A New Religion

Billboard Magazine's No. 1 single in 1954 was Kitty Kallen's "Little Things Mean a Lot."

Billboard's No. 1 single in 1956 was Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel."

Do you see how the world changed?

Elvis didn't start it. But he was the one who nailed it down. If it had just been Bill Haley and Chuck Berry, the culture wouldn't have shifted the way it did. Rock and roll needed a king, and Elvis Presley was it.

It is 30 years today since Elvis died. I remember where I was. Can't say that about Kitty Kallen (if she is no longer with us) or Bill Haley, or even Buddy Holly. Just JFK and Elvis Presley.

Elvis fulfilled his destiny in four years. He did it with beauty, sex and records. He was exactly the right figure, in exactly the right place, at exactly the right time. Just like Jesus. The two men grew in public consciousness because of unique sets of qualities. Take away one of those qualities, and maybe history doesn’t happen. When Elvis walked out of Memphis, practitioners of a new movement circled around him. They knew they were only rock and roll disciples, and they gave thanks for this beautiful white boy who could sing like a black man, and for his outrageous name, Elvis Presley, and the way he walked, and held himself, and twitched. He had everything that Uncle John need, oh boy. They could see this individual was going to make news, and for them it was good news.

Elvis made news with his looks, sex appeal and attitude. The music was great, but that's not what drove a huge wedge between kids and their parents, particularly girls. Parents were dead serious when they wondered if their daughters should be listening to this guy alone in cars. The teen rebel mood, that had started showing up in "The Wild One," "Blackboard Jungle," and "Rebel Without a Cause," fed smoothly into the Elvis image and created the kind of 24/7 demand for Elvis that gave rock and roll its first real air time. In the 1950s, only the really big cities had more than one or two radio stations, and car radios were clogged with stuff that let only a few minutes of rock and roll get through on any given day.

Elvis blew the clog plumb out, and by 1957, new stations were going on the air to play nothing but Elvis and the disciples, and a new religion was certified. There were no more Elvises, and only one band of Beatles, so the worship has mostly been about music and attitude. With Elvis, on his death anniversaries, it is never just about the music. "Jailhouse Rock" is a great song, and so many of them – "Any Way You Want Me," "Tryin' to Get to You," "Baby Let's Play House" – still make your hair stand on end. But "Jailhouse Rock" is not complete without the movie, this god who looks like Elvis Presley, black hair and lips and skinny, singing "Jailhouse Rock" and doing that dead-man-walk thing with his legs and hips. You have to see that, to know what happened.

I didn't pay much attention to Elvis after 1958. He got drafted, served his Army time, came back and for the rest of his life made bad movies and ordinary music. He didn't seem to care. His work was done.