Grammy Association Op-Ed on Elvis

[ForeverElvis]

Interesting piece on Grammy.com.

https://www.grammy.com/news/elvis-presley-graceland-colonel-tom-parker-changed-music-industry-king-rock-roll-innovator-list-las-vegas-love-me-tender

I think this was written as part of the marketing for the Elvis film coming in June.

[drjohncarpenter]

Interesting piece on Grammy.com.

https://www.grammy.com/news/elvis-presley-graceland-colonel-tom-parker-changed-music-industry-king-rock-roll-innovator-list-las-vegas-love-me-tender

I think this was written as part of the marketing for the Elvis film coming in June.

If so, that means the Grammys have a financial interest in the Baz Luhrmann project, as the writer is on the staff.

Morgan Enos.jpg

MORGAN ENOS
@OTHERHOUSES

Morgan Enos is the Staff Writer at GRAMMY.com. His features, essays, and interviews, which encompass jazz, classic rock, hip-hop, and other spheres, have also appeared in Fortune, Billboard, JazzTimes, uDiscover Music, and other platforms. Morgan also makes music as Other Houses and writes essays about how music factors into his lived experience. morganenos.com

https://www.grammy.com/bio/fe0e1f7a-e1d6-4137-b524-9c9b60d775ce

The kid is probably somewhere around 25, and did a pretty good job, methinks. Either Mr. Enos dug in for his own research, or had some help along the way, but the final result is an intelligent and coherent look at Elvis for generations like his, who know almost nothing about the superstar and game-changing artist.

In fact, it's more than good enough that a simple cut-and-paste link undersells its value here.

So I'm adding it below. Enjoy, all!

GettyImages-526899890.jpg

Elvis Presley
PHOTO: JOHN SPRINGER COLLECTION / GETTY IMAGES

5 Ways Elvis Presley Forever Changed The Music Industry, From Vegas Residencies To Cultural Fusion

The music industry would be unrecognizable without Elvis Presley. Along with Colonel Tom Parker, the 20th-century innovator activated divergent spaces, helped architect the modern-day Las Vegas residency and so much more.

MORGAN ENOS | GRAMMYS / APR 11, 2022 - 02:23 PM

Is it possible to undersell someone by calling them "the King"? It might be when you're talking about Elvis Presley.

Despite rising from nothing to become one of the most recognizable figures of the 20th century — and posthumously weathering periods of wrongheaded associations, from "fat Elvis" to rumors of racism — Presley didn't emerge simply as a monarch, or an icon baked into culture and taken for granted. These days, it's more edifying to consider him as an innovator.

That's how Panos A. Panay, the co-president of the Recording Academy, views the three-time GRAMMY winner and 14-time nominee. Instead of regarding Presley as a figurehead reigning over rock's development, Panay calls him "a multi-faceted superstar" who, along with his savvy yet misunderstood manager, Colonel Tom Parker, drew the blueprint of the multidimensional pop titan of today.

"I think people forget that this is a kid who grew up dirt-poor in the heart of the old south," Panay, who co-authored the 2021 book Two Beats Ahead, about the intersection of business acumen and musical artistry, tells GRAMMY.com. "He fused all the different things around him — from styles to music — to create something that literally took the world by storm."

Need a reminder of how seismic Presley's impact was? Turn to the first few pages of almost any rock bio, and you'll find the artist as a young man or woman, hearing "Heartbreak Hotel" or "That's All Right" or "Jailhouse Rock" for the first time. Chances are, they described that moment in the language of natural phenomena: a meteor strike, a tsunami, a thunderclap.

Every star in his wake who repeatedly overhauled their image, staked claims in wildly various media spaces, and fused divergent cultural signifiers owes Presley a debt of gratitude — from the Beatles to Beyoncé, from Michael Jackson to Lady Gaga.

Of course, Presley wasn't the first rock star. He didn't invent the music, and he arguably walked so others (namely the Beatles, who worshipped him) could run. But the fact remains: there's never been another Presley before or since. Here are five ways he irrevocably changed the music-industry landscape.







He Helped Braid Disparate Cultural Threads

Granted, rock 'n' roll was a colorless cultural interchange years before Presley showed up.

