Elvis' Influence on Music

To imagine a world without Elvis Presley is to imagine a world with very little going on in music.  Wether you love him or hate him, without Elvis, most modern bands would not be who they are now.  Elvis was the king and for good reason, too.  He was the first to blend sounds and even though I believe in time someone else would have done it if he had not, it would not be as appealing as Elvis was.  Elvis had something the rest did not, those hips.  Elvis' revolutionary style and presentation caused him to influence music for generations.

The hips influenced bands like the Beetles.  True the Beetles never shook their hips, but their long hair was considered different and drove some girls crazy.  It became apparent to record producers that sex appeal could sell and so they made bands like the Monkeys.  This same ideology would lead to boy bands and girl groups that did not exactly focus on the music and more on the look.  Elvis departure from the norm of the time may also paved the way for bands in the genres of punk, metal, grunge, and alternative rock.  All the genres were considered very different from what was being played at the time and grew out of a resentment of that music.  Elvis did the same thing in challenging the norm with his new style.  Without him these styles may have never come around and we would not have bands like the Ramones, The Clash, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, or Green Day.