Alasseon said:

Ain't it!?

Elvis (and I like Elvis) is only the "king of rock and roll" because of how popular he was. He made a huge impact on popular culture. He was also a great singer/performer. Simple as that.

And those monikers are stupid, anyway. Michael dubbed himself the king of pop. They're not an actual titles, people!

NDRU said:

Even without the "titles", they both made a big impact on pop culture. No one can deny that...for the BOTH of them.

Timmy84 said:

If Elvis had written his own songs, we wouldn't even be having this discussion, because hardly anyone would even know his name.

But people that were just as great at writing songs saw great charisma, performance skills, and off-the-chart singing ability.

So now it’s more of a contest with MJ. Although I’ll still definitely stick with Michael.

And of course none of this would’ve blown up the way it did at that time without him being Caucasian.

From the 50s I think that the monumental giants are people like Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard that could do what Elvis does, plus being able to write from their own heart.

Very few people can do it all at a great or near-great level.

And it depends entirely on how one defines "all", as Prince's artwork has suffered greatly since Warner Brothers, he's not at all a noteworthy screenwriter on the positive tip, he's a country mile from being a great director, and he's light years away from being a great communicator.

But I think the guy is ridiculous with music a lot of the time, despite his many flaws that sometimes are awful enough to sabotage even his greatest talents.

Why people are forgetting that Elvis wasn't even the first white dude to do what he was doing, if anything this guy should be crediting for bringing "black music" to "white audiences":

Timmy84 said:

I don't think that anyone thinks he was the first, but he was one of the first to be convincing in the style, not to mention that he was simply much more popular than Bill Haley.

NDRU said:

Yeah I know, I'm just saying. You know how someone gets full credit for something they didn't do "first". I think in terms of how Elvis and Michael came about, they weren't the first artists to do what they did but they did it to the tilt better than artists in their generations, even artists who weren't even looked on in the same respects during the Elvis era.

So is a dancer not an artist if they don't choreograph their own dance?


Errant said it best

NDRU said:

CORRECTION: Elisabeth Taylor called Michael "The King Of Pop". And then all of the MJJ-fans said "Amen".

errant said:

:yeahthat:Well said!

Both made Impacts

Elvis-Mostly in the U.S and parts of Europe

MJ- All over the world , U.S, Europe, Middle east, Far east, aisa. africa....everywhere.

MJ is more talented since he was responsible for writing and composing his best known songs ...

Maybe I look bias to you, I don't care


Sorry but this is a fact, Mj's impact and influence is unparalleled,it cannot be topped.

anyone who says that elvis made the same impact as MJ is simply on crack....lol.

TonyVanDam said:

okay, it's still not official

TonyVanDam said:

the UK press dubbed him the king of pop when he performed at Wembley Stadium in '88

We all like who we like and we all like to think we have the best taste in the world and so that the people who don't agree with us "just don't get it" or understand just how great that artist is. For me, Elvis is a great artist. His ability to filter everything he heard into a musical style that was the same yet different from his influences is what makes me feel he was great. He did write a few songs, but they weren't the pop music his label wanted to put out, but deep ballads with a sense of gloom or even darkness is the better word. Had his label supported him, I am sure he would have written even more.

Regardless, think of all the Jazz greats who are celebrated for their interpretations of preexisting songs. I have a kick as version of Miles doing "Paper moon" somewhere on vinyl. Trust me...it is genius.

A recurring note that some people keep trotting out that is unfair, and inaccurate is that Elvis was only big in America and Europe. It is unfair because he died before the global market really opened, so to expect him to have the wide ranging success that a modern artist has is..well, unfair.

More importantly it is in accurate. As it turns out Elvis' fame was global at a time when it should have been impossible for there to be global fame. In 73 he performed for a billion people via satellite. That wasn't counting the North American Audience, only the Eastern Hemisphere.

He was huge in countries where western music was banned and yet he found an audience. I am pasting in an article from the "Arab News". If you really care, feel free to read it, it might surprise you:

Peace and Lovesexy!

How Elvis Fought Racism, Ethnic Discrimination
Michael Saba

Not too many years ago, I was part of a delegation that went from Saudi Arabia to visit Albania. Albania had just overthrown its previous leader and cast off the shackles of communism. I was representing the Arab News and accompanied a group of Saudi businessmen and others committed to assisting Albania in its quest to become a modern successful country.

As we descended from the chartered Saudi Arabian Airlines flight, we were met by a group of young Albanian students fluent in English. They were to be our guides for our stay in Albania. I looked at the nametag of my guide and to my surprise I saw the name “Elvis Mohammed” attached to the young gentleman’s lapel.

I asked him how he happened to have that name which seemed very unusual to me. He said that his father was an Elvis Presley fan from the 1950s onward and, although Elvis music was prohibited in Albania during those times, his father listened to short wave radio, picked up the sounds of Elvis and became a fan. He said he decided to name his son Elvis because of his love for the music of Elvis Presley and the fact that Elvis represented freedom to him. So the juxtaposition of those two names is now history, at least in Albania.

This past week was the annual “Elvis Week” in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis celebrates Elvis every year on the anniversary of his death. This year marks the 30th anniversary of his death at Graceland, his Memphis home, and is a particularly large celebration. Under the heat of an unusually warm August, at least one person died of heat exhaustion while attending the Elvis festivities. Tens of thousands of Elvis fans from all over the world flock to Memphis every year to pay homage to Elvis.

When we moved to Memphis over a decade ago, we happened to arrive in Memphis in mid-August. While our house was being finished, my family and I decided to come a week early and stay in a local hotel. When we arrived, we contacted almost every hotel in the Memphis area and were told that there were no hotel rooms to be had within a 100-mile radius of Memphis. It was Elvis Week! We had to sleep on the floor of our furniture-less house for that whole week.

What is this “Elvis phenomenon”? How is it that a man dead for 30 years can still attract the attention of millions of people worldwide?

According to the American Demographics magazine, 84 percent of the American people say that their lives have been touched by Elvis Presley in some way, 70 percent have watched a movie starring Presley, 44 percent have danced to one of his songs, 31 percent have bought an Elvis record, CD or video, 10 percent have visited Graceland, 9 percent have bought Elvis memorabilia, 9 percent have read a book about Presley, and 5 percent have seen the singer in concert. There is no question that Elvis is one of the most phenomenal cultural icons that the world has ever seen. However, there was another side of Elvis that doesn’t make the news very often.

Living in Memphis for the past few years, I have had a chance to meet many people who knew Elvis personally and they have recounted numerous tales about Elvis in his hometown. One of the most touching came from an Arab-American friend of mine, Farid, who was born and raised in Memphis. His father was an immigrant from the Arab world and started a retail business in Memphis. My friend told me that Elvis, as a young high school student, worked for a short time as a part-time truck driver for his father. My friend was a couple of years younger than Elvis and went to the same high school.

Farid told me that one day at his high school, some of the school bullies started teasing him, calling him names like “you dirty Arab” and threatened to hit him. He said Elvis came along and said, “Hey, you leave him alone. I know him and his family and they are very nice people. Those ‘Arabs’ treat me well and you better treat him well also.” The bullies moved off and Elvis told Farid that if anybody ever tried that again, he should let Elvis know.

Ask anybody in Memphis who knew Elvis and they will tell you that he was a nice polite young man who had great respect for his parents and friends. He also fought quietly against racial and ethnic discrimination. He was very patriotic and extremely generous with his money, particularly for humanitarian causes that related to Memphis. For example, Elvis was regular contributor to the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, ALSAC, the fund-raising arm for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. This hospital is the premier children’s cancer hospital in the world and was founded by Americans of Arab descent in honor of their Arab-American heritage. All children treated at St. Jude are treated at no cost to the parent or child. Farid’s father was one of the founders of ALSAC and the hospital.

Elvis will always be remembered for his music and his role as an entertainer. But to Elvis Mohammed in Albania and Farid and his family in Memphis, he will be remembered in other ways. He will be remembered as a symbol of freedom and as a kind considerate person who would not tolerate ethnic discrimination. He will also be remembered as someone who supported humanitarian causes that honored Arab-American heritage. Elvis was clearly a true humanitarian.
[Edited 8/5/09 18:06pm]

bboy87 said:

Interesting. The UK press said it 4 years before Liz did.

TonyVanDam said:

Wasn't he already the "king of pop" by 1983 anyways?

Timmy84 said:

MJJ defeated Christopher Cross for the vacant title (in pro wrestling terms!) in 1983.

POOK said:

YOU FAILED. BADLY.