Week 8: 50 Albums That Changed Music

[Swish]

Yeah, I'm a bit early with this, but I'm headed to a trade show tomorrow and won't be back until Tuesday, so I decided to post this early rather than late. This week's entry is the earliest recording so far, and one that I'm sure will garner some attention from all the crazies on this board. And the album is Elvis Presley - S/T (1956). The King's first album was also the first example of how to cash in on a teenage craze. With Presleymania at full tilt, RCA simultaneously released a single, a four-track EP and an album, all with the same cover of Elvis in full, demented cry. They got their first million dollar album, the fans got a mix of rock-outs like "Blue Suede Shoes", lascivious R&B and syrupy ballads. Without this there would be no King, no rock and roll madness, no Beatles fist album, no pop sex symbols.

Another strong final statement that I'm not sure I agree with, although there's no denying some of it. Your thoughts?

Swish

[bobsticks]

Okay, this thing has been posted for more than 24 hours with no responses. Plenty of views, just no takers. How appropriate.

Then: Hugely, wildly popular; capable of making young females scream at a level at which I am envious; irreverent; would influence and break barriers for decades...

Now: So far removed from the collective creative consciousness is this even relevant?


You may now go on about your daily routine as none of this surely matters...

[likeitloud]

Okay, this thing has been posted for more than 24 hours with no responses. Plenty of views, just no takers. How appropriate.

Then: Hugely, wildly popular; capable of making young females scream at a level at which I am envious; irreverent; would influence and break barriers for decades...

Now: So far removed from the collective creative consciousness is this even relevant?


You may now go on about your daily routine as none of this surely matters...

Whats up man, I guess The King, isn't an everyday thought. I guess it's an age/era
thing. But as the first true Rock n Roll "Frontman" and the first true "RockStar", he
needs to get his props. A killer voice and great stage presence, and copied over
and over again. Elvis was an icon, way beyond music. I mean when he went into
the army, the whole country was worried he was gonna get KIA/MIA, I mean wtf.

[nobody]

I'm an Elvis fan and still listen to him regularly. So, I'm a fan of the album and agree that it was hugely influential. I have more than one friend who can't stand Elvis because he didn't write his songs and appropriated black music and sold it with a white face; the usual argument. But, practically nobody wrote their own songs at that time and somebody had to break down the color barrier in music and in American of the 1950s it sure wasn't gonna be a black man.

Bottom line to me is the music, and his performances are right on. He could sing the songs, move, smirk, and do it all with style. His breakthrough may be a good point to focus on as to the importance of attaining popular acceptance. For his influence possibly had more to do with the notion of creating a marketable star from this music than actually creating the music in the first place. Much of the music already existed, although he did put his country bred twist on the proceedings which allowed it to not only be more marketable but also more likeable to a large, white audience. But, while the music was a variation on an existing theme, his celebrity and cultural status were much newer phenomena.

And, he may not be so influential to pop music today, but I cans till hear bands playing in bars all the time that have more than a little Elvis running through their songs.

[MindGoneHaywire]

The knocks one can make on a performer on the basis of their not having written their material, valid as they may be in the context of certain types of discussions, don't cut it here. I do think that this album being on the list helps to make my case that the Beatles album that belongs highest on this list among their work is Meet The Beatles, but that's a rec that never came out where these writers came from.

I'm finding myself digging the Nashville To Memphis box more than anything else amongst Elvis's work these days, but that doesn't mean jack so far as the significance of this rec. Trying to diminish it as a 'record that changed music' is a fool's errand, so far as I'm concerned.

[nobody]

So...what all is on that Nashville to Memphis box?

I'm a big fan of his From Elvis in Memphis album and if the rest of the box is similar, I may be quite interested in that.

[bobsticks]

The point of my short post was not to knock Elvis' accomplishments per se, but to call to question the author's tendency for overreaching pronouncements. Artists draw influence from a variety of sources and to tie the entire development of Rock&Roll to a single album or artist is the true folly. It denies the undeniable.
The world around there is a very definable inertia--a creative zeitgeist--based on the directive of "What's next?". Creative people push boundaries and expand on what has already been accomplished and usually that draws them in similar directions. Clay tablets indicating the existence of musical systems of notation have been attributed to the Ancient Mesopotamians. Does this incontravertably indicate that there would be no Mozart, no Beethoven, or no Mahler without the Mesopotamians?

A cursory glance at Billboards offerings for the week show Gnarls Barkley, Christina Aguilera, Young Dro, Three Days Grace, and Stone Sour. What are the odds that one, if any, own an Elvis record or could name a song other than Blue Suede Shoes. Dylan is on there, but my perception is that he went out of his way to be the anti-Elvis and avoid the marketing machines (unsuccessfully). No "lascivious R&B and syrupy ballads."? R. Kelly seems more indebted to Jerry Lee Lewis than Elvis...
You could've accussed Sid Vicious of displaying an Elvis-like bravado and swagger, but he would have spit invectives at you and shat on your dining room table.

