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Conformity in the 1950s America
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Elvis Presley was more than just a singer songwriter from Tupelo, Mississippi. He was a revolutionary and a visionary, who reshaped the very nature of music itself for generations to come. His musical style transcended his time period, and his distinct sound has inspired artists to this day. Elvis’s musical fusion of rootsy blues and gospel rock was a style none had heard the likes of which in his time. He was an intriguing character to all, adored by many and detested by the rest. His stylish wardrobe, instantly recognizable voice, and unique personality as a performer distinguished him beyond a musician. Elvis moved and acted on stage in a way no other artist at the time did. All these attributes and qualities not only attracted Elvis a wide …show more content…
Elvis Presley had charisma, charm, and confidence, and this in addition to his pioneering of the rock music genre is what impacted and influenced so many lives. Without Elvis, the world as we know it would most certainly be a very different place. To understand why Elvis was so influential, you must first fully understand the time period which surrounded the man himself. Elvis was immersed in the previous generation's culture. Beautiful music and jazz were the standard at the time. The sharp contrast of Elvis’s music is the reason why he was globally praised. While Elvis himself never took credit for rock and roll, he certainly defined what its signature sound truly was amongst his fellow rock revolutionaries with his rockabilly sound (“Who Really Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll,” 2004). Although Elvis is often remembered for his funny voice and a tall hairdo, there …show more content…
When a national sensation is made, a national reformation is close to follow. Elvis’s cultural impact was just about unheard of in his day and age. You either loved or hated Elvis, but there was no in between. Some would say Elvis encouraged the American dream. He was the personification of rebellion in a generation of ready rebels. He liberated and freed new thoughts and expressions. He taught an entire nation of young teens how to party, and what more he did so by isolating an entire previous generation. While it was never Elvis’s intention to divide anyone, quite the opposite in fact, he separated critic and fanatic about as far as anyone could. To the fanatics he was the object of their adoration and obsession. To the parents of the fanatics, he was a threat to American society as they knew it. He was considered a moral danger to young women as he not only represented musical revolution, but even sexual liberation to many. The Catholic Church even denounced him in a headline stating, “Beware Elvis Presley” (“Elvis Presley - A Danger to American Culture?” 2007). Riots broke out at his concerts, and armed forces were even called upon to prevent total destruction when he performed. While Elvis did encourage liberation, freedom, and rebellion, at his inception, there was so much more he had to share. This became clear to the public eye when he was drafted into
The power of television is strong and inevitable. Television has the ability to draw people in and view the world through a perspective one would think unimaginable. After the second world war ended in 1945, electronic sales boomed and more families started to gather around the tv at night to view widely famous television shows. Specifically, The Ed Sullivan Show was known for its plethora of celebrities and up and coming entertainers. The shows popularity was able to take a small town artist and make he or she into an enormous success, specifically, Elvis Presley who was, “something new under the Sun” (Altschuler 30). Teenagers, however, viewed the television as an escape and a look into the unknown and intriguing world of African American culture. Through the extreme recognition of The Ed Sullivan Show, the power of mass media and the fascination with African American culture, Elvis Presley’s success skyrocketed and made him one of the most famous performers of all time whose fame became an inspiration for many.
... gospel singer, had he lived for six more months. Presley also revealed his spirituality through racial reconciliation. His appreciation for black and white southern gospel music was evident, and he even showcased black performers as his backup singers. In a concert song entitled “An American Trilogy,” Presley challenged southerners to transcend sentiments rooted in racism that dated back to the Civil war. Presley’s spirituality can be seen as a white working-class southern spirituality. Overall, Presley’s southern spirituality drastically influenced his music and his career embodied the southern movement toward using modern entertainment to reach all with the age-old message of the gospel.
Presley grew up in an era where racism was strong; his music brought all races together. His music had Caucasians singing black R&B despite the racism. Teenage girls all over the world would go hysterical over Elvis and his crude moves. Elvis received one of his nicknames “Elvis the Pelvis” with his sexual moves that could not be recorded on television. 1955 and 1956 was when Presley exploded in his musical careers with his single “Heartbreak Hotel” which sold over one million copies. As I listened to this single that sold so many copies I can hear the different genres and the way his voice was so different compared to other artist in this era. The main instrument being played in this single is a guitar. There is actually a hotel named after Elvis’s first hit single. It is located in Memphis, Tennessee. Unfortunately, the hit song was inspired behind a suicide note that one of Pre...
When a person thinks of rock music in the 50s, they usually think of Elvis Presley, “the King of rock and roll”. However, he seems to exhibit a more stereotypical American approach to music. As Americans, we like everything that entertains us to be bigger and better than before. Presley certainly delivers this idea through his outfit,
Elvis did more to break down the racial barriers separating the whites and blacks in this country than most people will ever realize. That is one reason there was so much resistance to his music in the 50's and 60's and why it remains so popular today. This is not an overstatement. Presley brought music that had previously been played and enjoyed by minorities to the forefront. When people discovered they had music in common, they could talk about that subject and enjoy it together. Then conversations were started on other interests and a
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.
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...
On July 5, 1954, forty-nine days after the Supreme Court handed down the decision on the Brown vs. Board of Education case, a nineteen year old truck driver recorded an Arthur Crudup blues track called “That’s All Right Mama” (Bertrand 46). Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips found the cut and played it on his radio show a few weeks later. He received calls all over from people, mostly white, who wanted to hear more. He quickly located the musician and brought him into the studio for an interview, audiences were shocked to learn that Elvis was white (Bertrand 46). Elvis’s music brought black music into white mainstream pop culture almost overnight. The breakthrough of Elvis happening almost simultaneously with the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement was no accident. As any scholar of the humanities would tell you that often times after a great war there exists a time of enlightenment, prosperity and reformation. One such cultural revival took place in this nation after the closing of the Second World War. The progressive thought of the ‘50s nurtured new ideas and cultures including the Civil Rights Movement and the fast spread of rock and roll. In an essay entitled “Color” written to Esquire magazine in 1962 the essayist James Baldwin describes the revival of white culture after WWII with the following passage:
In the 1950’s, segregation was a popular lifestyle within the United States. Segregation was the separation between the blacks and whites. Most black people were discriminated against just by the color of their skin, but with the help of Elvis Presley’s music he helped break those barriers between the white and black communities. Presley exposed the new generation of white Americans to the culture of African Americans. Demonstrating in which the ways they were treated and especially the difference in the style of music they listen to. African American music was how they communicated which each other because only the blacks could understand the meaning behind each melody sung. With this, Elvis Presley made an entirely new generation with his music and pelvic thrusting dance moves. Presley was considered one of the most significant figures of Rock and roll changing the entertainment industry completely, making Elvis Presley the American Dream.
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.
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”.
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”
Another controversial but strong lyric that was written was “Elvis was hero to most but he never meant shit to me”. I believe this was said because to most of Elvis hit songs where during the 1960’s Rock N Roll era. This means that he was a hero and icon to most who lived through that era. Now, come the 1980’s and the public the same way does not look at many African American Hip Hop Artists like the group Public Enemy. They are not looked at as artist or even icons, they are simply said to be a bunch of “thugs” who are troubled and should go back to where they came from.