Hound Dog

Many listeners first heard Hound Dog when Elvis Presleys single topped the pop, country, and R&B charts in 1956. But some fans already knew the song from Big Mama Thorntons earlier recording, a giant but exclusively R&B hit. In Hound Dog Eric Weisbard examines the racial, commercial, and cultural ramifications of Elviss appropriation of a Black womans anthem. He rethinks the history and influences of rock music in light of Rolling Stone's replacement of Presleys Hound Dog with Thorntons version in its 2021 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. Taking readers from Presley and Thornton to Patti Pages Doggie in the Window, the Stooges I Wanna Be Your Dog, and other dog ditties, Weisbard uses Hound Dog to reflect on one of rocks fundamental dilemmas: the whiteness of the wail.