Elvis was the King-- and for the record I don't give a rat's @$$ that he didn't write his own music--and an immensely talented performer, but how long are we going to treat creativity as a viral infection that can be traced to a single host source?

[nobody]

I agree with your points about the dangers of thinking of influence and musical development in such a linear fasion. And, you can never say what would or would not have happened as often if one guy wouldn't have created something, other directions may have been taken or another one may simply have come along and done something similar. So, I guesI do agree that none of the albums on the list can really be taken as definitive causes for future developments.

Personally though, I would be surprised if the artists of today didn't know several Elvis songs as he still permeates pop culture. I have young neices and nephews that know Elvis songs from hearing them in cartoons. A remix of one of his songs flew up the charts a few years back after being featured in a TV commercial. Cartman sang In the Ghetto on South Park. Its just part and parcel of American pop culture that you will hear and recognize some Elvis songs, even modern musicians, even kids growing up today.

And, Sid did sing a couple Eddie Cochran songs, not far from the brand of rockabilly peddled by Elvis in his younger days.

[Troy]

I agree that the biggest problem with this whole list (so far, I refuse to look at it and see what's coming) is "the author's tendency for overreaching pronouncements." I agree with that 100%. I also agree that there is no way to say that if Elvis hadn't come along, someone else would have come along and done a similar thing because the time/culture/technology was ripe for it to happen.

Still, Elvis WAS the first real rock star and for that alone, one of his early albums deserves to be on this list. His influence is pretty transparant today, but he really was right there for the birth of the whole thing.

Personally, I prefer the cheesy, fat and sweaty 70s Elvis. No Elvis= no Dread Zeppelin. Don't you realize how important that is for me?

[3-LockBox]

Yes, this album needs to be here; its a no-brainer. He pretty much wrote the book on being a front man, and it is his face and sound that broke down the color barrier.

I've heard lots of people derride Elvis importance because he 'just ripped off' black music', but that kinda talk usually comes from talking heads who want to be controversial. I remember quite a few black performers who said he came along at the best possible time, as far as black music was concerned (Little Richard for one). No, Elvis didn't invent or add any new twists to 'black music' or rock-n-roll, he just made it bankable.

So what if it coulda been anybody? Elvis was a great performer and could sing. So he didn't write his own material? Then you gotta discount a whole lot of music if that's a criteria. For once this article gets it right; this album changed music.

[3-LockBox]

Okay, this thing has been posted for more than 24 hours with no responses. Plenty of views, just no takers. How appropriate.

Then: Hugely, wildly popular; capable of making young females scream at a level at which I am envious; irreverent; would influence and break barriers for decades...

Now: So far removed from the collective creative consciousness is this even relevant?


You may now go on about your daily routine as none of this surely matters...

Don't get yer panties in a wad...

Maybe it was just the weekend and most of us were elsewhere. And its football season...sorry if this sounds like heresy, but football usually always wins out over computer time where I'm concerned.

[MasterCylinder]

No argument here.

[bobsticks]

...no panties wadded here MC, just a little friendly agitation. And your point about football is well taken, although I use commercials and most of halftime for catching up.

Troy, you're hilarious...

Cheers

[Heywood Djahblomie]

How come ya'll never talk about Elvis, if ya'll like him so much. Hell, I ain't even goin to make out like I ever liked the dude just cuz he made some list.

I bet none of ya'll even own any Elvis

My momma saw Elvis in Vegas and even dated him!

Coincidentally, some say I do a decent Elvis impression and maybe even favor him a tad.

[3-LockBox]

...no panties wadded here MC, just a little friendly agitation. And your point about football is well taken, although I use commercials and most of halftime for catching up

Twas me that made the panties comment and it was made in jest. As far as catching up on the computer at halftime...in my house, I can usually only get away with one indulgence at a time

[bobsticks]

Twas me that made the panties comment and it was made in jest. As far as catching up on the computer at halftime...in my house, I can usually only get away with one indulgence at a time

Oops, that's what I get for engaging in too many indulgences at once...

[BradH]

Creative people push boundaries and expand on what has already been accomplished and usually that draws them in similar directions.

...how long are we going to treat creativity as a viral infection that can be traced to a single host source?

Removing key figures like Elvis from the scene and relying on the zeitgeist of the times to move music and culture in the same direction is okay for a mental excercise but I think it comes up short of any real nuts & bolts understanding of how certain artists have broad influence.