For decades prior, musicians both Black and white — from what we might designate "country" and "R&B" and "gospel" and "rock 'n' roll" spheres, but who were really parts of the same primordial soup — perpetually inspired and influenced each other.

But nobody elevated that fusion to the world stage than Presley, and his large-scale disregarding of easy racial and sexual categorization was highly jarring to buttoned-up 1950s America.

Hip-swiveling shock value aside, what would pop music sound like without his revved-up amalgam of gospel, blues, country, and R&B? What would it look like without his tousled hair, twisted visage and skin-tight black leather?

It's anyone's guess what an Elvis-free world would be like, but it wouldn't include disciples like the Beatles, the Stones, or scores of other greats. In other words, it would be a drag beyond belief.







He Galvanized A Nascent Teenage Market

According to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Halberstram, Presley could scarcely have arrived at a better time.

"A new young generation of Americans was breaking away from the habits of its parents and defining itself by its music," Halberstram wrote in his 1993 book The Fifties. And with the advent of new technology — namely the transistor radio — came a paradigm shift in authority.

"The important figures of authority were no longer mayors and selectmen or parents," the author continued. "They were disc jockeys, who reaffirmed the right to youthful independence and guided teenagers to their new rock heroes."

Who was the ideal leader for this emerging market? In the cinema space, you had Marlon Brando and James Dean as brooding avatars for the post-WWII cultural milieu.

Then, in music, you had Presley, who landed in culture like an ambassador from Andromeda, ready to lead a teenage exodus from suburban monotony to frenzied, life-affirming joy.







He Activated Film & TV Spaces Like Never Before…

When Panay considers how to shepherd the Recording Academy into the future in the 2020s, he looks to what Presley accomplished on small and large screens during his career.

"If you want to know the future of the business, man, look at Elvis Presley," he says. "Look at all the artists that followed the guy. He set the mold for what a prototypical superstar is."

One way Presley did this, Panay says, was by transcending the boundaries of a record or concert and strolling into your TV screen in any number of films — especially during the '60s, when he focused on that component of his work with flicks like G.I. Blues, Blue Hawaii and Girl Happy.

While Presley's films are sometimes contemporaneously criticized as formulaic dreck that stalled his creative evolution, the man did have serious aspirations as an actor — and presence in that space was important to pop's multimedia development.







…And Paved The Way For The Modern Music Video

As Panay says, Presley's participation in film wasn't just proof musicians could be actors. The entire point of a music video — to make an artistic statement while selling a record — is crystallized in Presley's films.

Through that lens, there's a direct thread from Love Me Tender and Jailhouse Rock to the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night, Prince's Purple Rain and more.

Still, Presley's onscreen innovation extends beyond cinema: 1973's "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" was revolutionary in that it was the first live satellite broadcast to feature a single performer.

When you take it with the unforgettable "Jailhouse Rock" video and "'68 Comeback Special," a case can be made that Presley's DNA is encoded deep within in this modern artform.







Thank Elvis For The Las Vegas Residency, Too

Think the format of the Las Vegas residency is the province of wash-ups? Think again: This month alone, 2022 GRAMMY performers BTS, Silk Sonic and Lady Gaga will delight audiences in Sin City. (The 2022 GRAMMYs were held there, too.)

"People used to make fun of the Las Vegas residency," Panay says. "But name an artist right now who doesn't want a Las Vegas residency."

As Richard Zoglin explained in his 2019 book Elvis in Vegas: How the King Reinvented the Las Vegas Show, Presley's first Vegas run in 1969 — and more than 600 shows in the city afterward — set the stage for loftier, glitzier affairs.

This was a marked turn from the era's typical, intimate nightclub shows featuring older performers, like Nat "King" Cole or Judy Garland. "It opened the door to big shows," Zoglin told The New York Post. "All the modern residencies in Vegas, from Celine Dion to Lady Gaga — Elvis was the first of those kinds of shows."

So, next time Presley seems hopelessly fossilized in the past, a frozen face on a lunchbox, simply stream his greatest songs — they'll set your head straight.

"He sang from his heart," Panay says, summarizing Presley's genius. "He was an amazing interpreter of songs in a way that, frankly, few people before and after have ever been."

