Elvis Presley: The King, or Overrated?

[Spirit9]

I know there are some knowledgeable people on this forum, so I'm interested in hearing the SOHH opinion. I guess since this is around the time of Elvis' death, there has been A LOT of revitalized talk about Elvis and how "great" he is, but was he really as great as many people would like to have us believe? I will admit that he was a pretty good blues and gospel singer, but what else does Elvis offer for him to be dubbed "The King," and furthermore, is that a title that Elvis is truly worthy of? To be blunt, I think Elvis - or at least the legacy that people have created - is nothing more than a great white hype that I simply can't buy into, no matter how much soul people will claim he had. Elvis as a performer doesn't necessarily wow me, and quite frankly, I do not see his influence in today's pop/rock/soul artists.

Yeah, he was good for a white guy from the racist south, but is he good enough to be deemed a "king" in music? I honestly don't think so, but I'm willing to hear opposing thoughts if anyone has some.

[Copper Scroll]

I know there are some knowledgeable people on this forum, so I'm interested in hearing the SOHH opinion. I guess since this is around the time of Elvis' death, there has been A LOT of revitalized talk about Elvis and how "great" he is, but was he really as great as many people would like to have us believe? I will admit that he was a pretty good blues and gospel singer, but what else does Elvis offer for him to be dubbed "The King," and furthermore, is that a title that Elvis is truly worthy of? To be blunt, I think Elvis - or at least the legacy that people have created - is nothing more than a great white hype that I simply can't buy into, no matter how much soul people will claim he had. Elvis as a performer doesn't necessarily wow me, and quite frankly, I do not see his influence in today's pop/rock/soul artists.
Yeah, he was good for a white guy from the racist south, but is he good enough to be deemed a "king" in music? I honestly don't think so, but I'm willing to hear opposing thoughts if anyone has some.
King? Hell no.

If there must be one "king", then that person is James Brown.

[Altar K. Shun]

King? Hell no.
If there must be one "king", then that person is James Brown.

C/S

Besides to R&B purest, Elvis only actually made Rock & Roll (read R&B) for a couple of years. Once he left Sun and went to RCA, that was it for the R&R, hello pop muisc. He was a great entertainer though, but King of R&R, no.

Read about early R&B here:

http://www.hyzercreek.com/hoyhoy/dawn_of_rock.htm

[Clem]

"In the Funk World"

If Elvis Presley/ is
King
Who is James Brown,
God?

-Amiri Baraka

[Medalion44]

James Brown is god. Elvis is Jesus. But not Jesus Jesus, he's like...LAST TEMPATION OF CHRIST, William Defoe, Jesus. I mean, still Jesus but not capitol J jesus.


Strangely, that's the best way I could have addressed this.

[oyoyoy]

oh snap!
thanks for reminding me the elvis movie marathon is about to start

all day on tcm :yes:

[Dead End]

oveerated

[flapjacks]

Yeah, Elvis's catalogue looks piddly compared to a lot of latercoming artists. I could even imagine a respectable list years from now (NOT NOW) putting something like Radiohead over Elvis on a top artists ever list. Because Elvis put out a lot of mediocre stuff. All of Elvis's classic stuff can fit onto 2 cds.

But all those '60s artists who influnce(d) EVERYBODY we like today, all of those guys only did what they did because of Elvis. The Beatles had surpassed Elvis by '65, imo, but that band wouldn't've even existed in the first place if it weren't for Elvis. No Dylan either if it wasn't for Elvis--how's that for cultural influence of someone who isn't thought of in the way we think of Elvis at all, but it's the truth.

Elvis influenced WHITE America in terms of popular music more than any other musician ever did, and I don't think that's anything to sneeze at or downplay or whatever. That's a really important thing. People are too short-sighted to just use the race excuse; yeah, black musicians were doing similar music before, but it took someone like Elvis to repackage the artform, and not only in terms of his skin color but he did reinterpret and reinvent those songs. It's not like he wasn't talented, because he was VERY talented; he just wasn't all that ORIGINAL.

Another BIG problem is that most of the time today you only hear about Elvis not in terms of his musical influence or artistry, but instead you associate Elvis with fat old 60-year-old women on TV showing off their Elvis-related merchandise. That's not a good look, but that whole Elvis JUNK industry shouldn't blind us to him as an artist.

James Brown and Little Richard ain't mad, so why should black people born 50 years later be?

"Last time I saw him, we sang 'Old Blind Barnabus' together, a gospel song. I love him and hope to see him in heaven. There'll never be another like that soul brother."

"Elvis was God-given. There's no explanation. A messiah comes around every few thousand years, and Elvis was it this time."

But, yeah:

James Brown >>>>> elvis, and this world could do with another lifetime of telling people that James Brown was #1 and even after that he wouldn't be overrated.