Elvis is featured on the cover of the latest edition of "American heritage" magazine. Inside an article on "Elvis At 70".
From the magazine's website:
The year 2005 contains two major anniversaries in american popular music. It marks 50 years since 1955, when rock ’n’ roll first conquered the pop singles chart, and also what would have been the seventieth birthday of Elvis Presley (who was so young when he made his initial breakthrough that his father had to co-sign his first contract with RCA Records for him). For Elvis, the timing was perfect. However, in terms of my own appreciation of both occurrences, the timing was completely off.
My father was born the same year as Elvis Aron Presley, and I came along a season or so after the King returned from the Army. My dad was slightly too old to be part of the demographic that made Elvis a superstar, and I was too young to get it. When I was first starting to notice pop music, in the 1970s, it was in a fallow period. I was caught between disco and punk, and neither appealed to me. Rock ’n’ roll was music that my parents’ generation liked. It meant the Stones, the Dead, Hendrix, Dylan, and other figures whose attraction still remains beyond my comprehension. (To this day the only records I have by them are LPs from my late dad’s collection.)
By 1977, the year both Elvis and Bing Crosby died, I had already infiltrated my father’s jazz stash and begun working forward from Armstrong’s Hot Fives and Bix through Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane. Along the way I also discovered Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and the great American songbook. Rock ’n’ roll remained for me a bizarre thing that held some strange fascination for zillions of people but that I just couldn’t get started with. One thing that I did have in common with most rock fans of my generation was that none of us knew what to make of Elvis Presley. By the time of his death he was a joke to high school kids born in the sixties and who listened to the Sex Pistols (whose Sid Vicious savaged both Sinatra and Presley in his parody of “My Way”), David Bowie, Kiss, or, in my case, Bing.
Elvis Presley seemed like a caricature in his last few years ... Read the full article on-line on the American Heritage website.
Elvis On Cover American Heritage Magazine
February 26, 2005 | Other
Related links
King Of Western Bop wrote on
February 26, 2005
Like most of these kinds of articles, they lean towards the writers own personal opinion and feelings towards certain musical genres. The writer is an admirer of the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, etc, etc. He obviously has more of a liking for Elvis' Ballads than his rock material, hence his statement that: “Everything but Love” is one of the prettiest things Presley ever sang. It’s worth at least half a dozen of the three-chord rock numbers he was cutting 10 years earlier". Really? Well I suppose it's all down to one's own personal taste in music. The song is a nice enough ballad but in my opinion not "one of the prettiest things he ever sang" - and certainly not one of the best. But of course, like mine, it is a personal opinion. He said that Lennon got it wrong when he said "before Elvis there was nothing". In my opinion Lennon was exactly right. Citing Rhythm & Blues songs is all very well but they were not Rock n Roll, amd that's what Lennon was talking about. Those that say that Rock n Roll was a music invented by black people seem to miss one very important point. Rock n Roll is a mixture of both black and white musical influences. How many black artists of the Blues genre were incorporating white bred tunes and influences into their music in the 1950's? And you can't blame them for creating music that was aimed at themselves, seeing how the were regarded and treated during this time. It took Elvis to create the rock genre - a white man who was influenced by black and white music. And the first one to mix the genres without the deliberate thought of doing so. If others hinted at such a thing before him then it was because they tried to. Elvis never tried, it was always part of him. It was part of his upbringing and exposure to all kinds of music that lead to that fateful day in 1954. Why people mention the likes of Johnny Ray coming before Elvis is beyond me. Yes, they were around before him but their music wasn't rock n Roll. Sorry but it just wasn't. Take that classic rockabilly sound that Elvis gave to a song such as "Baby Let's Play House". I can't recall hearing any song by any artist (black or white) that ever had that sound before it. Of all the artists that came from the 1950's Elvis is by far and away the most talked about. It still hasn't dawned on some why this is. Perhaps you should try looking at Elvis within the context of the times in which he came to the fore. Looking at such things through modern eyes and not understanding what he brought to the musical life and culture of the day is to miss the whole point. It all came together in one man - and he wasn't named Bill Haley, Chuck Berry or Little Richard - or even Johnny Ray! Still, you'll have your own opinion and that's what matters to you - as mine does to me. In other words, such articles are not commandments written in blocks of stone. They are just an opinion.
sdeahkcid wrote on
February 26, 2005
Everything but love? When did Elvis sing this? or is it Elvis Costello your talking about? wot u on about ??
James69 wrote on
February 26, 2005
sdeahkcid, I think he meant "A House That Has Everything (Everything But Love)"
sdeahkcid wrote on
February 26, 2005
James 69 , yep your probably right, we could at least get our titles correct fer goodnes sake !
Blue Suede wrote on
February 26, 2005
Thank you Elvis News for the service you provide in bringing to us such diverse Elvis news and articles (and yes, even opinions). I would have hated to miss such an excellent article as the one in American Heritage's most recent publication. It comes very close to explaining (at least one man's theory) the phenominal success and impact of Elvis Presley on the history of music. I was impressed that a man with such a background in the field of music and popular culture would afford so much credit and praise (however well deserved) to Elvis. My only questions is this, "If Will Friedwald has written seven books on music and popular culture, why did he wait until the summer of 2004 to 'see what all the shaking was about'??" Better late than never Mr. Friedwald, and thank you for your article - maybe it will make others want to 'see what all the shaking was about' and help give Elvis more of the recognition and respect he truly deserves.
peter t wrote on
February 27, 2005
a house that has every thing may be one of the prettiest songs but in that movie elvis also sang Hey Hey Hey the worst song of his life!
CD King wrote on
February 27, 2005
"The Girl I Never Loved" from the same movie was great! Let's hope FTD comes out with a 7" format "CLAMBAKE" CD soon with alternate takes of "A House That Has Everything, Everything But Love". That will be nice.
old shep wrote on
February 28, 2005
I think the 1956 photo of Elvis on the cover of American Heritage is great. From memory and getting on to the Clambake soundtrack. Was Singing Tree and Just Call ME Lonesome on this album?They were both so called bonus songs?And the best on the album!Sorry i'm a bit vague here but was'nt the dreadful Who Needs Money on that album too?How about shelving the soundtrack and keeping the bonus songs. an awful album