Elvis Presley

Songs crafted with the intent of pleasing the general audience, they’re called pop music. Music scholars claim that pop music developed during the mid-50s. It’s been more than fifty years since. In that length of time, innumerous pop songs have been written, and yet, as hard as hordes of musicians try cement themselves the spots of being pop culture’s permanent leading forces of influence, only a scant few have succeeded: Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and Michael Jackson. Try to think of the 50s, you think of Elvis; 60s to 70s, The Beatles; 80s to 90s, Michael Jackson. I think it’s fair to say that we are still in search of a modern pop music icon who would define the era from 00s-onwards, and that’s also quite a reason that in Michael Jackson’s final years, a lot of people clamored for a comeback, nevermind that his life was still enshrouded in controversy. His death only further proves the point that musicians like him, The Beatles, and Elvis achieve mythological statuses; like the gods, their works are immortal, in which the deaths of their creators will not lessen the marks they left on the landscape of pop, which entails much of the whole world.

Strange then, that while it’s agreed that Michael Jackson is a master performer, and that while the media eulogizes about The Beatles at least once every year (frankly I’m sick of the eulogizing), people have more divided opinions about Elvis Presley. If you don’t believe this, bring him up the next time you speak with rock enthusiasts. Tell them of his 1984 induction in Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame, and I assure you the conversation will not go by without incident. With him, people are more inclined to doubt his skills as a musician, or, especially, his songs’ legitimacy of being classified as rock. Some go as far as to doubt his death (dead people don’t sweat, Elvis is alive!).

So, what’s my take? First, the 1994 Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. I think he deserves to be on it. Now hold your phone for a sec, will you? Most of those who’ll disagree with that statement weren’t alive during the time when Elvis broke through in the music industry anyway (ok, so wasn’t I), so it’s easy to overlook the songs from that decade, but listen: Before all the Bruce Springsteen anthems, before all the hair metal bands, before all the “depression” music that “speaks to teenagers”, Elvis’ songs were what rock music sounded like. Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Buddy Holly, people agree that they are performers of rock. Elvis’ music has the same style, so shouldn’t he be considered rock too?

What about the fact that Elvis did not write his own music? I don’t see why that invalidates someone’s status as a rock performer. Plenty of early rock musicians made covers. The Rolling Stones spent their formative years interpreting blues standards. Were they rock? Hell, yeah. I’d also like to point out that in the time when people expected musicians to be smooth, suave and squeaky-clean, Elvis was an iconoclast by selling himself through his sex appeal. It may sound laughable now, because he is quite a sellout (trying too hard to please the mass market by appearing in movies despite lacking the acting chops) but without him, music wouldn’t veer to the counterculture, nor will live theatrics earn acceptance.

But fine. I’m not gonna force everyone to agree with me about Elvis, so I’ll end this discussion by pointing out that The Beatles were big Elvis-heads, even admitting that he’s their major inspiration. So if you maintain Elvis’s claim to rock as a fallacy, then please debate the same thing about The Beatles too. Not to mention Deep Purple, Bob Dylan, and loads more. With that out of the way, I’m sure you want to hear me extol Elvis’ skills as a musician, right?

Well, no, that’s not happening. This will vex you after I spent a few paragraphs passionately defending Elvis, but I’m not a big fan of him or his music. Too many people, when writing, slide so leisurely into their own comfort zone without acknowledging the opposing views. I try to be different; in the case of talking about Elvis, what you just saw was me recognizing his influence to many generations. But recognition != admiration. So while I give him credit, unlike those who think that discrediting him increases their self-worth, I’ll leave it at that. I would be lying if I said that Elvis’s songs are of any importance to my life, that they will stop me dead in my tracks so that I could absorb their every intricacy. Sure, I don’t outright dislike them, but whenever they play, I rarely pay attention. They’re kind of just there. Listening to all three albums included in 1001 albums catalog did nothing to change my attitude towards Elvis’s body of work. I’ll get into that right now.

Elvis Presley

Blue Suede Shoe (Elvis Presley)

If one is to judge the validity of the 1001 list based on how much copies of the albums were sold, Elvis Presley’s self-titled debut album is among the least contentious entries of the list (and also, that indie records have no business being there. By the way, I don’t support the notion that the quality of any works of art should be defined by the dollars they earned). That seems to be what the writers evidently suggested when they included it in the list despite saying that it’s “inconsistent”. I might be an oddball, but I liked this more than the other two, more critically-acclaimed Elvis albums in the list. Consistency may be a problem, but I preferred that it’s “rawer” compared to his later albums, which I think are sanitized to be more appealing, yet less exciting. There are a few songs here that everyone knows – Blue Suede Shoe, Tutti Frutti – but Hound Dog is nowhere to be heard here, at least in the album’s earlier issues. Nevertheless, if you can imagine those three songs stretched into the traditional album length of 12 tracks, you’ll have a good idea how the rest of the album sounds. There are a few ballads, however.

Elvis is Back!

Fever (Elvis Presley)

Elvis’s comeback album. At the time leading to the release of this album, he served in the military for two years, leading to his absence from the music industry. Hard to believe it now, but back then, musicians rapidly record new singles, so it was a big deal to be gone for two years. As for the content of this album, it still sounds quite like the first, with plenty of hip-swinging tracks and some ballads in between. This sounds cleaner, though, but that’s also why I found it less compelling. There are a few tracks that I liked more than anything found in the first, but they’re not so good or so plentiful as to offset my indifference to the rest. Fever is golden, Elvis sounds great when he’s singing low notes. I also liked The Girl of My Best Friend. A lot of the remaining tracks are still as tacky as most of anything from the first album.

From Elvis In Memphis

In The Ghetto (Elvis Presley)

Although Elvis grew up in Memphis, he spent long times in his recording career away from the city (and despite it being known for housing many recording studios). He was tired from traveling and making all the derivative movies, so he went back to Memphis to play the kinds of music that he grew up with: namely gospel and country. From the Wearin’ That Loved On Look, the first track of the album, he began with the line “I had to leave town for a little while”. It’s a straightforward love song, yet I can’t help thinking that there’s a hidden attack on the direction Memphis’ recording studio took since he’s left. Histories aside, Elvis sounds quite different in this album. In the past, when Elvis hits high pitch, I find his voice irritating because it always sounds like he’s going to crack. He seemed to have refined his high pitch here, however, so he sounded natural in any songs here, high or low pitch. (skip his “Hey Jude” in the latter 2-CD set reissue, though, because it sets his voice back 10 years) There’s also a change in the music style he’s using. Here, it’s mostly slow, country-sounding ballads, with only one up tempo “pelvis-movable” song, the supremely awful Power of My Love. Eeech, don’t get me started on that! So yeah, it’s interesting to see Elvis get away from his formula, but the result is still less than thrilling because the songs just blend. The one standout track is In The Ghetto, a song about growing up in the poor.