Quote:
Originally posted by meanSpleen
Revolutionary artists are rarely legendary artists. Revolutions come from the underground, until someone picks up on it and turns it into a marketing focus.
You referenced Elvis, and what you already know is that he is just a cover artist. Delta blues, Jump swing, and (for lack of a better term) black mans Rock n Roll, did all the same songs before him, and probably did it better. Elvis become legendary because he was cute, white, and shook his ass. Oh yeah, somewhere in there is charisma.
He's not the only one though. The one that sticks out the most in my mind is The Chords versus the CrewCuts. The Chords were the first to record "Sh-Boom", and they were black. THe song was amazingly popular in their home region, but it wasn't until the Crew Cuts covered it that it went national. The Crew Cuts were a white band. Does anyone remember the Chords? No, because the Crew Cuts practically stole the song from him.
If "Sh-boom" doesn't mean anything to you, although it should (listen to it), the Crew Cuts also stole "Earth Angel" from the Penguins. Everyone knows "Earth Angel"
So what is it with legendary musicians? they happen to hit the right people at the right time. They come in during a time of music-anarchy, when everything is stale and people want something new. Then, as the years progress, they change, and continue changing. They HAVE to attract new fans, or they will die with the original ones. Thats the only way to become legendary
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It was very common in the '40's-'50's for white artists to steal a song; that's one of my biggest reasons for disliking Elvis; "That's alright now Momma" well-remembered Elvis tune right? Wrong! It was a hit for Arthur "BigBoy" Crudup in 1947, but only in the black community; it wasn't released on a "White" label. How about "Hounddog"? BIG Elvis hit right? Not originally; the song was written for Lucille "Big Momma" Thornton by Lieber and Stoler . Big Momma had a moderate hit with it in 1954, but when Tom Parker was looking for a rocker for Elvis to record, he liked "Hounddog" so, he got the rights, and had the song pulled from the Black labels release list, had Elvis record it, and Big Momma got screwed. I never liked Elvis, not as a performer, and not as a person; I felt no sadness at his passing- as far as I'm conerned, he was a creative leech. He never wrote any of his own music, and did very little actual playing of that guitar that hung around his neck. I'm sure I'll get blasted by some rabid Elvis fan, but I don't care, he was nothing but a somewhat talented guy in the right place at the right time.