John Lennon says he and other college students would ‘con teachers into playing rock and roll’

John Lennon says he and his fellow college students would convince their teachers to play rock and roll music.

The Beatles member would shape the future of rock and roll during his time with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, but also as a solo musician. Before that, Lennon was at art school and found himself hungry to hear the contemporary music of the times. Both he and McCartney made it clear that the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, had shaped their careers massively before forming a band. But Lennon had a lot of love for other rock and roll musicians of the time, as evidenced by one of his final studio albums, Rock ‘N’ Roll. The album is a collection of rock and roll covers from Lennon, who says the music of the times was so sought after, he had to convince his teachers to listen to it.

Lennon said: “I went to art school, I went to art school for five years and when in there they would only allow jazz music. They wouldn’t allow rock and roll, it was frowned upon. So we had to con them into letting us play rock and roll on the record player by calling it blues.”

He and Paul McCartney would make their love of The King known on several occasions, with the Let It Be hitmaker citing Presley as “the guru” of rock and roll music. The Beatles would meet with Presley and had “a bit of a do” with the Hound Dog hitmaker, and Lennon seemed pleased.

McCartney would share he loved the meet-up with Presley, and it’s a feeling Lennon would back, with The King coming across far more “normal” than first thought. While the hitmaker may be one of the most recognisable faces in rock and roll history, he would actually appear to be much more personable than first thought. McCartney would say it was a meeting of “old mates” while Lennon would say Presley was simply “great”.

He said: “He just seemed normal to us, you know. And we were asking him about just making movies and not doing any personal appearances or TV. And he seems to enjoy it, you know. I think he enjoys making movies so much. We couldn’t stand not doing personal appearances. We’d get bored. We get bored quickly. He says he misses it a bit, you know. He’s just… he was great. He was just how I expected him.”

In the Anthology documentary series, McCartney says Presley was one of the first musical artists he ever took note of. McCartney would say Presley was “what we had been waiting for.” The songwriter would also dub The King a “guru” of music, whose influence was clear.

He would go on to share Presley was a “good looking” musician, though it was not the music he first noticed. McCartney said: “I remember being in school when I was a kid and somebody had a picture in one of the musical papers of Elvis Presley. I think it was an advert for Heartbreak Hotel. I just looked at it and thought ‘he’s so good looking, he looks perfect.’”