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Can we stop with Elvis being “King” of Rock and Roll


TheMadIrishman

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1 hour ago, SteveAJones said:

He's not the King of Songwriting, he's The King of Rock n' Roll. Elvis Presley epitomized rock n' roll and was the first global pop music celebrity/icon.   

 They're just acknowledging historical facts about the South, huh? Ok then, put back my Confederate statues. All of them.

I guess delivering this performance for a race riot ravaged national television audience in prime time doesn't count.

 

That's just silly and completely off point. You wanna know who did make a difference during the MLK riots? James Brown, that's who. He calmed down an entire city ready to tear itself apart (April 5th, 1968 Boston Garden).

I love Elvis but that performance had zero, nada, no influence over shit and to claim it does in response to a factual quote is simply trying to be sensational for the sake of sensationalism. You win the RS award for bad sarcasm and pretentious mental masturbation.

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13 minutes ago, paplbojo said:

On a lighter note. 

Great stuff and they compliment each other. I also liked the duet Bing Crosby & Bowie did on the Little Drummer Boy as their voices complemented as well.

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1 hour ago, IpMan said:

I love Elvis but that performance had zero, nada, no influence over shit and to claim it does in response to a factual quote is simply trying to be sensational for the sake of sensationalism. You win the RS award for bad sarcasm and pretentious mental masturbation.

You're wrong as usual. I've been to MEMPHIS where ELVIS AARON PRESLEY lived at the time and also where MLK was assassinated. I know how Elvis felt about that day and how it moved him. Elvis' impact on race relations in Memphis was/is just as powerful as James Brown's impact on Boston.

https://www.graceland.com/blog/elvis-presleys-if-i-can-dream/

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Quote

They're just acknowledging historical facts about the South, huh? Ok then, put back my Confederate statues. All of them.

Dude....You're about as Southern as Coleman Young.

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20 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

He's not the King of Songwriting, he's The King of Rock n' Roll. Elvis Presley epitomized rock n' roll and was the first global pop music celebrity/icon.   

 They're just acknowledging historical facts about the South, huh? Ok then, put back my Confederate statues. All of them.

I guess delivering this performance for a race riot ravaged national television audience in prime time doesn't count.

 

Nice one Steve as an amazing performance from the 68 Comeback.  This was when The King was back as well as with next year's "The Memphis Record."  Love the sit down portion of the 68 show and you must watch the entire set from the boxed dvd and not the abbreviated version from the broadcast version.  Especially, love the great performances of "One Night With You" and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" which are powerful vocal performances.

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17 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

You're wrong as usual. I've been to MEMPHIS where ELVIS AARON PRESLEY lived at the time and also where MLK was assassinated. I know how Elvis felt about that day and how it moved him. Elvis' impact on race relations in Memphis was/is just as powerful as James Brown's impact on Boston.

https://www.graceland.com/blog/elvis-presleys-if-i-can-dream/

Of which means absolutely nothing. Funny, I read the full comment section in the link you provided and did not find a single comment whereby the commentator said he / she changed their mind on race relations or on the plight of minorities after Elvis's performance.

How Elvis felt about MLK, RFK, and other issues has no bearing on his activity, or lack thereof within the civil right's movement. Case in point, I donate to St. Jude's, Doctors without Borders, local homeless shelters, etc. but that does not mean I am some avenue for change, it means I empathize with these issues and that is it. I really should donate more of my time to these causes but until I do I really can't say I am doing all I can or making a massive difference. Same with Elvis. Also, what did Elvis do with the profits from that song? Did he donate the profits to say the United Negro College Fund or other such causes? Not saying he had to as he had no obligation to, however if he really wanted to make a difference he could have marched, he could have spoken publicly, he could have appeared with MLK and other civil right's leaders but he did not. Now I am not going to demean the man for his choice not to, that is not my point. I simply do not believe it is right to elevate him to such a level in such a movement when he really did not do much.

King of Pop, hell yes. King of anything else, sorry but no.

