Matthew Meehan
Professor Ronald Bernier
English 199
8 August 2014
The Influence of Elvis Presley on the Youth of America
INTRODUCTION
Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire is a musical reflection of memorable headlines between the 50s and late 80s. Subjects in the song include pop icons, political events, artists, and popular goods. Each of the topics was examined separately and one that stood out as having particular relevance was Elvis Presley. Presley’s popularity was indisputable and even caused him to acquire the nickname “The King.” There are many partial accounts in literature about Presley’s effect on culture and societal norms. However, there is limited information pertaining specifically to his influence on the younger generation.
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To remedy this, the following research paper will specifically address Presley’s unique role in redefining the youth culture of America. The first section will delve into the social changes of youths induced by Presley, specifically addressing his part in easing the tension of race boundaries found in music. The readjustment of sexual attitudes in entertainment is then explored. Finally, the uniqueness of Presley’s life and how he, and he alone, could have caused change in America in the magnitude that he did is addressed. This is done in the form of a counter argument against the changes he enacted as being an inevitable consequence of the times. YOUTH CULTURE AND RACIAL BOUNDARIES The 50s were a pivotal period of time in America. Racial segregation was present in nearly all facets of life, including music. The south acted as a “cradle of both white and black American popular music traditions, the blues on the one hand, country music on the other, while at the same time it had functioned as the geopolitical space of highest resistance to racial dialog, let alone integration” (Carosso 172). Presley first began his singing career at white southern churches at a very early age (Gaar 4). This is where he developed his white gospel roots. Presley would also sneak into black churches to listen to their more upbeat gospel songs (Gaar 100). As he was growing up in the south, he developed an interest in hillbilly, or country music, by listening to the radio. After moving to Memphis in 1948, Presley ignored the race barriers separating whites from black rhythm and blues music by venturing to Beale Street, the main thoroughfare of the black part of town, in order to listen to music emanating from the night clubs (Gaar 4). Presley did this due to his “keen appreciation for music and his lack of prejudice against its diverse sources” (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 11). Mississippi Slim, a local guitar player and host of the country radio show WELO Jamboree, was Presley’s first significant musical mentor and through him Presley began his fusion of country and blues (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 11). Presley was friends with Slims brother, James Ausborn, and would visit the station with him in order to receive guitar advice (Gaar 213). Presley, although not unique in his combination of country, blues, and gospel, popularized this sound in what would soon be called rockabilly (Carosso 184). His success came from his ability to embody distinct traits in each genre into his persona and performance. In one of Presley’s first official recording sessions, the owner of the Memphis Recording Studio, Sam Philips, was surprised at the result. Presley had taken Arthur Crudup’s “blues drenched” “That’s All Right” and inserted a country and western feel (Garr 5). Philips later stated “It’s not black, it’s not white, it’s not pop, it’s not country” (Garr 6). Philips’ analysis exemplifies what Presley had achieved: a new, racially mixed sound that would eventually help blur the line between whites and blacks. Phillips involvement with Presley was pivotal because he not only saw the potential of rhythm and blues music, but also had a “desire to work for civil rights in the field of popular culture” (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 47). The Memphis Recording Studio, or Sun Records, was opened in 1950 by Phillips for “Negro artists in the South who wanted to make a record [and] just had no place to go” (Carosso 172). Philips knew that at the time a black man could never achieve widespread success playing the rhythm and blues because racial tensions prevented teenagers from fully appreciating the genre (Carosso 173). After giving Presley a chance to record, Philips realized Presley was a “white man with a Negro sound and Negro feel” (Carosso 173). Because of this, he would be able to tap into the racially separated rhythm and blues market. This made Presley an ideal candidate to be Philips “next big thing in American music” (Carosso 173). Presley’s first released single, “That’s Alright Mama,” caused confusion in listeners because they couldn’t tell what race he was (Carosso 174). The audiences’ confusion is one of the main factors contributing to breaking the race barrier with music. Listeners either knew he was white and didn’t care that he played black music or didn’t know what color his skin was and still didn’t care. They simply wanted to listen to the smooth, bluesy, upbeat tunes of the future king of rock n’ roll. Presley’s appeal came from the essential societal contradictions that he embodied and consequently made him interesting