Elvis Flew Into a ‘Fit of Rage’ Every Time He Heard John Lennon’s Name After a Comment Made by Lennon

Elvis Presley was a major source of inspiration for John Lennon. He, like many other artists in his generation, heard “Heartbreak Hotel” and felt as if his life had changed. When he was a famous musician in his own right, Elvis agreed to meet with the band. While The Beatles walked away from the meeting feeling slightly disappointed, Elvis reportedly began to foster a simmering hatred toward Lennon. 

Elvis Presley resented something John Lennon said when they met

In 1965, The Beatles finally had the opportunity to meet Elvis. They drove to Graceland and spent the night playing music with Elvis. Journalist Chris Hutchins said Lennon had long been asking him to set up the meeting, but things went awry between him and Elvis almost immediately.

“John had annoyed Presley by making his anti-war feelings known the moment he stepped into the massive lounge and spotted the table lamps – model wagons engraved with the message ‘All the way with LBJ,’” Hutchins told Express. “Lennon hated President Lyndon B Johnson for raising the stakes in the Vietnam War … As we left and were walking down the drive, [Colonel Tom] Parker called out after me: ‘Tell the fans it was a wonderful night’. John turned to me and said: ‘Tell them it was crap.'”

Elvis reportedly felt the same way. After that night, Elvis would reportedly “fly into a rage” every time he heard Lennon’s name. He became known for outbursts like these; when something he didn’t like played on television, he often fired bullets into the screen.

Elvis wanted to show John Lennon and The Beatles that he was still a star

While The Beatles looked forward to meeting their musical hero, Elvis hoped to establish some form of dominance during the meeting. He respected the band, but he was wary of the new crop of musicians.

“When John [Lennon], Paul [McCartney], Ringo [Starr] and George [Harrison] walked in, Elvis was relaxing on the couch, looking at TV without the sound,” Priscilla Presley said in the book Elvis by the Presleys. “He barely bothered to get up.”

Beatlemania was in full swing by 1965, and Elvis’ career had begun to decline. Priscilla explained that his casual greeting was to remind the band that he’d been a star first.

“He viewed this whole world of music coming from England — The Beatles, the Stones, and the Dave Clark Five — with tremendous interest and, I suppose, some trepidation. He acknowledged their talent and energy — he told me on many occasions — but he worried about losing popularity,” she wrote. “And in 1965, no one was more popular than The Beatles … The fact that Elvis greeted them with studied casualness didn’t mean he didn’t care. He did. He was simply affirming his role as Original King.”

The ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ singer called The Beatles anti-American 

Elvis’ dislike of The Beatles continued even after the band broke up. In 1970, he met with President Richard Nixon and told him that The Beatles “had been a real force for anti-American spirit” (via Vox). 

The following year, he met with J. Edgar Hoover and said that the band was partially responsible for the “filthy unkempt appearances and suggestive music” of the youth.