How Elvis permanently changed pop culture
<p><em><strong>David Anderson is a Senior Lecturer in American History at Swansea University.</strong></em></p>
<p>It’s been 40 years since Elvis Presley last swivelled his hips, before his untimely death in 1977 at the age of 42.</p>
<p>To date, Elvis’s singles – including <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eHJ12Vhpyc" target="_blank">Hound Dog</a></strong></span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm5HKlQ6nGM" target="_blank">Blue Suede Shoes</a></strong></span>, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxOBOhRECoo" target="_blank">Suspicious Minds</a></strong></span> – as well as <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.discogs.com/lists/Elvis-Soundtrack-Albums/344838" target="_blank">soundtracks</a></strong></span> and concert albums, have sold <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/best-selling-solo-artist" target="_blank">billions of copies</a></strong></span> worldwide.</p>
<p>From <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.graceland.com/elvis/biography.aspx" target="_blank">humble origins in Tupelo, Mississippi</a></strong></span>, in the space of just a few years Elvis became an international superstar of fabulous wealth. His name, face, and voice were then – and still are now – recognised in an instant. But though he is the “king of rock-and-roll”, Elvis defies easy generalisation.</p>
<p>Born in a two-room shotgun shack in 1935, Elvis was a shy child, close to his parents, especially his mother. He was first introduced to performing for an audience through a local singing contest at the age of ten, and was influenced by <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.journalnow.com/archives/the-church-of-elvis-presley-family-regularly-attended-tiny-church/article_f9d40d97-c14a-59da-a634-b5a4e6ea232b.html" target="_blank">gospel and singing in the choir</a></strong></span> at the family’s evangelical church.</p>
<p>The Presleys moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948. As a teenager, Elvis hung out on the iconic <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-mariani/memphis-unmatched-for-american-music-history_b_7973690.html" target="_blank">Beale Street</a></strong></span>, exploring the famed music scene and listening to white and black, urban and rural styles and sounds, especially rhythm-and-blues. This was also where he started experimenting with fashion and changing his appearance, not least his hair which he styled with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.nme.com/photos/75-geeky-facts-you-might-not-know-about-elvis-presley-1418217" target="_blank">Vaseline into a quiff</a></strong></span>.</p>
<p>During the summer of 1954, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.sunrecords.com/artists/sam-phillips" target="_blank">Elvis recorded</a></strong></span> a version of the old blues number <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmopYuF4BzY" target="_blank">That’s All Right (Mama)</a></strong></span> in downtown Memphis. The recording was a sensation, and was played nonstop on local radio stations. From there, Elvis and his band evolved a distinctive <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://southernstudies.olemiss.edu/publications/the-new-encyclopedia-of-southern-culture/" target="_blank">rock-and-roll – or “rockabilly” – sound</a></strong></span>, blending different strains of music with an energetic vocal style, new rhythms and electric guitars.</p>
<p>In 1955, as his music career began to take off, Elvis signed with Nashville’s <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://studiob.org/artists/P16" target="_blank">RCA record label</a></strong></span>, a deal arranged by music promoter <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-col-tom-parker-1284639.html" target="_blank">Colonel Tom Parker</a></strong></span>, who later became the singer’s long-time manager. Elvis’s first RCA single, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9BLw4W5KU8" target="_blank">Heartbreak Hotel</a></strong></span>, released in 1956, topped the music charts in the US.</p>
<p>As his music rose through the tracks, Elvis appeared on a number of US network television variety shows, most notably the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/elvis-presley-on-tv-10-unforgettable-broadcasts-20160128" target="_blank">Ed Sullivan Show</a></strong></span>, accelerating his national profile and fame. Soon after he also <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/elvis-presley-was-paid-a-kings-ransom-for-sub-par-movies-because-they-were-marketing-gold-81586" target="_blank">launched a movie career</a></strong></span> with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3KHWlMaPcw" target="_blank">Love Me Tender</a></strong></span>, which was a success at the box office <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/love_me_tender/" target="_blank">if not with critics</a></strong></span>.</p>
<p><strong>All shook up</strong></p>
<p>With rose tinted glasses, it may seem that Elvis was beloved by all. But the singer was often the subject of controversy, provoking strong opinions among the public and in the press. His on-screen swagger and performance style, consisting of overstated gyrations and other body movements stressing the beat, thrilled his teenage audiences, shaping their fads and fashions.</p>
