Cultural impact of Elvis Presley

In spite of the facts that Nat King Cole had the #7 song in 1959, and the #1 song in 1961, and Chuck Berry had a major hit with "Maybellene" in 1955, in the United States in the 1950s legal segregation and discrimination against African Americans was common, especially in the Deep South. Presley would nevertheless publicly cite his debt to African American music, pointing to artists such as B. B. King, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Ivory Joe Hunter, and Fats Domino. The reporter who conducted Presley's first interview in New York City in 1956 noted that he named blues singers who "obviously meant a lot to him. [He] was very surprised to hear him talk about the black performers down there and about how he tried to carry on their music."Peter Guralnick (2008) Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, Paw Prints, p. 248, {{ISBN|1439508623}}. Later that year in Charlotte, North Carolina, Presley was quoted as saying: "The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I'm doin' now, man, for more years than I know. They played it like that in their shanties and in their juke joints and nobody paid it no mind 'til I goosed it up. I got it from them. Down in Tupelo, Mississippi, I used to hear old Arthur Crudup bang his box the way I do now and I said if I ever got to a place I could feel all old Arthur felt, I'd be a music man like nobody ever saw."Christopher John Farley (July 6, 2004). [https://web.archive.org/web/20040708003053/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,661084,00.html "Elvis Rocks. But He's Not the First"], TIME, retrieved October 22, 2006 Little Richard said of Presley: "He was an integrator. Elvis was a blessing. They wouldn't let black music through. He opened the door for black music."Jody Cook (2004). [https://web.archive.org/web/20060518020750/http://www.cr.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/tn/Graceland.pdf Graceland National Historic Landmark Nomination], United States Department of the Interior, p. 35. B. B. King said he began to respect Presley after he did Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup material and that after he met him, he thought the singer really was something else and was someone whose music was growing all the time right up to his death.[https://web.archive.org/web/20011120183458/http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_oralh_bbking.html Oral Histories]. PBS television interview.

Up to the mid-1950s, black artists had sold minuscule amounts of their recorded music relative to the national market potential. Black songwriters had mostly limited horizons and could only eke out a living. But after Presley purchased the music of Otis Blackwell, an African-American singer-songwriter, and had his "Gladys Music" company hire talented black songwriter Claude Demetrius, the industry underwent a dramatic change. In the spring of 1957, Presley invited African American performer Ivory Joe Hunter to visit Graceland and the two spent the day together, singing "I Almost Lost My Mind" and other songs. Of Presley, Hunter commented, "He showed me every courtesy, and I think he's one of the greatest."Peter Guralnick (2008) Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, Paw Prints, p. 426, {{ISBN|1439508623}}.

"Racists attacked rock and roll because of the mingling of black and white people it implied and achieved, and because of what they saw as black music's power to corrupt through vulgar and animalistic rhythms. ... The popularity of Elvis Presley was similarly founded on his transgressive position with respect to racial and sexual boundaries. ... White cover versions of hits by black musicians ... often outsold the originals; it seems that many Americans wanted black music without the black people in it,"Robert Walser (1998) "The rock and roll era", in The Cambridge History of American Music, Cambridge University Press, p. 358, {{ISBN|0521454298}}. and Elvis had undoubtedly "derived his style from the Negro rhythm-and-blues performers of the late 1940s."Martha Bayles (ed.) (1996) Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music, University of Chicago Press, p. 22, {{ISBN|0226039595}}.

Sam Phillips had anticipated problems promoting Presley's Sun singles. He recalled, "The white disc-jockeys wouldn't touch... Negroes' music and the Negro disc-jockeys didn't want anything to do with a record made by a white man.Carr and Farren, p. 16"

Hillbilly singer Mississippi Slim, one of Presley's heroes, was one of the singer's fiercest critics.{{cite book

|first=Elaine

|last=Dundy

|author-link=Elaine Dundy

|year=2004

|title=Elvis and Gladys

|edition=2nd

|publisher=University Press of Mississippi

|isbn=1-57806-634-4|page=288}} Phillips felt Dewey Phillips—a white DJ who did play 'black' music—would promote the new material, but many of the hundreds of listeners who contacted the station when "That's All Right" was played were sure Presley must be black. The singer was interviewed several times on air by the DJ and was pointedly asked which school he had attended, to convince listeners that he was white.Carr and Farren, pp. 11, 16

In 1957, Presley had to defend himself from claims of being a racist; he was alleged to have said, "The only thing Negro people can do for me is to buy my records and shine my shoes." The singer always denied saying, or ever wanting to say, such a racist remark. Jet magazine, run by and for African-Americans, subsequently investigated the story and found no basis to the claim. However, the Jet journalist did find plenty of testimony to conclude that to Elvis, "people are people regardless of race, color or creed".Natalie Davis (August 17, 2003). "[http://gratefuldread.net/archives/cat/000733.html The 'King' Has Left the Building] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927084702/http://gratefuldread.net/archives/cat/000733.html |date=September 27, 2007 }}". GratefulDread.net. Retrieved on October 14, 2007.

