Before there was Elvis, there was nothing, John Lennon once said.
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.
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.
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 last 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.” – AFP