Rock critics are not as likely to care about most of what is popular on the charts in the 1st place as that is commercial sellout trash to them. I recall a Rolling Stone best albums list from the 1980s and they had the Sex Pistols Never Mind The Bullocks as #2 and a Velvet Underground album was in the top 10 too. Sex Pistols didn't sell much in the US as punk rock was not a big thing here in the 1970s, disco & arena rock was. I think punk was maybe well known in certain areas like New York City. Velvet Underground was not a well known mainstream group either, their name fits. :rofl: I'm not saying more sales = better quality, but just to illustrate the kind of stuff rock critics consider cool. They might have liked when the Commodores was a R&B/funk band instead of later being known as the Lionel Richie AC ballad band, lol.
Not true. Hound Dog was written by 2 white songwriters, Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller, but Big Mama did record it first. Elvis actually remade the Freddie Bell version, which had different lyrics from the original song.
I definitely agree with this!!! You are right, to a certain extent. Add to that the fact that he was once a child star when he began his career and has largely been thought of as a “song-and-dance man,” or an “entertainer,” instead of a “serious” artist; The media’s pinpointing its focus on his personal, private life —— especially after the success of “Thriller” —— the changes in his outward physical appearance, etc.KOPV;4139041 said:
If you're talking about That's Alright, that's not Big Mama either. That was Arthur Crudup, who is black but not a woman. :cheeky:
FullLipsDotNose, what, exactly, does “queer” mean? I do remember either hearing or reading that “Big Mama” Thornton was the first artist to record “Hound Dog,” though. I believe that Elvis Presley just copycatted, ripped off and outright stole from not only her (like a lot of early “Rock-and-Roll” performers ending up becoming world-famous did with “Blues” singers, most of whom, O.T.O.H., never got recognized nor credited for their music), but from other Black “Blues” and early performers who sang and played what would become the forerunner of, and would lay down the groundwork for, “R&B”/“Soul” music.FullLipsDotNose;4139014 said:
GGVVGGCC22331122;4139078 said:
Elvis and rock n roll was not just accepted by whites just because he was the same race. Many whites of the era called Elvis a n-lover and that rock n roll music was a bad influence on youth and caused juvenile deliquency. People complained about Elvis dancing and so he was shown waist up on TV. Johnny Cash did an interview in the mid-1980s and said a country singer (he didn't name who it was) at the Grand Old Opry told Elvis to his face that he made n- music with disdain and walked off. The irony of this is that country & western originally had some influence from the blues. Maybelle Carter, who is considered the "mother of country music", had guitar lessons from black guitarist Lesley Riddle. 1940s country acts like Bob Wills mixed country with jazz. Johnny said Elvis cried and never returned to the Opry. The popularity of rock is why the payola hearings happened in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The powers that be tried to shut it down. Payola had always existed in the record business, but only when rock/R&B caught on with white teenagers, that's when payola became a "problem" to punish. Elvis mentioned his influences, he didn't try to hide it. So I never got this Elvis ripped off black music idea. Little Richard got his scream from Marion Williams and his piano style from Esquerita, but nobody says he ripped off anybody. Richard's early records were slow blues, not the later style he became known for. Ray Charles originally copied Nat King Cole, but it's only considered a ripoff (not an influence) when a white person does it. Early R&B itself copied from gospel, in some cases by changing the words of a gospel song to secular.GGVVGGCC22331122;4139078 said:
