This Rock Icon Had a Much Different Opinion of Elvis Presley Than Most of His Contemporaries: “Poor Thing”

Of all the rock ‘n’ rollers who hit the mainstream in the 1960s and 70s, a vast majority of them will cite the first time they heard Elvis Presley as being one of the more transformative moments in their life. Presley taught aspiring musicians how to command a stage. He combined “hillbilly music” with music established by Black communities to create the foundation for rock ‘n’ roll as we know it today. Still, not everyone was a fan.

In fact, the one rock icon who had a much different perspective on Presley is likely a shock to no one who has even a small awareness of this musician’s temperament. Because if there were anyone unapologetic, even-keeled, and socially intelligent enough to defy the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s crown, it would be none other than Frank Zappa.

Frank Zappa Had a Much Different Opinion of Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley and The Beatles are two of the most common sources of inspiration for rock musicians who hit the mainstream in the late 60s, 70s, and into the 80s. However, avant-garde rocker Frank Zappa was not among the throng of loyal young fans. In fact, when Zappa talked about Presley during an early 1980s interview, his reaction had more pity than reverence. “Ah, poor thing,” Zappa said without hesitation. “I feel sorry for him.”

Zappa continued, saying that without popular song composers like Leiber & Stoller and the Black artists who came before Elvis Presley, there would be no Elvis. “His biggest hit, ‘Hound Dog’, he wasn’t the first to record that,” Zappa said. “It was done by Willie Mae Thornton on the Peacock label, because I had her recording of it long before Presley ever put it out.”

The Mothers of Invention frontman recalled just how famous Elvis was while Zappa was still in high school. “I couldn’t stand him,” Zappa admitted. “Then, when he finally turned into this drug-infested blimp and OD’d, it was just tragic.”

Still, He Could See How the King Ascended to the Throne

Just because Frank Zappa wasn’t a fan of Elvis Presley doesn’t mean he was unaware how the warbling, hip-swinging crooner made it to the top of the musical food chain. He agreed that teenagers played a large part in Presley’s success. But he stopped short of saying Presley’s success was a byproduct of teenagers wanting to annoy their parents.

“I think it had more to do with the way he looked and his apparent behavior and the way that a teenager might extrapolate the results of that behavior into some imagined, wonderful way of life,” he said. As for Zappa? “I had other ways to annoy my parents.”

Zappa’s comments about Presley seem more rooted in realism than jealousy. The avant-garde rock musician knew he wasn’t commercial. Frankly, he wasn’t the kind of person who wanted to be. He shared an anecdote about a tour roadie who used to travel with him who was obsessed with Elvis. The roadie would travel with books and cassettes, “virtually [setting] up a shrine to Elvis in every motel that we were in,” Zappa recalled. 

When the interviewer asked him how he felt about that kind of pressure himself, the musician replied, “I doubt whether there’s anybody out there who sets up a shrine to me in motels across the land while carrying luggage. I don’t think that I exactly fit that, uh, qualification.”

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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