The Influence of Elvis Presley has on Music
He was once a shy farm boy who received a ‘C’ in 8th grade music after being told by his teacher that he has no aptitude in music. He never learned to read music and failed the subject, but he took his chances and played music differently. He then became a famous American musician and actor. He was not the first artist to introduce rock and roll, but his version of this musical style earned him the right to be called “the King of Rock and Roll”. With his gift of music and contribution to popular culture, Elvis Aaron Presley became one of the exceptional entertainment icons of the 20th century (Kartindo.com). It has been more than thirty five years since he passed away, but people still remember him and his songs. His contribution to the music industry is legendary; he formed his celebrated musical style by blending country music, rhythm and blues, gospel songs and the pop music that was aired on the radio during the 1950s.
Elvis Presley’s musical career began in 1954 by recording ballads with Sun Records, an American independent recording studio based in Memphis, Tennessee. However Elvis’ first attempt to impress the Sun records owner, Sam Phillips failed. Phillips was quoted saying “Everyone knew that I was just a struggling cat down here to develop new and different artists, and get some freedom in music, and tap some sources and people that weren’t tapped (Sam Phillips)”. It was when Elvis Presley started to jumble around with his guitar with a much faster rendition of the song “That’s All Right”, that Phillips knew he got what he was looking for. Combined with Phillips perceptive guidance, the young musician capitalized on his vocals that merged well with the instruments. A few more months with Sun Records proved to be a success for Elvis as his upbeat songs became popular throughout the Southern part of America.
The irony that came with promoting Elvis’ song in the 50s was that he was a white boy singing the rhythm and blues of the |African American. During that time, white American disc-jockeys are hesitant to play the rhythm and blues by the African-American, and so with the Negro disc jockey who doesn’t want songs by the white. But this white boy who sings the blues was rapidly becoming a national phenomenon (Wallace). Presley’s rock and roll music merged the black and white society in a common ground. He became more popular as teenagers from both the black and white community came to see his concerts with wild eagerness. Presley was not the first to introduce rock and roll, but he was the icon who made this music style so popular. It is largely because of him that the white youth of the 50’s started to embrace the rhythm and blues of the Southerners and mingled with the Afro-Americans.
Presley’s style of music, the unique merging of rhythm and blues and country, helped in promoting the influence of rock and roll, however his rising popularity and versatile musical style was not without criticisms. He had appeared in national television no more than six times, when his performance on the Milton Berle show in 1956 triggered controversy (Elvis rocks). His celebrated ‘pelvis shaking and knee jerking’ style as he sings made the teenage crowd loved him more; but critics from other sectors like the Catholic Church admonished him and his performances, declaring him to be too vulgar and lacking in musicality. Concerns were raised about the influence of Elvis’ rock and rolling over the changing values of the young generation of the 1950s.
Despite the criticism against rock and roll music, the young generation from both black and white community has already embraced this musical revolution. In his book, Can’t buy me Love” Jonathan Gould referred to Elvis voice as remarkable as he touched people in a way only great artist can do. Before his first appearance on television many listeners thought of him as a black guy. When he came into television, courtesy of Ed Sullivan show, many white Americans were delighted to see is a white man (Wallace) The people that Elvis has influenced are diverse as they came from different race, class and culture. By the end of 1956, Elvis was already a national star and recognized as the leader of the rock and roll movement (Elvis)
Elvis Presley was most successful with his innovative musical style from 1954 to 1958. During these years, he has achieved distinction from his singles and albums. The song and his first commercial single that launch his singing career was the “That’s All Right (Mama)”, which rapidly became a hit after Sun studio released it in July 1954. He continuously reaped national attention, and by the beginning of 1956 he recorded ‘Heartbreak Hotel” (Wallace). This song became number one in the charts for several weeks. In these two songs, Elvis exhibited that he is not only a vocal and rockabilly talent but also an excellent musical dramatist.
However, as an innovative musician, he has to changed styles to adapt to the musical inclination of the North. His distinct versatile voice had help him mix and change genres from gospel, blues, ballads and pop music. For sometimes he stopped singing the rockabilly because it was too connected to the lifestyle of the lowly Southerner, but traces of it are apparent in his recordings. The songs “A Big Hunk o’ Love”, “I Forgot to Remember to Forget”, and “Let’s Have a Party” showed aspects of a blend of rock and roll and hillbilly musical styles. The “I Forgot to Remember to Forget” is a typical rockabilly (Saffle), but this was also the song that made Elvis known as a country music star.
Elvis Presley has also recorded several gospel songs. This may be a surprise to some people but he would often play gospel tunes at home for his enjoyment, inspiration, and consolation. His early fascination for gospel songs started early as he would listen to gospel music in the church where his parents used to attend. His first gospel album entitled “How Great Though Art” was released in 1967. An innovator that he is, he altered the instrumentation and included steel guitars, saxophones and background singers that resulted to a better gospel music. In his lifetime, Elvis received three of the prestigious Grammy Awards; all of them were courtesy of his gospel songs (Elvis Tribute)
In 1958, Elvis music career was called to a halt after he enlisted in the army for two years, but he returned to the spotlight in the 1960, both physically and professionally mature. He has returned to live music, followed by performances in Las Vegas and across the United States. In his maturity, Elvis has developed his sense of humor to a finely honed edge, like making intentional false starts then finally performing a number with a strong soul feeling and a little of the country-boy grunting and grinding that gave his songs such notoriety (Heckman). For many more performances, he would set records for concert attendance, television ratings and recording sales. For this, he became the best-selling and most influential artists in the history of popular music (Holland).
As the pioneer of rock and roll revolution that drove the young generation of the 1950’s, Elvis Presley did more to change the direction of popular music and culture than any other artist of his time. His musical ability and powerful vocals were some of the qualities that caught the public attention and endeared him to many. His contribution and influence to the entertainment industry continues even today. There will be musical entertainers that will make their mark in the musical industry but there will be no one like the sensational Elvis Presley.
References
“Culture Shock: Flashpoints: Music and Dance: Elvis Presley”. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved from http://pbs.org
“Elvis Aaron Presley: A Short Biography Note.” Kartindo.com, 1 Jan. 2012. Web 28 Oct. 2014. http://www.book.google.com.ph
“Elvis’ Gospel Songs”. Elvis Tribute.US. Retrieved from hrrp://www.elvistribute.us/songs/gospel
“Elvis Presley Biography: The Official Elvis Presley Site.” ElvistheMusic.com. Retrieved from http://www.elvisthemusic.com/us/biograpy
. Heckman, D., Presley, Talents Richly Intact, Shifts Emphasis to Rock/Gospel. New York Times in the Web. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
“Elvis Rocks the Milton Berle Show”. History.com. Retrieved from http://history.com
Holland, C., Elvis Presley Biography.IMDb. Retrieved from http://imdb.com/namne/nn000062/bio
Saffle, M., The Musical Characteristic of Elvis Presley. Retrieved from http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/curiculum
“Sam Phillips: Biography.” Sun Records Company. Retrieved from http://sunrecords.com/artists/sam_phillip
Wallace, M., History Elvis Presley: A Revolutionist. Retrieved from https://www.lagrange.edu/resource/pdf_wallace_history.pdf
