By Mira Oberman [ Tue Aug 14, 12:14 PM ET ]
MEMPHIS, United States (AFP) - A poor Southern white boy who brought black music into the mainstream, Elvis Presley made rock 'n' roll the international language of pop.
He was not the first to blend country with blues, but Elvis was the one to smash through the social conservatism and segregation of the 1950's and get white kids to shake their hips.
He changed the way people thought about music and made an indelible mark on American culture.
"Ask anyone. If it hadn't been for Elvis, I don't know where popular music would be," Elton John once said.
"He was the one that started it all off, and he was definitely the start of it for me."
While he may have been eclipsed by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones as the rebel turned into a square with his rhinestone-studded jumpsuits, Elvis continues to shape popular music three decades after his death.
"People are influenced by him whether they know it or not," James Henke, chief curator at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, said in an interview.
"He defined what it meant to be a rock star."
Before the pot belly and the sweat-stained silk scarves, before the pills, he was "Elvis the Pelvis."
He was sexy. He was dangerous. But he was still, as Ed Sullivan said, "a real decent, fine boy."
The combination of virulent sexuality, boy-next-door good manners, incredible stage presence and an ambitious manager propelled Elvis into television specials, films, blockbuster concerts and merchandising.
"You can thank or blame Elvis for the fact that a musical artist has to be this full performer and a carefully tended musical and social persona," said Jeff Melnick, a professor at Babson College and the editor of the Journal of Popular Music Studies.
"Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna... these folks all took in the notion that you create a brand where they buy the music and the movie and the t-shirts," he told AFP.
Elvis remains the best-selling solo artist of all time with over a billion records sold worldwide and continues to generate around 50 million dollars a year.
He was prolific, and his music was diverse. While his rich voice is unmistakable, there is no prototypical Elvis sound. His 23-year career spanned rockabilly, gospel, ballads, country, folk and even jazz.
Satellite radio station Sirius has an entire channel devoted to playing the 150 albums and singles that have been certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
But while he may have influenced generations of musicians, his iconic status does not carry the same kind of contemporary popularity as the Beatles or the Doors, whose songs get more airplay on traditional radio.
Elvis might have been the originator of cool, but he became far too mainstream in his later years to compete with the counter-culture revolutionaries of the late 1960's and 1970's who continue to enthrall generations of rebellious teenagers.
"Part of it is that there was the whole fat Las Vegas period and the bad movies," said Henke of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
"But I don't think you can underestimate how powerful his music has been."
While Elvis scored a huge hit a few years back with a remix of "A Little Less Conversation" that was used in Nike's multimillion dollar World Cup advertising campaign, his estate has been reluctant to allow his music to be reworked.
"This is classic music, we don't want to get too trigger happy with it," said Jack Soden, chief executive officer of Elvis Presley Enterprises.
An aggressive global marketing campaign is underway to mark the 30th anniversary of his death on Thursday and expectations are high for sales of newly reissued CD box sets, "deluxe edition" DVD releases of Elvis films.
"A lot has been written and said about why he was so great, but I think the best way to appreciate his greatness is just to go back and play some of the old records," Huey Lewis once said.
"Time has a way of being very unkind to old records, but Elvis' keep getting better and better."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070814/ts_afp/entertainmentuspeoplemusicelvis30yearsinfluence_070814121618
--------------------------------------
Long live Elvis Presley
By Reagan Gavin Rasquinha,TNN
It’s Elvis Presley’s 30th death anniversary today, but fans keep his legend rockin-n-rollin...
Elvis Aaron Presley certainly isn’t going to be lonesome tonight. The hound dog whose famous baritone has been immortalised in vinyl, film and disc will be remembered by legions of his fans who couldn’t help falling in love with The Voice.
Today, it’s 30 years since the King passed on, claimed by his love for excess. But that kindly light that shone throughout his unbelievable career still shines on. BT asked some of the city’s diehard Elvis fans about how they remember their hero on this day...
Singer Gary Lawyer takes being an Elvis fan to a whole new level of devotion. He once acted Elvis in a play and even had tickets to the last Presley concert.
I used to work in the Bronx in the States, when he passed away. That was a dark day. I always remember how versatile he was. I divide his career into three parts — the early rock and roll which made him into what he was; the second being his movies which had some memorable songs; and the third in Las Vegas with the big band sound. He’s come out with beautiful songs.
I think Heartbreak Hotel is a great song as it typifies Presley, so is Blue Suede Shoes. And a song that moves me immensely every time I hear it is American Trilogy. I remember him very much from the heart and soul.”