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58 minutes ago, SuperDave said:

Nice one Steve as an amazing performance from the 68 Comeback.  This was when The King was back as well as with next year's "The Memphis Record."  Love the sit down portion of the 68 show and you must watch the entire set from the boxed dvd and not the abbreviated version from the broadcast version.  Especially, love the great performances of "One Night With You" and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" which are powerful vocal performances.

My personal favorite from that performance was during Blue Sued Shoes when he changed the lyric from, "...you can knock me down, spit in my face" to, "...you can knock me down, sit on my face" and then stick his tongue out in a cunnilingus type action. Now THAT was priceless.

 

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2 hours ago, IpMan said:

How Elvis felt about MLK, RFK, and other issues has no bearing on his activity, or lack thereof within the civil right's movement.

I simply do not believe it is right to elevate him to such a level in such a movement when he really did not do much.

King of Pop, hell yes. King of anything else, sorry but no.

How Elvis felt about it had no bearing on his activity?! DipMan, he closed out his NATIONALLY TELEVISED COMEBACK SHOWCASE in 1968 with one of the most powerful songs about race relations in American history. I Have a Dream...If I Can Dream...seriously man, don't you get the message?! I am not seeking to elevate Elvis with respect to participation/non-participation in the struggle for Civil Rights, I'm merely giving credit where it is due.   

King of Pop, King of Rock...now you're just being pedantic.  

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2 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

How Elvis felt about it had no bearing on his activity?! DipMan, he closed out his NATIONALLY TELEVISED COMEBACK SHOWCASE in 1968 with one of the most powerful songs about race relations in American history. I Have a Dream...If I Can Dream...seriously man, don't you get the message?! I am not seeking to elevate Elvis with respect to participation/non-participation in the struggle for Civil Rights, I'm merely giving credit where it is due.   

King of Pop, King of Rock...now you're just being pedantic.  

This has nothing to do with Elvis's activity or lack thereof. As soon as you tried to make his performance something greater than it was you jumped the shark. Elvis, performing this moving song six months AFTER the riots is not on the same scale, not even in the same universe as what James Brown actually did on the night of April 5th, 1968. Brown actually stopped a riot and a city going up in flames while in the middle of it all. If Elvis was so moved and affected by all of this, where was he on April 5th? He was the King of Rock after all and I am sure such a figure could have easily made a huge difference had he even tried but he did not, never said a word publicly. Yes, he sang a very moving song but he never risked a damn thing, nothing yet he of all people had the power, the real power to make a difference. 

This is a very puzzling question indeed. Elvis hung out at the juke joints before he was famous and frequently and freely mingled in the black community. I would never call Elvis a racist, quite the opposite yet he never lent his voice to the civil right's movement.

Very strange indeed.

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2 hours ago, IpMan said:

This has nothing to do with Elvis's activity or lack thereof. As soon as you tried to make his performance something greater than it was you jumped the shark. Elvis, performing this moving song six months AFTER the riots is not on the same scale, not even in the same universe as what James Brown actually did on the night of April 5th, 1968. Brown actually stopped a riot and a city going up in flames while in the middle of it all. If Elvis was so moved and affected by all of this, where was he on April 5th? He was the King of Rock after all and I am sure such a figure could have easily made a huge difference had he even tried but he did not, never said a word publicly. Yes, he sang a very moving song but he never risked a damn thing, nothing yet he of all people had the power, the real power to make a difference. 

This is a very puzzling question indeed. Elvis hung out at the juke joints before he was famous and frequently and freely mingled in the black community. I would never call Elvis a racist, quite the opposite yet he never lent his voice to the civil right's movement.

Very strange indeed.

April 5th 1968 Elvis was in Las Vegas on his honeymoon. Does that excuse suffice or did he owe the public and social concerns his every waking moment?

You reiterate "He never lent his voice to the civil right's movement" after I just pointed he sure goddamn did on national TV during what was HIS showcase.

It's not that I've jumped the shark, it's that you are drowning under the weight of a fallacious argument.

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Nobody, and I mean Nobody, has to defend Elvis, he IS the King of Rock and Roll. Chuck Berry however....

If you read the biography on Chuck Berry’s official website, you will find no mention of the word prison. This bit of revisionist history glosses over the fact that the rock pioneer has been incarcerated three different times.

