was so uptight you'd think Jedediah Bush was president too. Thankfully Elvis overcame adversity got fat and has a successful career complete with the comeback tour. What you didn't know was that among all his trouble was that even one of his Christmas songs got banned. It was that famous year that Ed Sullivan cut off Elvis at the hips...The hubub went down even later than you might expect. In 1957 Elvis was recording his first of several Christmas-themed releases. But it was released at the peak of Elvis's renegade status. Some stations in a fit of wholesomeness banned the album. WCFL-AM in Chicago banned all records by Elvis entirely. KMPC-AM and KEX-AM in Portland followed suit. But at KEX, DJ Al Priddy played his version of "White Christmas." anyway and was fired. In response DJ Allen Brooks of CKWS in Kingston, Ontario, played the entire LP.
The problem was that a secular and sex-crazed rock n' roller was playing sacred music. Fanning the flames was none other than Irving Berliner. Irving ran amok writing letters to radio stations. Elvis had recorded a version of his "White Christmas" a song that Berliner had written. Royalties be damned, it was too much for him to bear. I'm sure his estate has no problem depositing the checks today.
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