There are better videos out there, but this is how I remember him from from a show in ’68. Michael Jackson who?
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I was lucky enough to see Brown about 25 years ago in a small venue. Fantastic even when he was older.
Yea, just way too funky for this piece of white bread. I always did like his riff on “getting on the good foot….”
You know, white boys always criticized for copying/stealing the black mans music, and while that may be true for the English Invasion, Elvis was doing more moves than anyone else 10 years earlier. Made him the King.
I like how the drums in this sounds like jungle music from the mid 1990’s. That jungle music, so modern and cutting edge…
I thoroughly enjoyed that. Thanks.
Saw him in the 90’s, very entertaining.
I saw him the night MLKing was killed. Just to show that innocence was still with us amid the political assassination era, I never hesitated to go, even though I was not black.
Happy Birthday James!
Love that man.
He didn’t know karate, but he knew ka-razy
Elvis’s dance moves were a white man’s ‘interpretation’ of a black man’s dance moves. Elvis could never dance like JB. Just watch JB’s foot work. Astonishing!
He ALWAYS had one of the tightest bands around. I heard from somebody that he would fine the musicians in his band for each and every note they missed. They seldom missed though.
Tokyo–how was Elvis interpreting ANY black man’s dance moves when he came 10 years before James Brown?
the contemporaries of Elvis were Bo Diddly who had NO dance moves, just his shuffle and then a whole bunch of black guys who played piano, and then the true first black rock and roller-Little Richard who was famous for his face and voice-again NOT his dancing.
Sorry. Elvis was the King. Took a few songs from some Black writers/singers who took the same from country/Irish Singers.
True–America was built on the backs of poor people, both black and white, but that doesn’t mean the whites were “nothing but” leeches and appropriators. Everybody builds on and steals from everyone else. Roots go everywhere.
Except maybe the Japanese. What are they but a derivative white sub-culture? If you fail in America–you can still be “Big in Japan.”
He did have his imitators-
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oHqUipinDyw
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X8Ow1nlafOg
Surely the best was Eddie Murphy, getting into the Hot Tub:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jLY7Ry17C9A&feature=related
A lot of difference between him and Jackson. He was an original.
#13. Yeah, he nailed it. But he nailed it even better in the movie Dreamgirls, an homage to the great….too bad Eddie lost it. He was a major talent.
# 11 how was Elvis interpreting ANY black man’s dance moves when he came 10 years before James Brown?
You Tube has many videos of black performers dancing long before Elvis. Cab Calloway for example. These guys were doing the moon walk 30 years before Michael Jackson was born.
I do agree with you, Elvis was the King.
Elvis did not do Funk…..
period.
#16–HidetheHo==Cab was a tap/soft shoe dancer.
If there are “many youtube videos” then link to one performer before Elvis doing any hip shaking.
Then document how Elvis knew about that performer so that he could copy it.
There is “imitation” as in 100% rip off, then there is “parallel evolution” where things all develop independently with minimal borrowing and influence.
Nightline has an occasional spot highlighting a given musical performer where they interview the person for their inspiration/roots. Its telling that black and white performers “generally” have black and white artists that they took their inspiration from and from whom they currently respect. Music is a great uniter that way.
I’ll buy that A followed in B’s tracks but not that a whole race followed another race’s tracks. People are more individualized and calling out “big group” dynamics is just a gross (ie=wrong) generalization.
Thanks for sharing and reminding us to celebrate the birthday of “The hardest working man in show business!”
@McCullough… BTW Michael Jackson was inspired by JB to be all that he could be.
Bobbo What kind of dancer was Elvis?
#20–Hi==excellent debating point==but irrelevant and out of context.
This issue is “moves” or “dance moves” or “presentation style” as part of delivering public performances of music. To that end, dance just became the quick reference in this discussion–although I did use “moves” at my initial breach.
Indeed, if Elvis is not dancing at all, then he could not have been copying Cab Calloway or any other “dancer.”
And recasting the issue, its really not “the moves” but the music that white rock and rollers get slammed for “stealing” from original black artists. “Art” even rockabilly or Mississippi Mud Blues is too interactive to give too much credit to one group or another. Some say Rock only started with the Electric Guitar==a white boys invention.
Let’s not lose sight of the Main point: enjoy as much of it as you can?
#19. True, I see a lot of Jackson in those moves. I guess it’s the funk not the pop, that I prefer.
Thanks for digging these clips up John. This is the good stuff: the upside of the internet.
Consider this my tipping point; No Agenda gets $25 a month until paypal decides you have had enough.
Thanks for all the great content over the years.
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