From 1947-1950, he served two and a half years for armed robbery. It was an interstate spree, with the 19-year-old Berry hijacking a car at gunpoint, then sticking up a gas station and a convenience store. In 1979, he did three months for tax evasion. But Berry’s most notorious stint was from February 1962-October 1963, for violation of the Mann Act (“transporting an underage female across state lines for immoral purposes”).

For years, Berry would deny the whole incident. In a 1972 interview he said, “That’s the misconceptions that people have, that Chuck Berry went to jail. They’re just totally wrong. It might have said something in the large papers in the bigger city headlines and things. But, you take a look at any of the local papers and you will see that I was acquitted. I never went to jail.”

Fifteen years later, in his autobiography, Berry finally admitted to doing time, but recast the sentence as a period of self-improvement. “I spent all of my off-duty time studying business management, business law, accounting [perhaps this led him to those cash-up front performances], typing, world history . . . ”

Berry had another brush with the law in 1989, when he was caught secretly videotaping women in the bathroom of his restaurant, The Southern Air. A former employee took him to court with a suit that alleged that the tapes “were created for the improper purpose of the gratification” of Berry’s “sexual fetishes.” Several women followed with similar class-action suits. Chuck denied it all. Shortly after The Southern Air was closed, the Feds raided his estate. Along with firearms and marijuana, a cache of videotapes was found, showing underage females in sexual poses. This kept Berry in court for over a year. Charges were finally dropped when the prosecuting attorney became embroiled in his own financial scandal.

  Some people might say after reading this that Chuck was a low life pedophile, a creepy & disgusting bathroom stalker, and a prolific liar. Yuck !!

I'm sure that Chuck being in prison made some impact on his professional music career back in the 1950's and 60's, possibly more than his race. Funny how the thread jumped right to racism without ever looking at other equally or more important factors.  Of course then "progressives" couldn't say that racist white people are the only reason Elvis is the King which is the entirety of OP's post in a nutshell. Yep, the truth doesn't fit the "progressive" narrative of blaming everything on white people, especially males or Christians so make something up and let's change history for racism !! The sad thing is today that Chuck's 3 felonies and prison terms would be street cred for those same low IQ types.

I for one am glad Chuck is not considered the King of Rock and Roll, not because of his race, but because of his character. Elvis was a giving and kind man who many times helped the less fortunate, there are many documented stories of Elvis' going out of his way and donating his money or personal items just to benefit others.

Look, this is how somebody deserving of being called The King should act:
To Elvis, Every Day was Christmas

By Zena Sultana

Elvis had a gift for giving. His generosity was legendary. For those who grew up in Memphis when Elvis was alive, Elvis is remembered not only for his incomparable music but for the many stories about how kind and giving he was.

To him, every day was Christmas!

A reporter in Memphis, Mitch McCracken of the Elvis Presley Examiner, wrote a story about Elvis’ legendary generosity that his mother told him when she was still working as a registered nurse at the Baptist Memorial Hospital. This hospital is where Elvis had gone on many occasions, the last one in August 17, 1977.

Here’s that story: An elderly woman worked in the housekeeping department at the hospital. She rode the bus back and forth to work. One day as she was walking past a car dealership down Union Ave from the hospital she saw a stretch limousine parked almost right on the sidewalk. All eight doors were opened and she stuck her head in to see what the inside of a limo looked like. She saw the bar and the interior of the limo and was duly impressed. She exclaimed, “Oh my God, what a beautiful car!”

The dark-haired man in the driver seat turned around and said, “Oh you think so?” It was Elvis. He then looked at the man in the front passenger seat and said, “Order her one just like this.”

There were also other stories about Elvis giving generously to all kinds of people, like personally delivering a brand-new wheelchair to a crippled lady. Stories like these were typically Elvis!

Lamar Fike, one of Elvis’ friends and member of the famed Elvis Mafia, said: “Elvis never forgot where he came from and what it was like to be poor. He was always looking in the newspapers, wherever he was, and when he would see there was someone in trouble with no way out he would send them something to help out. He was just like that. It was his upbringing.”

