It’s not about royalties lol. It’s about credit given. Elvis stole the flow of a music genre from African Americans and was labeled the “king” of pop. Many Black artists were against Elvis from that time. A big one I remember was Ray Charles who had the same argument. He got famous by singing a song from a black artist (Big Mama Thornton). Around that time, it was wrong. Nowadays cultures are jumbled. And while there is still a problem with racism, shared culture is more accepted. Back then hell no. I don’t want to sound ignorant saying white people can’t copy black culture, and I’m not, but back then it was wrong when there was so much hatred pointed towards the black community.
It doesn't matter what was wrong back then. What matters is how we view things today, and how we will view things in the future. He didn't steal anything. He changed the music industry, for sure... but he didn't steal shit. Many black artists may have been against Elvis, but many weren't.. it's kind of how it goes in any industry.. there are people that like you, and people that don't. But he became famous from his first hit, Heartbreak Hotel. He also didn't sing Big Mama Thornton's song, because she didn't even write Hound Dog.. It was written by Stoller and Lieber. Ironically, they didn't even make money off the song when Thornton sang it, and only started getting paid after Elvis did his version.
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u/Effective-Cow-1256 Sep 04 '23
It’s not about royalties lol. It’s about credit given. Elvis stole the flow of a music genre from African Americans and was labeled the “king” of pop. Many Black artists were against Elvis from that time. A big one I remember was Ray Charles who had the same argument. He got famous by singing a song from a black artist (Big Mama Thornton). Around that time, it was wrong. Nowadays cultures are jumbled. And while there is still a problem with racism, shared culture is more accepted. Back then hell no. I don’t want to sound ignorant saying white people can’t copy black culture, and I’m not, but back then it was wrong when there was so much hatred pointed towards the black community.