had a pretty good time while we were here.”
He Inadvertently Kicked Off A New Tidal Wave Of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Elvis Presley simultaneously scoring a No. 1 hit and completely flopping a live performance in a new city speaks to the tumultuous nature of the music industry. One day, you’re at the top. The next day, you’re at the bottom. Some days, like May 5, 1956, you find yourself at both ends of the spectrum. But what Presley couldn’t have possibly imagined that fateful spring day was the immense impact his RCA Victor debut, “Heartbreak Hotel,” would have on the rock genre as a whole. Indeed, he would have had no way of knowing that, thousands of miles away across the Atlantic Ocean, four young lads were studying this iconic American record.
For the future members of the Beatles, listening to “Heartbreak Hotel” for the first time was a pivotal moment in their lives. In Anthology, John Lennon said the song made his “hair stand on end. We’d never heard American voices singing like that. They’d always sung like Sinatra or enunciated very well. Suddenly, there’s this hillbilly hiccuping on tape echo and all this bluesy background going on. It took a long time to work out what was going on. To us, it just sounded like a noise that was great.”
Eight short years later, the Beatles would make their American television debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, setting off a tidal wave of a new kind of rock led by bands, not by solo artists. This would ultimately contribute to the decline in Presley’s popularity, once again proving that when you think you’re at the top of your game, you might actually be at the bottom (and vice versa).
Photo by THA/Shutterstock
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.