In an unexpected twist of rock ‘n’ roll history, the Fab Four—who once worshipped at the altar of Elvis Presley—didn’t hold back when it came to critiquing his later work. While the King of Rock and Roll sparked their musical revolution, by the time the 1960s rolled around, The Beatles were more disillusioned than delighted.
The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr—appeared on Juke Box Jury, a hit BBC show where pop stars gave candid takes on other artists’ singles. When Presley’s song ‘Kiss Me Quick’ was played, what followed was a moment that rewrote the mythos of mutual admiration between two music legends.
Paul McCartney, ever the diplomat, didn’t sugarcoat it.
“The only thing I don’t like about Elvis is the songs,” McCartney said plainly. “I love his voice… But I don’t like the songs now. And ‘Kiss Me Quick,’ it sounds like Blackpool on a sunny day.”
George Harrison went further, not just disliking the tune—but calling it “a load of rubbish.”
“Not at all,” Harrison said when asked if he liked the track. “It’s an old track… Elvis is great. He’s fine. But it’s not for me.”
Even Lennon, who once claimed, “Before Elvis, there was nothing,” had already dismissed ‘(You’re the) Devil in Disguise’ on an earlier episode, comparing Elvis to the safe and saccharine Bing Crosby. The once-electrifying icon had, in their eyes, lost his edge.
Ironically, at the time of the Juke Box Jury episode in December 1963, The Beatles themselves ruled the charts with ‘She Loves You’—soon to be followed by ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand.’ Presley, meanwhile, was recycling old tracks like ‘Kiss Me Quick’ and slipping into cinematic obscurity.
When the two camps finally met, it wasn’t a musical summit—it was awkward diplomacy. Though friendly words were exchanged, underlying tension simmered. Decades later, whispers of that meeting painted a bleaker picture. As radio legend Bob Harris put it, the mood was less admiration and more animosity—calling them “resentful rivals” and even claiming Lennon saw Elvis as a “right-wing Southern bigot.”
From Heartbreak Hotel to “Blackpool on a sunny day,” the admiration between Elvis and The Beatles was far from mutual by the mid-60s. Their reverence for the King faded fast—leaving behind a rare glimpse of honest, unfiltered rock star critique.
