Musical acts are typically a part of most variety type shows. This has been true since the beginning of television and continues today. Many performances from the past and the present represent singers and groups that changed the landscape of the music scene. Because these artists represented a musical shift from the norm of the time period, many were considered quite controversial at the time. CBS has always been a network with high rated variety shows. The Ed Sullivan Show aired on CBS from 1948 through 1971. It was watched by millions during the age of the performances we will explore here.
Elvis Presley’s first appearance on October 28, 1956 on the Ed Sullivan Show created controversy because of his gyrating hips and dance moves. This was seen by conservative Americans as sexually suggestive and resulted in protests against CBS. The result was that CBS censors banned Elvis from being shown except from the waist up in his performance on June 1, 1957. For the 1956 performance of the hit song “Hound Dog” see
For the 1957 performance of the same song see
To see more commentary on the controversy Elvis Presley created during his early career see the follow articles, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/music/elvis.html and https://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/pictures/1956-september-9-ed-sullivan-show.html.
The next outrage over rock and roll music, as well as claims over the destruction of our youth, came with the British Invasion starting with The Beatles. The band made their first appearance in the United States on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 9, 1964. They were not viewed favorably by the establishment due to their long hair and music; however, their fans had a completely different and favorable view. To see this performance, see
The Rolling Stones, part of the British Invasion as well, were seen in a similar fashion as the Beatles. For more information about their arrival in the United States, see http://ultimateclassicrock.com/rolling-stones-american-arrival/. The song “Let’s Spend the Night Together” was seen as sexually suggestive. They were asked to tone the song down by changing the lyrics to “Let’s Spend Some Time Together” on their Ed Sullivan Show performance in 1967. The band did follow the censor’s demands and toned the song down. To see the rehearsal performance along with their other hit song “Paint It Black” see
The band performs the original lyrics here on Top of the Pops, a British television program,
The Doors first number 1 hit was “Light My Fire.” Many saw a particular line in the song as drug related. The line “Girl, we couldn’t much higher” led to a producer of the Ed Sullivan show insisting the band to change the wording to “Girl we couldn’t get much better” for the performance on September 17, 1967. However, the band instead performed the original lyrics. This led to The Doors being banned from future appearances on the show. For the complete article concerning this see http://ultimateclassicrock.com/the-doors-banned-from-the-ed-sullivan-show-september-17-1967/. To see this part of the performance, see
The Beatles went through many changes both in looks, lyrics and political ideas during the bands career. By 1968, they were seen in an even more unfavorable light than when they first arrived in America. The song “Hey Jude” was performed on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on October 6, 1968. However, this was not a live performance since it was first shown on the David Frost Show one month earlier. The Beatles had not made any public performances in several years until this time. “Hey Jude” became the biggest selling record for the Beatles and topped the charts in America for 9 weeks. The “B” side of the single “Revolution” was performed on the Smothers Brothers show the following week. The performance of “Hey Jude” can be seen at,
and “Revolution” can be seen at,
Rock and Roll represents a type of music that was not understood from its beginning. It was never truly accepted by the establishment of the time since it differed greatly from what was then considered mainstream music. Some artists continued to differ both in their music and performances from what was even considered mainstream rock and roll music. This continued to result in further controversy surrounding the musical style. These artists became music icons and influenced a wealth of other singers and groups who followed them.
