Camille Charbonneau
M. Olivier Patenaude
EAE3U
April 7th, 2017
Elvis Presley - Conventional Essay
Elvis Presley was a famous musician, known for his musical breakthrough, his charms, his looks, his voice, and his moves. He changed music, culture and the world as we know it. Today i will prove to you why Elvis Presley is considered extremely influential to this day. Many key points are going to be talked about during this essay. Firstly The history of rock and roll before Elvis’s time, and his history before he became famous. Secondly, His contribution to the world. What he did, what he changed. Thirdly, The reactions of society, and lastly, why he is still talked
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about to this day. Let’s explore the world of music in the 1950’s, and the world of Elvis. To start off, Elvis presley was massively famous for his music.
He also was in many movies and tv shows in his career. Elvis Presley was an extremely influential person, because of the history of Rock and Roll at the time, and how he came to be. From the age of 13 he began to get attention, for his music. He was very relatable because he did come from a poor southern family, much like many families in the world. He was poor and had no favors handed to him but he made his dream come true. He was discovered while recording birthday songs for his mother. Music in the 1940’s was mainly built around the jazz and big band styles that were popular during the day. Rock and Roll mostly developed in the late 1940’s early 1950’s, when Elvis was at his best. Rock and Roll got created from a combination of many musical styles. Before there was many similar styles including. blues, boogie woogie, jazz swing music, gospel, country, western, and traditional folk …show more content…
music. Secondly, Elvis was massively influential because of his actual contribution to the world. He changed the course of music and culture in the mid-1950’s. He was the beginning of a new kind of music which then influenced many more icons, including the Beatles. Elvis Presley’s Music was influenced by African-American blues, Christian gospel, and Southern country which is why it made Rock ‘n’ Roll the international language of pop. He was the guy who actually brought black music into the white vocabulary. According to the public, he was the first white boy who could sing like a black man. Presley became a national star in 1956 at just 21 years of age. He influenced wardrobe with his sense of style. According to Billboard, Elvis had 149 singles that made the top charting lists: 114 Top forty, 40 Top Ten, and 18 number ones. He sold more than one billion records through the entire world, and about 40% of those outside the the United States. In total he had 151 different albums and singles. He became a movie star in the 1960’s and returned to live musical performances in the 1970’s. Thirdly, Elvis Presley was very influential, because of the immediate reactions that the public had of him.
Some positive, some negative, but all of those reactions shaped what kind of star he became and what kind of followers he had. His audience was of a wide range, but mostly consisted of teenager’s. They were the next generation which makes him so influential for the years to come. They copied his styles, and sang his music. He was just a teenager, but he got the world all shook up. With his smile, snarl, voice and hips, he was the main musical sensation of 1950. He was taught and spoke of as a vulgar, incompetent, young man with a bad influence, mostly by parents, who were sacred of his impact, but the force of his music and his image was enough to make those thoughts disappear.. He was poor and had no favors handed to him but he made his dream come true. He promoted freedom something many teens admired and
wanted. The last argument that i will discuss with you that will prove how influential he was, is the affect Elvis has to this day and why he is still talked and remembered about. His music is still popular today because of it’s cultural diversity and its innovation at the time. The combination of diverse musical genres and contribution to popular culture, was his passion. He was said to be the King of Rock and Roll. “While certainly other artists preceded him to the altar of rock & roll, he is indisputably The King” (Rollingstones). He still has the largest number of gold, platinum, and multiplatinum certifications of any artist in history. Elvis was the top Rock and Roll star of his time. With his voice and his charm, he changed the coarse of music. He became a star at a young age, and was very popular, because he was so relatable, and dreamy. He contributed to the musical world, introducing them, to Rockabilly, and became one of the biggest rock and roll star, not to mention his contribution as a tv, and movie star. He attracted a a wide range of people with his music, his looks, and sense of style. To this day his music is still very popular around the world because of it’s cultural diversity. This is why Elvis is an extremely influential personne, in his time and to this day. Elvis Presley was a Rockabilly Legend, he was and is, the King of Rock and Roll.
The history of the twentieth century would not be complete without mentioning the impeccable influence of one of the best and biggest singers of all time. But before he started making his indelible mark in the sands of time, he started out from very humble beginnings, under the care of his loving, working class parents. Elvis Aaron Presley was born January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi to Gladys and Vernon Presley. Although, Presley was supposed to be a twin, his supposed twin brother, Jesse Garon, sometimes spelled Jessie was stillborn. Elvis Aaron Presley was an incredible American Singer, Musician and Actor with inspirational quotes such as this “Fingerprints are like values; you leave them all over everything you do.”
