"Covering"

Our text states that “covering” was a concept that was surrounding the idea of profitable discrimination. Rock and roll music, which stemmed from the black community, was a mixture of “rhythm and blues, gospel, and country” (Rodman, pp.220).
A man named Elvis Presley came into the music scene around the early 1950s and shook the world with this new style of music. Well in reality he wasn’t inventing a new style of music. His style was heavily influenced by the black community and Elvis Presley brought that style into the eyes and ears of an adoring audience. People loved the music and the face of Elvis. Putting out this racy music (for its time) was of course controversial but made possible by the color of Elvis’s skin. If Elvis had been a black man putting out that same type of music, critics say he would never have been as successful.
Elvis was wonderful, I agree with his early audience, but it’s interesting to think of what would take place today if this same situation were to occur. There would be copyright law suits, race and ethics wars, and court cases would follow what would be perceived as an unjust and illegal theft of art.
Although we are I this day and age and see things from quite a different perspective than people living in the 1950s would have, I have to say that what Elvis did was in a way a great revolution for the music world. He got the ball rolling for a new level of acceptance into the music scene and popularized a new style of sound that led the way for amazing artists to acquire popularity through their own renditions of that musical general.
Rock and roll in 1950 and rock and roll in 2007 are immensely different, but it’s fascinating that they have the same birthplace. Now that people in general have a much more liberal and open-minded stance on music, and art in general, we can look back and appreciate rock and roll’s true roots. This level of appreciation that we have for the black community’s sound is long overdue, but at the same time creates an education for the music world of today to place an importance on the art itself and not the face on the album cover.
When I was younger and listening to music groups, a big part of my satisfaction came from the artists’ appearance. I would classify there music style by how they looked and in turn identify myself with their style as well. As I’ve grown I’ve come to greatly appreciate the art of music itself, and hear the composition and creativity of the artist a lot more loudly than their clothing or hair style.