Elvis Presley is still known as one of the biggest figures in rock and roll, and his legacy isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Still, no man is without flaws, and a few of Presley’s contemporaries had their criticisms. Some of those criticisms were understandable and polite, while others were a little bit harsh. Let’s take a look!
Big Mama Thornton
We all know the Elvis Presley hit, “Hound Dog”. However, that isn’t actually Presley’s song. It’s a cover of a blues tune by the legendary Big Mama Thornton. The song was written by Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber specifically for Thornton’s unique set of pipes, and her version was quite successful. Just three years after Thornton’s version hit the airwaves, though, Presley covered it. And it would be the song to shoot him to stardom.
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The situation was one of several examples of Presley’s habit of capitalizing on the music of Black musicians. And according to Thornton herself, she only made $500 from Presley’s cover and “never saw another” check again. She would also go on to refer to “Hound Dog” as the song she “got robbed of” and the record that she “made Elvis Presley rich on.”
John Lennon
This is a strange entry, considering both John Lennon and Elvis Presley praised each other’s music at various points. During the early days of The Beatles, each member of the band was quite inspired by the King. But after meeting for the first time, Lennon was a bit disappointed in the man he had once admired. According to Bob Harris, who interviewed Lennon in 1975, Lennon thought Presley was a “right-wing southern bigot” and was shocked by his personality. Lennon also publicly criticized Presley’s newer work.
“Well, I’ve got all his early records, and I keep playing them,” Lennon said on the show Juke Box Jury in 1963. “He mustn’t make another like this. But somebody said today he sounds like Bing Crosby now, and he does. I don’t like him anymore.”
Dolly Parton
It’s wild to think of famous sweetheart Dolly Parton criticizing anybody. However, on a couple of occasions, she did criticize Elvis Presley in the most polite way possible.
In the 1970s, the King apparently wanted to cover Parton’s song, “I Will Always Love You”. He also wanted a pretty hefty chunk of the publishing rights to the song. Parton said that later, she “cried all night” because she hated the idea of Presley singing the song. She ended up not going through with the deal.
Parton also famously said that Presley “had no personal life” in 1980, and didn’t want to become like him.
“I think one of the big mistakes celebrities make is that they think because they are so popular, it sets them apart and makes them like gods instead of just extremely lucky people,” said Parton. “I really feel sorry for a whole lot of stars, and I hope and pray I never get that way.”
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