Music Banter - View Single Post - Who deserves the title "The King of Rock and Roll"?
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Old 01-03-2014, 03:04 PM   #318 (permalink)
Forward To Death
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Originally Posted by realtalk92 View Post
Well I don't have to deal with anything because I don't drink the koolaid lol

What I want is for African Americans to get the respect and credit they deserve. Not saying that they don't at all but alot of these legendary African American musicians and artists that changed music NEVER get their rightful just due.
So you do it by taking away from what white people have accomplished in music?

I don't get this, I always thought of every single one of the artists you mentioned as respected musicians, more respected for their musicianship than Elvis, considering all he really did was play a little rhythm guitar. He was a great singer, and a great performer. No one says that he's superior, but he was a major icon of the 1950s. Certainly the biggest in music at the time. I don't think he was the first person to create music that resembles rock, but his records from 1954 are often considered the first true rock n roll records. You're welcome to disagree with that, I'm welcome to disagree with you.

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The question is not asking "who is the biggest figure in the rock n roll genre". The question is asking who is the original pioneer of rock n roll so the fact that Elvis is the face of the genre really does not necessarily conclude that he pioneered it.
No it isn't, otherwise this thread would be titled "who was the true creator of rock n roll". A King isn't a "first", he's the most important. I never once called Elvis the pioneer of rock, but there's plenty of people who would. I don't necessarily disagree with that either, you could easily make the case that his Sun recordings were the first rock n roll recordings.

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Elvis came from a era where most African American musicians and artists were not given their fair share musically and if they weren't singing R&B/Pop they didn't have a chance of crossing over. Unfortunately, most African Americans who pioneered rock n roll were not given the same platform to cross over. White folks wanted it to be a white made genre which is why most of the white engineers, musicians and songwriters got most of their songs and ideas from African American musicians. They took it, gave it to popular white artists e.g. Elvis and just watered it down for white audiences.
I disagree. If anything, african americans were just as impactful on the music industry at the time. Chuck Berry, Little Richard, The Drifters, Jackie Wilson among many, many others, were hugely successful. I just don't see the argument that black artists were given the shaft. Maybe they didn't make as much money or something, but the music industry is known for always having ripped off their performers, black or white.

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Call it what you want but Rock in Roll originally was created by black musicians and artists. Most of the older white rock in roll bands and artists have SAID this themselves. They know that most of what they were doing was already being done underground by black people. Elvis has openly and publicly said he admired and copied a lot of these African American artists so I am not sure what point you are trying to make.
No it wasn't, you can say it until you're blue in the face, but it doesn't make it true. That's an opinion, I'm stating facts, 1954, Sun recordings where Elvis recorded with the band he would achieve all of his success with for the first time, that's a fact. It was recorded BEFORE Little Richard and Chuck Berry recorded their first albums, that's a fact.

Perhaps you don't think that's rock, perhaps you think something recorded earlier was rock. We can split hairs over it all day until we come to the conclusion that rock was really created in the 1930s if we wanted, but the popular opinion is that Elvis created the first rock records, and all that came before it was proto-rock. I can't prove that "Rocket 88" or "Rock The Joint" isn't a rock n roll record, I'd even say that it definitely resembles rock, but I've also heard music from the 1930s and 40s by white country and folk artists that resembles rock.



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