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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Beatles were singled out on Friday as the most influential entertainers of the past 100 years, beating out the likes of Elvis Presley, Charlie Chaplin and Mickey Mouse, according to a survey conducted by show business newspaper Variety.
Behind the Fab Four's first-place finish, were in alphabetical order: jazz pioneer Louis Armstrong, television comedienne Lucille Ball, movie legends Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Charlie Chaplin, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, cartoon hero Mickey Mouse and singers Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
Variety said the Beatles were named "Icons of the Century" because they were the entertainment personalities who made the biggest impact on the industry and the world in the past 100 years.
The newspaper published a list of 100 entertainers from all branches of show business, including actors, directors, screenwriters, musicians, television presenters, animals, comedians and cartoon characters. Among other names on the list were Johnny Carson, Johnny Cash and Lassie.
The winners were chosen by Variety editors based on polling of entertainment industry professionals and Variety staff and by online voting by the public on variety.com.
Among the criteria for selection were a performer's commercial, creative, political and social impact and even whether their image was presented -- like James Dean's -- on a t-shirt.
The list was to be published in Variety's Sunday issue to celebrate the paper's 100th anniversary. "It seemed only natural to celebrate 100 of the people who gave us something to talk about," said Steven Gaydos, the paper's executive editor.
And the Beatles did it without producing a new album in 35 years!
No a new one but with Anthologies, the new Yellow Submarine, 1, Let It Be ... Naked, the Lennon anthologies or recopilations, George's death, George's tribute, George's phostume album, new albums from Ringo and Paul... they are on TV and shops more than ever (good news)
Agreed, I dont see what the fuss is about with Elvis.
People saying Elvis is just another singer is like people saying Pepper is just another album. Look at music before and after and what Elvis achieved. As Lennon said, before him there was nothing. Elvis brought rock'n'roll into the mainstream and gave it its image that still endures today. He wasn't the product of some manager or studio boss, he was the original hunky dorry man. You need to see him in context to appreciate him (as with Beatlemania/Pepper).
I dont think so, I dont think you need to see The Beatles in context to appreciate them. I dont like any of his music. Plus his later stuff is like Country.
I'm only talking about his pre-army days. The "Beatles in context" was referring to the earlier discussions about Pepper having no impact unless seen in context. Again, I don't think you can judge Elvis unless you're aware of what music was like before and after.
I'm not a fan of his music either, but to dismiss him so easily does the history of rock'n'roll no justice.
Yep, there are periods and periods. Elvis was great and then only good till mid-60's and from then his stuff was a shame. Luck that the guys didn't survive 1970, ain't it? (don't misundestand, I'm trying to be ironic).
Agreed, I dont see what the fuss is about with Elvis.
Please check out http://www.elvispresleynews.com/Beatles.html I know some of the facts of the meeting are in dispute (ie the jam session that only John remembers) but it gives a good indication of the impact Elvis had on that generation. I don't know how you can appreciate The Beatles place in rock history if don't understand Elvis's.* (I'm not saying you should like his music - I don't - but give him his dues)
*sorry - that sounds snooty and I don't mean it to be.
Elvis was a puppet- a revolutionary puppet who defined rock and roll, but a puppet nonetheless.
Whoa. Who was pulling the strings then? (and I'm only talking pre-army here). Remember, up to Brians death The Beatles were told what to wear, how to behave, what to say, where to play. (and they did it all, without, apparently, a murmur of discontent.)
Elvis's image was his own, as was his choice of material (until after the Army). He was not manufactured. What you saw in '56 was the real Elvis, not a make-over.
People saying Elvis is just another singer is like people saying Pepper is just another album. Look at music before and after and what Elvis achieved. As Lennon said, before him there was nothing. Elvis brought rock'n'roll into the mainstream and gave it its image that still endures today. He wasn't the product of some manager or studio boss, he was the original hunky dorry man. You need to see him in context to appreciate him (as with Beatlemania/Pepper).
I don't like Elvis, but if that's what John said, I can respect it.
But, before Elvis there was black blues music. That's where it all really comes from.
One of the good things about The Beatles was that they acknowledged their influences, including black artists like Chuck Berry. I get the impression that Elvis, in the segregationist mentality of 50's America, couldn't have acknowledged the artists that made it possible for him to get so great. Great on top of the achievements of black bluesman. Reminds me of the Chinese expression, though the context is different, 'I stood on the shoulders of great men and saw far.'
