Before There Was Elvis, There Was Nothing

[chinthee]

I've always been too young to be an Elvis fan, and to me, he was mostly a parody of himself. But, as a music lover it's hard to deny his importance.

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."

Before Elvis there was nothing

[Who, me ?]

I've always been too young to be an Elvis fan, and to me, he was mostly a parody of himself. But, as a music lover it's hard to deny his importance.

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."

Before Elvis there was nothing

Indeed he was a real pioneer in his style.....Which became the roots of so many styles

[lazeeboy]

I've always been too young to be an Elvis fan, and to me, he was mostly a parody of himself. But, as a music lover it's hard to deny his importance.

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."

Before Elvis there was nothing

Indeed he was a real pioneer in his style.....Which became the roots of so many styles

still listen to him now ,theres a true hollywood story on him now on ubc channel 33

[Who, me ?]

I've always been too young to be an Elvis fan, and to me, he was mostly a parody of himself. But, as a music lover it's hard to deny his importance.

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."

Before Elvis there was nothing

Indeed he was a real pioneer in his style.....Which became the roots of so many styles

still listen to him now ,theres a true hollywood story on him now on ubc channel 33

Grrrr....got only gold package....so no channel 33

[Spee]

Before There Was Elvis, There Was Nothing

"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."

Before Elvis there was nothing

The title and the words in the post seem to conflict a bit. Elvis had a wonderful voice and was a great performer, but to say before him there was nothing before him is a bit of a stretch.

Even he in interviews talks a lot about all of the influences that impacted his music. That includes all the black music (gospel, blues, jazz, etc.) and all the white rockabilly stuff from that era, and many various instruments primarily strings. In interviews, he always said that his true loves in music were gospel and rockabilly. One provided the soul and traces to his roots and the other provided the high paced rhythym for entertainment and live performances.

As far as the word "popular" goes, that's all in the marketing and Elvis was pretty far removed from all that. And what does popular mean anyway? Something can be both good and popular, but just because it is popular doesn't make it good. Elton John is a great musician and I love all of his late 60's and early 70's stuff, but frankly he's become a bit of a boring, stiff, elitist snob in old age.

[Sir Burr]

Elvis made black music popular because he was white.

[sbk]

Elvis put the sex in "sex, drugs and rock and roll".

[chiliwasabi]

Elvis put the sex in "sex, drugs and rock and roll".

Not just the sex. Drugs were certainly part of it (and hamburgers ).

[cdnvic]

Elvis was the Britney Spears of the 50s.

He didn't write his songs, he wasn't much of a musician, but he had a good voice and could wiggle his hips on stage.

Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Bill Haley, Carl Perkins.... those were the ones who paved the way.

[lazeeboy]

Elvis was the Britney Spears of the 50s.

He didn't write his songs, he wasn't much of a musician, but he had a good voice and could wiggle his hips on stage.

Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Bill Haley, Carl Perkins.... those were the ones who paved the way.

if he had'nt of died so young ,would he be so popular,i doubt it ,elvis is making more money now he's dead than when he was alive.

[Lite Beer]

Elvis was the Britney Spears of the 50s.

He didn't write his songs, he wasn't much of a musician, but he had a good voice and could wiggle his hips on stage.

Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Bill Haley, Carl Perkins.... those were the ones who paved the way.

if he had'nt of died so young ,would he be so popular,i doubt it ,elvis is making more money now he's dead than when he was alive.

I hope he is investing it well.

[chinthee]

Forbes magazine ranked Presley as the second-highest-earning dead celebrity after Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, with an estimated $42 million in revenue in 2005-2006.

A gift avatar for someone. This little guy was recently in the Elvis impersonator championship in Manila, not the sanctioned one that recently took place at Graceland.

Edited August 21, 2007 by chinthee

[gampaan]

If it wasn't for the old blues greats like Blind Willie Johnson, who played the music they loved before it was cool, we'd never have had an Elvis, Zeppelin, Stones, Clapton, etc.....

If we did, they certainly wouldn't have been the same.

[draggons]

Sure I saw Elvis in Tesco's in Ayutthaya today. White sequinsed (spelling) suit, multi coloured shit kicker boots, white stenson and about the right age!!!! Only thing is he sounded German, mind you Elvis did spend a bit of time there.

Not kidding either, wish I'd had a camera.

[chinthee]

Nothing but class, pure class I tell you...