Farewell Michael

[Peter]

The Beatles and Elvis were white audience stars. The big thing Jackson did was to gather all communities.

Elvis brought 'black' gospel music in from the cold and was quite a star within the black community, particularly in his post army days (admittedly they're not his best days). But I agree he was the first black global superstar, one who could live in the same breath as the Beatles & Elvis.

[Nathalie]

Elvis brought 'black' gospel music in from the cold and was quite a star within the black community, particularly in his post army days (admittedly they're not his best days). But I agree he was the first black global superstar, one who could live in the same breath as the Beatles & Elvis.

what do you mean in brought black gospel music in from the cold? gospel music has never disappeared. what he might have done (if i understand properly) is to introduce that music to a white audience. that the black people appreciated his music, i can believe that. afterall elvis was from a southern state and i believe the black music he heard when he was young had an impact on him musically (and in terms of dancing too. he didn't invent anything there either). but at the end of the day, i don't think the black community looks at him as some sort of iconic figure. elvis's impact was on the white audience.
things is, we're a bit too self-centered when it comes to cultural references. our icons are not universal and some icons were long known in other communities than ours. the perfect example being michael jackson. When he became wordly famous with thriller, i remember vividly this news on french tv. they were interviewing black people somewhere in paris, asking them what they thought of MJ. and they just laughed because they'd known him for years through the Jackson 5. but that was because they weren't listening to the mainstream music. us, white kids, were running around crazy because we had discovered a fantastic artist and wanted to share the news and they looked at us thinking we were silly... and we were.

[Mully]

You have to remember that, 'thanks' to Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis never toured outside the US which held him back from the levels Jacko reached ... At least they starred in films that were on an equal level


An interesting article I found while googling Elvis & the Civil Rights movement as I'm surprised (maybe thanks again to the Colonel) that he didn't play a bigger part in whatever side of the coin he has opinions.


http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvis_not_racist.shtml

[Peter]

Elvis brought 'black' gospel music in from the cold and was quite a star within the black community, particularly in his post army days (admittedly they're not his best days). But I agree he was the first black global superstar, one who could live in the same breath as the Beatles & Elvis.

what do you mean in brought black gospel music in from the cold? gospel music has never disappeared. what he might have done (if i understand properly) is to introduce that music to a white audience. that the black people appreciated his music, i can believe that. afterall elvis was from a southern state and i believe the black music he heard when he was young had an impact on him musically (and in terms of dancing too. he didn't invent anything there either). but at the end of the day, i don't think the black community looks at him as some sort of iconic figure. elvis's impact was on the white audience.
things is, we're a bit too self-centered when it comes to cultural references. our icons are not universal and some icons were long known in other communities than ours. the perfect example being michael jackson. When he became wordly famous with thriller, i remember vividly this news on french tv. they were interviewing black people somewhere in paris, asking them what they thought of MJ. and they just laughed because they'd known him for years through the Jackson 5. but that was because they weren't listening to the mainstream music. us, white kids, were running around crazy because we had discovered a fantastic artist and wanted to share the news and they looked at us thinking we were silly... and we were.

I mean he brought gospel music into the mainstream charts, where it had never been a feature before. I agree the black community did not look upon him as an iconic figure, however he was very popular within the black community during the same period in which he was very popular within the white community. The iconic status that he has gained is certainly something of a post death status, unlike the Beatles & Michael Jackson. He was very popular and an iconic for only a brief period in the 50s. Post army service, with the exception of his welcome home TV shows and concerts, he never experienced anything like that popularity of his pre-war days. He was derided by the media throughout the 60s and 70s until his death.