to the youth demographic. The American music scene had “become bland, predictable and increasingly unable to converse with the emerging juvenile market” (Carosso 173). Youths had become bored of the music enjoyed by the older generation (Carosso 173), such as Tin Pan Alley pop, which was music fueled by the Great Depression (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 48). Teens desired their own fresh sound, which they found when Presley crossed the racial musical borders with his fusion of genres. As Greil Marcus states in his book “Dead Elvis,” he was the polite rebel [and] the gospel rocker” (26). The diversity of his influence reached so far and wide that nearly all demographics of youth had a piece of him they could latch onto and identify with. At the same time racial lines in music were being erased, a sexual revolution was also beginning with Presley at the helm. SEXUAL IDENTITIES OF THE YOUNGER GENERATION Up until Presley’s time, the use of sex in entertainment was quite limited. Religious values still had a great deal of power. An example of this would be society’s belief that women should retain their virginity until marriage. In this context, Presley’s performance style was extremely controversial. His dance moves, often describe as “gyrations” (Garr 162), involved a sexual swaying of the hips. Although he had been dancing in this fashion at many of his concerts, it wasn’t until his second national television appearance on The Milton Berle Show that he gained mainstream recognition for it (Garr 57). Ed Sullivan, one of the most famous television personalities of the time period, had refused to let Presley appear on his show because of the negative media attention he was receiving due to his sexual performance style. After Presley appeared on a rival program, The Steve Allen Show, Sullivan was forced to change his mind due to high ratings it received (Gaar 47). Presley’s next three visits to The Ed Sullivan Show had a significant cultural impact. His entire body was filmed during the first two appearances, although at moments of intense dancing the camera focused elsewhere. It was decided for his third appearance that he was to be filmed from the waist up exclusively (Gaar 49). The censorship was representative of the conservative sexual attitudes of society and how Presley challenged them. However, Sullivan’s assertion that Presley was “real decent, fine boy” at the end of the show validated his actions and helped loosen social constraints (Gaar 49). The criticism Presley received from the older generation for his lewd actions only increased his popularity amongst teenagers who desired his exciting, physically exhilarating music in contrast to the soothing, innocent post-depression sounds of the day (Sagolla xiii). One critic even went as far as to say “His striptease antics threaten to ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ the juvenile world into open revolt against society. The gangster of tomorrow is the Elvis Presley type of today” (Lytle 27). Presley released these suppressed sexual feelings in the youth generation with nothing more than what felt natural to him. After his first large live performance at the Overton Park Shell, he was bewildered by the crowd’s reaction to his dancing as he wasn’t trying to be sexual. As he came off stage he asked his manager about it, who told him that “everyone as hollering because [you] were wiggling” (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 73). He often defended himself against media accusations that his actions were “obscene” (Garr 57). Even though his gyrations drove his young audiences wild and gained him the nickname “Elvis the Pelvis,” he was actually embarrassed by this characterization (Garr 58). He considered his actions fun and “was the first to laugh at the fans’ reactions to his movements” (Gaar 58). Despite the media’s labeling of Presley as a sexual deviant, he was raised in a religious and family oriented setting with a strong relationship with his mother (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 55). In this context his embarrassment is understandable. Presley’s sexual attitude affected both teenage boys and girls. In men he represented the ultimate role model, despite the “immoral” behavior he represented. He became a sex symbol to girls by “[inverting] traditional modes of visual reception by placing the male figure as the object of gaze [which] threatened the seemingly solid edifice of containment-era gender roles” (Carosso, 189). Presley was presented as an object of fantasy and desire to these young girls, which was uncommon at the time. Other rock n’ roll music stars, like Bill Haley, were similar to Presley in the sense that they helped “[associate] rock and roll with youthful defiance” (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 109), but lacked the physical appearance to make sweeping changes to the overall sexual attitude of the audience. In contrast, Presley was “slender, dynamic, young, and available” (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 109). Presley’s sexual attitude was unheard of the time, but the question must be asked if he was truly unique in his contributions to youth culture, or if the changes he catalyzed would have occurred without him. INEVITABLE CHANGE One could argue that the changes to youth culture that occurred during Presley’s time were inevitable and that his role could have been filled by someone else.
