duel pages
The King is King The subversive nature of his overt sexuality and cultural synthesis foreshadowed the sexual revolution and inspired countless teenagers, including the Beatles, to disobey their parents, to listen to forbidden music, to grow their hair, and to form their own rock & roll bands. How am I supposed to compare Elvis to anyone else, must less a band from Liverpool who came to America during Elvis’ sad but profitable movie years — before the King reinvented himself, launched the phenomenally successful ‘68 Comeback Special and triumphantly returned to the top of the charts and to live performance? Elvis had to be allowed to grow up. The America that greeted the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” was not the America that greeted Elvis on that same landmark television show. It was almost a decade later and Young Elvis was gone. The girls who screamed for him and the boys who wore their hair in pompadours were grownups. In fact, they were now the Beatles. I can see comparing the Beatles to another British Invasion band. The Beatles vs. Stones debate will rage on into infinity, but to compare the Beatles to the King of Rock & Roll? Elvis opened the door for the Beatles and for the 1960s as an age of free expression, passion and rejection of the status quo. His synthesis of gospel, hillbilly and AfricanAmerican cultures is reflected in the Beatles’ reinterpretations of Motown hits in their early years and their exploration of traditional Indian instruments and melodies in their later recordings. I love the Beatles and recognize their cultural and musical achievements, but to once again quote John Lennon: “If there hadn’t been an Elvis, there wouldn’t have been the Beatles.” NCM
In this corner
My 2-year-old loves Elvis. That’s not intended to be an expert endorsement, as I’m not even the one who introduced her to his music. “Lilo & Stitch” get that honor. It’s simply to illustrate the pervasive popularity of an artist’s music almost 50 years after his passing. Today, Elvis Presley remains the best-selling musical artist in history, with more than one billion records sold. His estate is priceless, his music helped change our society, and his influence is felt throughout the history of rock & roll. I find it difficult to conceive a world without rock & roll as a musical genre. Not only for the love affair I’ve had with music throughout my life, but for the social changes instigated by the gradual inclusion of African-Americans and their music into mainstream popular culture. Elvis Presley’s music, gaining popularity in the strictly segregated mid-1950s Western world, challenged segregationist views and opened the door for black artists to receive recognition for their artistic achievements and subsequently for their other accomplishments. Imagine in 1954 America a white Southerner singing blues mixed with country, flaunting black and hot pink clothes and sporting a greasy black pompadour with long sideburns, gyrating his hips with an uninhibited freedom and challenging cultural mores left and right. He must have been a sight to behold for young teenagers across the world. Here was something new, something incredibly different, something that could belong to them! John Lennon said, “Before Elvis, there was nothing.” There was no rock & roll. The standard radio station selection across the dial consisted of jazz vocalists, big bands or country. More adventurous stations dabbled in “race music,” including some of Elvis’ African-American influences: Arthur Crudup, Big Mama Thornton, BB King, and Fats Domino. Elvis himself was a humble, wellbehaved mama’s boy with no real concept that he was revolutionizing music worldwide. He was just playing the music he loved, dressing how he wanted, and dancing how he danced. Other artists like Little Richard recognized his impact: “He was an integrator. Elvis was a blessing. They wouldn’t let black music through. He opened the door for black music.”
“Elvis opened the door for the Beatles and for the 1960s as an age of free expression, passion and rejection of the status quo.”
Gayle Thrower Rej of Atlanta is a
stay-at-home mom
with a past. Formerly a music booking agent, a high school theater teacher and a classic movie theater owner, she now spends her days washing clothes and playing with dolls. There’s still a glint in her eye and a spring in her step. There are still books to be read, Elvis records to be heard and places to be visited.
may/june 2014
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