Jailhouse Rock • 1957

One of Elvis’ most rocking songs became as well known for its visuals as its music. The ÃÌ>}ĶOE} Ŗv Ìiji ÃŖOE} ĶOE Ìiji wŃŇ Jailhouse Rock, in which Elvis starred, is now viewed as one of the greatest proto-music videos of all time. Its energetic choreography featured Presley shaking his hips with a full cast of dancing inmates. Some of the lyrics in the Leiber-Stoller song reference real criminals, including a criminal organization known as the Purple Gang. But the most daring lyric has one inmate saying to another that “You’re the cutest jailbird I ever did see.” Somehow, the winking reference to prison sex sailed over the censors’ heads. “Elvis never commented on it,” Schilling says. It LiV>Ňi Ìiji wÀÃÌ ÃĶOE}Ńi to ever enter the U.K. pop charts at No. 1.