Thirty-two years ago, on the 16th of August 1977, a generation, culturally revolutionized by one man’s musical innovation, suddenly found itself without voice. The King – a Southern rockabilly singer who was one of the first musicians to integrate “black” and “white” sounds into commercial success – was found dead on the bathroom floor of his Tennessee estate. Elvis Presley had given rise to the birth of rock ’n’ roll in the States and become an international icon via his recordings, films, dance moves, and clothing, but for the latter years of his life, he fought to maintain a positive public image as he struggled with marital issues, health problems, and drug misuse.
There’s no way of skirting the issue: in the 1950s and 1960s, Elvis Presley was the biggest cultural force the world had ever seen. No less a musical pioneer than John Lennon remarked on Elvis’ contribution to music: “Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been an Elvis, there wouldn't have been a Beatles.”
Before Elvis, there was Frank Sinatra; after Elvis, there was Chuck Berry and Al Green (white DJs wouldn’t play “black” music until white teenagers, having listened to the King’s rhythm and blues, began calling for more), the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Rod Stewart, the Jackson 5, and Bob Dylan, just to name a handful. Elvis’ rise to national prominence coincided perfectly with the coming-of-age of the demographic group we now know as the Baby Boomers. To the Boomers, Elvis was a symbol of independence and of revolution: from his new beat-infused music to his gyrating hips (dance moves most parents considered obscene) to his haircut and clothing. He almost singlehandedly brought about the rise of the transistor radio, as an ever-increasing number of teenagers began buying them to tune into the new, all-music radio stations to listen to Elvis and other rock ‘n’ roll artists. He was one of the biggest sex symbols of the 1960s. He may have even helped in some small way to bring about the Civil Rights Movement, by his blurring of the lines of cultural segregation.
But, as so many other celebrities have done, Elvis seemed to follow his meteoric rise in popularity with the now-expected decline in the public eye. Even today to many Americans, there seem to be two Elvises, the “thin Elvis” of Jailhouse Rock and All Shook Up, and the “fat Elvis” of the glittery jumpsuits and Las Vegas impersonators; the fresh, new, sexy face of American music, and the atrophied, washed-up, scandal-plagued has-been.
Yet in spite of this (or, perhaps more accurately, because of it), Elvis’ death was more than just an asterisk in American cultural history. For it was within a week that Elvis was transformed: from an overweight, sweating washed-up loser into one of American history’s greatest movers-and-shakers – a man whose significance reached beyond both the Billboard Top 40 and his infamous hips to include wisdom and sapience on par with some of the greatest minds of the 20th century.
But how? How was America able to look beyond what Elvis had become to what Elvis had been? Had he ever really been what we now imagine him to be?
Or, did Elvis’ death simply carry with it the significance of an entire generation – the Baby Boomers – mourning their lost youth? Perhaps this decades-long retroactive Elvis infatuation is the manifestation of an entire generation crying “He’s dead! The King is dead, and we’re old!”
However, the mourning cries of “The King is dead” were soon replaced by the jubilation of a younger group exclaiming “Long Live the King!” As much as Elvis carried with him the weight of the cultural revolution of the Baby Boomers, his musical heir apparent, the King of Pop, carried the weight of Generation X. He and his brothers were the first black singers to appeal equally to white audiences, and while the Jackson 5 recorded their first hit single thirteen years after Elvis’ breakout single Heartbreak Hotel, Michael Jackson arguably didn’t hit it big until 1982, nearly 23 years after the King. By then, the Baby Boomers had birthed children and teens of their own, who in turn were looking for a cultural icon to represent them as the 1980s marched forward, both musically and politically – something Michael was able to do with his exceedingly generous humanitarian support.
Like Elvis, Michael was known for his vocal virtuosity, his eccentric fashion and dance moves, and his innovative musical style – one which also blended “black” and “white” music. And like Elvis and transistor radios, Michael Jackson nearly single-handedly birthed a technological-musical medium: the music video. Michael transformed the brief musical montage into an art form with such memorable songs as Thriller and Bad (which was directed by Martin Scorsese), which in turn gave rise to television channels like MTV and VH1. Michael has been hailed the world over for his theatrical live performances, and his work has laid the foundation for hip-hop, pop, and R&B artists like Justin Timberlake, Usher, Britney Spears, and Kanye West.
Also notably, the public perception of Michael is much divided between the Thriller Michael Jackson and the You Are Not Alone Michael; the smooth-crooning and still black Michael, and the plastic surgery and court appearance Michael.
So if you’re left perplexed by this sudden outpouring of emotion for a man who was vilified for the past decade by nearly every cable news station and stand-up comedian for his questionable antics, remember his musical inheritance. Remember that 30 years ago, another generation was mourning the loss of its youth, much the same way that Generation X is mourning. It’s not simply one man who has died, but an entire generation’s childhood, adolescence, ideology, culture, and way of life, soon to be replaced by their children and their children’s King.
So to Baby Boomers and Generation X, it’s ok. We understand, and we’ll mourn the loss of Michael Jackson with you as you cry, “The Kings are dead! The Kings are dead, and we’re old!”
And to Generation Y, we need to find a King.
-Caleb Erikson
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