From there, consider how the pop universe would be unrecognizable without Presley — complete with the performers who never fail to wash away the drudgery of daily life, making it more vibrant, more colorful, more meaningful.

He was the King, indeed. But he was also something more.

[emjel]

Interesting article. But there seemed to be a little too much of the "if it wasn’t for Elvis, other artists would not have happened" kind of thing scattered around.

He writes "For decades prior, musicians both Black and white — from what we might designate "country" and "R&B" and "gospel" and "rock 'n' roll" spheres, but who were really parts of the same primordial soup — perpetually inspired and influenced each other. But nobody elevated that fusion to the world stage than Presley". Which of course is true and it would be stupid to attempt to deny that.

But what if those musicians had not existed in the prior decades - how far do you want to go back with influence thing…you know, the people who influenced the people who influenced Elvis and the music that influenced Elvis. The writers that wrote the songs who had been influenced. Had they and all that music not existed, then would Elvis have remained a truck driver? Influence goes on and on, and I think it’s part of the history of popular music. It’s really built upon the shoulders of everything that came before.

But personally, I don’t think it’s like a light switch "on/off" kind of thing. The writer states "It's anyone's guess what an Elvis-free world would be like, but it wouldn't include disciples like the Beatles, the Stones, or scores of many other greats. In other words, it would be a drag beyond belief". But surely, unless the writer is or was living in a parallel universe without Elvis, how could he possibly know that those other artists would never have existed? Can he categorically claim that say Bob Dylan as an artist would not have existed. How would he know it would be a drag beyond belief as there would be nothing to really compare it to…music would still simply exist as it had been doing prior to Elvis,…..wouldn’t it?

Just food for thought.

[ForeverElvis]

Interesting article. But there seemed to be a little too much of the "if it wasn’t for Elvis, other artists would not have happened" kind of thing scattered around.

He writes "For decades prior, musicians both Black and white — from what we might designate "country" and "R&B" and "gospel" and "rock 'n' roll" spheres, but who were really parts of the same primordial soup — perpetually inspired and influenced each other. But nobody elevated that fusion to the world stage than Presley". Which of course is true and it would be stupid to attempt to deny that.

But what if those musicians had not existed in the prior decades - how far do you want to go back with influence thing…you know, the people who influenced the people who influenced Elvis and the music that influenced Elvis. The writers that wrote the songs who had been influenced. Had they and all that music not existed, then would Elvis have remained a truck driver? Influence goes on and on, and I think it’s part of the history of popular music. It’s really built upon the shoulders of everything that came before.

But personally, I don’t think it’s like a light switch "on/off" kind of thing. The writer states "It's anyone's guess what an Elvis-free world would be like, but it wouldn't include disciples like the Beatles, the Stones, or scores of many other greats. In other words, it would be a drag beyond belief". But surely, unless the writer is or was living in a parallel universe without Elvis, how could he possibly know that those other artists would never have existed? Can he categorically claim that say Bob Dylan as an artist would not have existed. How would he know it would be a drag beyond belief as there would be nothing to really compare it to…music would still simply exist as it had been doing prior to Elvis,…..wouldn’t it?

Just food for thought.

He doesn’t know, it’s an opinion piece

[If_I_Can_Dream]

I think the Grammys should consider putting more of Elvis'recordings in the Grammy Hall Of Fame. Top contenders would include "If I Can Dream," "It's Now Or Never," "Viva Las Vegas," and "How Great Thou Art."

[emjel]

Interesting article. But there seemed to be a little too much of the "if it wasn’t for Elvis, other artists would not have happened" kind of thing scattered around.

He writes "For decades prior, musicians both Black and white — from what we might designate "country" and "R&B" and "gospel" and "rock 'n' roll" spheres, but who were really parts of the same primordial soup — perpetually inspired and influenced each other. But nobody elevated that fusion to the world stage than Presley". Which of course is true and it would be stupid to attempt to deny that.

But what if those musicians had not existed in the prior decades - how far do you want to go back with influence thing…you know, the people who influenced the people who influenced Elvis and the music that influenced Elvis. The writers that wrote the songs who had been influenced. Had they and all that music not existed, then would Elvis have remained a truck driver? Influence goes on and on, and I think it’s part of the history of popular music. It’s really built upon the shoulders of everything that came before.

