Heartless Music

Elvis Presley in the 1950s

In the nineteen fifties the post war world was a very conservative place; but all that was about to change with the revolution of rock and roll. The hero of this movement was Elvis Presley.

Prior to Elvis’ recording his 1955 first tracks at Sun studios in Memphis at age twenty, American music and society was stuck being socially and racially stratified. Blacks listened to and played beats and rhythms that came from African roots such jazz, the blues and bluegrass; whereas whites played and listened to country western and folk. There were a few other artists bucking this trend in the early fifties but it was Elvis that personified rebellion and brought black rhythm and context to the masses of the young white middle class. This appreciation for black inspired music helped pave the way for racial tolerance in the decades to come. In fact, in a time of injustices and segregation, Elvis brought about a sort of free music, in a liberated sense of bringing two polar opposite tastes together.

The young people of the time found an outlet for their emotions: angst, contempt for authority, unfolding sexuality, and individuality.  Elvis represented all that. His sneer, his peculiar dress sense and sexually provocative swinging dance moves all helped create the cultural phenomena we now know as the teenager. The most famous musicians of the time wore tuxedos or matching suits, and had a professional slick performance like Frank Sinatra. Not Elvis:

I had never seen anyone put on a show like that …
it was just shocking …
he looked like a real street kid …
that show really changed my life…

- Jerry Nolan (Heartbreakers, New York Dolls)

Elvis dressed like a misfit with baggy pants and thin ties. He wore socially unacceptable colours for men  like hot pink. He combed his hair into a high quiff. Even if it doesn’t seem that unusual now; for the time, he looked peculiar. The modern equivalent of how outrageous it was would be Lady Gaga. Parents hated him and tried to ban their kids from watching him and that fueled his success with teenagers even more.

Perhaps if it wasn’t for young Elvis making a storm with parents and the media of the day, making teenage girls swoon with desire, and playing cross cultural music, perhaps the western world would not be as free as it is today. If Elvis had changed his natural appearance and style more to the music industry norm of the 1950’s, where would we be now? No doubt, we would be far more repressed.