Elvis Presley
musicismylife78
Posts: 6,116
Thoughts on him and his music? His influence?
Hearing the talk of MJ the last 2 weeks, and his nickname, "King of Pop", obviously harkens back to a MJ idol, of course another person labeled the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley.
Elvis seems to me to be among those giants like The beatles, or Dylan, or MJ, who are so huge its unfathomable their influence on society and the world. Their mark on the world is so huge is silly to even estimate it.
For years I disliked Elvis, because as Chuck D said, "to call him the King of Rock and Roll, was a slap in the face to the people who really created rock". Which of course was the blues singers and guitarists.
But I think Elvis deserves to be honored. And while I agree with Chuck D, I dont think Elvis was a racist. He obviously loved black culture and history and music.
Favorite albums? Songs? Favorite films?
Hearing the talk of MJ the last 2 weeks, and his nickname, "King of Pop", obviously harkens back to a MJ idol, of course another person labeled the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley.
Elvis seems to me to be among those giants like The beatles, or Dylan, or MJ, who are so huge its unfathomable their influence on society and the world. Their mark on the world is so huge is silly to even estimate it.
For years I disliked Elvis, because as Chuck D said, "to call him the King of Rock and Roll, was a slap in the face to the people who really created rock". Which of course was the blues singers and guitarists.
But I think Elvis deserves to be honored. And while I agree with Chuck D, I dont think Elvis was a racist. He obviously loved black culture and history and music.
Favorite albums? Songs? Favorite films?
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Comments
I just watched the TVmini-series from 2005 about Elvis. I thought it was good (dont know how accurate), but the second hald made me sad thinking that this was so long ago (before he could learn from others mistakes) about drugs, managers, women. I'm not a huge fan of the music, but i can definitely appreciate it.
I also noticed most of his songs were around 2 miutes (many, under two minutes too).
I guess for the times, it just seemed like he was doing something totally different.
I think it was more than that. Before Elvis rock music wasn't something people knew about, or something mainstream americans new about. Elvis brought rock music to the forefront. The fact that rock music is accepted as an art form, and is something that everyone knows about, that in large part is because of Elvis.
And it was different. To have a white man, singing black songs, at a time when race relations were very very strained and all that. That was huge.
John lennon said "before Elvis, there was nothing". Again, I think Lennon of all people should have known the volatile nature of saying such a thing. As there were many many important musicians, bluesman, before elvis. But the intention of the statement is true. Rock music wasnt "rock music" in the sense we think about it, until elvis came onto the scene.
Furthermore, I don't think Elvis' importance is at all over-hyped, just based on the number of great musicians who have publicly said that seeing Elvis on TV for the first time is what first inspired them.
Personally, Elvis was an early favorite for me, though I don't listen to him much anymore, he was my first foray into rock. So, yeah, he's awesome.
Elvis, Beatles, MJ. The trifecta.
I liked when Elvis had a Clam Bake.
http://www.last.fm/user/merkinball/
spotify:user:merkinball
An area that is also overlooked in our twee, overly-pc age where "cock-rock" is a term of abuse is that the young Elvis was the first major recording artist to present a visually sexual act. Okay, there were crooners such as Johnny Ray and Frank Sinatra, but they weren't hip-jigglers. When "Elvis the Pelvis" appeared on the Ed Sullivan show in 1956, he had to be filmed from the waist up. Crazy, I know, but that's the way it was. Without Elvis, there would have been no Mick Jagger, no Jim Morrison, and definitely no Jimi Hendrix (who adored Elvis). True, there would have been no "Percy" Plant and the legions of David Lee Roths either, and some dissenters might say that's not necessarily a bad thing, but Elvis presented the first visual image of the rock star.
Before Colonel Parker stuck him in a suit and tried to get him to croon, and before those ever-worsening movies, he was incredible. In fact, I think the most striking thing about his '68 Comeback Special is where he does the live set. You get a sense of his sonic and visual power. He was full-on, before the peanut butter and jelly sammiches and the shotgun-blasted televisions.
These two books are by far the best written I've read on a musician's life. The author does the impossible by taking someone as big and cliched as Elvis and makes him seem like someone you grew up with.
Now that I think about I'm going to re-read them.
http://www.myspace.com/christianjame (Music Page)
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/19598996 (Personal Page)
Peanut butter & Banana's, not jelly
http://www.myspace.com/christianjame (Music Page)
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/19598996 (Personal Page)
i've got to give up some love for the peanut butter and banana sammiches!
peanut butter and banana with a baseball bat!:D
Jailhouse Rock, I Can't Help Falling In Love With You, Return to Sender
You can't go wrong with the first album, hell, its iconic.
Favorite song is probably Hound Dog.
1. I like the Blue Hawaii album - has Can't Help Falling In Love...
2. (Now And Then There's) A Fool Such As I - love it to bits, so simple
3. Jailhouse Rock - classic
I think the bacon involves a specific story. Elvis was entertaining friends in Memphis and one of them mentioned giant peanutbutter bacon stuffed sandwiches from a restaurant in Vegas, so they hopped a plane and had the restaurant set up catering at the airport where they landed, then flew back.
wow :shock: rich people have it made.... sometimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbb0_tDCc10
AWESOME!
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