Elvis Flashcards
What are Elvis’ origins?
Elvis, from a poor working class family, moved to Memphis in 1948 at the age of 13: a teenager in the city where WDIA radio started (regional) broadcasting African American music. He was part of the first generation to access black radio all day. At the same time, WSM radio (with the Grand Ole Opry) was somewhat close in Nashville, and you’ll remember that their 50,000 Watt broadcast had hillbilly music sent all over the United States. Elvis liked R&B, Country, but was also a huge Tin Pan Alley fan (listening to major broadcasting stations like NBC, CBS or ABC).
By 1954, Elvis was working as a truck driver (and listening to the radio) with working class desires to be a star.
What was Sun records? And Sam Phillips?
Sun Records was a minor record label in Memphis run by Sam Phillips. Phillips started recording many artists from country and R&B in the early 1950s. It was a small storefront operation, and had its music released by bigger (but still independent) companies like Modern Records and Chess Records.
Sam Phillips’s assistant Marion Keisker quotes Phillips for saying, “If I could find a white man who sounded black, I could make a billion dollars.” He denies the quote, but admits that he was interested in finding artists who were blending black and white music.
Keisker heard Elvis and recommended him to Phillips. Phillips didn’t hear it until the records started to sell
What are the origins of Elvis’ recording career?
Elvis started recording in 1953, but it was his covers in 1954 that mark the beginning of his career. His 45 singles (records) had an R&B cover on one side and a Country cover on the other (i.e., one artist to sell to both white and black audiences).
Elvis’s fist recording tells us a lot about what Elvis always wanted to do: to be a crooner. His idol was the crooner Dean Martin
Sun Records offered a service to record singles for $2 per side. Elvis’ first recording was “My Happiness” in 1953, a Tin Pan Alley cover of voice and guitar, with him clearly crooning like his idol.
Was Elvis Racist?
So, if Elvis was “sounding black,” was it racist? Think about the political economy of the record industry and cover versions you learned last week, and consider the alternate version of “Blue Moon of Kentucky.”
The answer is yes and no: there are racial implications. But Elvis wasn’t really part of the cover version phenomenon. We covered this with “Blue Moon,” but “Good Rockin’ Tonight” was also first recorded much earlier (1948) with a cover in 1954. In this recording, we also have an original by a minor record label (King) covered by a minor record label (Sun). And, to give an idea of how this was marketed, take a look at this image and the writing at the bottom from a few decades later:
What was Elvis’s Early image?
Elvis’ image from 1954 to 1956 was extravagant and extremely sexual. We cannot downplay the importance of television in his career. It helped expose him to a larger audience, but also showed everyone his stage presence that would otherwise only be seen in concert. With his performances of black music, his continuous bouncing, shaking legs, and pelvic thrusts challenged family morals, and were loved by teenagers as a source of rebellion. He appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 (Sullivan didn’t originally want him because he was too explicit, but understood the Elvis was too much of a force to ignore). His performance of “Hound Dog” on the show is a good example.
How did the image of Elvis shift?
Elvis was making it with teenagers, but RCA’s goal was to bring him to a mainstream audience. It was at this time (1956) that RCA hired Chet Atkins to be Elvis’ producer and make his music more “pop friendly.” His performances were tamer with a more contained vocal delivery, and with backup vocals supplied by a (white) gospel quartet, The Jordanaires. Elvis requested the group to back him up. He grew up with gospel music, and the style was similar to the crooning music he idolized as a youth. Even Elvis’ singing style became more like crooning than “shouting.”
How was Elvis part of the loss of leaders?
Elvis was a “Leader of Rock” in the early 1950s among a small group of musicians that helped start the style. In 1958, Elvis was drafted to the Army. Until his discharge in 1960, his activity in the music business was limited with much fewer hits than before (and RCA clinging to reissue older material to keep his stardom alive). It is one example of the “loss of leaders” that happened at the end of the 1950s. Others like Chuck Berry went to jail, Jerry Lee Lewis was blacklisted (for moral reasons because he married his 13-year old cousin), Little Richard left music to become a preacher, and Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens were killed in a plane crash while on tour.
Elvis Presley returned from the army in 1960 to continue his career, but more in movies and as a singer in Hawaii and Las Vegas. He died at age 42 in 1977.
