From a technical musical standpoint, one of the things Elvis did was combine the rawness, and energy and raciness of R&B with country and gospel sensibilities that helped make it more accessible to white kids. He put some hillbilly into it.
If you’ve ever walked into a predominantly black church, you could see firsthand how their relationship with music is so much more personal than the white people. They *feel *their music. Elvis grew up in this culture because he was born on the wrong side of the tracks, and it heavily influenced his relationship with music. He didn’t just sing. He felt it. And you had to stop and listen.
And then you had his looks. He was drop-dead gorgeous. And you couldn’t keep your eyes off of him. He had the x factor plus.
If you haven’t watched his Comeback concert, I suggest you start there.
Yeah, good point about the looks. I think you can’t underrate that. Maybe old, fat Elvis looked silly, but young, skinny, soft-spoken “yes ma’am, no ma’am” Elvis was sex on wheels to teenage girls.
I don’t know if this answers your question or not, but as others have said, Elvis could sing anything – rock, blues, country, pop, gospel. Chuck Berry and Little Richard might have been just as original but (IMHO), if you heard one of their songs, you heard them all. A Berry or Little Richard song was a Berry or Little Richard song. There was no such thing as an Elvis song because he can’t be compartmentalized. Any song can be an Elvis song.
That make any sense?
I gotta admit, all I know of Chuck Berry and Little Richard are their hits. I’ve never owned any of their albums, and maybe they had more range than I give them credit for.
And I’ll further admit that I’m talking about pre-Army Elvis. I don’t fully appreciate Vegas Elvis or movie Elvis.
I agree with most of that but he was more influenced by white pentacostalist preachers. The “holy rolle” set. That religiousity have a much deept affect on him than the few times he went to a black church.
He real exposure to black culture came when he went to the black clubs on Beale Street in Memphis and just watched the musicians there.
I’ll also add that the looks helped and the fact, as Autnie Pam mentioned, the man could sing anything. Listen to some of his live albulms to get a true sense of how good his voice was.
Here he is doing “Jailhouse Rock”, live, for the '68 Comeback Special. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpCU7YeTikc
And here he is singing “How Great Thou Art” live. At this point he was heading towards the exit of his life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VUWThi3cN8
It’s better than the live version of Jailhouse Rock if you ask me.
I like Elvis well enough, but Buddy Holly was the real musical genius of that era.
Not even sure that Buddy Holly would agree with you there.
Um - Chuck Berry might have something to say about that, with countless others right behind…
The article, unless it was intended as tongue-in-cheek, was a load of hooey. Half of their reasons were not related to Elvis Presley at all, but to the marketing that has occurred since his death.
I started to post earlier that I would agree that Presley had a cultual impact and was talented, I’ve always been reluctanct to admire him because of his racist attitude toward his musical influences. However, when I went looking for a cite, I found a Snopes article that convinced me that the rumors of his racism were just that, rumors. I should have expected something when the quote was verbatim as I heard it: “… shine my shoes and buy my records.”
Since my ignorance has been fought, I’ll have to admire him a little. He could sing and I like the baritone voice of the young Elvis. There’s no denying the energy and magnetism of his performances. But, what Elvis Presely was more than anything else was MARKETABLE. He appeared on the scene at exactly the right time and place and lightning struck. Ten years later and he would have been old news – Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, or Carl Perkins would have been the man. Ten years earlier, and no one would want to listen to him sing “colored” music.
Having a generation of post-war teenager girls looking for something new and exciting probably helped.
Even with all that, he had to have the talent to back it up.
Here’s an example of a minor impact. Fifty years later, I hear that someone else did *Hound Dog *before Elvis. I buy myself a Big Mama Thorton CD. Would I have heard of Big Mama Thorton without Elvis Presley? Likely not.
The racist claim is utter bunkum and well known to be bunkum. Presley was surprisingly progressive on race given his background. He consistently gave credit to the black influence on his music and was well liked by contemporary black performers (Jackie Wilson, Chuck Berry, B.B. King, James Brown amongst many others).
