Elvis: Americas King :: essays research papers

Americas KingElvis Presley may be the single more or less important figure in American 20th century popular music. Not necessarily the best and certainly not the most consistent. But no one could argue with the fact that he was the musician most responsible for popularizing rock & roll on an international level. Viewed in cold sales figures, his meeting was phenomenal. Dozens upon dozens of international smashes from the mid-50s to the mid-70s, as well as the steady sales of his catalog and reissues since his death in 1977, may make him the single highest-selling operator in history.More important from a music lovers perspective, however, are his remarkable artistic achievements. Presley was not the very first white man to sing one shot & blues Bill Haley predated him in that regard, and there may have been others as well. Elvis was certainly the first, however, to assertively fuse country and blues music into the room known as rockabilly. While rockabilly arrangements were the foundations of his first (and possibly best) recordings, Presley could not have become a mainstream superstar without a much more varied pallet that also incorporated pop, gospel, and even some bits of bluegrass and operatic schmaltz here and there. His 1950s recordings established the basic language of rock & roll his volatile and sexual stage presence set standards for the musics visual image his vocals were incredibly powerful and versatile. Unfortunately, to much of the public, Elvis is more icon than artist. Innumerable bad Hollywood movies, increasingly caricatured records and mannerisms, and a personal life that became steadily more sheltered from real-world concerns (and steadily more bizarre) gave his story a somewhat mythic status. By the fourth dimension of his death, hed become more a symbol of gross Americana than of cultural innovation. The continued speculation about his incredible career has sustained interest in his life, and back up a large tourist/entertainment industry, that may last indefinitely, even if the fascination is fueled more by his celebrity than his music. Born to a unforesightful Mississippi family in the heart of Depression, Elvis had moved to Memphis by his teens, where he absorbed the vibrant melting pot of Southern popular music in the form of blues, country, bluegrass, and gospel. After graduating from high school, he became a truck driver, rarely if ever singing in public. Some 1953 and 1954 demos, recorded at the emerging solarize label in Memphis primarily for Elvis own pleasure, helped stir interest on the part of Sun owner Sam Phillips.