<p>Elvis was labelled a “<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824916,00.html" target="_blank">sexhibitionist</a></strong></span>”, and his suggestive manner was criticised by churches that claimed his moves <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/when-elvis-presley-scandalized-america-and-mc-hammer-topped-the-charts-20110607" target="_blank">corrupted the minds</a></strong></span> of young Americans. Outraged parents meanwhile equated rock-and-roll with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EOm5DQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=enduring+vision&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjUt8no7snVAhUo1oMKHWwXBsAQ6AEIJjAA%20-%20v=onepage&q=enduring%20vision&f=false#v=snippet&q=enduring%20vision&f=false" target="_blank">disobedience and delinquency</a></strong></span>. Even <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NypSAxK5IrgC&dq=guralnick&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhw-DL7snVAhUN3YMKHYH4BN8Q6AEIMTAC" target="_blank">Frank Sinatra</a></strong></span> waded into the debate, claiming the new music genre “manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth”.</p>
<p>Rock-and-roll’s biracial origins, a fusion of white country and black rhythm-and-blues, and Elvis’s prominent role in developing the genre, also led to <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/champion-or-copycat-elvis-presleys-ambiguous-relationship-with-black-america-82293" target="_blank">persistent accusations of cultural appropriation</a></strong></span>. That these debates played out against a backdrop of racial discrimination, segregation in the south and the national movement for civil rights only fuelled resentment towards Elvis.</p>
<p><strong>Always on my mind</strong></p>
<p>In 1958, Elvis was <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/career-advice/military-transition/famous-veterans-elvis-presley.html" target="_blank">drafted for military service</a></strong></span>, a major event for fans and media. After basic training, he joined the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.3ad.com/elvis.section/elvis.summary.htm" target="_blank">3rd Armoured Division</a></strong></span> and was stationed in Germany for two years. Yet the hits continued apace, including 1960’s best-selling ballads, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwelrtb8Oho" target="_blank">It’s Now or Never</a></strong></span> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XVdtX7uSnk" target="_blank">Are You Lonesome Tonight?</a></strong></span>.</p>
<p>During the 1960s, Elvis also starred in <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/05/entertainment/la-et-elvis5-2010jan05" target="_blank">several prescribed Hollywood movies</a></strong></span>, usually musical comedies that were accompanied by a soundtrack album. However, by mid-decade Elvis’s career was in decline, his chart success waning. Several years on from his last live stage performance, he launched a comeback with a celebrated television special, “<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://ultimateclassicrock.com/elvis-presley-68-comeback-special-airs/" target="_blank">Elvis</a></strong></span>”, in 1968, which was followed by “<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/01/06/168747077/when-elvis-said-aloha-from-hawaii-the-world-watched" target="_blank">Aloha from Hawaii</a></strong></span>” in 1973.</p>
<p>His career relaunched, Elvis’s 1970s concerts in Las Vegas, where he had married <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.vogue.com/article/wedding-elvis-presley-priscilla-presley" target="_blank">Priscilla Beaulieu</a></strong></span> in 1967, were popular and profitable; the singer performing hits such as <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIDyNfJzLd8" target="_blank">The Wonder of You</a></strong></span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf2VYAtqRe0" target="_blank">Burning Love</a></strong></span>, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gyvTV5OJ5E" target="_blank">An American Trilogy</a></strong></span> in flared rhinestone jumpsuits.</p>
<p>Sadly, after years of prescription drug misuse and in failing health, Elvis passed away on August 16, 1977, after <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0816.html" target="_blank">suffering a sudden heart attack</a></strong></span> in his <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.graceland.com/events/ultimate_eta_contest.aspx" target="_blank">Graceland</a></strong></span> home. Thousands of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/funeral-in-memphis-19770922" target="_blank">mourners gathered</a></strong></span> outside his Memphis estate in private tribute to view Elvis’s body which lay in an open casket. Commenting on Presley’s legacy, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=7969/" target="_blank">the US president, Jimmy Carter</a></strong></span>, said: "His music and his personality … permanently changed the face of American popular culture.”</p>
<p>From a shy young boy to global superstar, the icon of the 20th century that was Elvis Presley is still as enigmatic today as when he was alive. One of the most celebrated and influential popular musicians of all time, his gift and talent, flaws and failings are as enchanting now as they were when he first snarled his lips.</p>
<p><em>Written by David Anderson. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Conversation</span></strong></a>. <img width="1" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81917/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation"/></em></p>
