A Star Defended Elvis From Accusations of Cultural Appropriation
Elvis Presley might have been accused of cultural appropriation more than any other singer. A famous singer from the 1960s didn’t seem to take issue with the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll taking inspiration from Black music. Of course, her perspective is not universal.
A member of a Black girl group didn’t feel Elvis Presley committed cultural appropriation
Darlene Love was a member of the Black girl group The Blossoms, which worked with Phil Spector. The Blossoms released classic tunes such as “He’s Sure the Boy I Love” and “He’s a Rebel,” both of which were incorrectly attributed to The Crystals. As a solo singer, Love became most known for a pair of Christmas recordings: the seasonal favorite “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and the Home Alone 2 soundtrack single “All Alone on Christmas.”
During a 2018 interview with The Village Voice, Love was asked if Elvis appropriated music. “That’s just the way it was,” she said. “A lot of people think a white person is copying the Black person. He just loved the music and he was singing it the way he felt.”
Love contrasted the original version of “Hound Dog” with Elvis’ more famous cover. “He sang ‘Hound Dog’ completely different than Mama Thornton,” she opined. It’s fair to say that Thornton’s rendition of the song was a thumping blues number whereas Elvis’ was an early rock ‘n’ roll song.
Darlene Love seemed to dismiss claims Elvis Presley stole gospel music
Love commented on the relationship between different genres of music. “Even today, they take secular music and put it in gospel, and vice versa,” she said. “You know, Elvis won three Grammys, and they were all for gospel records.”
Love was asked if the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll had a strong connection to gospel music or if he was just stealing it. “I found out years later, when we were doing the comeback special, that his mother’s favorite music was gospel,” she said. “He would always sing gospel around her. I think if he could have had a big career in gospel music, that’s where he would have been.
“But you can always make more money off secular hits,” Love added. “Elvis had 10 or 15,000 people come to his shows to see him. Today, they have mega-churches that hold 25,000, but back then, you were doing great if you had 500 people.”
Boz Scaggs made similar comments about cultural appropriation
Love is not the only star to have this perspective on the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. During a 2017 interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune, Bozz Scaggs defined the “All Shook Up” singer by saying that all art is the result of stealing from other artists. He didn’t see Elvis as any more of a thief than any other musician. In his opinion, every artist has their own influences.
Of course, others have taken a more critical view of the “Can’t Help Falling in Love” singer. Public Enemy famously denounced Elvis in their most important song: “Fight the Power.” The 2017 documentary The King also places Elvis’ music in the context of American racism.