Certain elements in American society have dismissed Presley as no more than a racist Southerner who stole black music.Bertrand The "Elvis stole black music" theme is an enduring one with arguments for and against published in books.See: "Dispelling The Myths An analysis of American Attitudes and Prejudices", Todd Rheingold, Believe In The Dream Publications, USA, 1992, LOCC:93-090296, and on Elvis websites and popular music messageboards. Several arguments are presented on the Elvis Information Network website in its Spotlight On The King section.[http://www.elvisinfonet.com/spotlight.html Welcome to the Elvis Information Network]. elvisinfonet.com A southern background combined with a performing style largely associated with African Americans had led to "bitter criticism by those who feel he stole a good thing", as Tan magazine surmised.Bertrand, p. 222. No wonder that Elvis became "a symbol of all that was oppressive to the black experience in the Western Hemisphere".Bertrand, p. 27.

In his scholarly work Race, Rock, and Elvis,[http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/79fye2sx9780252072703.html Race, Rock, and Elvis]. University of Illinois. Tennessee State University professor Michael T. Bertrand examined the relationship between popular culture and social change in America and these allegations against Presley. Professor Bertrand postulated that Presley's rock and roll music brought an unprecedented access to African American culture that challenged the 1950s segregated generation to reassess ingrained segregationist stereotypes. The American Historical Review wrote that the author "convincingly argues that the black-and-white character of the sound, as well as Presley's own persona, helped to relax the rigid color line and thereby fed the fires of the civil rights movement."

Whether or not it was justified, the fact remains that distrust of Presley was common amongst the general African-American population after the accusations of racism were made public.Bertrand, p. 200. The author adds, "One journalist wrote upon the singer's death that African Americans refused to participate in the numerous eulogies dedicated to him." Presley's singles had consistently charted on Billboard's R&B Singles Chart during the 1950s, but during the early 1960s, this became less common; his final chart appearance on Billboard's R&B chart was in 1963.{{cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |title=The Billboard Book of Top 40 R&B and Hip-Hop Hits |year=2006 |publisher=Billboard Books |isbn=978-0-8230-8283-4}} According to George Plasketes, several songs by other performers came out after the singer's death, which are part of a "demystification process as they portray Elvis as a racist."George Plasketes (1997) Images of Elvis Presley in American Culture, 1977–1997: The Mystery Terrain, Haworth Press, p. 53, {{ISBN|1560249102}}. In his book, Colored White: Transcending the Racial Past, David Roediger considers contemporary "wiggers" in light of the tensions in racial impersonation embodied by Elvis Presley.David Roediger (2003) Colored White: Transcending the Racial Past, University of California Press, p. 26, {{ISBN|0520233417}}. Chuck D and others have at one point or another publicly condemned Presley for "stealing" black music. However, in 2002, Chuck D, in an interview with the Associated Press in connection with the 25th Anniversary of Presley's death, explained how his feelings for Elvis's legacy were no longer those as originally suggested by the lyrics in "Fight The Power", a song which he had written 12 years earlier. When broadcast as a part of the NBC-produced documentary "Elvis Lives", Chuck D had the following to say about Presley: "Elvis was a brilliant artist. As a musicologist—and I consider myself one—there was always a great deal of respect for Elvis, especially during his Sun sessions. As a black person, we all knew that. (In fact), Eminem is the new Elvis because, number one, he had the respect for black music that Elvis had."

