{"id":751424,"date":"2026-07-08T23:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T23:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/751424\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T23:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T23:26:09","slug":"remember-when-john-lennon-denounced-his-former-idol-on-british-television-in-1963","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/751424\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember When John Lennon Denounced His Former Idol on British Television in 1963?"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Lennon might have developed his passion for playing music by listening to American rock \u2018n\u2019 roll stars. But by the time he was famous enough to be asked to appear on television, he had no problem denouncing those same artists for a laugh. In June 1963, the artist in Lennon\u2019s crossfire was the King of Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll, Elvis Presley.<\/p>\n

Lennon was invited to appear on the BBC television program Juke Box Jury, in which celebrities would rate new singles a \u201chit\u201d or a \u201cmiss.\u201d Although The Beatles were technically one year out from their major debut in the States on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Fab Four were already sparking Beatlemania across their native United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n

To the delight of the crowd (and to the surprise of no one who knew Lennon), the Beatle dubbed every record a \u201cmiss,\u201d including Elvis Presley\u2019s latest single, \u201cDevil In Disguise.\u201d Lennon remarked<\/a> that Presley was \u201clike Bing Crosby now.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Lennon\u2019s Shift Toward Elvis Presley Started in the Late 1950s<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

John Lennon<\/a> expressing his disinterest in Elvis Presley\u2019s music was nothing new by the time his 1963 appearance on Juke Box Jury rolled around. According to the Liverpudlian musician, the King of Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll had lost his crown the first day he reported to the M & M Building in Memphis, Tennessee, to enlist in the army. He was drafted in 1958 and served through 1960, after which Lennon believed his music had changed. Or at least, Lennon\u2019s idea of him did.<\/p>\n

\u201cElvis was for me and my generation what The Beatles were to the Sixties,\u201d Lennon later said<\/a>. \u201cBut after he went into the army, I think they cut \u2018les bollocks\u2019 off. They not only shaved his hair off, but I think they shaved between his legs, too. He played some good stuff after the army. But it was never quite the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like something happened to him psychologically,\u201d Lennon continued. \u201cElvis really died the day he joined the army. That\u2019s when they killed him. The rest was a living death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their creative paths didn\u2019t stop diverging from there, either. Presley struggled to maintain his foothold in mainstream music throughout the latter half of the 1960s, when The Beatles were riding high at the apex of their career. By 1970, Presley was visiting the White House and calling The Beatles<\/a> \u201ca real force for anti-American spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt a bit betrayed by that, I must say,\u201d Paul McCartney said later. \u201cBut I still love him, particularly in his early period. He was very influential to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo by Keystone-France\/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Lennon might have developed his passion for playing music by listening to American rock \u2018n\u2019 roll stars.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[12013,88,15763,216,2156],"class_list":["post-751424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-country-music","tag-entertainment","tag-john-lennon","tag-music","tag-rock-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}