Elvis and the age

Press, 18 August 1977, Page 16

Elvis and the age

"I was born standin’ up an’ talkin’ back," Elvis Presley screamd to an audience of millions from the the film, “King Creole,” nearly 20 years ago. Although he was not the first popular entertainer to encourage youthful rebelliousness—or to make a fortune by doing so—the sheer scale of his success as a singer gave something approaching respectability to his style and attitudes. The duck-tailed haircut enjoyed only a brief vogue; tight jeans, uninhibited body gyrations, and mumbled abuse of the English language which helped his success have continued to be the uniforms of a generation of his imitators and their supporters.

Perhaps most important of all, "Elvis the Pelvis” dragged into the open the sexuality inherent in much popular music from the time of "Greensleeves”.

In songs such as “Tutti Frutti” more than 20 years ago Elvis Presley indicated—for those able or willing to attempt to hear the lyrics—that young love entailed a good deal more than hands held in the moonlight. As later popular singers have become more and more explicit, the change has done little for the cause of romance, or for morality and civilised behaviour.

But when the cults which had their beginnings with Elvis Presley'have been duly deplored, it remains true that he probably gave more pleasure—and more hysteria—to more people than any other entertainer since the Second World War. More than 400 million of his records are said to have been sold. For many people who are now approaching middle age the death of Elvis Presley severs a link with their youth.