Comparing him to Jerry Lew Lewis or even Johnny Cash gives them waaaaay too much credit. The guy was way ahead of them and before their time. It was more than just marketing, at the time there was simply nothing like him. The voice, the look and the sheer natural sexuality was like nothing that had been seen before, white or black.
A prior poster put it best when they said that to think Presley is overrated is to ignore historical fact.
I took a college class on Elvis several years ago. It was very interesting. One of the books we read was Guralnick’s biography. I remember hearing from our teacher, and reading in some of our texts, that Elvis supposedly was “not that interested in sex” and despite the “sexuality” of his performance, was not a playboy by any means in his personal life. I remember reading that he was searching for “the right girl” for a long time and was not inclined towards sexual relationships with a woman that he did not also love.
Elvis was also, believe it or not, part Jewish. His great-grandmother, I think, was Jewish, and his family acknowledged this religious identity. I think his grandmother’s tombstone actually had a Star of David on it or something, and I also remember reading that Elvis wore a wristwatch that had a cross and a Star of David, to represent what he saw as two sides of his life.
Very true - and her original it totally different and smokes (YouTube link to an amazing version with Buddy Guy on guitar - you *gotta *hear this)
I consider Elvis a phenomenal performer, but I have to concede that in one sense, it’s not unreasonable to argue that he was overrated:
Because of the segregated society, which led to the huge pent-up demand by white audiences for a white performer who sounded black, Elvis probably enjoyed greater success than he would have had he not been the first white guy to perform black music. He would have, IMO, still made it big. Heck, without so many silly superlatives like ‘King of Rock and Roll’, more serious musicians might have considered him legit. (Not that there’s any shortage of them that do anyway).
As I said, I consider him a major, major talent. Complaining about the fact that he wasn’t a songwriter (which is separate from the heinous act of Parker stealing credits for him) is silly - few popular singers back then wrote their own material. You might as well complain that Sinatra didn’t play guitar.
The Sun recordings are indeed a treasure. So is the 1968 comeback special. Had Elvis gotten free of Colonel Tom and the drugs, the pathetic later years might have been very different.
That’s just badass.
Just a note about the movies. Sure, they’re (mostly) incredibly cheesy and formulaic (King Creole being a notable exception,) but as a young Elvis fan in the early '70s (mom was a big fan and I was raised with his music) I LOVED them. What wasn’t to like? Elvis got the girls, won the fights and drove the cars (and motorcycles… and boats…etc.) They were great entertainment.
And the films made money. Some of them were truly dreadful though. Wait, most all of them!
Presley was more than just a white guy doing black music. He was unique in his sound and his look. And Guralnik also noted that Elvis had a lot of affairs once he married Priscilla.
I read somewhere – maybe in Priscilla’s book – that he wasn’t interested in her sexually after she had Lisa Marie.
He showed a lot of passion in his music, but very little on the screen, in love scenes. It was like he couldn’t get into it – it was acting, not real, he couldn’t fake it. He seemed almost reserved, holding back, until he got up to sing. On the other hand, he seemed to really enjoy his fight scenes. Weird.
Supposedly, Elvis had some kind of weird hangup where he couldn’t be sexually attracted to a woman if he knew she’d ever had a baby. That’s why he lost interest in Priscilla once Lisa Marie was born.
Who knows what that was about.
Cite? From what I read he basically liked young women and lots of them. Not Prisilla young but evidently Vegas was his favourite stomping ground. This is according to the Memphis Mafia and Jackie Wilson.
Not sure about his other movies because most of them were dire and I just couldn’t watch them but there appeared to be something going on with him and Ann Margaret in Viva Las Vegas. Seemed fairly intense to me.
[Armchair psychologist] I think Presley loved his mother to an unnatural degree. I’m not saying it was incestuous, but just that they had a different relationship than most mothers and sons. His father went to prison during his youth at a time when there was no safety net for families. They were poorer than we can imagine. And I’m sure young Elvis felt guilty and sad watching his mom work her ass off to keep them clothed and fed.
So I think his relationship with women was kind of messed up as a result. He saw mothers especially as being virtuous and above reproach. And it would stand to reason that once Priscilla became a mother, his opinion of her changed.