Pioneers of rock n roll. Yes, you can talk about The Beatles. (5 Viewers)

[Madmarsha]

perv is a flat circle

"I'm going to try hard not to think about the implications of that"

 

[RaginCajun83]

Even though The Beatles are 2.0, they are Ozzy’s favorite band and the reason he got into music in the first place. They aren’t my favorite band but they influenced the early beginnings of Black Sabbath

 

[Sun Wukong]

Opens the pioneers of rock n roll thread to find the first post is about the first person to steal from the pioneers of rock n roll.

Your favorite bands never exist if Elvis doesn't steal that sheet.

 

[superchuck500]

I think James Brown is that place in R&B/Soul that shares a genome with rock and roll, especially in that era - it gets vague and no precise boundary. But he’s the godfather, “the king of ‘em all y’all” - definitely a pioneer and highly influential to more indentifiable rock legends.

If you never saw Tales from the Tour Bus, the animated show Mike Judge did about some of the greats in music (animating interviews that are played with the original audio) - it’s awesome. The two volume one they did about James Brown is fantastic.

I can’t recommend this series enough

 

[superchuck500]

Opens the pioneers of rock n roll thread to find the first post is about the first person to steal from the pioneers of rock n roll.

He did some stealin’ but they all did. I think the evolution of rock and roll in that era was more like a recipe for a great dish and the pioneers contributed to it in the kitchen - than some clearly identifiable baskets of original material. Some borrowed more from others than some but all of the ones we’re still talking about were authentic in their own way. Elvis wasn’t just a rip off artist for the white audience - he had qualities that made it blow up like it did. He grew up in depression era Mississippi, attending gospel church (where he learned to sing) and then moved the Memphis in his pre-teen years - becoming fascinated with the blues and Beale Street. Doesn’t that sound like an authentic path?

Elvis co-wrote many of those songs and that voice is not just some whitewashed 50s singer. There was a lot more going on there before he became so exploited by the industry. He definitely got chewed up and engineered well beyond where his heart was musically but I think with his background, it’s just as hard to say where the influences end and he begins as it is with most of those other guys.

But also for comparison, I think James Brown wrote like almost every song he did. Wow

 

[livefromDC]

Your favorite bands never exist if Elvis doesn't steal that sheet.

I think that's pretty presumptuous. More likely, someone else steals it before him. It's the originators that created the sound. Yes, he became immensely popular copying it, but the music itself was undeniable. It would have been someone else if not him. That's like saying rap music doesn't become a global phenomenon without Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer.

 

[livefromDC]

He did some stealin’ but they all did. I think the evolution of rock and roll in that era was more like a recipe for a great dish and the pioneers contributed to it in the kitchen - than some clearly identifiable baskets of original material. Some borrowed more from others than some but all of the ones we’re still talking about were authentic in their own way. Elvis wasn’t just a rip off artist for the white audience - he had qualities that made it blow up like it did. He grew up in depression era Mississippi, attending gospel church (where he learned to sing) and then moved the Memphis in his pre-teen years - becoming fascinated with the blues and Beale Street. Doesn’t that sound like an authentic path?

Elvis co-wrote many of those songs and that voice is not just some whitewashed 50s singer. There was a lot more going on there before he became so exploited by the industry. He definitely got chewed up and engineered well beyond where his heart was musically but I think with his background, it’s just as hard to say where the influences end and he begins as it is with most of those other guys.

But also for comparison, I think James Brown wrote like almost every song he did. Wow

Yeah, definitely. I just think labelling him a pioneer is a bit much when a lot of his earlier work was completely lifted and uncredited.

 

[superchuck500]

Yeah, definitely. I just think labelling him a pioneer is a bit much when a lot of his earlier work was completely lifted and uncredited.

Hey, maybe he pioneered lifting and uncrediting, so that we could have Led Zeppelin

 

[Madmarsha]

Is it stealing? Is it homage? Is it derivative?

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

He did some stealin’ but they all did.

We no longer celebrate Columbus Day

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

That's like saying rap music doesn't become a global phenomenon without Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer.

This feels like Young MC erasure

 

[Cage1]

It’s about time someone recognized the contributions of such overlooked talents like Elvis and the Beatles.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Even though The Beatles are 2.0, they are Ozzy’s favorite band and the reason he got into music in the first place. They aren’t my favorite band but they influenced the early beginnings of Black Sabbath

Ive watched many interviews of bands and artists from the classic rock era.. and , much like how Chuck talked upthread about Elvis and the Beatles being greatly influenced by the Little Richards and the Chuck Berrys et al- almost to a person, every single one of these classic rock artists ive seen interviewed say the exact same thing about what started them on their musical journies- they were all little kids lying down in front of the tv set when the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan three months after JFK was assassinated .. they all say something changed that night, both in the mood of the country writ large, and in their own personal ambitions from then on to become musicians .. I say all that to say that Ozzy and Sabbath were hardly alone in their being hugely influenced by the Fab Four .

 

[tenordas]

49erkiller mentioned him, but the only real answer to this question is Chuck Berry. He basically invented rock and roll by his alterations to blues music.

Without Chick Berry, there is no Elvis, and there certainly aren't Beatles.

And, yes, Elvis was an artistic thief with stage presence; also, a pretty miserable human being in almost every way.

If you want to go back pre-1950s, then look no further than Robert Johnson, whose inspiration led to Chuck Berry and all the great black bluesmen that Elvis ripped off. Clapton called Johnson "the most important bluesman who ever lived."

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Pretty tame song, but good vocals.

That’s actually one of my favorite ‘music videos’ of all time…. To me, it is peak Elvis and if you watch the whole thing, and esp starting at about the 2:20 mark- this is what puts EP at the very top of the list of any entertainer who has ever lived.. The way he has the audience in the palm of his hand, is just as remarkable as MJ premiering the moonwalk on the Motown special, or the Beatles on Sullivan…. I literally can’t imagine what it must have been like to see this on the tv in the freaking 1950s.. had to be akin to seeing something from outer space land on the stage.. unfortunately to me Elvis never equaled the type of talent and ‘specialness’ he showed in ‘56 and ‘57, for the rest of his career IMO.. who was it, John Lennon i think, who said ‘The army killed Elvis Presley’.. either that, or breakfast killed him .