If you ask me, Chuck Berry deserved the credit Elvis got. And he wrote his own songs. Great ones. Still classic. Still great.
True. Elvis didn't invent rock'n'roll, but it was never (sadly) going to hit mainstream while its main proponents were black, die-hard rockabillies ( a nod to PC) or old fat guys like Bill Haley. Rock'n'roll, as we understand it today, is Elvis. (ie the whole moody teenage rebellion thing). And you could argue that The Beatles (in the beginning) sound was made on the back of all the American artists they so admired, but that in no way lessens their achievements (and so it should be for Elvis).
I can give a nod to people who love Elvis for him 'being there', at the right time, with the right image. But, I'd see him more as an entertainer with a cool image rather than a giant of music. Maybe history will judge Chuck Berry as the 'real' Elvis, or Elvis as the 'false' Chuck Berry, so to speak.
I think the main bias against Elvis is that he didn't write his own songs, and yes, that will always stand against him. But remember, there was absolutely no expectation in those days that artists should write their own material. (Sinatra didn't, Pavarotti doesn't, but would you deny them their status?) And remember how Elvis's working of the songs he did blew THE WORLD away. (and being Beatle fans, we have to accept that image is as important as sound, which he had in spades (and NOT manufactued, like the....)) Anyway, we need to find something to agree on! (but hats off for discussing, not arguing. This is why I joined a forum.)
It's fair comment! I don't hate Elvis or anything. I just don't like his kind of stuff. But his voice wasn't bad for sure. True about singer/songwriters not being the done thing in those days. But when the Beatles came and 'stole Elvis's throne', so to speak, it was fully deserved. But, Elvis will go down in history with justification too.
Just listen to Elvis Sun Sessions. The young Elvis is literally in the act of defining rock-n-roll with Scotty Moore and Bill Black. These recordings are magic. Listen to "Blue Moon of Kentucky." If you want a moment that signifies the birth of rock-n-roll, wait for the part where Elvis stops the slow bluegrass shuffle and tells the boys to get "real gone" and they take the song into hyperdrive. Electric.
The early stuff for RCA still has some of the raw power, but it was waning by the time he joined the Army. "Teddy Bear"? Ugh!
The last great song E did was "Little Sister" with James Burton on guitar.
As much as I love the Beatles, I still don't think they were as much a live performance phenomenon as Elvis. They're bobbing up and down is nothing compared to E's moves.
Elvis was a huge fan of black performers. Clyde McFatter was one of his favorite singers of all time. Junior Parker and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup were also major influences. Except for Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" all of E's early hits were remakes of black songs. While it would be a mistake to say that Memphis in the 50s was desegregated, white kids like Elvis were listening to blues and r&b (not Chuck Berry) and absorbing their influence and songs and performance styles. Even during segregation whites and blacks in the South did have interaction with one another (especially at the pentecostal churches such as E attended as a boy). Sam Phillips started Sun to record black artists and gradually the milieu began to include white artists like Presley. Did Sam turn his back on black artists after E, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee took off? Unfortunately yes. But it seems to have been as much a business decision as a racial preference (Sam's favorite performer of all time was Howlin' Wolf). Ironically, the civil rights movement made more difficult the type of nascent cross-cultural interchange that was beginning to happen in the mid-50s. Stax ventured into that arena.
The Beatles in a way started out simply replicating the Presley formula. Cover obscure black r&b artists that they loved and tighten up the beat for a white audience.
Ironically Chuck Berry never had much of a black audience. He appealed to restless suburban white teens. If Elvis was the white guy who could sing black, Chuck was the black guy who could sing white and whose music owed as much to the Grand Ole Opry as the Delta Blues. I'd say Elvis was closer geographically and spiritually to the Delta blues than Chuck ever was (even though Chuck was black).
If Elvis stood on any shoulders, they were Clyde McFatter's, Carl Perkin's, Arthur Crudup's, Bill Monroe's, Junior Parker's, Wynonie Harris', etc.--and his versions of their songs were generally superior to the originals.
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Mairi
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lol Although sultry, her vocals on Happy Birthday were not that great either. lol...Just kiddin with ya.
