Elvis unleashes 'snake hips' on TV

Somebody, possibly Socrates, claimed at one point that ‘hips don’t lie’. And this was certainly the case in 1956 when an up and coming young rock and roller named Elvis Presley appeared on television and did things with his lower portions that outraged the nation. Though The King had appeared on the Milton Berle Show before, this was the first time he had unleashed his famous pelvis to such a degree, as he gyrated like a hoopless hula hoop hooper while singing his hit Hound Dog.

Elvis’s hip-thrusting performance split America in a way that thankfully his pants didn’t. The harumphers that witnessed his spectacle hated this new form of waist swivelling music. While the teenagers screamed, swooned and then screamed again. Strictly in that order. The appearance helped cement Presley’s image and fame. Though those hips needed to be tamed. There’s a legend that Elvis was only filmed from the waist up during a subsequent performance on The Ed Sullivan Show to help reduce the deterioration of young American morals. Though if you actually watch the clip, you can easily see all his bodily parts.