Elvis Presley, the king of rock-n-roll, had developed a distinct musical style so uncanny, that it still has an impact on masses. Think of a retro or a rock-n-roll theme and the hairstyle or costume of Elvis Presley would come to your mind. Every rock star is endowed with a disturbed personal life, so did Elvis Presley. If you were meant to be an artist, your personal mayhem lets you soak yourself in the depths of your soul to create beauty through art, music, and all the creative fields. Elvis grew up in a broken home, that skewed his emotional well being. Gifted that he was, he got his musical talent from his mother, Gladys who was known to have musical and dancing skills.
You don’t always have to get talent from the genes. But, Elvis did, and sensationalised the rock-n-roll genre that is now synonymous to his very name. Thinking of how talent in the current times is shallow, picking up personality traits from someone else to create a public image instead of developing something on their own, says a lot about how the essence of originality has gone a few notches down. In current times you have to prepare a personality for an artist and serve it to them, that’s the sad reality of reality shows, music, and all the jazz of showbiz works ( kyoun ki business to chalana hai bhaiyya, ethics, originality jaye bhaad mein). It has all the condiments to cook up personalities with almost no calibre and present them to the world.
In times like these, all that made Elvis Presley for what he is, is truly inspiring. If you listen to the discography of Elvis Presley, you can see that his style, musical arrangement, and singing is unrivalled in every aspect. A slow, romantic number, “can’t help falling in love,” is unlike any other romantic track. With a leisurely, uncomplicated musical instruments playing together, this is a track that never gets old. Looking at the distinct variety of tracks that Elvis Presley gave us in the rock-n-roll genre, it makes you wonder if today, artists have even an iota of dedication and passion like the legends of the yesteryear did.
Today’s music is hurried, like it wants to get instant fame and gratification using electronic gimmicks and call it a composition. There is no love for maths that blends with the art and science of music, that you see in most of the tracks of Elvis Presley and his contemporaries. Music is beautiful, when it sounds unhurried, like its taking its own course of time to evolve into something eternal and beautiful that stays in the heart of the people forever.
Elvis started exploring the music scene as young as a ten year old and participated in a contest at that age. He listened to many styles and especially, explored the rhythms and blues, which is a major influence on most of his tracks. He invested in developing a musical style as well as his appearance. He experimented with fashion as much and created a unique style that he employed through-out his career. His clothing had become as iconic as his hairstyle and music. This is what a true artist does. They develop themselves, not borrow traits from others and promote themselves as original using PR gimmicks.
If you are truly talented and have originality, you do not need a PR telling you what traits to show and what traits to develop. A gifted artist has their own thinking and it is original in every aspect. That is how legends are made. Elvis made bell-bottoms, and flared pants with chunky belts iconic to his style. A shy child as a kid, he brewed his own personality and taste creating a stupendous image of himself is role-played even today.
When you have passion, grit, hours of dedication to master your craft, you do not need a PR gimmick to develop a personality, like the humbugs do it today and only see business more than art. Elvis Presley knew what he loved and created a style for himself, his personality is from his own gumption, not borrowed from someone else. That is what makes him Elvis Presley who has given music our hearts and senses celebrate.
Elvis made movies, and acted in them, 33 of them. The hilarious bits are when you see the king of hoax, Andy Kaufman imitate him. Elvis composed musical tracks with various stories and themes, like the Dog’s life, Adam and Evil, and so forth. Elvis takes you to his laid-back era, where everything took time to create with beauty, thought, and soul. Those where the times when you see a man put his soul to work and create masterpieces, over and over. Those who we call old, are legends, and good at everything. Studying them we learn, the essence of life and all that makes creating so soulful and euphony personified.