However, a case can be made that Presley had the exact right combination of personal traits and musical talent to explode onto the scene in a cataclysm that anyone else at the time would be incapable of matching. Other white performers were tapping into rhythm and blues music for inspiration, but Presley had the voice to match. His humble beginnings added to this potent mix of identifiable traits. His upbringing in the south made him “familiar, yet exotic” (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 109) to teenagers across the country uneasy with testing racial boundaries. Furthermore, prior to his music career Presley was employed as a truck driver. This helped Presley to maintain a humble, approachable image (Carosso 172). Presley sought to embody a character similar to that of the heroes in the comic book he enjoyed reading (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 56) by distinguishing himself from his southern brethren as an enigmatic figure that “[lacked] racial or religious bigotry” (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 56). However, when he was unmasked, or analogously off-stage, he was simply “an unimposing young man of humble origins” (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 56). In this way he was as distinctive and intriguing as a …show more content…
superhero. The uniqueness of Presley can also see through the success, or relative lack thereof, of other artists. A notable example is that of Ella Mae Morse. Morse was similar to Presley in her connections with rhythm and blues. According to Larry Birnbaum, author of Before Elvis, Presley may have even used her records as an example when he was developing his own musical talent (343). Birnbaum also suggests that since she had numerous No. 1 rhythm and blues hits “she may have alienated some white listeners while attracting others” (343). Where she and Elvis shared connections to rhythm and blues world, they differed in their impact and lasting legacy. It is only recently that she has gained notoriety for her contributions to rock ‘n’ roll, as she was largely forgotten after her career ended (Birnbaum 343). This indicates that she lacked the timing and image to cause a paradigm shift in the music world, and consequently youth as a whole. Further evidence supporting Presley’s uniquely explosive contribution to youth culture comes from his influence on future artists.
The most notable act that falls in this category is that of The Beatles, who eventually had a significant, sweeping impact in a similar fashion as Presley in a movement that would be called The British Invasion. John Lennon commented that after listening to Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel that “When [he] heard it, [he] dropped everything” (Jeansonne, Luhrssen, and Sokolovic 115). Presley laid the groundwork in the sense that youths now had a taste for cultural superheroes. He established the formula for explosive success: hip style, friendly faces, and to be hated by the older generation. The Beatles, influenced by Presley, used their rebellious haircuts, attitude, and infamy to catapult themselves to the top as cultural
icons. CONCLUSION Elvis Presley was a champion of the youth culture throughout his lifetime and provided them with a voice that would resonate until this very day. His contributions to the breaking of racial boundaries in music and the loosening of conservative values helped shaped pop and youth culture to this day. No one but Elvis Presley, The King of Rock and Roll, could have achieved in the manner and magnitude he was able to. He will forever be remembered and celebrated, as Billy Joel did in We Didn’t Start the Fire, as one of the most memorable and influential musicians of all time. Works Cited Birnbaum, Larry. Before Elvis. Plymouth, United Kingdom: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2013. Web. 8 Aug. 2014. Carosso, Andrea. Cold War Narratives: American Culture in the 1950s. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, 2013. Web. 18 Jul. 2014. Gaar, Gillian. 100 things Elvis Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. Chicago, IL: Triumph Books, 2014. Web. 7 Aug. 2014 Jeansonne, Glen, David Luhrssen, and Dan Sokolovic. Elvis Presley, Reluctant Rebel: His Life and Our Times. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2011. Web. 7 Aug. 2014 Lytle, Mark Hamilton. America's Uncivil Wars: The Sixties Era from Elvis to the Fall of Richard Nixon. Cary, NC, USA: Oxford University Press, USA, 2006. Web. 18 Jul. 2014. Marcus, Greil. Dead Elvis: Chronicle of a Cultural Obsession. New York, New York: Doubleday, 1991. Print. Sagolla, Lisa Jo. Rock ‘n’ Roll Dances of the 1950s. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 8 Aug. 2014
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.
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The development of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the late 1940s and early 1950s by young African Americans coincided with a sensitive time in America. Civil rights movements were under way around the country as African Americans struggles to gain equal treatment and the same access to resources as their white neighbors. As courts began to vote in favor of integration, tensions between whites and blacks escalated. As the catchy rhythm of Rock ‘n’ Roll began to cross racial boundaries many whites began to feel threatened by the music, claiming its role in promoting integration. This became especially problematic as their youth became especially drawn to ...
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There is no doubt that Elvis Presley’s impact on American society has revolutionized the world of music and movies, which eventually earned him the name. From truck driver to Rock and Roll icon, Presley’s charismatic attitude and dance moves have become forever remembered in American history. His record-breaking career set a higher bar for many more musicians. Talented in both vocals and acting, his image alone speaks for itself. Elvis’ audience consisted of all races, ages, and gender; his style of music combined gospel, country, blues, and Rock and Roll.
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.
Many of us have a dream in life to be remembered by all for something great. It’s a lofty goal that only few have, or ever will achieve. Elvis Presley was one of the few people in our American history that achieved this status. Known as “The King of Rock and Roll”, his achievements have influenced our country like none of its precedents. This paper will explain Elvis Presley’s life, his death, and his profound influence after life.
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