The singer John Lennon said Elvis put to shame: “It always hurts and infuriates me”
As much as songwriting talents could probably have done enough to speak for John Lennon alone, his outspoken tendencies frequently stood in the way of him building stronger relationships with some of his contemporaries, leading to rivalries that plagued his career for many years.
This wasn’t something that was just reserved for those outside of The Beatles, and in the years immediately after their breakup, he levelled many insults at his former bandmates, particularly Paul McCartney, usually over what he saw as being crimes against songwriting. Everyone’s entitled to their own tastes and opinions, of course, but when it came to Lennon sharing his, he never shied away from going for the jugular.
Aside from that, he found himself upsetting a number of other high profile musicians who simply detested his attitude, with people ranging from Frank Zappa to Todd Rundgren having hot-tempered run-ins with the Liverpudlian songwriter.
These two examples were, to be fair, operating in vastly different scenes from Lennon, and so there being little understanding of each other’s background may not have aided them in their relationships in the first place. That being said, his tendency to come across as arrogant and self-important was never helpful in him maintaining friendships, nor was it a good standard to hold for forging them.
When it came to coming to blows with those in his immediate circle, especially those considered to be contemporaries of his, he also didn’t stop himself from speaking his truth, with The Beatles’ musical arch-nemeses in The Rolling Stones frequently finding themselves on the end of Lennon’s ire.
The feud with Mick Jagger was understandable, if somewhat one-sided, and bore many similarities to the infamous Battle of Britpop three decades later, when Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis frequently took it upon themselves to bash Blur and Damon Albarn in a heated rivalry. It may have turned out to be more a case of ill-tempered competitive streaks running wild, but rather than simply wanting to outdo each other musically, Lennon couldn’t help himself from putting down his rival in terms of his taste as well.
It was hard to ever find yourself disagreeing with Lennon, it had the potential to irk him, and when Jagger once made an off-the-cuff remark about the overrated nature of Elvis Presley, a man who Lennon greatly admired, it gave him the perfect ammunition to take a swipe at his rival.
“It always hurts and infuriates me when Mick Jagger puts Elvis down,” Lennon was quoted as saying. “Maybe he’s jealous because Elvis was the original body man in rock and it’s too near to Mick’s game for him to admit that Elvis’ movements were at least as good as his and that maybe Elvis could sing a damn sight better than he could.”
While Lennon’s insinuation is absolutely not true, given that they both have their merits and Jagger arguably added more grittiness to his vocals than Elvis was ever able to, without Elvis, virtually none of the rock stars of the 1960s would have even had their big break, so they’ve each got a lot to be thankful for in terms of what he gave to the world.
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