Elvis

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

H-NET BOOK REVIEW Published by H-South@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (June, 2002)

Michael T. Bertrand. _Race, Rock, and Elvis_. Champaign: University of
Illinois, 2000. x + 327 pp. Illustrations, bibliography, notes, index.
$32.95 (cloth), ISBN 0-252-02586-5.

Reviewed for H-South by Dexter L. Blackman <dexterlb@xxxxxxxx>, Department
of History, Georgia State University

Elvis and Identity in the Postwar South

It may not surprise the inquisitive mind that the debate surrounding Elvis
Aaron Presley and his music also exists in the world of academia.
According to Michael Bertrand, Elvis has served as the focal point for
scholarly projections of sustained southern low caste culture. Conversely,
for many southerners, Elvis has become a symbol of continued southern
aberration and contribution to the America way of life. Bertrand notes that
this is the essence of the "Sentimental myth of Elvis as a poor boy who
made good; loved his mother, daughter, country, and Jesus; and gave
millions to the unfortunate" (p. 116). Born to humble southern beginnings,
the unorthodox crooner captivated young girls and enraged their parents
before serving a two-year military stint and returning to be canonized by
Hollywood.

_Race, Rock, and Elvis_ contends that there is more to Elvis than these
competing notions. Presley came of age in a socially turbulent modernizing
postwar South, and according to Bertrand, the rock 'n' roll star was an
"organic intellectual," who promoted racial ideals contrary to those that
prevailed in the South (p.11). Bertrand explores this Elvis and rock 'n'
roll, the music and culture of defiant postwar youth, and concludes the
music played a positive role in race relations and that popular memory has
sanitized Elvis, stripping much of the racial, regional, and class
connotations from his legacy.

Extremely insightful, _Race, Rock, and Elvis_ explores rock 'n' roll as an
episode of postwar southern economic interest and sociocultural projections
competing against Cold War personifications of unparalleled U.S.
prosperity. Bertrand astutely argues that the realism of rhythm and blues
and rock 'n' roll contradicted the postwar image of American prosperity and
contentment, and that as the property of southern independent recording
companies, criticism was motivated by both conservative aesthetic and
established industry concerns. However, to capitalize on the music's
growing popularity, major recording companies began covering rhythm and
blues based material with white artists. Their failure to use black
musicians produced a forged sound, which rarely found airplay on
influential rhythm and blues' radio.

Afterwards, Bertrand contends that the majors signed "genuine" rock 'n'
roll artists, de-emphasizing their southern hillbilly origins, but
promoting the youthful aspect of their music. In 1955, RCA purchased Elvis'
contract from the Memphis-based Sun Records, and likewise, Bertrand
declares that by the end of the decade, the majors "had gained full control
over rock 'n' roll's subcultural style and itinerary,"  disconnecting the
music from the concerns of its original constituency (pp. 81, 89).

_Race, Rock, and Elvis_ also contends that rock 'n' roll represented an
historical "moment" in the process of cultural appropriation in America.
Previously, white artists appropriating black music satirized or performed
rigid interpretations. According to Bertrand, postwar rock 'n' roll artists
were distinguished by "a willingness to identify completely" with black
culture (pp. 99-100). Bertrand argues that this happened because within the
mercurial social milieu of the South between WWII and the 1960s,
urbanization and modernization allowed transient white youth to confront
their future with a perspective not entirely tied to the South's past ideas
of race.

Bertrand contends that rock 'n' roll articulated positive black images and
that after discontented white teenagers were "exposed to the popular
message of black equality, southern white resistance to civil rights could
never be massive or absolute" (pp. 170-171). Bertrand links rock 'n' roll
to white youth dissent, which he argues is significant during southern
"massive resistance," and thus, claims that rock 'n' rock "may have
facilitated the racial reform that would eventually transform the south"
(p.57). However, without sufficient analysis, Bertrand alleges the
potential the music fostered dissipated in the late 1960s, when southern
white attitudes toward race were altered by "civil rights demands going too
far (and) black militancy" (pp. 44-45).

full: http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/


Louis Proyect
Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org



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