Then why are you bringing up the performance of "Jailhouse Rock" in the film?



What does that matter? Tens of millions did see it, and that's what caused all the fuss. It's probably the single most important performance in the history of rock 'n' roll.



Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time #19

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time #45

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time #67

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time #200

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time #361

Because that performance is done with the RECORD, AFTER it was recorded. As opposed to "HD" on Milton Berle, which is a live performance of the same song done in a very different style than the RECORD of "HD," which was still about 8 weeks away from even being recorded. We are ranking the record here.






Berle beat out Bilko in the ratings that night, but if it was "tens of millions," which I doubt, it would only have been "TWO" tens of millions. There were only about 100 million households that had TV's in 1956, and Bilko was winning the time slot every week, until then. Neither show was in the top 20 for the year. Also, the show did not reach the entire country in those days. There were significant parts of many states that could get any CBS affiliate on their sets.

No matter how many saw it, hundreds of thousands heard about it (through word of mouth or press reports). Or at least that's how many negative letters Berle said he received about it.

MARSH
12 - Mystery Train
63 - Good Rockin' Tonight
130 - Don't Be Cruel
853 - Jailhouse Rock
966 - Hound Dog

ACCLAIMED MUSIC (concensus of critics)
15 Elvis Presley Heartbreak Hotel
56 Elvis Presley Suspicious Minds
73 Elvis Presley That's All Right
76 Elvis Presley Hound Dog
79 Elvis Presley Mystery Train
119 Elvis Presley Don't Be Cruel
174 Elvis Presley Jailhouse Rock

100 million television sets, only three channels, #1 in primetime. Easily tens of millions.

You're right, the Milton Berle version is the one where they slow down the tempo at the end right? Yeah that one is killer.
Cant believe I made that mistake...



So Jailhouse isn't a rock song to you?



I think he would've.

This really isn't helping your case for "Jailhouse Rock", though.

So you want to move the RECORD up higher on the list because of a performance of the same song, done in a very different style, months before the record was issued, was talked about negatively by thousands of people?

Clash, you're already on record as saying that if artists hated a record that the record should not get credit for impact. Now you want to give impact to "Hound Dog" because many in the public hated it and were outraged by a performance of the song before the record had even been recorded.

Which is it?

Does negative response to something by people count as impact, or not?

For cultural impact, yes. For musical impact, no.

Where are you getting "only three channels" from?

There were only three networks, but every market had at least 5 to 8 channels.

How many of the 100 million TV sets do you think were even turned on between 8 & 9 that night?

Oh. I guess I left out the most important part. Berle told Colonel Parker that, based on the hundreds of thousands of pan letters, the Colonel "had a star on his hands."

They don't just slow it down at the end, it's slower the whole time, and then gets real slow at the end.

That's a good point, but if it's Elvis Presley's performance of "Hound Dog" that we want to honor for its huge impact, where else would we put the credit but on his hit recording of the song?

Probably pretty close to all of them.

He gets artist credit on the artist lists, but it has nothing to do with the song lists, which are actually "recording" lists, not "song" lists. Lew just likes calling them "song" lists for some reason.