Elvis, Blue Suede Shoes and the night television changed rock’n’roll

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6 days ago Nathan

In September 1956, Elvis Presley was no longer simply a rising rock’n’roll star. He was becoming a cultural phenomenon. And “Blue Suede Shoes” was one of the songs at the heart of that transformation.

The story, however, did not begin with Elvis.

“Blue Suede Shoes” was written and first recorded by Carl Perkins, one of the architects of rockabilly, who recorded the song for Sun Records in Memphis on December 19, 1955, after an encounter at a dance inspired its unforgettable story about protecting a pair of blue suede shoes. Released in early 1956, the record became a landmark success, reaching No. 1 on the country chart and No. 2 on the pop chart. It also became Sun Records’ first million-selling record. The Library of Congress would later recognize it as one of the defining recordings of early rock’n’roll.

Elvis recorded his own version on January 30, 1956, at RCA Studios in New York, with Scotty Moore on guitar, Bill Black on bass, D.J. Fontana on drums and Shorty Long on piano. The recording first appeared on Elvis’s debut RCA album in March, before RCA released it as a single on August 31, 1956, backed with Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti.”

There was a remarkable sense of loyalty behind Elvis’s decision to record the song. Carl Perkins was already enjoying enormous success with his original, and according to the Library of Congress account, Elvis initially resisted releasing his own version because he did not want to take the spotlight away from his fellow Sun Records performer. Perkins eventually gave him his blessing.
But Elvis had already understood the power of the song as a performer. On February 11, 1956, he performed “Blue Suede Shoes” on CBS’s Stage Show, bringing the song to a national television audience months before the RCA single appeared.

Then came September.

On September 9, 1956, Elvis made his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Sullivan had initially been reluctant to book him, but after Elvis’s appearance on Steve Allen’s competing program helped produce huge ratings, the deal was made. Sullivan ultimately paid $50,000 for three appearances.
Sullivan himself could not host that first appearance. He was recovering from a serious automobile accident, so actor Charles Laughton introduced Elvis from New York, while Presley performed from CBS Television City in Hollywood. Around 60 million people — approximately 82.6% of the television audience — watched. Elvis performed “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Love Me Tender,” “Ready Teddy” and “Hound Dog.” He did not perform “Blue Suede Shoes” that night.

That distinction matters because “Blue Suede Shoes” and the Sullivan appearance tell two different parts of the same story.

The song represented the explosive musical revolution already taking place through rockabilly, blues, country and rhythm & blues. Elvis’s interpretation helped carry that sound from the clubs and jukeboxes of the South into the mainstream. Then television turned the young singer himself into something unprecedented: a national obsession.

Rock’n’roll had not been invented by Elvis. Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and many others were already reshaping American music. But Elvis possessed something extraordinary: the ability to turn a song into an event.

By September 1956, that event had become impossible to contain.

“Blue Suede Shoes” connected the raw energy of Sun Records with the enormous machinery of RCA, national television and teenage America. And when 60 million viewers watched Elvis on The Ed Sullivan Show, the country witnessed something bigger than a television performance.

It was the moment a young rock’n’roll singer became a phenomenon.

The King was not crowned in a single night. But on television that September, America finally saw the coronation.