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How did Elvis Reinvent America?


Elvis Presley's stylistic choices in his genre of music and performance style both influenced American culture - for better or worse. He fused elements of country, blues, and pop together to create a sound entirely his own. Some people resented his synthesizing of the music genres that had been attributed to strictly black and white culture. However, Elvis, a man who as a child hung around B.B. King on Beale Street, kept making his music and breaking molds. He rarely sat down to write his songs before recording - and admitted on numerous occasions that he couldn't read music. He was completely unconventional in his craft - which translated on stage in a much more controversial way. Elvis the Pelvis, as he came to be known, had a trademark pelvic swivel that some American adults- not used to the music - deemed the personification of all things evil. His 'move' was cultivated when onstage at his first performance and because he was so nervous, his legs were shaking. His wide pant legs exaggerated the movement, and sent teenage girls across America swooning, giving a face to the begining of a sexual revolution.