When you think of rock ‘n roll, what’s the first name that comes to mind?
Many would definitely say Elvis Presley.
Dubbed The King of Rock and Roll, the man changed the music world forever, although some of reasons he changed the game (shaking those hips like a madman), was the reason a lot of people didn’t like him.
Especially, in the country music world.
With rock music being relatively new, Elvis sort of fell into the country music genre when his very first single, “That’s All Right,” contained a cover of Bill Monroe’s bluegrass hit “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” on the B-side.
A 19-year-old Elvis had just burst onto the music scene, and ultimately landed him a spot at the Grand Ole Opry. However, his rocking cover of “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” didn’t sit well with the traditional country crowd.
According to NPR, Elvis actually sought out Monroe to apologize for re-working his song and performing it on the Grand Ole Opry. Monroe was rather gracious, and biographer Richard Smith says Monroe would later come to appreciate those big royalty checks.
“Bill recognized what Elvis Presley was doing with his song, and he was going with it.
And it was very, very admirable, I think, of him to pick up on that, and to tell Elvis that he was for him 100 percent if it would give him a start in his career.”
Not to be outdone by his own song, Monroe would then head back into the studio to re-record and even faster version of the song with triple fiddles.
However for Elvis, his experience on the finest stage in all of country music was… a forgettable one.
The Opry talent manager at the time, Jim Denny, allegedly even told Elvis to:
“Go back to driving a truck in Memphis.”
Needless to say, the performance was a total flop. Elvis vowed to never return to the Grand Ole Opry, and he never did.
However, much like Hank Williams before him, after Elvis shit the bed at the Opry, he started performing on the competitor show, Louisiana Hayride.
And the rest is history.
Here’s a clip of Elvis’ first performance on Louisiana Hayride, way back in 1954: