Word: presleys
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...country and gospel music helped him create a simple, raw performing style. Onstage, he twisted and gyrated, much to the dismay of '50s parents. The more the older folks protested, the more popular the handsome Southerner became. His name was soon a household word. The mere mention of Elvis Presley, as a comedian's punch line, would evoke howls of laughter from an adult audience...
...watching with fascination the great R.-and-B. pioneers Bo Diddley and Jackie Wilson. He, in turn, would be listened to and watched by performers who worshipped him. The roots of his influence went deeply into almost all forms of rock-'n'-roll music, including blues rock and rockabilly. Presley led not only his fans but also performers worldwide. There had never been such an idol. The world had seen Rudolph Valentino in films drive young women insane. The postwar bobby-soxers screamed for Sinatra. But before the Beatles' popularity enveloped the earth, "Presleymania" was the biggest thing ever...
Ironically, Presley didn't write his own songs. He wasn't a proficient guitarist. There may even have been better vocal stylists. Nor was he adept at handling his career and business. He allowed himself to fall prey to greedy management and sycophants...
...strong enough, proud enough and professional enough to handle his celebrity. He wasn't undone by it, as the teen idol of a later generation, Elvis Presley, was; he didn't exploit the gifts of his fame and talent, he built on them, and in the end beat time itself. Not only does his music define the time and temper of the American decades in which it was made, but his singing moves those songs out of time into something indistinct, everlasting. In Sinatra's music, there is no past tense...
...exactly a heartbreaker at Hot Springs High. He was a burly 6-ft. 2-in. kid who played not on the football team but in the band at half time. Even though he ran for virtually every class office (not generally a sign of hipness), he emulated Elvis Presley, the king of bad-boy coolness, and drove around in a pickup truck with AstroTurf in the back to cushion his real or imagined assignations...