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Amy Lopez
Prof. Julia Intawiwat
ENG 111 - 05
11-26-2017
Essay #4
Elvis Presley: Racist barrier breaker, morally accused and youth influencer.

I think music and culture have a strong relationship in which they affect each other. When

music is written, it reflects so much about the culture of the person who wrote them: experiences,

believes, feelings, wishes, opinions, and all those things in peoples minds as result of the society

that they belong. On the other hand, music is a kind of communication able to change people

minds. In music, people find a way to get their minds out of stress, they feel identified with song

stories, they learn new things and create new perspective, music influence people, influence their

culture. One great example of artist that had a huge influence in societies all around the world

was Elvis Presley, a guitarist and also singer that started his shining moment back in the 1950s

and is still remembered these days as The King of Rock and Roll. He broke some racist

barriers, his dancing was really controversial and his very particular and flamboyant way to

dress influenced the young population of his time.

Elvis Presley was born in Memphis, specifically in East Tupelo, during a time when

racism was really strong. He lived in a society where white people belonged to one world and

black ones to another. But Presley was raised in a point in the middle of those two worlds, two

different cultures; different in lots of things, including music. In one side, black people sang

slave and work songs (blues) and in the other one, white people sang about their superiority and

sentimentalism. In 1954, the president of Sun Records, Sam Phillips, noticed that Presley was a

white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel., as he said. He broke the stereotype
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that only black men sang black songs, making him the target of racist attacks. His music was

influenced by blues and rhythm and country and western. In some of his songs, Presley

expressed his respect for white traditions but in some others, he sang against them, sending a

message to his audience about his impartiality and support. What was impressive is that, the guy

was a fusion that seemed to appeal both of those communities. He was one of the very few things

they seemed to have in common.

But his sense of races integration was not the only one thing for why Elvis Presley was

controversial. When the young guy was performing, his dancing was unique and, as denominated

for so many people, sexual. Back in the 1950s, society was extremely conservative in

comparison with the one of these days, and if, nowadays, sex is a taboo, in the past it was way

worse. So Elviss hip moves caused polemics between parents and adult people, accusing him of

immoral. That massive and serious was the rejection that, outraged parents made contact with

medias and in order to keep happy the whole audience, they showed Presleys performances but

from the hips up. Of course, no everybody disapproved that naughty and sexy dance; youth was

going crazy about him, they had an out-of-control eager for something they did not see before;

not musically, not socially; a guy on their same age being so explicit and acting out of their

cultural values.

His dance style and what it meant was an attractive ingredient that got him thousands of

fans but certainly not the only one. Elvis Presley was a representation of his followers, he was a

young guy like them and he was something they never expect a 21-years-old, nobody actually,

would do; a white guy who sang black songs, a young guy that dance sexually and going to

something more visual, a guy that influenced the way teenagers and young adults dressed. Elvis

looked different from the performers that preceded him and from people in general; he
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transformed the conservative suit into something bolder; the collar of his shirts were a little

higher or turned up and opened in a way that left exposed his chest and his pants were tighter

than usually. He also wore leather jackets and denims; items that became iconic in his generation

and the ones following. His audience loved that fresh style and started to dress like him. Girls

wore tighter clothes to highlight their attributes. Based in this appearance change, teenagers and

young adults felt the desire to represent their youth; they wanted something less formal; they did

not want to look like their parents anymore.

Elvis Presley is an example of how culture affects music and how music affects culture.

The society where Presley was raised was fundamental and determinant in his career as singer.

All the music he had heard influenced his musical style, he grew up listening to both: blues and

rhythms and country music and he liked them so he make his own music out of that. The

segregation of the society and the different life style they had, inspired Presley to write songs

about their reality, their perspective and his opinion about it. This taught society that being white

doesnt mean that they are in the obligation to hate black people and vice-versa, his lyrics make

people reflects about racism and showed support to those who felt discriminated. Moreover,

people was so moralist and conservative that they didnt like the way Presley danced and dressed

and that made things more exciting; it was very probably an act of rebellion but it was, for sure,

something that hooked people up; it was fun, original and definitely, something new. As result,

teenagers and others a little bit older started to imitate him because they felt identified with him;

inspired. Once the audience showed acceptance for the strange, the uncommon, the out-of-the-

conventional, then, artists lost the fear of being original, of creating new things. That is how

music and culture work.