Elvis Presley recorded his rendition of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s iconic track “Hound Dog” in July 2, 1956 in New York City. The song was initially popularized by blues singer Big Mama Thronton but it was Presley that took it to the top of the charts. Elvis’ cover of “Hound Dog” first hit number one on August 18, 1956 and the news came as a shock to Mike Stoller. At that point, Stoller had not heard Presley’s recording and, while speaking with rocksbackpages.com, says he didn’t like the recording at first. “[Leiber] said, 'We got a smash hit on 'Hound Dog'.' And I said, 'Big Mama's record?' And he said, 'No. Some white guy named Elvis Presley.' And I heard the record and I was disappointed. It just sounded terribly nervous, too fast, too white. But you know, after it sold seven or eight million records it started to sound better. I should also say that the other things we did with Elvis I liked very much,” Stoller explained.