{"id":102,"date":"2013-09-27T12:02:05","date_gmt":"2013-09-27T12:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/?p=102"},"modified":"2017-07-26T19:48:55","modified_gmt":"2017-07-26T19:48:55","slug":"elvis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/elvis\/","title":{"rendered":"Elvis!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first time I watched Lilo and Stitch<\/em> I didn\u2019t realize how big of a role Elvis Presley played. Lilo was trying to teach her alien, pet Stitch how to behave like Elvis Presley, referring to him as a \u201cmodel citizen.\u201d He could dance, sing, play guitar, and was a teenage heartthrob. But that wasn\u2019t it for Elvis. He had an incredible work ethic and was easy to work with. He was rebellious, but respectful and polite. He acquired incredible fame and changed the style of music. Elvis Presley was unlike other rock stars that followed him.<\/p>\n

Elvis Presley\u2019s talent was hard not to recognize. He was something no one had ever seen before; a white boy with the sound and rhythm of a black man. His voice was unique and attracted the attention of recording studios, television shows, and media. In January of 1956, Presley recorded, \u201cHeartbreak Hotel,\u201d which illustrated his blend of styles, like blues and gospel. Elvis Presley did not have one sound. He had the ability to mix blues, country, and jazz, and he truly encompassed the essence of rock and roll. Presley was known for covering songs made by others artists and making them his own, turning the song into a hit. He covered Carl Perkin\u2019s, \u201cBlue Suede Shoes,\u201d and Big Mama Thorton\u2019s, \u201cHound Dog,\u201d making them into songs with such success that they are remembered over six decades. Presley\u2019s rendition of \u201cHound Dog,\u201d sold over seven million copies and was the biggest hit of the Fifties. Today, many artists have very similar sounds and there are not many bands or vocalists creating new styles. There aren\u2019t many musicians that can claim to have created a rebellion or to have made a new music genre.<\/p>\n

Presley\u2019s career took off after many television appearances and recording numerous hit singles in 1956. He first appeared on Stage Show, and then he spent time recording. He recorded, \u201cShake, Rattle, and Roll,\u201d \u201cTutti Frutti,\u201d \u201cLawdy Miss Clawdy,\u201d and \u201cBlue Suede Shoes,\u201d which was his second million seller. He made two appearances on The Milton Berle Show, in April and June, but by that time his music had spread and he was famous. Later on in his career Elvis made an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show<\/em>, the most popular television show in the Fifties. Ed Sullivan originally did not want Presley on his show because he was different and the adult audience was not a fan of him, but he caved when his competition hosted Elvis on their shows. I can imagine performing on The Ed Sullivan Show<\/em> must have been as honorable as being on The Ellen Show<\/em> or Saturday Night Live<\/em> today. <\/p>\n

Elvis Presley\u2019s television appearances \u201cdrew battle lines in the Elvis culture war\u201d (Dunar 273). Elvis was a hero among the teenage community, and he was new and exciting. But to parents of this time period, Elvis was dangerous and offensive. Elvis swiveled his hips, making teenage girls swoon and infuriating their parents. Elvis\u2019 dance moves were suggestive and explicitly sexual. It was new and rebellious, and his dancing turned man into a sex object, something that had not been seen before. New dance moves normally cause such reactions. Whether it\u2019s Elvis\u2019 hip swivel or Michael Jackson\u2019s moonwalk, teenagers idolize these artists and their styles, and their parents despise them. Today, rap and hip-hop are popular styles of music that teenagers listen to, and the dance moves that come along with these styles, such as \u201ctwerking,\u201d or \u201cgrinding,\u201d would repulse our parents. Musicians like Miley Cyrus terrify our parents, like Elvis scared parents in the Fifties, because their dance moves teach that our bodies are objects of sex. <\/p>\n

Despite Elvis\u2019 bad reputation amongst parents, he was an idol to the younger people of the Fifties, and even today Elvis is praised and idolized. Elvis\u2019 talents have granted him fame lasting for generations. There aren\u2019t many musicians as unique as Elvis was, and there may never be. He had qualities that no other single artist since has possessed, and he has earned his title as the \u201cKing of Rock and Roll.\u201d <\/p>\n

-Haley W. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first time I watched Lilo and Stitch I didn\u2019t realize how big of a role Elvis Presley played. Lilo was trying to teach her alien, pet Stitch how to behave like Elvis Presley, referring to him as a \u201cmodel citizen.\u201d He could dance, sing, play guitar, and was a teenage heartthrob. But that wasn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-student-blogposts","tag-fa13"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103,"href":"https:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions\/103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsu.tonahangen.com\/fysfifties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}