While growing up Elvis had first-hand experience of what it was like being poor. He did not have enough money to make ends meet, and Christmases when he was a young boy was not what most of us had in our lives. But early on, his Mom Gladys had instilled in him the gift of giving. Blessed with a lot of talent, his talent brought him success!

Once Elvis had become a big draw, he played a number of charity concerts for free. He was getting well-recognized by 1956 and he gave to a huge number of charities. On Christmas of 1956, Elvis made a donation of toys to underprivileged children in a charity drive organized by the U.S. Marines.

Elvis provided the initial funding for a Youth Center in his hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi, by performing free at the Fairgrounds in 1957. According to newspaper reports, Elvis turned down his $10,000 fee. When it came to children, Elvis wanted every day to be Christmas for them! Elvis continued to donate money and his time. Even when he was in the military service he donated blood to the German Red Cross.

In 1964, Elvis donated a yacht worth $55,000, the “Potomac” which had formerly belonged to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to St. Jude’s Hospital, a children’s research clinic in Memphis. In 1965, he donated $50,000 to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, and in 1966 he donated his Dodge motor home to TEACH, a children’s charity. That Christmas, he also wrote checks for over a million dollars to local Memphis charities.

In 1967, Christmas came early for the Memphis Jewish Community Center Building Fund when Elvis pledged $10,500. This continued year after year, making Christmas so very special for so many people. In the early 1970’s, Elvis sent Buford Pusser, a crime-fighting police officer, a large anonymous donation after the cop’s house burned down mysteriously. Elvis attended Buford’s funeral when the cop died in 1974. Elvis helped many people with medical needs. He helped producer Felton Jarvis pay for a kidney transplant.

Adam Victor, who published a book called Elvis Encyclopedia, wrote: “If you were Elvis’ friend, it went without question he would help medically. Many car dealers would tell you that Elvis would walk in and say, ‘It’s Christmas” and buy cars for his friends and family, and even strangers. I feel that since Elvis did not have the Christmases growing up as a lot of us had, he made sure that Christmas was every day.”

The majority of the donations Elvis made were strictly on the condition of NO publicity, so not a lot of people were aware of his generosity. Some of Elvis gifts to charities would become public knowledge, but the rest of his donations were only known to a handful of people who were directly involved in his life.

Among his well-known charitable contributions were the following: $65,000 towards the building of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor from a benefit concert Elvis performed in Hawaii; $75,000 for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund in Hawaii from sales of audience tickets for rehearsals for the “Aloha from Hawaii” TV special; and the $2-million donated every year to organized charities, both local and national.


 Elvis Presley was known as a generous man, using his fame and wealth for the good of others. But, that part of his nature was well expressed long before he became a star. His family was far from wealthy, so all the little extras in life such as toys for young Elvis, were not so easy for his parents Vernon and Gladys Presley to come by. There were times when one of those toys would come up missing. His parents would ask Elvis about it, finding that he had given it to some other kid in the neighborhood whom he noticed had nothing to play with. His later fame and wealth did not create his material and spiritual generosity. It simply fueled what was there inside him all along.
 Elvis’ legacy of giving was continued after his death by the Elvis Presley Estate, and later on, by the Elvis Presley Enterprises. EPE had set up foundations to carry on Elvis’ tradition of giving. And after Elvis death, Elvis Fan Clubs around the world followed their hero’s lead and raised large sums of money – all in Elvis’ name. Two of these fan clubs are the “All Shook Up Elvis Fan club” in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the “Jailhouse Rockers of California.”

 So, even all these years after Elvis' death, his influence still brings out the good in people while Chuck Berry has served time in prison during the 1950's, 60's, 70's. Chuck only got away with not serving in the 80's & 90's by the prosecutor having his own problems. Chuck Berry got extremely lucky to have not served time in prison during 5 different decades, he is also considered by many who knew him to be the biggest asshole they ever met and unprofessional in his performance (look it up, lots of documentation) and does he not deserve to be called King whatsoever.

P.S. While researching Chuck's various criminal activities I did come across a few references to videos and pictures of Mr. Berry engaging in his predilection for coprophagia, not the most "Kingly" behavior - in my opinion.
Also, most  of "his" songs  were largely co-writes where Chuck didn't give credit to others (it's documented). In all honesty, you really couldn't have picked a worse scumbag to try and dethrone Elvis.
Total "Progressive" virtue signalling fail once again.