Some people may call him “The King”, Elvis Presley is a well-known musician who stepped out of the norm and created a different kind of music. Presley combined pop, country, gospel, and black R&B to create his musical style. Presley caught everyone’s attention with his dance moves and musical talent. Elvis Presley led the way for many musicians, and has impacted the lives of many people.
All-in-all Elvis’s career was long and productive. He has sold more records then anyone else ever has. He had many gold and multi-platinum records. Starred in many movies and made a lot of television appearances. Elvis has made his imprint on the American history in many ways. He will always be remembered as “The King”. Almost everyone in the Rock And Roll industry owe their careers to Elvis Aaron Pressley.
Over 40,000,000 viewers tuned in to hear his R&B meets rock and roll song with his hip thrusts and pelvis shakes and the people lost it. You were either with him or against him, the teenage girls went wild over his moves while the church and elders thought he was everything they feared of the future, sexual, wild and rebellious. In the world facing such bigger issues with the cold war going on and the rise of communism it was easy to listen to Presley’s happy-go-lucky rock music and find an escape from the harsh realities of the world. It goes along with the normalcy bias that society ignores bigger issues in light that they rather not accept the fact that it is happening and deal with
Through Elvis Presley, rock ‘n’ roll changed the face of American music, and influenced a whole generation’s political philosophy. Composer Leonard Berstein once said, “He introduced the beat to everything and changed everything-music, language, clothes; it’s a whole new social revolution-the 60s come from it” (Wattenberg 6B). To his credit, Elvis embraced rhythm and blues not as a from to be imitated, but as a form to honored and interprete... ...
Like Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” In the 1950’s the South was heavily racially segregated. Elvis Presley unintentionally put himself in the position to become a valuable instrument in the battle against segregation. “Without casting himself as a fighter for racial equality, Elvis became a subversive standard bearer for cultural desegregation at a time when the codified racism of the South was under increasing pressure.” How did an uneducated white hillbilly from the south influence both black and white teenagers against segregation? It was quite simple, for Elvis Presley had a unique talent of combining traditional black music; such as the blues and jazz, with the traditional white music; like country and white gospel. This unique style of blending different types of music, gave Elvis the edge on the musical racial barriers America was facing; and open the path for both sides to enjoy the music together and therefore desegregated.
It was no coincidence that rock ‘n’ roll and the civil rights movement started at the same time. The genre originated from African American music and was greatly discriminated against. Traditional white Americans would target anything bad about it. But as the teenager demographic of the 1950s started increasing the sales of the music, the genre started gaining more popularity. It was the style of Elvis Presley and his new voice that made girls weak in the knees and boys want to be him. Artists such as Presley had enough influence to change the view of their devoted fans on civil rights issues. Soon as protest songs and rock ‘n’ roll became more popular and influential, it began a gap between the young adult generation and their parents which led to the rebellion of the civil rights movement. Through these factors rock ‘n’ roll influenced a great deal over the civil rights movement.
More important from a music lover's perspective, however, are his remarkable artistic achievements. Presley was not the very first white man to sing rhythm & blues; Bill Haley predated him in that regard, and there may have been others as well. Elvis was certainly the first, however, to assertively fuse country and blues music into the style known as rockabilly. While rockabilly arrangements were the foundations of his first (and possibly best) recordings, Presley could not have become a mainstream superstar without a much more varied palette that also incorporated pop, gospel, and even some bits of bluegrass and operatic schmaltz here and there. His 1950s recordings established the basic language of rock & roll; his explosive and sexual stage presence set standards for the music's visual image; his vocals were incredibly powerful and versatile.
