Jailhouse Rock (EP)
Jailhouse Rock is an extended-play, seven-inch 45 RPM record released on RCA Records, catalogue EPA 4114, during November 1957. Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on April 30 and May 3, 1957, with an additional session at the MGM Soundstage in Hollywood on May 9 for "Don't Leave Me Now". It peaked at #1 on the newly inaugurated Billboard EP chart.
Content
Unlike Loving You (1957) but like Love Me Tender (1956), a full long-playing album soundtrack was not devised for Jailhouse Rock. The title song "Jailhouse Rock" had already been released as a single on September 24, 1957, and went to #1 on the singles chart. The sixth soundtrack song "Treat Me Nice" was not included on the EP, a new recording from September 5 at Radio Recorders instead placed as the B-side to the "Jailhouse Rock" single where it peaked at #18 on the singles chart independently. The writing and production team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller played prominent roles in the making of the soundtrack, writing four of its songs and working with Presley closely in the studio. Other than both sides of the single and "I Want to Be Free", the fourth song by the pair "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" became a minor standard, receiving cover versions by Buddy Holly, Cliff Richard, Joni Mitchell, and Brian Setzer.
Jailhouse Rock
Jailhouse Rock may refer to:
Jailhouse rock (fighting style)
Jailhouse rock or JHR is a name which is used to describe a collection of different fighting styles that have been practiced and/or developed within US penal institutions. The different regional “styles” of JHR vary but share a common emphasis on improvisation governed by a specific set of underlying principles.
Some examples of the many styles of JHR are 52 Hand Blocks,Comstock Style, Stato. Many of these styles of JHR are thought to have evolved regionally in different penal institutions.
Jailhouse Rock, the 52 Hand Blocks and their variants may be compared to savate, which was originally a semi-codified fighting method associated with an urban criminal subculture, which underwent a gradual process of codification before becoming established as a martial art accessible by the cultural mainstream.
52 blocks has been referenced in journalist Douglas Century's Street Kingdom: Five Years Inside the Franklin Avenue Posse, as well as numerous Wu-Tang Clan songs and Ted Conover's book Newjack. Recently, celebrities including actor Larenz Tate and rapper Ludacris have taken up the fighting system for film roles and self-defense, shining a brighter light on this previously unknown martial art.
Jailhouse Rock (film)
Jailhouse Rock is a 1957 American musical drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler, and Mickey Shaughnessy. Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and dramatized by Guy Trosper from a story written by Nedrick Young, the film is about a young man sentenced to prison for manslaughter who is mentored in music by his prison cellmate who realizes his musical abilities. After his release from jail, while looking for a job as a club singer, the young man meets a musical promoter who helps him launch his career. As he develops his musical abilities and becomes a star, his self-centered personality begins to affect his relationships.
The wife of producer Pandro S. Berman convinced him to create a film with Presley in the leading role. Berman delegated the casting to Benny Thau, head of the studio and Abraham Lastfogel, the then president of William Morris Agency. Berman hired Richard Thorpe, who was known for shooting productions quickly. The production of Jailhouse Rock began on May 13, 1957, and concluded on June 17 of that year. The dance sequence to the film's title song "Jailhouse Rock" is often cited as "Presley's greatest moment on screen".