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6 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

April 5th 1968 Elvis was in Las Vegas on his honeymoon. Does that excuse suffice or did he owe the public and social concerns his every waking moment?

You reiterate "He never lent his voice to the civil right's movement" after I just pointed he sure goddamn did on national TV during what was HIS showcase.

It's not that I've jumped the shark, it's that you are drowning under the weight of a fallacious argument.

Oh yes, singing a single song with no statement before or after now counts as "lending ones voice to a movement." Sure Steve, I guess the bar is extremely low in your world. Elvis risked NOTHING by singing that song, nothing whatsoever. 

Then again you always have had a double standard depending on the individual involved. Your argument is about as hollow as your wit.

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3 hours ago, mknopfler said:

Nobody, and I mean Nobody, has to defend Elvis, he IS the King of Rock and Roll. Chuck Berry however....

If you read the biography on Chuck Berry’s official website, you will find no mention of the word prison. This bit of revisionist history glosses over the fact that the rock pioneer has been incarcerated three different times.

From 1947-1950, he served two and a half years for armed robbery. It was an interstate spree, with the 19-year-old Berry hijacking a car at gunpoint, then sticking up a gas station and a convenience store. In 1979, he did three months for tax evasion. But Berry’s most notorious stint was from February 1962-October 1963, for violation of the Mann Act (“transporting an underage female across state lines for immoral purposes”).

For years, Berry would deny the whole incident. In a 1972 interview he said, “That’s the misconceptions that people have, that Chuck Berry went to jail. They’re just totally wrong. It might have said something in the large papers in the bigger city headlines and things. But, you take a look at any of the local papers and you will see that I was acquitted. I never went to jail.”

Fifteen years later, in his autobiography, Berry finally admitted to doing time, but recast the sentence as a period of self-improvement. “I spent all of my off-duty time studying business management, business law, accounting [perhaps this led him to those cash-up front performances], typing, world history . . . ”

Berry had another brush with the law in 1989, when he was caught secretly videotaping women in the bathroom of his restaurant, The Southern Air. A former employee took him to court with a suit that alleged that the tapes “were created for the improper purpose of the gratification” of Berry’s “sexual fetishes.” Several women followed with similar class-action suits. Chuck denied it all. Shortly after The Southern Air was closed, the Feds raided his estate. Along with firearms and marijuana, a cache of videotapes was found, showing underage females in sexual poses. This kept Berry in court for over a year. Charges were finally dropped when the prosecuting attorney became embroiled in his own financial scandal.

  Some people might say after reading this that Chuck was a low life pedophile, a creepy & disgusting bathroom stalker, and a prolific liar. Yuck !!

I'm sure that Chuck being in prison made some impact on his professional music career back in the 1950's and 60's, possibly more than his race. Funny how the thread jumped right to racism without ever looking at other equally or more important factors.  Of course then "progressives" couldn't say that racist white people are the only reason Elvis is the King which is the entirety of OP's post in a nutshell. Yep, the truth doesn't fit the "progressive" narrative of blaming everything on white people, especially males or Christians so make something up and let's change history for racism !! The sad thing is today that Chuck's 3 felonies and prison terms would be street cred for those same low IQ types.

I for one am glad Chuck is not considered the King of Rock and Roll, not because of his race, but because of his character. Elvis was a giving and kind man who many times helped the less fortunate, there are many documented stories of Elvis' going out of his way and donating his money or personal items just to benefit others.

Look, this is how somebody deserving of being called The King should act:
To Elvis, Every Day was Christmas

By Zena Sultana

Elvis had a gift for giving. His generosity was legendary. For those who grew up in Memphis when Elvis was alive, Elvis is remembered not only for his incomparable music but for the many stories about how kind and giving he was.

To him, every day was Christmas!

A reporter in Memphis, Mitch McCracken of the Elvis Presley Examiner, wrote a story about Elvis’ legendary generosity that his mother told him when she was still working as a registered nurse at the Baptist Memorial Hospital. This hospital is where Elvis had gone on many occasions, the last one in August 17, 1977.

