Elvis Presley is considered a legend by many people today. He is commonly referred to as the “King of Rock and Roll. ” Elvis has sold over one billion records and has 151 albums and singles (Kemp). Elvis is the artist with the largest number of gold, platinum, and multiplatinum certificates (Kemp). Elvis has performed in many arenas in the United States. Elvis Presley changed the culture of the United States by changing fandom, views on segregation, music, stardom, and fashion. Without Elvis, we would not live in the world we know today.
Elvis was born in East Tupelo, Mississippi, but moved and grew p in Memphis Tennessee (Kemp). Elvis grew up playing music. Elvis learned he loved to sing at his Pentecostal church in Memphis. He grew up as a poor boy that was closer to the Negro community than the white community (Kemp). This influenced his music heavily. When he was nineteen he released a cover of “That’s All Right”, a traditionally black recording artist song (Kemp). The song hit radios and was a hit. Listens were cautious to become too attached to the song because they were afraid Elvis was a Negro.
Elvis went to the radio station and stated where he went to school to clarify he was white. Elvis was the first white artist to combine gospel, country, folk, and blues music to create what we know as rock and roll. He successfully introduced this music to the white population which, at the time, decided the popular culture. This music became popular amongst teenagers. Wallace states, “fans erupted in paroxysms of emotions when seeing Elvis”. Teenagers liked Elvis because he was different; he was a symbol for teen rebellion after World War Il and the Great Depression.
Wallace states, “One pastor who attended an Elvis concert described the scene as screaming, falling to their knees as if in rayer, flopping limply over seats, stretching rigidly, wriggling in a supreme effort of ecstasy. ” This was the beginning of a new kind of fandom. Before Elvis, fans were never the crazy image that comes to our heads today. Fans were respectable and admirable. In the past, fans would gather to listen to music and tastefully dance to the artist they were listening to and sing along.
This fandom began to slightly change as time continued, but drastically changed when Elvis entered stardom. Today, we imagine the crazed teenage girls screaming, running after the star, and stalking the star. This type of fandom began with Elvis. In the Elvis fandom, girls screamed his name, chased him, followed him to his dressing room where they ripped his clothes off, stole his clothes and personal items, copied his clothes, and copied his hair (Wallace). Wallace states that Elvis’ fans, “loved him because he was vulgar and provocative. Teenagers were becoming less like their parents and their parent’s generation.
Elvis helped them achieve that goal. According to Wallace, Elvis was everywhere, “Elvis was on record charts, television, movie theatres, and live stages. ” This helped make him so popular. Popova states, “an Elvis Presley model record player was selling for $47. 95. Teenagers were asked to put $1 down and pay only $1 a week. Credit buying had reached the young. ” Teenagers did not need their parent’s approval to buy this according to Popova. Popova states, all they needed was money.
According to Wallace, “parents, teachers, officials, and preachers did not like Elvis. ” They didn’t like him for the same reason teenagers did like him. Elvis was a symbol of sexuality and rebellion. Adults feared Elvis and the influence he had on young adults and teenagers (Wallace). Elvis is famous for inventing the pelvis thrust. It was a dance move that involved twisting his hips in an erratic while he performed. It drove teenage girls crazy and parents went into a frenzy. Elvis began breaking the conservative boundaries that all artists held up to this point.
Elvis began showing more characteristics of Negros like this type of dancing. Hauser states, “Elvis was shot from the waist up on The Ed Sullivan Show [because of the hip thrusting]. ” Elvis’ hip thrust was a bold and daring move. It was a risk and risque compared to the men dancing in sync. According to Wallace, “parents were afraid teenagers would become over sexualized because of Elvis and his dancing. ” Officials tried to prevent Elvis from performing and gaining popularity, but this was just the beginning for Elvis. Elvis’ lyrics also had sexual meaning to them as stated by Hauser.
Most of his songs are about females in some way. Most of his songs are suggestive. This was fairly new to this time. This type of suggestive music erupted in rock and roll. Many older people blamed Elvis for destroying the minds of the younger population with this new music. Elvis began to gain popularity all over the world. He became an international super star. The media personified his life on television and in magazines (Kemp). Everyone in the world could watch his life before their eyes. Everyone saw how he acted and looked.
According to Wallace, “boys began copying Elvis’ hair and clothes to gain female attention. ” Wallace states so many teenagers liked Elvis because, “Presley’s music spoke to teenagers and provided a way for them to let loose, go crazy, and to express themselves. ” Today’s fandom arose from Elvis Presley and how girls acted around him. Without him, we may not have the crazy fans and excessive merchandise we have today. Without Elvis, segregation may still be part of our world today. Elvis helped introduce white people into black culture through music.
This is another reason why parents and officials didn’t particularly like Elvis. These people did not want integration to happen. Hauser characterizes Elvis’ ability to fuse American culture as many whites saw it as an attack on their rights and culture Presley’s blatant demonstration of cultural integration, through his ability to enhance black music with unbridled motion and his audacity to transcend black-white rigidities onstage, was social revolt at its finest, and many whites saw Elvis’ music as an assault on the American ethos.
According to Hauser, “Elvis drew power from black culture. ” Elvis believed Negros had more musical talent than any white performer, so he drew his style from black culture. Most whites saw him as a black performer in a white man’s body. They were afraid of assimilating because of the influence Elvis would have. Elvis introduced mass society to what was thought to at the time as an inferior’s culture. Negro culture is a big part of our culture today. Other artists began covering predominantly black artist’s songs after Elvis did (Kemp).
According to Kemp, Elvis started by covering black artists and by singing blues music. During this time, blues music was mostly sung by Negro artists. After Elvis introduced whites to black culture, assimilation began to take off. Elvis’ song If I Can Dream references the Civil rights movement. In the song, Elvis asks, “If I can dream of a better land where all my brothers walk hand in hand tell me why, oh why, oh why can’t my dream come true” (Brown). Elvis is asking f he can support the Civil Rights movement why can’t other Americans support it.
Another Elvis song, In the Ghetto, has lineage to African American culture that was deeply rooted within Elvis. Elvis was, and still is, an American icon. Elvis has influenced our culture in so many ways. He has influenced our culture by changing previous fandom, views on segregation and segregation in general, music style, stardom, hair, and fashion. Without such a prodigious star like Elvis, our world would be completely different. Elvis introduced our country to a unfamiliar type of music and made it popular. He also kept his popularity up while he was away during war.
Elvis Presley had a sound like no other artist. To this day, his sound has not been comparable to any other artist. Elvis also broke the boundaries of conservatism by dancing and his sexual hints in his lyrics. Elvis wooed females all over the world and made men envious of his talent and good looks. Elvis helped speed up the integration process by assimilating white and black culture without flaw. It is safe to say Elvis Presley is deservingly an icon that will forever be loved and studied for how he changed our country.