The Career Development of Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley is one of the greatest artists of all time. The changes that he went through during his career were both controversial and successful. Elvis changed music genres during his career with his distinctive way of entertaining the audience, and many people praise him as a great icon. Greil Marcus has praised Elvis for his influence on people and for being a great entertainer. However, besides being able to capture the attention of fans, there is a negative standpoint where Marcus states Elvis lacks originality. People focus on the peripheral features and the commercialized product he became, and Marcus views Elvis's attitude toward music as different. Instead of concentrating on one genre, he transformed himself multiple times to become part of the music trend. People recognize him for his deep-toned voice, his signature dance moves on stage, and his self-image. I agree with Marcus' praise toward Elvis because he is popular for his talent in the entertainment industry and how Elvis became a product of what people wanted him to be.

Elvis Presley's Career Growth

Elvis's career slowly developed and changed through many types of genres. Marcus states, "The cultural range of his music has expanded to the point where it includes not only the hits of the day but also patriotic recitals, pure country gospel, and really dirty blues..." (Marcus, 1975, p.121). Elvis was able to successfully demonstrate that he could perform many genres, not just what he was good at, such as rock 'n' roll. In the mid-1950s rock and roll lecture, Echard (2011) discussed how he was exposed to different genres when he was growing up: "Elvis was extremely open-minded in terms of musical style. Some of the kinds of music he enjoyed included hymns and gospel, country music, R+B, and TPA pop. As an amateur, he used to sing all these kinds of music" (slide 7). This gave him an advantage to become a great singer and be very flexible in what he did. He was able to transform his image and change into a different direction of genre. "Almost as soon as he got to RCA, Elvis's image began to soften a little, and his material moved in a more pop direction" (Echard, 2011, slide 14). Besides looking at the singer's artistic abilities, Marcus incorporated nationalism and rock and roll together, "Marcus posited a notion of 'Americanism' that would embrace rock 'n' roll in its entirety" (Mazullo, 2000, p.145). Elvis was a very important part of America's music history, and Marcus suggested that he represented inventing new creativity in music, as he mentioned, "If they define different versions of America, Presley's career almost has the scope to take America in" (Marcus, 1975, p.121).

Elvis as a Cultural Icon

This shows that he was an important part of rock and roll history. Elvis was able to show America that certain music genres were not just for Black or White people. I think he may have brought a rebellious side, but at the same time, he made a statement to the country. In Marcus' perspective, rock and roll gives a confident image to the audience, "rock and roll was best understood as a cultural form that worked against the American grain, because of its 'antiestablishment' message, while still representing a distinctive national character" (Mazullo, 2000, p.145). People critiqued him at the start of his career for doing something very different. Media was a big help in developing him as a big artist, "It was through the influential TV performances that Presley's early somatic presence was relayed to homes in America" (Sewlall, 2010, p.47). This point goes back to Marcus (1975) that the opportunity to create new material in music is not there, "...his presentation of mastery the grandest fantasy of freedom, but it is finally a counterfeit of freedom: it takes place in a world that for all its openness (Everybody Welcome!) is aesthetically closed..." (Marcus, 1975, p.123). Popularity became important when media was important. Echard (2011) discussed in the mid-1950s rock and roll lecture that radio was important and a lot of people were exposed to the music. Later on, it led to marketing other artists, such as teen idols. In the lecture of 1958-1964, Echard (2011) discussed that personality became more important than the music, which is an issue because it took away their chances to compose original songs, "Teen idols were invariably young and cute. Often they were inexperienced performers with comparatively weak voices and mild personas when compared to the first-generation rock and rollers. They were usually accompanied by studio musicians rather than by bands of their own" (slide 5). This represented the country; being able to put attractive music to the audience was important to the music market.

Commercialization and Originality

There was also an issue of what kind of artist they wanted him to be because record companies wanted to satisfy the majority of the population, "...Elvis was marketed as the hillbilly cat...Elvis came to national attention, the first impulse of a larger record industry was to market him as a country musician" (Echard, 2011, slide 11). This supports what Marcus critiqued about Elvis; people wanted to advertise and control him in a certain way, causing us to lose the sense of originality. Other critiques that he discussed in the book "Mystery Train" were that while his fame was rising, the meaning of music was fading away, "The glorious oppression of that presentation parallels the all-but-complete assimilation of a revolutionary musical style into the mainstream of American culture, where no one is challenged and no one is threatened" (Marcus, 1975, p.123). New teen idols applied with the quote about not needing to worry about who wrote the better song. Echard (2011) discussed an example of Frankie Avalon in the 1958-1964 lecture, his image was less dangerous than Elvis. His music was intended for the youth audience.

Elvis's Lasting Legacy

Elvis was portrayed as perfection. He had physical attributes that influenced people to be drawn to his personality. He was the typical guy girls wanted. Marcus quoted, "great artist, a great rocker, a great purveyor of schlock, a great heartthrob, a great bore, a great symbol of potency, a great ham, a great nice person, and, yes, a great American" (Marcus, 1975, p.121). Everything described here, I believe, is just the peripheral characteristics of Elvis that are shown to us. Marcus has a good standpoint on Elvis's capability to just please his fans by the presentation of his performance. Even though he lacked originality, he showed confidence in his music, which was evident through his performance. He was able to interpret other people's songs better than the original version by another artist, "...and to know that even though other singers would have come up with a version of the new black music acceptable to teenage America, of who did emerge in Elvis's wake, none sang as powerfully, or with more than a touch of his magic" (Marcus, 1975, p.141). The story of his humble life and rise to fame, I believe, inspired many people in some way. Even if someone was trying to become an artist or something else, he was relatable to the general public, even though he presented a lot of star qualities. Marcus stated in his book, "A real glow passes and forth between Elvis and his audience, as he shares a bit of what it means to transcend the world of weakness, failure, worry, age, and fear, shows what it means for a boy who sprung the poor to be godly and shares that too" (Marcus, 1975, p.127).

Conclusion

Greil Marcus presented relevant arguments about Elvis Presley's career development, highlighting the disadvantage of the emerging lack of original songs written by the artist because production became the important part of making a successful single. Marcus had a strong understanding of America's new music trend and explained that rock 'n' roll was influential even though it is not a popular genre today. Media was important in promoting the artist. Elvis Presley was able to perfect his presentation, which did not matter if he wrote a song or not; his technical skills and image were already the total package. His performances influenced other artists. His legacy has left an imprint on the music industry, and most people today can still recognize who he is. Songs that he performed have been covered by artists today.

References

• Echard, W. (2011). Mid 1950s rock and roll lecture. [Lecture slides]. University Course.
• Marcus, G. (1975). Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music. E.P. Dutton.
• Mazullo, M. (2000). "Americanism" and Its Discontents: Elvis Presley and the Rock 'n' Roll Revolution. Journal of Popular Music Studies, 12(1), 144-145.
• Sewlall, H. (2010). Elvis Presley and the Politics of Performance: A Critical Analysis. Journal of Musicological Research, 29(1), 47.