No, Elvis didn't invent or add any new twists to 'black music' or rock-n-roll, he just made it bankable.

Same argument. It goes like this: Sam Philips was already looking for a talented, handsome white guy who could play black music so it was only a matter of time before that person walked into his studio. The singer didn't have to "add any new twists to 'black music' or rock-n-roll", he just had to hit his cues and Phillips would make it "bankable". But I don't think it's that simple. There were many different ways to combine the musical genres floating around the South at that time. Chuck Berry did it differently than Little Richard, who did it differently than Elvis, who did it differently than Carl Perkins, etc. When people first heard these guys on the radio they thought Elvis was black and Chuck Berry was white. In fact, Chuck Berry used far more country influence than Elvis. Berry combined white music with black music but he came out at a different place than Elvis singing, say, "Blue Moon", a bluegrass tune, in a fast, jump 'n' jive tempo. There's no law that says Elvis had to do it that way. There's not even a law that says Elvis had to walk through Philips' door. In fact, he drove by a few times before deciding to go for it. What if he had decided to keep driving a truck for a living? Buddy Holly combined white & black music in about the same direction Elvis was taking. Elvis was a big influence on him. And Buddy Holly was a big influence on the Beatles, as was Elvis. History happens the way it happens, that's why it matters. Plenty of zeitgeist to go around but individual actions make a difference. If you can track the influences you can understand why people sound the way they do and how they influenced others. Sometimes influences come together in the right person at the right place at the right time. Elvis was one of those people. Acknowledging that is not the same as simply treating creativity as a virus with the host being some kind of lottery winner.

[Troy]

Heywood, my Elvis inpression can kick your Elvis impression's a$$. I'll see you behind the dodgeball field after school and show you some manners.

[bobsticks]

They got their first million dollar album, the fans got a mix of rock-outs like "Blue Suede Shoes", lascivious R&B and syrupy ballads. Without this there would be no King, no rock and roll madness, no Beatles fist album, no pop sex symbols.Swish

Hey Brad,

I think that I can submit to both your historical perspective and Elvis' inclusion on this list without agreeing with the author's conclusions. It's one thing to assert that R&R as we know it would not exist today, and a whole different ball of wax to throw down the above quote.
First, I recognize the validity of your timeline of direct influence. That said, we are several decades and many generations of artists away from the proposed progenitor. I think the line becomes a bit more blurry. The artists of today benefit from influences from around the globe and the technological capability to make the sounds in their heads a reality. The author's closing statement posits that six or seven generations out, these kids owe all they are to Elvis. I am currently spinning Morcheeba and can readily think of two artists previously listed in this little top-50 gig to whom they owe a greater debt than the King.Remember, the author said "no rock and roll madness"...no,none,nada,no mas...

Let me put my argument in different and more specific terms. In the world of guitarists lets examine Eddie Van Halen and Stanley Jordan. EVH is widely regarded as the performer who poularized two-handed tapping. Jordan, his contemporary, also uses the technique albeit differently and to different ends. To suggest that without EVH Stanley wouldn't exist or have a career is a bit far-fetched. Granted without EVH the technique might have been popularized in an altered state to that which we are familiar but it would still exist. Bringing this within context, I feel that to argue that without Elvis there would be no rock&roll is a fallacy.

To argue that there would be no pop sex symbols is a little like saying that without Pam Anderson, Jasmine Bleeth and Carmen Electra wouldn't have found a way to get naked in public for money...although I'm sure each brings a level of artistic individuality to the table The market had a void and sex sells...

[Heywood Djahblomie]

Heywood, my Elvis inpression can kick your Elvis impression's a$$. I'll see you behind the dodgeball field after school and show you some manners.

I'm afraid if I met you behind the dodgeball field,

you'd want to show me more than just some manners

but nice try anyway, nancy boy

[BradH]

The author's closing statement posits that six or seven generations out, these kids owe all they are to Elvis.

Yeah, from that perspective the Guardian is silly. I thought you were talking about Elvis's immediate influence being taken up by someone else at that time, like it was a given. But you're right, in the long run those influences are sometimes absorbed and diluted. (Although I suspect Morrissey was trying to do some kind of gelded Elvis thing, I'm not sure.) It's two different questions really. What is the influence of Artist X and what would music be like without Artist X? Not easy to tell about that last one.

EVH learned to finger-tap so he could sound as fast as Allan Holdsworth (according to Eddie). Tapping had been around since Zappa and Steve Hackett in the early 70's. Would Eddie have learned it w/o hearing Holdsworth? So many questions. So little free time to jack around with the internet. Is it any wonder our wives think we're crazy?

I see Troy got busted with that old "dodgeball field" trick. Doesn't he ever learn?