The Enduring Popularity of Elvis Presley
by Robert L. Entzminger
(For Chinese version click GO)
A Familiar Story
The arc is one so familiar in American popular culture that it has become almost mythic: a startling and original talent emerges apparently from nowhere, transforms a medium of expression, inspires a passionate following, struggles to live up to the expectations of the fans, and ultimately falls victim to the American cult of celebrity.
Elvis did not originate the pattern: before him were his near-contemporaries James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and in music, Hank Williams. After him is a very long list that would include at a minimum Janis Joplin, Sam Cooke, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix. We still remember these icons, still celebrate their contributions.
Elvis' Enduring Popularity
But no one has exercised the hold on the American popular imagination more firmly, or more enduringly, than Elvis Presley. Thirty-four years after his death at the age of forty-two, his home in Memphis remains one of the most visited tourist sites in the United States, attracting visitors from around the world, and his songs remain among the most played, and most readily recognized, of any performer on the planet. Why this should be the case is both fascinating and mystifying. If no one has as yet produced an entirely satisfactory answer, there are at least a few aspects of the phenomenon that can be identified:
Why Elvis?
1. His is the archetypal rags-to-riches story we have come to regard as the distinctively American narrative of success, at the same time that it is also a cautionary fable of the price of wealth and celebrity.
2. His voice and persona are distinctive, immediately recognizable and frequently imitated.
3. His music and his performance style were transgressive, violating boundaries of race, class, and sexuality that disturbed the adults who assumed the responsibility of enforcing social norms even as it delighted their teen-aged children, defining a generational tension that continues to be one of the driving forces of contemporary American culture.
4. At the same time, his public persona was one of humility, generosity, authenticity.
5. He appealed to the generation of post-war Baby Boomers, just beginning to emerge as a force in the market, at the same time that prosperity and technology made his music (and later, his movies) readily available to them, and this generation has remained as a powerful force in the market and in the culture ever since.
6. There are in fact many versions of Elvis, each of them appealing to slightly different, though often overlapping constituencies—the pre-Army Rock ‘n Roller, the movie star, the Las Vegas attraction;
7. His career was very shrewdly managed during his life, by his manager Col. Tom Parker, and his legacy has been even more expertly managed by EP Enterprises since his death
From the Editors:
A Whiteheadian Commentary
Elvis is popular in many parts of the world, including East Asia. That's why we have wanted to contribute a brief note concerning his popularity, and that's why we are translating this article into Chinese. We, the editors of JJB, think Robert Entzminger got it right. There are at least seven reasons why Elvis is popular,and probably more. Let's listen to some music and introduce a topic never before treated: Elvis and Whitehead.
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As Entzminger explains, Elvis' style was transgressive, violating boundaries of race, class, and sexuality. This disturbed adults and delighted teenagers. Below he appears singing one of his earliest hits, dancing in ways that disturbed adults. Elvis' singing and dancing style borrowed much from African American music.
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Elvis could sing songs that were deeply romantic; and his love songs were appreciated even by the adults who might otherwise be disturbed by his rock style. Some of his most famous love songs include: "Are you Lonesome Tonight?", "It's Now or Never," and "Can't Help Falling in Love." He was also a religious person and sang many traditional hymns.
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Whitehead and Elvis
Robert Entzminger points out that there is a "generational tension that continues to be part of American culture." The tension is between conventional social norms accepted by an older generation, and the need to revolt, as felt by a younger generation. This tension gets at a deeper issue: the relation of order to novelty.
Whitehead thought both are important. He believed that various kinds of order -- physical, social, religious -- offer security and make possible unique forms of creativity. But he also believed that various kinds of order can be stifling, and that there is a need within human beings and the wider world for newness. The pure conservative is fighting against the very essence of the universe, because there is within the universe a lure toward novelty, toward newness. When people respond to this lure they can -- they must -- transgress certain boundaries.
In the last part of Process and Reality he puts the point in terms of religion: "There is a greatness in the lives of those who build up religious systems, a greatness in action, in idea and in self-subordination, embodied in instance after instance through centuries of growth. There is a greatness in the rebels who destroy such systems: they are the Titans who storm heaven, armed with passionate sincerity. It may be that the revolt is the mere assertion by youth of its right to proper brilliance, to that final good of immediate joy. Philosophy may not neglect the multifariousness of the world -- the fairies dance, and Christ is nailed to the cross." (Process and Reality, p. 338)
Elvis Presley did not revolt against a religious system, but in his way he was a Titan who stormed heaven, helping people enjoy the final good of immediate joy. Watch the teenagers who are screaming as he sings. And watch him dance. There may be something quite tame in his dancing now. But in the nineteen fifties there was something revolting about the way he danced, at least to the parents of the teenagers. There is always a spirit of revolt in rock and roll, and this is part of its beauty.
Indeed, says Whitehead, there is even a kind of love in the revolt. A love of newness and immediate joy, but also a love of life itself. A love of energy and vitality, of the force of creativity which is found even in the smallest of atoms. For Whiteheadian thinkers, the mystery at the heart of the universe -- God -- loves life, too, and God's own nature is love. As Whitehead puts it : "Love neither rules, nor is it unmoved; also it is a little oblivious as to morals." (Process and Reality, p. 343). The parents of the teenagers found Elvis a little oblivious to morals. Too much shaking and rattling and rolling. But if Whitehead is right, then maybe there was something divine in it, too.
Whitehead thought both are important. He believed that various kinds of order -- physical, social, religious -- offer security and make possible unique forms of creativity. But he also believed that various kinds of order can be stifling, and that there is a need within human beings and the wider world for newness. The pure conservative is fighting against the very essence of the universe, because there is within the universe a lure toward novelty, toward newness. When people respond to this lure they can -- they must -- transgress certain boundaries.
In the last part of Process and Reality he puts the point in terms of religion: "There is a greatness in the lives of those who build up religious systems, a greatness in action, in idea and in self-subordination, embodied in instance after instance through centuries of growth. There is a greatness in the rebels who destroy such systems: they are the Titans who storm heaven, armed with passionate sincerity. It may be that the revolt is the mere assertion by youth of its right to proper brilliance, to that final good of immediate joy. Philosophy may not neglect the multifariousness of the world -- the fairies dance, and Christ is nailed to the cross." (Process and Reality, p. 338)
Elvis Presley did not revolt against a religious system, but in his way he was a Titan who stormed heaven, helping people enjoy the final good of immediate joy. Watch the teenagers who are screaming as he sings. And watch him dance. There may be something quite tame in his dancing now. But in the nineteen fifties there was something revolting about the way he danced, at least to the parents of the teenagers. There is always a spirit of revolt in rock and roll, and this is part of its beauty.
Indeed, says Whitehead, there is even a kind of love in the revolt. A love of newness and immediate joy, but also a love of life itself. A love of energy and vitality, of the force of creativity which is found even in the smallest of atoms. For Whiteheadian thinkers, the mystery at the heart of the universe -- God -- loves life, too, and God's own nature is love. As Whitehead puts it : "Love neither rules, nor is it unmoved; also it is a little oblivious as to morals." (Process and Reality, p. 343). The parents of the teenagers found Elvis a little oblivious to morals. Too much shaking and rattling and rolling. But if Whitehead is right, then maybe there was something divine in it, too.
