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PrintableSupernova said: VoicesCarry said: You can argue and whine that they stole,
Odd. I didn't see anybody in this thread say that, or any whining going on for that matter. People just stating facts. Defensive much? or you can accept that they popularized and helped to make black music (and therefore black people) more acceptable to a young generation. Something to think about.
Not really. Yeah, Nova's right, because now Rock & Roll is adopted more by white audiences. There are exceptions and there are still black rockers, but very few. I think we all know that. NEW WAVE FOREVER: SLAVE TO THE WAVE FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE. | |
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VoicesCarry said: Yes, Elvis adopted black music in a time when black music was taboo and therefore helped to legitimize it with white society simply because he was white. That's a pretty big accomplishment, and in the climate of the period, that really helped R&B emerge and evolve in the 60s, so I give him props. Thousands of white acts at the time were doing the same as Elvis, however - only not on such a successful scale. You can argue and whine that they stole, or you can accept that they popularized and helped to make black music (and therefore black people) more acceptable to a young generation. Something to think about.
Lord, have mercy. When historians and social scientists analyze what made Black people "more acceptable to a young[er] generation" (or to any segment of White America in the 50's and 60's, for that matter), I can assure you that they will list about a gazillion factors before they get to Elvis fucking Presley. Talk about a mind being a terrible thing to waste. | |
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OneMoJam said: VoicesCarry said: Yes, Elvis adopted black music in a time when black music was taboo and therefore helped to legitimize it with white society simply because he was white. That's a pretty big accomplishment, and in the climate of the period, that really helped R&B emerge and evolve in the 60s, so I give him props. Thousands of white acts at the time were doing the same as Elvis, however - only not on such a successful scale. You can argue and whine that they stole, or you can accept that they popularized and helped to make black music (and therefore black people) more acceptable to a young generation. Something to think about.
Lord, have mercy. When historians and social scientists analyze what made Black people "more acceptable to a young[er] generation" (or to any segment of White America in the 50's and 60's, for that matter), I can assure you that they will list about a gazillion factors before they get to Elvis fucking Presley. Talk about a mind being a terrible thing to waste. I did not say "Elvis Presley", I said music in general helped unite blacks and whites (especially teenagers) in the 50s and early 60s, which is true, and not something a historian would dispute. Elvis happened to be one of the major artists at the time, and he helped to break the mould of "whites can't sing R&B", which helped that style gain widespread acceptance and emerge as a force in the industry by the 60s. This was a time when, if you were black and you wanted to be a pop singer, you had to expunge all your musical influences and you were forced to sing classic AC doo-wop if you hoped to sell to a wide audience (the best example would be The Platters, whose music went out of style by the end of '50s; tenor Tony Williams always lamented the material they were given, despite its success and longeivity). The changing musical and social climate helped more raw artists like Carla & Rufus Thomas, and Ike & Tina Turner to emerge. Elvis, of course, merely provided the imagery for rock & roll of the period. Chuck Berry provided the music. [This message was edited Thu Jan 8 14:56:43 PST 2004 by VoicesCarry] | |
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I read a book of Joel Whitburn's charts, which indexed each artists top 40 singles, and bolded the ones that were number ones. You look at some of the megastars of the 80s that we seem to be able to go on and on about, and they have maybe 0.5 page's worth of listed singles.
Elvis had 2 full fucking pages of singles in bold which visually made me realize how successful he was. In general, I really don't listen to alot of 50s shit, which apparently was Elvis' prime era. But he gets mad respect because I understand his impact on pop music. Elvis is the blueprint for pop music of the last century and defined "rock star" before anyone else became that sort of icon. | |
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