(Credits: Far Out / NASA / Uwe Conrad)
Thu 4 December 2025 23:00, UK
Is there even any point in discussing the 1950s without Elvis Presley coming into it? He was the one man who brought mainstream rock and roll to the masses and changed the face of music forever, and 1956 was no different.
Indeed, perhaps more than any other throughout the course of his seismic lifetime, this was a year that held perhaps the most significance of them all, although there could be various arguments for different cases. However, after three years of practising how to swivel his hips and insert that classic drawl into his voice, 1956 was finally the year for Presley to hit the big time.
It’s fair to say that he never looked back. Garnering no less than 18 number one hits in the US and 21 in the UK, no one needs it to be spelt out that the King of Rock and Roll didn’t get his moniker for nothing. But nevertheless, looking back at where the story all began, it is interesting to observe the early tunes that sent him sailing on his way.
One of those was ‘Don’t Be Cruel’, which incidentally became the tune with the longest number one stint of 1956 in the US. Hogging that coveted top spot for a total of 11 weeks, it was practically impossible for anyone else to get a look in sideways. That might have been the moment the music world knew it was onto something special.
With ‘Hound Dog’ as its B-side, this was certainly a mammoth single to behold. Of course, it counted as the kickstarter to what would go on to become Presley’s untouchable tenure, but it may have also given the masses a slightly wrong impression of what this rock and roll god was really all about.
What was Elvis Presley’s impact in 1956?
You see, Presley was all about the image: the leather suits, the guitars, the swooning women. The matter of actually creating the music that made him a star was somebody else’s problem entirely. In fairness, the man never pretended that he was a songwriter – far from it – but in those early days, when trying to make a name, it was easier to let people believe he was.
That’s why, unfairly or otherwise, Presley did appear as being a credited writer on ‘Don’t Be Cruel’, even though that title was doing a lot of heavy lifting. The song was actually written by Otis Blackwell, but he was reportedly more than happy to give the rocker half of the royalties since the “hottest new singer around covered it.”
According to Presley’s music publisher, Freddy Bienstock, they felt they had very valid reasons for Presley’s thievery. He said: “In the early days Elvis would show dissatisfaction with some lines and he would make alterations, so it wasn’t just what is known as a ‘cut-in’. His name did not appear after the first year. But if Presley liked the song, the writers would be offered a guarantee of a million records and they would surrender a third of their royalties to Elvis.”
Nowadays, that might have been grounds for a massive lawsuit, but the 1950s were a whole different ball game in that respect. Fashions were strict, society was backwards, but one firebolt blitzed through it all. That was the moment the world knew well and truly that Elvis Presley was in the building.
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