Appropriation or appreciation?
How ‘Elvis’ highlights his complicated history with Black music
Baz Luhrmann's new biopic "Elvis," starring Austin Butler as the King of Rock ' n' Roll, doesn't leave the singer's oftenuneasy relationship with Black musicians in the shadows.
The movie depicts Presley enthusiastically listening to Little Richard (played by Alton Mason) perform "Tutti Frutti" in a club, which Presley's friend BB King (Kelvin Harrison Jr) candidly tells him he could record and make a lot more money than Richard did. But that scene and others have invited criticism of how the movie tackles Elvis' covers of Black music.
"I think the most insulting thing about the new Elvis movie is the fact that Elvis famously stole from black musicians but the movie acts like that's a good thing," one moviegoer tweeted.
Presley toed the line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation, experts say. But did he help move rhythm and blues forward or did the genre move him forward?
The famed singer was a "consumer culture guy" influenced by his time in Black spaces, says "Tennessee State University professor Michael T Bertrand. As a young man, "he was still basically going into the studio and recording stuff he had heard either recently or he remembered from when he was a kid," Bertrand says.
Luhrmann's "Elvis" is perhaps the most high- profile examination of the Mississippi-born musician's Black influ
ences and the controversy surrounding his popularisation of songs originally sung by Black artists.
The film includes flashes of Sister Rosetta Tharpe ( Yola), Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (Shonka Dukureh), Little Richard, Mahalia Jackson (Cle Morgan) and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (Gary Clark Jr.) singing "Hound Dog," "That's All Right" and more – recognising them as the original vocalists behind Elvis' covers. The movie also shows the admiration between Elvis and blues singer King.
The stories of the artists who influenced Presley are lesser-known, but their voices shaped him and future rock 'n' roll artists.
Bertrand calls Presley's relationship with Black performers "complicated."
"There is no doubt that (Elvis) benefited
The stories of the artists who influenced Presley are lesser-known, but their voices shaped him and future rock 'n' roll artists.
tremendously materially from performing music that was associated with African Americans," Bertrand says.
Even in conversations with people who understand the complexity of that association, the Black artists who originally sang Presley's signature songs are rarely namechecked. Thornton, widely acknowledged as the vocal architect of "Hound Dog," made the song a hit, only for it to be eclipsed by Elvis' cover.
Presley's wealth accumulation for "Hound Dog" in comparison to Thornton was a topic she frequently touched on at concerts, according to Michael Spörke. Jet Magazine's 1984 obituary recalls her once saying, "That song sold over two million records. I got one check for 500 dollars and never saw another."
Little Richard argued that he was the rightful heir to the king of rock ' n' roll title, with Berry up there with him.
Berklee College of Music professor Larry Watson, who specialises in African American music, says Elvis was not the only white artist to benefit. "I love Eric Clapton. I love Mick Jagger, but they also benefited significantly from Black aesthetic and Black music," Watson adds. "They have Van Goghs hanging (in their houses) and all these other Black artists died penniless."
Nearly 50 years after Presley's death, racial reckoning has evolved.
There are many Black R& B pioneers more deserving of recognition for changing the music industry than Elvis, including Dorothy Donegan, Cornell Dupree and Diahann Carroll, Watson says. His students at Berklee know none of this.
"They are shocked as I begin to point out great players," he says. "But they know Elvis' name."