Drummer Gino Banks, son of jazz maestro Louis Banks, says, “From a drummer’s point of view, a lot of Elvis songs are fun to play. They are so good and simple yet the melody’s so great that you don’t even need it to be complex. You end up enjoying playing it.
Elvis did a lot of cover versions of songs and did it his way, which totally transformed a song. Jailhouse Rock is a sureshot groove-oriented hit wherever it’s played but Suspicious Minds is my favourite drum track of his.”
Elvis’s contemporary reach is not lost on most popular tunesmiths today. Says Ehsaan Noorani, who remembers the young Elvis before his manager Col Tom Parker mired his star in a sea of mediocre movies, “I remember him by the faster rock n roll numbers as opposed to the love songs.
It’s all about Blue Suede Shoes when it comes to remembering him!”
‘Music is universal’ — heard that one before? Amaan Ali Khan’s best known for the joyous refrains of his sarod. But he too was willing victim to the King’s charm. “I’ve heard a lot of songs of his. And I have been to Nashville and have always made it a point to visit Graceland.
I have seen his cars, his guitars and his wardrobe. At one point of time I wanted to look like him, and dress like him. He was the complete star who had everything going for him. Even to date, Elvis remains the King. I like his persona and showmanship.”
And who can forget Elvis’s initial charm — the Jailhouse Rocker with the curled lip and shimmy-shake who fired up a million imaginations. 2blue, vocalist of the popular rock band Vayu, affirms, “Elvis is the man! I’ve seen videos where you have this guy wiping his perspiration off on a handkerchief and offering it to these women crying out of happiness in the front seats of his Vegas shows. Anyone who can do THAT is indeed the King! Presley’s songs aren’t alien to rock bands either.
Who can forget Motley Crue’s scorching version of Jailhouse Rock?”
But no one would probably remember the King on this day better than India’s own answer to Elvis — 67-year-old Merwyn Rufus.
The man who’s won Elvis impersonation concerts galore says he’s just going to “have a get-together with friends over an evening of Elvis songs” as there are a “lot of Elvis fans in Bandra”. On this day, he prays for his hero. From Bandra right across the bay and to borders beyond, indeed, the legend lives on!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/International_Buzz/Long_live_Elvis_Presley/articleshow/2283171.cms
MEMPHIS, United States (AFP) - A poor Southern white boy who brought black music into the mainstream, Elvis Presley made rock 'n' roll the international language of pop.
He was not the first to blend country with blues, but Elvis was the one to smash through the social conservatism and segregation of the 1950's and get white kids to shake their hips.
He changed the way people thought about music and made an indelible mark on American culture.
"Ask anyone. If it hadn't been for Elvis, I don't know where popular music would be," Elton John once said.
"He was the one that started it all off, and he was definitely the start of it for me."
While he may have been eclipsed by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones as the rebel turned into a square with his rhinestone-studded jumpsuits, Elvis continues to shape popular music three decades after his death.
"People are influenced by him whether they know it or not," James Henke, chief curator at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, said in an interview.
"He defined what it meant to be a rock star."
Before the pot belly and the sweat-stained silk scarves, before the pills, he was "Elvis the Pelvis."
He was sexy. He was dangerous. But he was still, as Ed Sullivan said, "a real decent, fine boy."
The combination of virulent sexuality, boy-next-door good manners, incredible stage presence and an ambitious manager propelled Elvis into television specials, films, blockbuster concerts and merchandising.
"You can thank or blame Elvis for the fact that a musical artist has to be this full performer and a carefully tended musical and social persona," said Jeff Melnick, a professor at Babson College and the editor of the Journal of Popular Music Studies.
"Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna... these folks all took in the notion that you create a brand where they buy the music and the movie and the t-shirts," he told AFP.
Elvis remains the best-selling solo artist of all time with over a billion records sold worldwide and continues to generate around 50 million dollars a year.
He was prolific, and his music was diverse. While his rich voice is unmistakable, there is no prototypical Elvis sound. His 23-year career spanned rockabilly, gospel, ballads, country, folk and even jazz.
Satellite radio station Sirius has an entire channel devoted to playing the 150 albums and singles that have been certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
But while he may have influenced generations of musicians, his iconic status does not carry the same kind of contemporary popularity as the Beatles or the Doors, whose songs get more airplay on traditional radio.
Elvis might have been the originator of cool, but he became far too mainstream in his later years to compete with the counter-culture revolutionaries of the late 1960's and 1970's who continue to enthrall generations of rebellious teenagers.