Here’s that story: An elderly woman worked in the housekeeping department at the hospital. She rode the bus back and forth to work. One day as she was walking past a car dealership down Union Ave from the hospital she saw a stretch limousine parked almost right on the sidewalk. All eight doors were opened and she stuck her head in to see what the inside of a limo looked like. She saw the bar and the interior of the limo and was duly impressed. She exclaimed, “Oh my God, what a beautiful car!”

The dark-haired man in the driver seat turned around and said, “Oh you think so?” It was Elvis. He then looked at the man in the front passenger seat and said, “Order her one just like this.”

There were also other stories about Elvis giving generously to all kinds of people, like personally delivering a brand-new wheelchair to a crippled lady. Stories like these were typically Elvis!

Lamar Fike, one of Elvis’ friends and member of the famed Elvis Mafia, said: “Elvis never forgot where he came from and what it was like to be poor. He was always looking in the newspapers, wherever he was, and when he would see there was someone in trouble with no way out he would send them something to help out. He was just like that. It was his upbringing.”

While growing up Elvis had first-hand experience of what it was like being poor. He did not have enough money to make ends meet, and Christmases when he was a young boy was not what most of us had in our lives. But early on, his Mom Gladys had instilled in him the gift of giving. Blessed with a lot of talent, his talent brought him success!

Once Elvis had become a big draw, he played a number of charity concerts for free. He was getting well-recognized by 1956 and he gave to a huge number of charities. On Christmas of 1956, Elvis made a donation of toys to underprivileged children in a charity drive organized by the U.S. Marines.

Elvis provided the initial funding for a Youth Center in his hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi, by performing free at the Fairgrounds in 1957. According to newspaper reports, Elvis turned down his $10,000 fee. When it came to children, Elvis wanted every day to be Christmas for them! Elvis continued to donate money and his time. Even when he was in the military service he donated blood to the German Red Cross.

In 1964, Elvis donated a yacht worth $55,000, the “Potomac” which had formerly belonged to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to St. Jude’s Hospital, a children’s research clinic in Memphis. In 1965, he donated $50,000 to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, and in 1966 he donated his Dodge motor home to TEACH, a children’s charity. That Christmas, he also wrote checks for over a million dollars to local Memphis charities.

In 1967, Christmas came early for the Memphis Jewish Community Center Building Fund when Elvis pledged $10,500. This continued year after year, making Christmas so very special for so many people. In the early 1970’s, Elvis sent Buford Pusser, a crime-fighting police officer, a large anonymous donation after the cop’s house burned down mysteriously. Elvis attended Buford’s funeral when the cop died in 1974. Elvis helped many people with medical needs. He helped producer Felton Jarvis pay for a kidney transplant.

Adam Victor, who published a book called Elvis Encyclopedia, wrote: “If you were Elvis’ friend, it went without question he would help medically. Many car dealers would tell you that Elvis would walk in and say, ‘It’s Christmas” and buy cars for his friends and family, and even strangers. I feel that since Elvis did not have the Christmases growing up as a lot of us had, he made sure that Christmas was every day.”

The majority of the donations Elvis made were strictly on the condition of NO publicity, so not a lot of people were aware of his generosity. Some of Elvis gifts to charities would become public knowledge, but the rest of his donations were only known to a handful of people who were directly involved in his life.

Among his well-known charitable contributions were the following: $65,000 towards the building of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor from a benefit concert Elvis performed in Hawaii; $75,000 for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund in Hawaii from sales of audience tickets for rehearsals for the “Aloha from Hawaii” TV special; and the $2-million donated every year to organized charities, both local and national.


 Elvis Presley was known as a generous man, using his fame and wealth for the good of others. But, that part of his nature was well expressed long before he became a star. His family was far from wealthy, so all the little extras in life such as toys for young Elvis, were not so easy for his parents Vernon and Gladys Presley to come by. There were times when one of those toys would come up missing. His parents would ask Elvis about it, finding that he had given it to some other kid in the neighborhood whom he noticed had nothing to play with. His later fame and wealth did not create his material and spiritual generosity. It simply fueled what was there inside him all along.
 Elvis’ legacy of giving was continued after his death by the Elvis Presley Estate, and later on, by the Elvis Presley Enterprises. EPE had set up foundations to carry on Elvis’ tradition of giving. And after Elvis death, Elvis Fan Clubs around the world followed their hero’s lead and raised large sums of money – all in Elvis’ name. Two of these fan clubs are the “All Shook Up Elvis Fan club” in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the “Jailhouse Rockers of California.”

