Heirs of Elvis

By the time he died, Elvis Presley seemed terribly old-fashioned by comparison with the current rock scene. How did it get from Elvis to Elton, let alone to sophisticated musicians like Carly Simon and Maria Muldaur, who don’t depend on shrieking fans for their sustenance? How is it that rock has remained rock, while offering adult satisfactions never adumbrated in “Hound Dog” or “A Big Hunk o’ Love”? Of course he started it, though he can’t be credited with all the later refinements.

It is commonplace to say that he came along about the same time Marlon Brando and James Dean became big film stars, that he himself became the focal point of a rebel teenage culture that was, circa 1956, looking for someplace to happen. Commonplace, but true, and relevant.

JS

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Joseph Sobran

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By the time he died, Elvis Presley seemed terribly old-fashioned by comparison with the current rock scene. How did it get from Elvis to Elton, let alone to sophisticated musicians like Carly Simon and Maria Muldaur, who don’t depend on shrieking fans for their sustenance? How is it that rock has remained rock, while offering adult satisfactions never adumbrated in “Hound Dog” or “A Big Hunk o’ Love”? Of course he started it, though he can’t be credited with all the later refinements.

It is commonplace to say that he came along about the same time Marlon Brando and James Dean became big film stars, that he himself became the focal point of a rebel teenage culture that was, circa 1956, looking for someplace to happen. Commonplace, but true, and relevant.