But personally, I don’t think it’s like a light switch "on/off" kind of thing. The writer states "It's anyone's guess what an Elvis-free world would be like, but it wouldn't include disciples like the Beatles, the Stones, or scores of many other greats. In other words, it would be a drag beyond belief". But surely, unless the writer is or was living in a parallel universe without Elvis, how could he possibly know that those other artists would never have existed? Can he categorically claim that say Bob Dylan as an artist would not have existed. How would he know it would be a drag beyond belief as there would be nothing to really compare it to…music would still simply exist as it had been doing prior to Elvis,…..wouldn’t it?

Just food for thought.

He doesn’t know, it’s an opinion piece

Ah, but it’s written as factual and there are some who would read it as just that.

[Ryan73]

Great read and well written article! Thanks for sharing!

[elvis-fan]

I think the Grammys should consider putting more of Elvis'recordings in the Grammy Hall Of Fame. Top contenders would include "If I Can Dream," "It's Now Or Never," "Viva Las Vegas," and "How Great Thou Art."

I would be comfortable if Elvis' name wasn't associated with the Grammy's at all. The legitimacy of the Grammy's can be summed up as follows: Best (single) performance (in whatever category)

The Beatles - only one (Michelle)
Elvis Presley - three (He Touched Me, How Great Thou Art 2x)

Nuff said...

[elvis-fan]

Interesting piece on Grammy.com.

https://www.grammy.com/news/elvis-presley-graceland-colonel-tom-parker-changed-music-industry-king-rock-roll-innovator-list-las-vegas-love-me-tender

I think this was written as part of the marketing for the Elvis film coming in June.

I enjoyed the article as well...thanks for posting! It always nice to hear from the honest impressions of the younger generation and how they see Elvis' legacy and his impact on music.

[brian]

I disagree when he says Elvis wasn't the first rock star. He damn well was. Other than that they article is okay for what it is.

[brian]

I think the Grammys should consider putting more of Elvis'recordings in the Grammy Hall Of Fame. Top contenders would include "If I Can Dream," "It's Now Or Never," "Viva Las Vegas," and "How Great Thou Art."

I think they will someday it's just that they are very slow on inducting recordings. I think the songs with the best chance of being inducted are

Mystery Train
It's now or never
Can't help falling in love
In the ghetto

[brian]

Ah, but it’s written as factual and there are some who would read it as just that.

You could say that about anything. if this person didn't influence that person then someone else would have come along and influenced them. But the fact is that Elvis did influence all those people so that's why he gets credit. They should read it as factual because that's what happened. People don't give credit to a hypothetical person who may or may not have influenced them if the person that did didn't exist.

[drjohncarpenter]

But what if those musicians had not existed in the prior decades . . .

And yet . . . they did.

Can he categorically claim that say Bob Dylan as an artist would not have existed.

Enos doesn't mention Dylan, but does preface his opinion with "It's anyone's guess."

More food for thought.

[drjohncarpenter]

I disagree when he says Elvis wasn't the first rock star. He damn well was. Other than that they article is okay for what it is.

"He damn well was."



No, he wasn't. The title of "first rock star" belongs to Bill Haley and His Comets.

He and his group scored a huge #1 hit in 1955, and appeared on TV and in motion pictures well before Elvis.

However, Presley's arrival on the scene in 1956 knocked Haley to the sidelines, never to recover.







Bill Haley And His Comets "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" (Decca 29124, May 8, 1954)
Billboard "Best Sellers in Stores" #1, July 9, 1955, Cash Box #1, July 9, 1955
Lead guitar: Danny Cedrone







Bill Haley and His Comets "Rock Around The Clock" (NBC-TV's "The Buick-Berle Show," Tuesday, May 31, 1955)
The group lip-sync to their freshly-reissued single, currently being used in the film "Blackboard Jungle."








"Rock Around The Clock" (Columbia Pictures, Wednesday, March 21, 1956)
Bill Haley and His Comets perform "Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie" as Earl Barton and Lisa Gaye (Debra Paget's sister) tear it up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Around_the_Clock_(film)

[brian]

I don't consider Bill Haley to have been a rock star.

[drjohncarpenter]

I don't consider Bill Haley to have been a rock star.

