Loads of people think that Elvis Presley was the undisputed King of Rock and Roll. I have come across tales of many artists in my reading and research who insist that they would not have had the careers they had in music if Elvis had not gone before them. But one legendary music icon adamantly felt otherwise. Ray Charles thought that Elvis was not really the bold pathfinder in rock music that many feel he was. Per faroutmagazine.co.uk, "According to figures like Ray Charles...Presley's title as 'The King of Rock and Roll' is vastly undeserved."
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Okay, so who did he believe was more worthy of that designation than Mr. "Love Me Tender"?
There Were Other Significant Trailblazers Of Rock Before Elvis; Many Were Black Artists
Among them were Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Chuck Berry. These innovative music pioneers were Black. Therefore, Ray Charles and others "saw the emergence of rock and roll as an appropriation of their music and culture, and Presley was among the main offenders," per the outlet.
Charles was forthright about expressing his opinion. According to the outlet via NBC, Charles told Bob Costas thirty-one years ago, "What Elvis did was he caused a lot of the populists - usually when people say 'populist' they usually mean white people - to start listening to a lot of music that normally they wouldn't have been listening to."
Ray Charles Felt That Elvis Unfairly Appropriated Black Music And Culture
He added, "Elvis was a person who came along at the right time. Here was a white kid that could do rock and roll, or rhythm and blues, or whatever you want to call it, and the girls could swoon over him. Nat Cole got in trouble in Alabama when women swooned over him, got put out of town."
Charles continued, "Black people have been going out, shaking their behinds for centuries. That's all Elvis was doing, was copying that. He was doing our kind of music, he was doing the Willie Mae Thornton, 'Jailhouse Rock', that's Black music."
Almost half a century after Elvis's death in 1977, the comments Ray Charles made about him years ago still merit thoughtful and rigorous consideration.
