Cultural Equity

Elvis Presley tops the list of most revered cultural icons in modern America.1 The King of Rock and Roll is undoubtedly one of the greatest entertainers of all time—having sold over one billion records worldwide (60 percent of these sales in the United States), more than anyone else in the history of the recording industry.2 Interest in Elvis extends well beyond his music and includes a flourishing publishing industry built around his persona (7,311 books listed on Amazon.com at the time I wrote this book) and a very active Internet presence of Elvis fan websites (1.5 million and counting). How did Elvis become such a cultural phenomenon? Although we can extensively discuss this in yet another book about Elvis (which is not our goal of course), it seems clear that Elvis crystallized a new music rhythm that had already emerged among black musicians who came before him. Black musicians such as Big Bill Broonzy, Ike Turner, and Arthur Crudup were performing Presley’s style of music well before it was Presley’s style.3 However, none of these musicians skyrocketed to the top of the cultural podium as Elvis did. Why? Among other reasons, because these black musicians did not embody the image, traits, and values of mainstream white American culture in the 1950s—characterized by segregation along racial lines.