By the spring of 1956, Presley was fast becoming a national phenomenon[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/music/elvis.html Culture Shock: Flashpoints: Music and Dance: Elvis Presley]. pbs.org and teenagers came to his concerts in unprecedented numbers. There were many riots at his early concerts. Scotty Moore recalled: "He'd start out, 'You ain't nothin' but a Hound Dog', and they'd just go to pieces. They'd always react the same way. There'd be a riot every time."{{cite book

|first1=Scotty|last1=Moore|first2=James|last2=Dickerson

|year=1997

|title=That's Alright, Elvis

|publisher=Schirmer Books

|isbn=0-02-864599-5|page=175}} Bob Neal wrote: "It was almost frightening, the reaction... from teenage boys. So many of them, through some sort of jealousy, would practically hate him." In Lubbock, Texas, a teenage gang fire-bombed Presley's car.Carr and Farren, p. 12 Some performers became resentful (or resigned to the fact) that Presley going on stage before them would "kill" their own act; he thus rose quickly to top billing. At the two concerts he performed at the 1956 Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, one hundred National Guardsmen were on hand to prevent crowd trouble."[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elvis-rock-n-roll-history/ Elvis Rock 'n' Roll History] ". showbuzz.CBSnews.com (August 10, 2007). Retrieved October 14, 2007.

Presley was considered by some to be a threat to the moral well-being of young women, because "Elvis Presley didn't just represent a new type of music; he represented sexual liberation."{{cite book

|first1=Peter Harry |last1=Brown |first2=Pat H. |last2=Broeske |year=1997

|title=Down at the End of Lonely Street: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley

|publisher=Signet

|isbn=0-451-19094-7|page=55}} Presley generated an "anti-parent outlook" and was the "personification of evil". To many adults, the singer was "the first rock symbol of teenage rebellion... they did not like him, and condemned him as depraved. Anti-Negro prejudice doubtless figured in adult antagonism. Regardless of whether parents were aware of the Negro sexual origins of the phrase 'rock 'n' roll,' Presley impressed them as the visual and aural embodiment of sex."Billboard writer Arnold Shaw, cited in {{cite book

|author=R. Serge Denisoff

|year=1975

|title=Solid Gold: The Popular Record Industry

|publisher=Transaction Books

|isbn=0-87855-586-2|page=22}} In 1956, a critic for the New York Daily News wrote that popular music "has reached its lowest depths in the 'grunt and groin' antics of one Elvis Presley" and the Jesuits denounced him in their weekly magazine, America."[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/music/elvis.html Elvis Presley – 1956]". PBS. Retrieved on October 14, 2007. Time magazine of June 11, 1956, mockingly referred to the singer as "dreamboat Groaner Elvis ('Presley')." Even Frank Sinatra opined: "His kind of music is deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac. It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people."Simran Khurana. "[http://quotations.about.com/od/stillmorefamouspeople/a/elvispresley3.htm Quotes About Elvis Presley] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303214642/http://quotations.about.com/od/stillmorefamouspeople/a/elvispresley3.htm |date=March 3, 2016 }}". about.com. Retrieved on October 14, 2007.

Presley was even seen as a "definite danger to the security of the United States." His actions and motions were called "a strip-tease with clothes on" or "sexual self-gratification on stage". They were compared with "masturbation or riding a microphone". Some saw the singer as a sexual pervert, and psychologists feared that teenage girls and boys could easily be "aroused to sexual indulgence and perversion by certain types of motions and hysteria—the type that was exhibited at the Presley show."{{cite book

|first=Thomas

|last=Fensch

|year=2001

|title=The FBI Files on Elvis Presley

|publisher=New Century Books

|isbn=0-930751-03-5|pages=15–17}} In August 1956 in Jacksonville, Florida, a local juvenile court judge called Presley a "savage" and threatened to arrest him if he shook his body while performing at Jacksonville's Florida Theatre, justifying the restrictions by saying his music was undermining the youth of America. Presley's uninhibited and sexually charged performance style was overall a direct challenge to the reserved social mores of the 1950s.

In an interview with PBS television, social historian Eric Lott said, "all the citizens' councils in the South called Elvis 'nigger music' and were terribly afraid that Elvis, white as he was, being ambiguously raced just by being working-class, was going to corrupt the youth of America."{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/foster/|title=Stephen Foster | American Experience|website=www.pbs.org}} Robert Kaiser says Elvis was the first who gave the people "a music that hit them where they lived, deep in their emotions, yes, even below their belts. Other singers had been doing this for generations, but they were black."Bertrand, p. 223. Therefore, his performance style was frequently criticized. Social guardians blasted anyone responsible for exposing impressionable teenagers to his "gyrating figure and suggestive gestures". The Louisville chief of police, for instance, called for a no-wiggle rule, so as to halt "any lewd, lascivious contortions that would excite the crowd". Even Priscilla Presley confirms that "his performances were labeled obscene. My mother stated emphatically that he was 'a bad influence for teenage girls. He arouses things in them that shouldn't be aroused.'"{{cite book

|first=Priscilla

|last=Presley

|year=1985

|title=Elvis and Me

|url=https://archive.org/details/elvismepres00pres

|url-access=registration

|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons

|isbn=0-399-12984-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/elvismepres00pres/page/8 8]}} However, the economic power of Presley's fans became evident when they tuned in to alternative radio stations playing his records.