On January 8th, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi, the “King of Rock and Roll” was born. His name was Elvis Presley. He was the son of Vernon Presley who was a truck driver, and his mother was Gladys, a sewing machine operator. He had a twin brother named Jesse, but he was still born, leaving Elvis to grow up as an only child. His father was hardly around, and he was imprisoned for three years for forgery. Surrounding him as a child though, was the gospel music of the Pentecost church, where his love for music first took roots in his heart. In the fifth grade his teacher Oletta Grimes asked Elvis to participate in the talent contest on Children’s Day at the Mississippi – Alabama Fair and Dairy Show. At age ten, he donned his cowboy hat and slipped into a cowboy suit to sing in the talent show, but he was in need of a chair in order to reach the microphone. He sang his personal rendition of Red Foley’s “Old Shep”; it won him a second prize and a free ticket for all the numerous rides in the park. His following Birthday, he received his first guitar from the Tupelo Hardware Store and took lessons from his dad’s brother. In 1948 his family picked up their life and moved to Memphis, Tennessee. It was there that he was exposed to the rhythmic sound of the blues, as well as Jazz on Beale Street, where he grew up...
Rock and Roll is commonly known as the greatest music ever created. Most people do not know that Rock and Roll emerged out of the United States in the 1950s. Artists during this time like Elvis Presley, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and Bob Dylan were the first major stars among the birth of Rock and Roll in America. Since the 1950s, we have seen a rise in Rock and Roll culture. A peak in the 1960s-1970s was when the world began a musical, political, and social revolution. The revolution takes place during some tense times in the world- The Vietnam War, Political Issues with Cuba, JFK Presidency/Assassination, Malcolm X’s Assassination, Martin Luther King’s Assassination — you name it. The world was in a turmoiled state of mind, but what
After many of World War II’s harmful effects, the 1950s served as a period of time of musical change that reflected the dynamic of society as well as the traditional norms and values. Many factors contributed to this transformation. For example, the civil rights movement heightened many racial tensions, and the music produced consequently manifested this tension in itself. Rock-n-roll and R&B music universalized music typically associated with African-Americans, and many African-American musicians gained fame; however, as with any relatively-widespread success, there were many musicians as well who missed their opportunities due to the same racial segregation. While “radical” genres such as R&B and rock-n-roll laid the foundation for music future forms of music, the standard pop, jazz, and country music adhered to traditional values, and thus continued to maintain popularity amidst phenomena such as the Elvis craze.
One of the many adversities he had to adapt to was the feuds of the East and West Coast. This influenced his songs and the way his fans depicted the East Coast, Bad Boys. He also had to deal with the way blacks were treated and looked at by the white community. Although his music brings up many controversy, he is undoubtedly a big part of the way African Americans are being depicted today. He reached the people not just through his music but by the constant protests for equality also while striving for the betterment of his the African American community. The way that society and media looks at African American people and hip hop music are all rooted from
Music has continued to change throughout each decade, but the 1960s was the most influential decade in the history of music. Starting in the early 1950s, rock music was first introduced. Major record labels were releasing new “cover songs” which were originally made by black artist, but now by white artist (Rock and Roll). These cover songs changed a few lyrics from the original songs to avoid copyright issues and to also make the song more appropriate for the white listeners. The biggest star of the 1950s was Elvis Presley, who was known as the “King of rock n’ roll”.
Rodman, Gilbert B. Elvis after Elvis: The Posthumous Career of a Living Legend. London: Routledge, 1996. Print.
Elvis Presley was a well-known man and loved by many people. Based on http://www.brainpickings.org/2013/04/11/elvis-presley-teens-consumer-culture/Elvis Just like Muddy Waters, Presley timing was perfect as well. He came into and era (1950s) where the devastations of the great depression and world wars were over. People were now starting to have some freedom and enjoy the thing they loved which was listening to music and living life to the fullest. The social change that the 50s brought reflected music significantly, and Elvis Presley arose.. Kids were now starting to rebel against their parents and they had a lot of extra money to spend on records because of prosperity. During the Wars, money was limited and kids and adults had to work extra hard and save for survival purposes, but once the war-ended money could be used for pleasure reasons rather than just for survival. In addition, in the 50s our country had it’s own war, and I’m not talking about the World Wars, but yet human inequality. The civil rights movement was one of the biggest social changes in history and was a time where a lot of great artist prevailed and made songs on the issue. Elvis Presley showed just how social changes could influence or reflect the history of rock “n” roll. Presley started a culture, his hairstyle, the way he dressed all became part of the youth around the country. As I said our country was fighting its own war with segregation, Elvis music help bring people together. His music not on appealed white crowds, but black crowds listened to him as well. He brought people together through music, and proved to the world that he could be successful. He was one of the artist that mastered crossover, bringing every color to liking his music. Based on Larson fourth edition pg 38, it says that his record sales boomed, and then rock “n”