Love him or hate him, at least we got one surround sound album from his catalog...which is more than we can say for many other acts.
Well saidElvis would have made it even if he'd never signed with RCA Victor; after all, his last two Sun singles were top ten country hits, so he definitely had a career beckoning.
Regardless of whether or not racism played a role in his ascension--and it is true that back then, white acts were more likely to be booked on mainstream TV than blacks--the fact remains that Elvis' acceptance by people like my mother (she was a fan in '55, and one of her fave records was always "I Forgot to Remember to Forget") also opened the door for her to finally hear R&B on clear channel radio. Elvis walked through a mystical door that also brought a lot of R&B acts with him to join the party. It's arguable but likely that his success didn't hurt anybody else and may well have enhanced that of others. Further, there is scant comparison between Elvis' covers of Little Richard and Pat Boone's, who was singing to an audience that, racist or not, had little use for 'the real deal' (or that's what they were being fed, anyway).
Over the years, I've come to see Elvis as a beacon for a music to flourish--OUR music, although I was born the year he first broke out, it became my own just as it became Keith Richards' music, John Lennon's, etc.. And I'd bet a lot of doo-wop, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, along with Chuck, Richard, Jerry Lee, Fats, and many others found it easier to get TV gigs as a result of Elvis' appearances.
The notion of Elvis being racist himself was debunked long ago, and an absurd notion on its face. This was a man whose idols included Dean Martin but also Clyde McPhatter and Jackie Wilson, and whose Sun singles indicate a man who learned much from the men whose songs he covered in those early days. If anything, Elvis brought a lot of us together in a common cultural notion--that anything was possible in America, that a kid from Tupelo Mississippi could become the biggest new star of 1956 and one of the most influential of the century. And he brought a lot of people together, a lot of acts a better future.
ED
Further, there is scant comparison between Elvis' covers of Little Richard and Pat Boone's, who was singing to an audience that, racist or not, had little use for 'the real deal' (or that's what they were being fed, anyway).
+1Well said
The racism of the 1950's tends to skew toward the southern states, which were still in large part segregated, a fact not lost on the major network people. Looking back at the history of R&B and Rock'n'Roll of that time, I've never had the impression that the execs were racist in any way, but they did have to factor in those parts of the country where white supremacy and other vile things still ruled; ratings ruled, and advertisers tended to go the path of least controversy. Further, I don't think attitudes had much to do with why bland white pop artists covered R&B songs. Easy to forget is that artists had been covering each other for decades before Rock'n'Roll rose in prominence. There is also cultural miscegenation, too: white acts did cover R&B acts, but R&B acts also covered white pop. What else would you call a beauty like the Flamingos' "I Only Have Eyes for You"? In pop music terms, Tin Pan Alley and movie music were highly influential to anyone interested; race really had nothing to do with who covered what. I don't think it did in the '50s beyond the fact that certain radio stations (again, think the South, mainly) simply would not put on a black R&B record, but would find Pat Boone, Gale Storm, or any number of mainstream white acts acceptable regardless of how a record actually sounded--whether the performance was good, bad or indifferent was likely beside the point.
History and the passage of time have brought the original artists to the fore, the cream rises to the surface and most folks understand who the real avatars of Rock'n'Roll were. But I hate to see a guy like Pat Boone dismissed because he blandly covered R&B hits. He knew his versions couldn't match the originals, they were there to satisfy a certain segment of the audience, many of them teenagers who may not have gotten a chance to hear the originals at the time; education would come later.
ED
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