19 Elvis Presley Quotes on History

Elvis Presley quotes on history

10. Elvis is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century. He introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution - the 60's comes from it.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

16. Elvis Presley's death deprives our country of a part of itself. He was unique, irreplaceable. More than twenty years ago, he burst upon the scene with an impact that was unprecedented and will probably never be equaled. His music and his personality, fusing the styles of white country and black rhythm and blues, permanently changed the face of American popular culture. His following was immense. And he was a symbol to people the world over of the vitality, rebelliousness and good humor of this country.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

23. Don't blame it on Elvis, for shakin' his pelvis Shakin' the pelvis been in style way back since the River Nile

32. Ask anyone. If it hadn't been for Elvis, I don't know where popular music would be. He was the one that started it all off, and he was definitely the start of it for me.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

36. Before Elvis, there was nothing.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

37. A lot has been written and said about why he was so great, but I think the best way to appreciate his greatness is just to go back and play some of the old records... Time has a way of being very unkind to old records, but Elvis' keep getting better and better.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

46. Before Elvis, everything was in black and white. Then came Elvis. Zoom, glorious Technicolor.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

47. If there was no Elvis Presley, they're would have been no Cliff Richard. I'm sure of that.

48. I don't think there is a musician today that hasn't been affected by Elvis' music. His definitive years - 1954-57 - can only be described as rock's cornerstone. He was the original cool.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

65. 'And as Charles de Gaulle made it into power, promising the colonial population in Algeria 'the 1,001 nights', and even as the Bastille seemed like it was never, ever to be taken again yet, in spite of it all, the voice of Elvis kept singing 'Good Rockin tonight'

66. Et Charles de Gaulle prenait le pouvoir, promettant les milles-et-une-nuits au pieds-noirs, et la Bastille en a tellement vu, qu'on ne l'y reprendra jamais, jamais plus, et la voix d'Elvis chante 'Good rocking tonight'

80. 'The young Elvis Presley, without any doubt.'

107. 'The headline news of 'Platinum', which can be appreciated by fans, scholars, critics and religious fanatics alike, is the inclusion of a newly discovered 1954 demo of the unsigned Elvis singing a lilting wisp of a pop song called 'I'll Never Stand in Your Way'. His unsophisticated performance is mesmerizing; clearly indebted to the style of the 'Ink Spots', Elvis' airy tenor floats delicately above his own guitar accompaniment, aching and somewhat pinched in its feeling; you sense the singer itching to cut loose, to really swing the lyric, open it up; it is in those moments, when the pentimento of the blues vocalist reveals itself, that the melding of styles that soon would change the course of popular music is on fleeting display; it's rare when a single song can be said to make a pricey box-set worthwhile, but this particular 'Rosetta stone' of a rare cut, does precisely that. Big time.

126. 'I remember Elvis as a young man hanging around the Sun studios. Even then, I knew this kid had a tremendous talent. He was a dynamic young boy. His phraseology, his way of looking at a song, was as unique as Sinatra's. I was a tremendous fan, and had Elvis lived, there would have been no end to his inventiveness.'

     Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

127. 'In the collective memory of his fans, he reigns as the sleek musical genius who soaked up the multiple influences of America's vernacular music -gospel, country swing, rhythm 'n' blues-, and made them his own; Bob Dylan, one of pop's favorite poets, put it best: Elvis, he said, was 'the incendiary atomic musical firebrand loner who conquered the western world.'

132. 'There was no model for Elvis Presley's success; what Sun Records head Sam Phillips sensed was something in the wind, an inevitable outgrowth of all the country and blues he was recording at his Union Avenue studio; enter Presley in 1954, bringing with him a musical vocabulary rich in country, country blues, gospel, inspirational music, bluegrass, traditional country, and popular music -- as well as a host of emotional needs that found their most eloquent expression in song; his timing was impeccable, not only as a vocalist, but with regard to the cultural zeitgeist: emerging in the first blush of America's postwar ebullience, Presley captured the spirit of a country flexing its industrial muscle, of a generation unburdened by the concerns of war, younger, more mobile, more affluent, and better educated than any that had come before; (as such), the Sun recordings were the first salvos in an undeclared war on segregated radio stations nationwide.

133. 'Arguably some of the most important tracks in the history of Rock and Roll, Elvis' SUN recordings demonstrate what a dynamic and talented vocalist he was; the young, raw, unadulterated Elvis whom musicologist Francis Davis once called 'the greatest white blues singer'; I'm not one to argue with Mr. Davis'

152. 'It was just before Christmas 1962 and as I was driving from El Paso to the East Coast, I began forming the idea that would become this song; not very long afterwards my long-time friend Bob Johnston invited me to Nashville, and we finished this one together; Bob did a demo on it and when Elvis came to town, he picked it up and held it for almost a year in what was then called his portfolio; so, anyway, he recorded it and it was by far the biggest thing that had ever happened to me in my life'

172. 'Listening to these songs today, their most remarkable feature is Presley's voice itself. He takes the Platters' Tony Williams's techniques, and any other predecessor's, to new, uncharted pinnacles. For a singer who was only just encountering widespread popularity, his singing resonates with amazing fortitude and confidence, especially on 'Heartbreak Hotel,' (1956), where Presley alternately shouts words with full lungs, then gulps the following back, as if under water but without missing a beat. In 'Loving you' (1957), Presley's baritone on this, the ultimate slow dance number, is almost too powerful, virtually rumbling the floor...'