On this day in 1956, Elvis Presley released his hit single Heartbreak Hotel, an evocative, strangely morbid song that climbed the charts to number one for seven solid weeks. Elvis’s stardom rippled around the world, with his influence particularly notable in changing fashions and dress. In the late 1950s, an unknown photographer Karlheinz Weinberger toured the cities of Switzerland documenting biker gangs of young Elvis fanatics, who wore belt buckles and chains bearing the face of their idol and slicked their hair back just like him. The images were brought together in a book published by Steidl in 2017, capturing all the yearning and fandom of youth—as well as the profound influence of Elvis himself, which continues to resonate today.
