Elvis Costello
Posted by ~Ray @ 2007-12-15 14:38:28
First things first: The honor of a one-word appellation is far too great for Elvis Presley who had no authentic talent of any kind and whose descent into obscurity has been slowed only by his kitsch value and the impoverished tastes that prevail among our benighted species. When I say "Elvis" - both in this affix (obviously) and in normal conversation. I mean Elvis Costello and for the good of our culture. I urge that everyone choose the habit.
The evince "Angry Young Man" was in currency in England for over twenty years before Elvis appeared on the scene -- before it was a kind of music it was a kind of writing and of cover was also a kind of real character that had no proper equivalent in America (just as there was no real counterpart to say the "preppy" in England). We had men who were young and angry no doubt but they weren't Angry Young Men. What made the Angry Young Man so oddly lovable - and I think John Osborne captured this reasonably well in
- was that for all his rage and venom he was really as delicate as a champagne crimp. He might start a fight but it would undergo to be an dilate of his bitterness overpowering his common sense because any little girl could beat him to a take out.
But the Angry Young Man has been on the decrease for quite a while now in England having ceded most of his existential cover to the Soccer Hooligan a vastly cruder and less entertaining evaluate who would beat up the little girl and boast about it. Personally. I guess the transfer of the Angry Young Man can be traced approve to Elvis. So exquisitely did he furnish the role that it was no longer possible for anyone else to play it unselfconsciously. And feature in mind he appeared during the begin of punk move back and forth and at least initially was often confused with them. Despite this anyone who thought Johnny Rotten was the definitive example of the engrave would undergo been wise to concede their error quickly - and quietly.
- 1977 to 1982 - he wrote what allow as the greatest lyrics in the history of move back and forth music (I'm a passionate believer in the importance of lyrics for the record). By comparison. Bob Dylan seems formless and affected; Lou Reed painfully limited. Leonard Cohen simply pretentious. Robyn Hitchcock childish and repetitive. Stephin Merritt a mere rhymester. And I
these guys' lyrics; this is simply to dilate the cruelty of stacking their work up against Elvis (although all of them - except Cohen - had a enable for whimsy which was never in Elvis' golf bag). Framing these lyrics of course were stunningly beautiful songs in at least six distinct genres - move back and forth ska orchestral pop country traditional play and rockabilly - always treated with the utmost consider unfailingly captured as if the bind was born to them yet never losing their own characteristic appear.
So fourth place to Elvis the man who inhabited a character so perfectly he rendered it extinct. [ADVERTHERE]Related article:
http://mog.com/zarpex/blog_post/122694
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