The Uphill Climb for Elvis to Get His "Props"

Elvis (Presley's) career while he was alive, was really from 1956 to 1977...two years longer, if you count the Sun Records years, so that's a scant twenty-three years at most. Tomorrow marks the thirty-second anniversary of EP's passing.
In Jerry Hopkin's unofficial biography of Elvis, he made reference to a group of people he called "the hipper than thou!" These are the people who deny the real beginnings of rock music and act as if it all started with the "British Invasion." Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and most importantly, Elvis have traditionally been "dissed" in favor of the Brits who recycled their rock in the sixties.
This invasion came at a time when rock had finally gone "corporate." Machines had begun to spoon out pseudo-rock pablum, which became the birth pangs of bubble gum music.
Teens tired of the likes of Fabian, Bobby Darin, and Bobby Rydell and had begun to listen to what was labeled as "folk" music. The Kingston Trio, became popular, if you'll recall with genuine folk songs, but a young Bob Dylan began writing socially conscious songs that a growing underground was listening to mainly in Greenwich Village, New York. Dylan's style was raw and rough and not yet palatable to the masses.
Two network television shows, "Shindig" and "Hullabaloo" featured this music and I recall seeing a young Dylan appear on the show. Peter, Paul and Mary began recording songs written by him.
Meanwhile in England, groups like the Beatles were recycling Rockabilly and early rock 'n' roll and putting their own spin on the genre.After the "Fab Four" came to the US and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, suddenly rock was beginning to be looked upon by the snobs, pseudo-intellectuals and other elitists as an "art form."
You would hear people who were trying to be "with it" utter the words, "The King is Dead...(meaning Elvis) Long Live the Beatles!" If you happened to be a pre-teen at that time you were told that you had to no longer dress like a "greaser" ala Fonzie, and begin dressing "collegiate" (now called "preppy" and in my sister's day, "prep")
This was the beginnings of the people Hopkins referred to as the "hipper than thou."
By the time of Elvis' passing in 1977, some comedians with this attitude had taken up positions in such programs as Saturday Night Live and before that, Laugh-In.
Elvis, who stayed in trouble in his youth for speaking up for black people and was Southern, but never a redneck, hick and certainly not a bigot, was characterized that way. His bloating, proven later to be caused by incorrect prescriptions he was allergic to, was characterized as being "fat."
Elvis had struggled with weight his entire life, but Saturday Night Live portrayed him as something he never was. They truly deserved one of Elvis' karate chops!
There has been cause for both rejoicing and mourning in the three-decade-plus after his leaving this insane planet.
Just a few years back, I was surprised to see a three-year-old look at a jukebox in a diner and say, "LOOK, Mommy! It's ELVIS!" My own Grandaughter loves him. There were the remixes of "A Little Less Conversation" and "Rubberneckin' " that both went straight to number one on the charts. Re-releases, unretouched of some of Elvis' classics have gone to the number one position in Great Britain in recent years.
But the folks who brought us "American Idol" have taken over management of the Elvis Estate BUSINESS-wise and have prostituted his legacy, by having the likes of Celine Dion do a faux duet with Elvis on the show and have had their wannabe contestants visit Graceland as though they are somehow the torch carriers of what he started. This is sad, indeed.
People who remark that Elvis is the "easiest person to do" have heard one too many wannabe "Elvi" and too many stupid commercials where the only thing they know about him is that he'd say, "Thank ye, verr much." For Heaven's sake, they don't even get the DIALECT right! Often what you hear now, is a characterization, of an impression of a mockery of Elvis at best.
Today there is an Elvis channel on satellite radio. This is the ONLY source I know of, other than the Elvis recording library where you can hear, Rock, Country, Blues, Ballads, Crooning, Gospel and more, sounding as if it's sung by as many artists and yet, it's the work of one single man! Elvis remains, unmatched, irreplaceable, and INCREDIBLE! We miss you, EP!