 So, even all these years after Elvis' death, his influence still brings out the good in people while Chuck Berry has served time in prison during the 1950's, 60's, 70's. Chuck only got away with not serving in the 80's & 90's by the prosecutor having his own problems. Chuck Berry got extremely lucky to have not served time in prison during 5 different decades, he is also considered by many who knew him to be the biggest asshole they ever met and unprofessional in his performance (look it up, lots of documentation) and does he not deserve to be called King whatsoever.

P.S. While researching Chuck's various criminal activities I did come across a few references to videos and pictures of Mr. Berry engaging in his predilection for coprophagia, not the most "Kingly" behavior - in my opinion.
Also, most  of "his" songs  were largely co-writes where Chuck didn't give credit to others (it's documented). In all honesty, you really couldn't have picked a worse scumbag to try and dethrone Elvis.
Total "Progressive" virtue signalling fail once again.

What the hell does this have to do with the topic? No one on this post called Elvis a racist, quite the opposite in fact. Race was only brought up in a larger context in relation to the times of which cannot be ignored to place a proper context. Why is it whenever certain white, christian males (I bring this up only because you made this direct comparison) see anything regarding racism or race relations automatically become triggered and go into berserker attack mode?

I will not bring up Elvis's "predilections" because this is not the forum or topic for such discussions and because I am not some adle brained, ultra-sensitive wacko. Maybe you should stick to the topic.

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15 minutes ago, IpMan said:

Oh yes, singing a single song with no statement before or after now counts as "lending ones voice to a movement." Sure Steve, I guess the bar is extremely low in your world. Elvis risked NOTHING by singing that song, nothing whatsoever. 

Then again you always have had a double standard depending on the individual involved. Your argument is about as hollow as your wit.

What the F are you blathering on about ? Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough ?  How does your opinion of Elvis' opinion about civil rights affect whether he is the King ? Oh, never mind it doesn't. just "progressive virtue signalling" which we have all seen enough of thank you.
Just so you know, Elvis Presley was a real kind man who cared about others, and regardless of race helped countless people have better lives while Chuck Berry was a proven dirtbag 100x's over.
 Elvis also had a much better stage presence, chuck couldn't hold a candle to that.
Who is a white male Christian that "went into beserker attack mode" ? lol that's rich !!
the topic was why Chuck is not the King, I spelled it out clearly why he does not deserve the honor. that was the topic not your "Elvis didn't do anything for blacks" tripe you spewed like a cow.

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1 minute ago, mknopfler said:

What the F are you blathering on about ? Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough ?  How does your opinion of Elvis' opinion about civil rights affect whether he is the King ? Oh, never mind it doesn't. just "progressive virtue signalling" which we have all seen enough of thank you.
Just so you know, Elvis Presley was a real kind man who cared about others, and regardless of race helped countless people have better lives.

That would be you with your idiotic attack on Berry which has nothing to do with the original post. I on the other hand was just responding to Steve's allegations regarding Elvis and the Civil Rights movement in general. Also, unlike you I am not bashing anyone, not attacking anyone. Elvis was a great man without a doubt and I have never seen evidence of his being a racist but instead he was very inclusionary. I only was pointing out that though a great man he was he did not contribute to the Civil Rights movement any more than Zeppelin did by writing, recording, and performing That's the Way. Both songs are about social justice but neither Elvis or Zeppelin made a public stance or statement (to my knowledge regarding Zeppelin) regarding civil rights. Again, this is not an indictment as neither owed anyone anything. 

