Page 8- The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 25, 1990 It's an Elvis thing, you wouldn't understand a by rorrest green. ill "Elvis was a hero to most but he never meant shit to me cause he was racist, the sucker was simple and plain; motherfuck him and John Wayne, cause I'm Black and I'm proud, ready, hyped cause I'm amped most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps... look back if you check it, you'llfind nothing but rednecks for four hundred years." -Public Enemy, "Fight the Power" of classes and had a beer with me. Actually, they're all living here in Ann Arbor, on Church near East Quad. As bizarre as these statements sound, their prevailing parallel, the immortal status of Elvis Aaron Pres- ley, is no less so. Not very deserv- ing, to say the least, is the arbitrar- ily christened "King," who was nothing more than a dim-witted char- latan who stole the soul and then pushed it for every boffo he could get. To cite the now- legendary quote regarding the appeal of "a white man with the Negro sound and the Negro feel," is not conclusive enough to truly subvert Elvis' silly posthu- mous rule. Presley's style was a bas- tard product of '50s Negro fashion, plain and simple. Before his "rule" began, Presley was shopping at Memphis' Beale street and emulating the style now looked at on sitcoms like Good Times as ludicrous. Presley wore a hair grease pop- ularized by Black America to assimi- late the "process" hairdo, also worn by Little Richard and the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. The Royal Crown Pomade hair grease Elvis used, as well as its modern-day forms, are considered symbolic of self-hatred, used to make Blacks look white. But Elvis used it in order to look Black, or rather like Blacks try- ing to look white. A Black man named Otis Blackwell wrote a sizable amount of Presley's hits, two of which are "All Shook Up" and "Don't Be Cruel." To be exact, it was Presley's approx- imation of Black sexuality that made him a star. The swagger of the 20- year-old Elvis' pelvis made him a threat to whiter-than-white America, and so so much more threatening to the Eurocentric mindset of the coun- try. A tantamount gesture would be Madonna's infamous holding-the- crotch picture, a Black man's pose of sexual confidence exploded into meaninglessness in the anarchic '90s. Yet despite these vestiges of Presley's absolute theft of the Negro soul of the '50s, his only memo- rable quote about the subject goes, "the only thing niggers can do for me is buy my records and shine my shoes." The fact that everyone still adores Elvis is a benign one; we could hold onto worse cultural icons. His approximation of Black America's style and white America's love for it connotes some degree of respect for "the Black (who) don't know how to act." Rather, what makes this country of ours so ass-backwards is its insistence of raising the 13 years- 0 H ey, guess what? I saw Robert Johnson over at super Meijer this weekend! And I know you won't be- lieve it, but Jimi Hendrix was at the Hash Bash last April. That's right, the Voodoo Chile himself sold me a quarter bag in the Diag. It was in- tense, baby. And I know this is a lit- tle unbelievable, but Marvin Gaye stopped by my apartment first week Elvis may have been King and all, but profession with more than just a little Little Richard. dead rock star on a makeshift throne. This implies many absurd ideas, the least of which that Presley had any control or logic to his career rather than resembling the puppet-act New Kids on the Block in his absolute dearth of autonomy. Elvis remains at the very top of America's influence mountain, over true pioneers like Little Richard, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. In the past two decades, popular music was more about crossing over than anything. Sting and Paul Simon went African, while Prince went psychedelic and crossover cow- ardice abounded. Cultural authentic- ity quickly blurred in the poorly-bal- anced exchange of motifs. In the '70s and '80s, the concept of Elvis' White Shadow hairdo could only be considered brilliant. But in this radi- cal new decade, Black folks want more, "a piece of this rock," as Chuck D. states in the timely "Brothers Gonna Work it Out." One only has to look at Ice-T's missing perm to see that Black is back with a vengeance. In this resurgence of Black and African pride, it's no longer very ac- ceptable to fade oneself, as contem- porary rap lyrics will attest. The closely-related concepts of club, rap, dance and house music are the most sweeping and influential forms to- like all good monarchs (not to mention fascists), he rose to the top of his help from the people he stepped on - people like James Brown and day. Rap records grounded with street language, concepts and mentality force white people to listen to how the other side lives. And even a danc- ing minstrel like M.C. Hammer can top the charts nowadays with a blend of urban dance styles and bravado. The message is very simple in terms of the music world: Black folks are going to have a much bigger say this time. Now is simply not the time to bow down in senseless reverence to White Shadows like Presley, but rather to give proper kudos to musi- cians who strive to balance the scales. Acts like Soul II Soul, Pub- lic Enemy, N.W.A., Prince, and least of all, Living Colour, risk commercial failure in order to put across their bold messages. Unashamed of their Blackness, Liv- ing Colour is simply an uncanny presence in rock in this time of Wingers, Whitesnakes and assorted Great Whites, to say the least. Keeping up with their ground- breaking contemporaries, the band points now to the past for glory, and reminds their dazed-and-confused au- dience that "Elvis is Dead." Speak- ing about the song, Vernon Reid rightfully says that white America continues its bleach-feeding lies at the cost of distorting basic rock 'n' roll truths. "A lot of people loved Hendrix, but nobody says they saw W him at the Steak N Shake or the Wal-Mart," he states. Not only is Elvis dead, but his corpse is rotten and rank with deterioration. Still, to come right out and denounce his adu- lating public takes a measurable bit of chutzpah from this great, under- rated but anomalous rock band. It is all very good for America to remember its heroes, but when a whole race of people stands up and says "ENOUGH," as voiced in songs like "Fight the Power" and "Elvis is Dead," a schism yawns wide. Whites will explain that they aren't racist, but merely believe that Elvis is God. But this attitude is still bluntly insensitive, much like the degrada tion-therapy shirts that taunt, "It's a Black thing. You wouldn't under- stand." When whites shiver and quiver at pro-Black voices like Pub- lic Enemy's, Black people under- stand and turn their music down ac- cordingly. But the concept of Pres- leymania, however corny it may be, seems to reign in the stagnant psy- che of the collective American. Ul- timately, Blacks will nod in ac- knowledgement of this bizarre phe- nomenon. Ultimately, they'll walk away, thinking "Fuck Elvis." Livng Colour are tough and don't you forget it. They are one of the few groups today who aren't afraid to step on sacred ground and say what they really think of a man who has perhaps been revered for too long. FREE MEDIUM SOFT DRINK 1 with purchase of any sandwich after 5pm ground floor, Michigan Union expires October 31, 1990 COLLEGIATE INVENTORS INDIVIDUALS OR TEAMS YOUR IDEAS COULD WIN $5,000 Join the Daily Arts staff ... Look for announcements about our general meeting. F? Michigan 11V1 1C:3999 ORDER YOUR MICHIGANENSIAN TODAY TO ENJOY YOUR COLLEGE MEMORIES FOREVER! ...that last a lifetime. 0{ _____________________________________________________________I, MM" At Amoco Corporation, your degree can be the key to a rewarding career. Come visit our display at the SWE-TBP career fair and learn about our global energy and chemical enterprise. You'll like what you hear. And 11 (PLUS $2,500 FOR FACULTY ADVISORS) tz- MASS MEETINGS you "i"i when we campus t Staff from the National Invention Center will explain the BFGoodrich Collegiate Inventors' Program THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1990 4.t m - n.,aiAi frium ce on come on o interview. Amoco corporauion at the University of Michigan's SWE-TBP Career Fair Date: September 26, 1990 Time: 10:00 AM. -4.00 P.M. Place: North Campus Commons Thinking About Majoring In English?.) Join us any Tuesday this Fall, 3:30 to 4:30, in the 7th Floor Lounge of Haven Hall -'