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TIL Big Mama Thornton released “Hound Dog” in 1953, three years before Elvis.
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THEREALCABEZAGRANDE8h
A few years ago I really got into early blues and jazz, and it quickly made me realize that man, Elvis stole everything. But I gotta admit, I usually prefer the Elvis version, so I totally see why it worked.
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thesuavedog13h
and... her version is MUCH better than Elvis' version.
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theres some quality sperg outs in this thread for sure lmao
Lol yeah we're really dragging race into this one! I mean it was a time when racial tensions were extremely high and there's been noted contention between Elvis and the black people he stole music from, but like how dare we make this about race.
It was always about race, especially when Elvis was choosing "his" songs. When his career started at 19, he was working with a producer named Sam Phillips in Memphis whose specific goal was to market black music to white audiences using white artists.
Yeah, a good song is a good song, but it's still important to honor where the song/style/sound came from, not just to rip it off and happily be labelled as the creator of a genre that he copied from other people. I've never heard the saying "Art is blind" (and I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist) but it probably means that good art can come from anywhere and should be enjoyed by anyone, not that it doesn't matter where the art came from.
"Who cares who did it first?" Are you fucking serious? That's like the basis of all matters of ownership on Earth. I bet you would care if you did it first.
Long story short, Elvis sucks balls, and even though he probably wasn't as racist as some of the people he worked alongside, he never did anything to try and change that status quo.
That is like the most common knowledge thing in this entire thread. And the fact that she didn't write it supports your argument against cultural appropriation how? The same people who are pointing out that lame fact will disregard that Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller only wrote the words and none of the music. Literally Elvis did the same amount of work on this song as Big Mama did, and took advantage of the fact that he could prosper off of it more because of the color of his skin. And for someone who was supposedly so sympathetic to the black struggle in America, he managed to do less for black rights than the likes of Frank Sinatra, who definitely lived a rougher time period for such activism. I will never understand why people love Elvis so much. His entire career is just a perfect storm of lucky breaks. Great post-war economy leads to the creation of a teenage class that has enough money to buy the things they thought they wanted. White pretty boy shakes his hips on TV and creates controversy which only brews more attention. Then he starts making movies, and doesn't tour for a while, then starts playing shows again after his face has been all over the big screen. Combine all that with the fact that he was basically stealing a lot of songs (not this particular song) from black artists, and you have a star who should've never been born. And you can try to use the black people in the 50s that loved Elvis to reason that he was good to them, but those people were just excited to see black music take center stage and the didn't realise how much they were being worked over. Even James Brown fell for it, thinking that Elvis was is brother, when really he was his keeper, using him to gain popularity with a black crowd that didn't now how to feel about him. That is literally the basis of what cultural appropriation is. Chuck Berry couldn't get that famous because he was black, but white Elvis can become the top selling artist doing the exact same thing (a cheap rendition of you ask me). Chuck Berry had more talent in one finger than Elvis. Taking something from one culture and using it to your benefit with no recognition of the original culture.
I've had enough of stupid people on the internet, I'm going away for a while, probably not long enough lol
Wait until they find out "girls just want to have fun" was written by a man. Puts the song in such a different perspective that Lauper would get canceled by association.
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1 SnapshillBot 2020-02-17
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1 unrulyfarmhand 2020-02-17
🤡🔨
1 newcomer_ts 2020-02-17
No, two (((white))) kids did - lmao
1 Mrtheliger 2020-02-17
ELVIS IS A DIRTY THIEF FUCK HIM AND HIS STUPID HAIR
1 Infidel6 2020-02-17
Fr fr, somebody should kill that dude.
1 tHeSiD 2020-02-17
Hey! Don't insult him, he's gonna kill you
1 smol_pony 2020-02-17
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552 Comments sorted byControversial Leave a comment THEREALCABEZAGRANDE8h
A few years ago I really got into early blues and jazz, and it quickly made me realize that man, Elvis stole everything. But I gotta admit, I usually prefer the Elvis version, so I totally see why it worked.
7 Reply
1 more reply thesuavedog13h
and... her version is MUCH better than Elvis' version.
-11 Reply
theres some quality sperg outs in this thread for sure lmao
1 LongPostBot 2020-02-17
Wow, you must be a JP fan
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1 smol_pony 2020-02-17
jerry potter?
1 ChillinsVillain 2020-02-17
Jew potty
1 unrulyfarmhand 2020-02-17
1 LongPostBot 2020-02-17
I've known more coherent downies.
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1 Infidel6 2020-02-17
Today I learned that Thanksgiving is about killing indians.
Today I learned that black people used to be slaves.
Today I learned that people act in self interest.
Wow! mind blown. This reminds me of an Eminem quote.
edit: thanks for the gold kind doggo
1 69733348 2020-02-17
imagine being named Elvis now hahah what a dumb name
1 Dramabanevader 2020-02-17
Elvis is perfect in every way and hating Elvis is a form of brain rot
1 SamManilla 2020-02-17
Wait until they find out "girls just want to have fun" was written by a man. Puts the song in such a different perspective that Lauper would get canceled by association.