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13 minutes ago, IpMan said:

That would be you with your idiotic attack on Berry which has nothing to do with the original post. I on the other hand was just responding to Steve's allegations regarding Elvis and the Civil Rights movement in general. Also, unlike you I am not bashing anyone, not attacking anyone. Elvis was a great man without a doubt and I have never seen evidence of his being a racist but instead he was very inclusionary. I only was pointing out that though a great man he was he did not contribute to the Civil Rights movement any more than Zeppelin did by writing, recording, and performing That's the Way. Both songs are about social justice but neither Elvis or Zeppelin made a public stance or statement (to my knowledge regarding Zeppelin) regarding civil rights. Again, this is not an indictment as neither owed anyone anything. 


 

Bwahaha you are so full of it !!  You were just pointing out Elvis didn't do civil rights stuff enough for you (insinuating what in the process?) I was pointing out Chuck Berry didn't do enough decent human being stuff for a lot of people - hence he will never be The King - which is exactly what this thread was about.

Elvis is The King because of the person he was, not his race. Chuck Berry was in prison multiple times for the person he was. It's really a comparison Chuck cannot win, and the whole idiotic idea of taking Elvis' title and giving it to Chuck simply because of race is ACTUAL racism, but you are blind.

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7 minutes ago, mknopfler said:

Bwahaha you are so full of it !!  You were just pointing out Elvis didn't do civil rights stuff enough for you (insinuating what in the process?) I was pointing out Chuck Berry didn't do enough decent human being stuff for a lot of people - hence he will never be The King - which is exactly what this thread was about.

Don't blame me or anyone else for your reading into a statement something it is not. Go back and re-read my posts, I mentioned in several my respect for Elvis and my position that Elvis owed no one anything regarding civil rights. It was Steve who tried to make a connection and even brought up the whole issue in general. Poor to Steve's post everyone who posted in regard to race were describing the racial atmosphere in America and the South in general and how that affected Elvis's rise. It was never an indictment of Elvis himself as we are all products of out times.

No please stop with this nonsense before the thread gets locked.

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20 minutes ago, IpMan said:

Don't blame me or anyone else for your reading into a statement something it is not. Go back and re-read my posts, I mentioned in several my respect for Elvis and my position that Elvis owed no one anything regarding civil rights. It was Steve who tried to make a connection and even brought up the whole issue in general. Poor to Steve's post everyone who posted in regard to race were describing the racial atmosphere in America and the South in general and how that affected Elvis's rise. It was never an indictment of Elvis himself as we are all products of out times.

No please stop with this nonsense before the thread gets locked. 

You NOW say that Elvis "owed no one anything regarding civil rights" but earlier you said:

"Yes, he sang a very moving song but he never risked a damn thing, nothing yet he of all people had the power, the real power to make a difference. 

This is a very puzzling question indeed. Elvis hung out at the juke joints before he was famous and frequently and freely mingled in the black community. I would never call Elvis a racist, quite the opposite yet he never lent his voice to the civil right's movement.

Very strange indeed." 

You should actually go back and read your own posts, you contradict yourself. But people grasping for straws in a losing battle will lie or say anything to attempt saving face. Not very strange indeed,  just sad really.

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8 hours ago, IpMan said:

Oh yes, singing a single song with no statement before or after now counts as "lending ones voice to a movement." Sure Steve, I guess the bar is extremely low in your world. Elvis risked NOTHING by singing that song, nothing whatsoever. 

Then again you always have had a double standard depending on the individual involved. Your argument is about as hollow as your wit.

DipMan, you're truly hopeless and you just want to argue. As a by the way, WTF did Chuck Berry ever do for Civil Rights? Yeah, that's what I thought. You seem to have confused musicians with politicians.

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8 hours ago, IpMan said:

I only was pointing out that though a great man he was he did not contribute to the Civil Rights movement any more than Zeppelin did by writing, recording, and performing That's the Way. Both songs are about social justice but neither Elvis or Zeppelin made a public stance or statement (to my knowledge regarding Zeppelin) regarding civil rights. Again, this is not an indictment as neither owed anyone anything. 

That's The Way is about being ostracized as a hippy and having some concern for the ecology. If you want to spin that as "a song about social justice" I'm not surprised. Of course, don't take my word for it, ask Robert Plant (who has already said hippy ideology & ecology is what the lyrics relate to). 

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