Good one. Even Elvis would have disagreed with that.

Maybe you should read up on the history of the music, and Bill Haley's place in it. Here's a start:

William John Clifton Haley (July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-selling hits such as "Rock Around the Clock", "See You Later, Alligator", "Shake, Rattle and Roll", "Rocket 88", "Skinny Minnie", and "Razzle Dazzle". His recordings have sold over 60 million records worldwide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Haley

[brian]

Everyone on this forum knows who Bill Haley was. Oh well. It's not important. People can decide for themselves about what Elvis did or didn't do. I feel that the young people today don't understand his impact and what he did because it was such a long time ago. Bill Haley is finally getting some recognition but he didn't get a lot of that when he was alive.

[emjel]

Ah, but it’s written as factual and there are some who would read it as just that.

You could say that about anything. if this person didn't influence that person then someone else would have come along and influenced them. But the fact is that Elvis did influence all those people so that's why he gets credit. They should read it as factual because that's what happened. People don't give credit to a hypothetical person who may or may not have influenced them if the person that did didn't exist.

Your missing the point. There was no suggestion that Elvis did not influence people - it was the suggestion made that without Elvis, other artists would not exist or in the writer’s words "~he states "It's anyone's guess what an Elvis-free world would be like, but it wouldn't include disciples like the Beatles, the Stones, or scores of many other greats". Stating that "it’s any one’s guess" shows that he is unsure what the world of music would be like. Writing that "it would not include" is a definitive statement and is something the writer does not know.

[emjel]

Can he categorically claim that say Bob Dylan as an artist would not have existed.

Enos doesn't mention Dylan, but does preface his opinion with "It's anyone's guess."

More food for thought.

No he doesn’t, but he does write about "or scores of other greats" and that is why I deliberately used the word "say Bob Dylan" as an example.

And yes, the preface about it being anyone’s guess, suggests he is unsure, and rightly so. The follow on words seem like a statement of fact to me.

[emjel]

I don't consider Bill Haley to have been a rock star.

Well c’mon now…don’t leave like that. Elaborate on why you have come to that conclusion.

[brian]

Your missing the point. There was no suggestion that Elvis did not influence people - it was the suggestion made that without Elvis, other artists would not exist or in the writer’s words "~he states "It's anyone's guess what an Elvis-free world would be like, but it wouldn't include disciples like the Beatles, the Stones, or scores of many other greats". Stating that "it’s any one’s guess" shows that he is unsure what the world of music would be like. Writing that "it would not include" is a definitive statement and is something the writer does not know.

Okay I understand. You think if Elvis hadn't made it someone else would've come along and influenced them. Maybe. I've always thought that traditional pop music would've remained popular for a few more years until something else came along and became popular.

[drjohncarpenter]

And yes, the preface about it being anyone’s guess, suggests he is unsure, and rightly so.

No, it suggests there are multiple arguments to be made.

And then he makes a very credible one.

The follow on words seem like a statement of fact to me.

I've highlighted the part you need to work on.

Great article though, huh?

[drjohncarpenter]

Everyone on this forum knows who Bill Haley was.

Apparently not "everyone."

[emjel]

Your missing the point. There was no suggestion that Elvis did not influence people - it was the suggestion made that without Elvis, other artists would not exist or in the writer’s words "~he states "It's anyone's guess what an Elvis-free world would be like, but it wouldn't include disciples like the Beatles, the Stones, or scores of many other greats". Stating that "it’s any one’s guess" shows that he is unsure what the world of music would be like. Writing that "it would not include" is a definitive statement and is something the writer does not know.

Okay I understand. You think if Elvis hadn't made it someone else would've come along and influenced them. Maybe. I've always thought that traditional pop music would've remained popular for a few more years until something else came along and became popular.

Well, yes, "maybe" - not in such a big way of course, but there were other artists knocking about - as I said, I don't see it as a light switch kind of thing and it's something we will never know.

[emjel]

And yes, the preface about it being anyone’s guess, suggests he is unsure, and rightly so.

No, it suggests there are multiple arguments to be made.

And then he makes a very credible one.

No, it really does suggest he is unsure....and from that, it opens up room for debate, or in your words, multiple arguments, but i prefer to use the word, debates.