Presley seemed bemused by all the criticism. On another of the many occasions he was challenged to justify the furor surrounding him, he said, "I don't see how they think [my act] can contribute to juvenile delinquency. If there's anything I've tried to do, I've tried to live a straight, clean life and not set any kind of a bad example. You cannot please everyone."

Elvis's musical capital never expanded enough for him to transcend the stigma of his background as a truck driver from the rural South. "No matter how successful Elvis became... he remained fundamentally disreputable in the minds of many Americans... He was the sharecropper's son in the big house, and it always showed."Pratt, pp.43, 45{{cite book

|first=Gilbert B.

|last=Rodman

|year=1996

|title=Elvis After Elvis, The Posthumous Career of a Living Legend

|publisher=Routledge

|isbn=0-415-11002-5

|page=[https://archive.org/details/elvisafterelvisp0000rodm/page/78 78]

|url=https://archive.org/details/elvisafterelvisp0000rodm/page/78

}}

Presley remains an immediately recognizable face even amongst groups not normally recognized as his fans. In 2008, a 1,800-year-old Roman bust described as bearing a "striking" resemblance to Elvis was displayed ahead of an intended auction.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2447019/Elvis-lives-in-2000-year-old-carving.html|title=Elvis lives: in 2,000-year-old carving|author=Clout, Laura|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=July 23, 2008|access-date=March 8, 2014}} A spokesman for the auctioneers said that fans could "be forgiven for thinking that their idol may well have lived a previous life in Rome."

Presley made a large enough impact on society that traditions are carried on to remember him to this day. A candle lighting is held in Memphis, Tennessee, at his Graceland Estate each year on August 15 in his honor. Also, singers that worked with Presley hold a "nostalgia concert" as a tribute to him. Presley was a big fan of Karate, and an Elvis Presley Memorial Karate Tournament was organized many years ago to let others enjoy something he used to love so much. The tournament has a large turnout, with around 500 competitors each year. Last, a Sock Hop is held, playing his songs and portraying some of his artwork.

• Cultural depictions of Elvis Presley
• List of best selling music artists
• List of most expensive paintings
• List of songs referencing Elvis Presley
• List of accolades received by Elvis Presley
• 24 Hour Church of Elvis
• Elvis Herselvis
• Elvis sightings
• Jukka Ammondt, a Finnish literature professor who has recorded songs of Elvis Presley in Latin and Sumerian.{{cite web|url=http://sawfnews.com/Lifestyle/41178.aspx|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070423104356/http://sawfnews.com/Lifestyle/41178.aspx|archive-date=April 23, 2007|title=Crooner 'with a calling' sings Elvis ... in Latin|website=sawfnews.com}}{{cite web|url=http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/elvis-lives-in-latin-366364|title=Elvis lives... in Latin |work=Independent Online (South Africa)|date=August 15, 2007}}
• Pop-culture tourism

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|author=Bertrand, M. T.|isbn=978-0252025860|ref=Bertrand|title=Race, Rock, and Elvis|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year= 2009}}
• {{cite book|author1=Carr, Roy |author2=Farren, Mick|title=Elvis Presley: The Complete Illustrated Record |year=1989|isbn=0906008549|ref=Carr|publisher=Plexus Publishing Ltd}}
• "Elvis International Tribute Week." Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary, edited by Helene Henderson, Omnigraphics, Inc., 5th edition, 2015.
• "The Transformation of Popular Culture." Modern American Lives: Individuals and Issues in American History Since 1945, Blaine T. Browne, and Robert C. Cottrell, Routledge, 1st edition, 2007

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140516012403/http://www.elvis.com/ Official site] (Elvis Presley Enterprises)
• {{IMDb name|id=0000062|name=Elvis Presley}}
• [http://www.elvispresleymusic..com.au Elvis Video and Audio Interviews] Elvis Presley Music
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080820005040/http://www.elvispedia.org/ ElvisPedia] – Elvis's own wiki
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070104082231/http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=171 Rockhall]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070314091628/http://www.music.com/person/elvis_presley/1/biography/ Complete Elvis Bio and Discography at Music.com]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070220125513/http://www.fabchannel.com/elvis_gospel_kerkdienst Elvis Gospel Service]

{{Elvis Presley}}

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Category:Elvis Presley