"Part of it is that there was the whole fat Las Vegas period and the bad movies," said Henke of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
"But I don't think you can underestimate how powerful his music has been."
While Elvis scored a huge hit a few years back with a remix of "A Little Less Conversation" that was used in Nike's multimillion dollar World Cup advertising campaign, his estate has been reluctant to allow his music to be reworked.
"This is classic music, we don't want to get too trigger happy with it," said Jack Soden, chief executive officer of Elvis Presley Enterprises.
An aggressive global marketing campaign is underway to mark the 30th anniversary of his death on Thursday and expectations are high for sales of newly reissued CD box sets, "deluxe edition" DVD releases of Elvis films.
"A lot has been written and said about why he was so great, but I think the best way to appreciate his greatness is just to go back and play some of the old records," Huey Lewis once said.
"Time has a way of being very unkind to old records, but Elvis' keep getting better and better."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070814/ts_afp/entertainmentuspeoplemusicelvis30yearsinfluence_070814121618
--------------------------------------
Long live Elvis Presley
By Reagan Gavin Rasquinha,TNN
It’s Elvis Presley’s 30th death anniversary today, but fans keep his legend rockin-n-rollin...
Elvis Aaron Presley certainly isn’t going to be lonesome tonight. The hound dog whose famous baritone has been immortalised in vinyl, film and disc will be remembered by legions of his fans who couldn’t help falling in love with The Voice.
Today, it’s 30 years since the King passed on, claimed by his love for excess. But that kindly light that shone throughout his unbelievable career still shines on. BT asked some of the city’s diehard Elvis fans about how they remember their hero on this day...
Singer Gary Lawyer takes being an Elvis fan to a whole new level of devotion. He once acted Elvis in a play and even had tickets to the last Presley concert.
I used to work in the Bronx in the States, when he passed away. That was a dark day. I always remember how versatile he was. I divide his career into three parts — the early rock and roll which made him into what he was; the second being his movies which had some memorable songs; and the third in Las Vegas with the big band sound. He’s come out with beautiful songs.
I think Heartbreak Hotel is a great song as it typifies Presley, so is Blue Suede Shoes. And a song that moves me immensely every time I hear it is American Trilogy. I remember him very much from the heart and soul.”
Drummer Gino Banks, son of jazz maestro Louis Banks, says, “From a drummer’s point of view, a lot of Elvis songs are fun to play. They are so good and simple yet the melody’s so great that you don’t even need it to be complex. You end up enjoying playing it.
Elvis did a lot of cover versions of songs and did it his way, which totally transformed a song. Jailhouse Rock is a sureshot groove-oriented hit wherever it’s played but Suspicious Minds is my favourite drum track of his.”
Elvis’s contemporary reach is not lost on most popular tunesmiths today. Says Ehsaan Noorani, who remembers the young Elvis before his manager Col Tom Parker mired his star in a sea of mediocre movies, “I remember him by the faster rock n roll numbers as opposed to the love songs.
It’s all about Blue Suede Shoes when it comes to remembering him!”
‘Music is universal’ — heard that one before? Amaan Ali Khan’s best known for the joyous refrains of his sarod. But he too was willing victim to the King’s charm. “I’ve heard a lot of songs of his. And I have been to Nashville and have always made it a point to visit Graceland.
I have seen his cars, his guitars and his wardrobe. At one point of time I wanted to look like him, and dress like him. He was the complete star who had everything going for him. Even to date, Elvis remains the King. I like his persona and showmanship.”
And who can forget Elvis’s initial charm — the Jailhouse Rocker with the curled lip and shimmy-shake who fired up a million imaginations. 2blue, vocalist of the popular rock band Vayu, affirms, “Elvis is the man! I’ve seen videos where you have this guy wiping his perspiration off on a handkerchief and offering it to these women crying out of happiness in the front seats of his Vegas shows. Anyone who can do THAT is indeed the King! Presley’s songs aren’t alien to rock bands either.
Who can forget Motley Crue’s scorching version of Jailhouse Rock?”
But no one would probably remember the King on this day better than India’s own answer to Elvis — 67-year-old Merwyn Rufus.
The man who’s won Elvis impersonation concerts galore says he’s just going to “have a get-together with friends over an evening of Elvis songs” as there are a “lot of Elvis fans in Bandra”. On this day, he prays for his hero. From Bandra right across the bay and to borders beyond, indeed, the legend lives on!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/International_Buzz/Long_live_Elvis_Presley/articleshow/2283171.cms
