I used Spotify’s Elvisulization chart to structure this weeks blog post. If you’ve never seen it before, the chart draws more paths than I can count stemming from Elvis to band after band after band. Its done to highlight the line of influence between artists through the years. The influence each band had on each other ranges from genre to personal style. I’m going to explore the relations in the chain starting with Elvis, then Led Zeppelin, then the Beastie Boys, and finally Eminem.¹

Elvis

Elvis is known world wide as the king of rock, and to some the king of style influence. He was born in 1935 in Mississippi, rose to fame in the 50’s, and dies in 1977. His early music was influenced by gospel sounds, he was raised with church involvement since he was a baby. As his music expanded he got very involved in the rock and roll scene. His music was risqué and so were his moves. Mothers would cover daughters eyes when his dancing was shown on television. His ground breaking music and daring stage presence opened the gates for other bands to feel free in expressing themselves as he did.²

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin is always quoted on how they idolized Elvis Presley. They admired how daring he was with his music in the early days and they were inspired by that boldness, taking it a step further themselves. In my personal opinion, Led Zeppelin was the birth of the Metal Rock music, but that’s an argument for another time. Elvis cracked the rock door open, but Zep swung it wide open unafraid of potential ridicule and of how the public may react to an even heavier sound. The metal rock band has on numerous occasions credited Elvis on the moody and soulful presence in their music. Front man and lead vocalist, Robert Plant, even told Elvis the first time they met that he likes to sing his music during microphone checks before shows.³

Beastie Boys

A lot of the Beastie Boys music was about young adulthood and adolescence. They were a lot more of a hip hop/punk sounding band in comparison to other that were largely Rock ‘n’ Roll in that time. Like the influencers mentioned above, the took the genre in their own direction, mixing bluesy lyrics with heavy choruses, or hip hop beats with soulful lyrics. The Beastie Boys even used riffs from Led Zeppelins music in their own song “She’s Crafty” and had done this with LP’s song “custard Pie” too. Needless to say Zeppelin majorly influenced BB’s music, although not in the typical inspired to be themselves way, but more in the musical genius way.⁴ The band did get called out for ripping off Zeppelin, but they never seemed too mad. In fact, Jimmy Page once said they took it as a compliment.⁵ Maybe asking permission and crediting the band might have been a smart move.

Eminem

Eminem is the performance name of a 45 year old American rapper born and raised in Missouri. He grew up in poverty in ‘the hood’ of his hometown. He’s was bullied and brought up with a single mother who he describes as deadbeat and a drug addict in multiple songs.⁶ Discovering his love for music and Rap Mathers would compete in street level underground scene in Detroit and in recognized rap battles throughout Missouri, often coming out on top. In 1996 after the birth of his daughter he released his first album. A rough life gave Eminem a lot to rap about but his history wasn’t and isn’t his only source of inspiration. He made public a list showing the top rap artists that inspired him and he credits to getting him where he is today. The number two spot he gave to the Beastie Boys.⁷ In his song “Berzerk” he makes multiple references to old Beastie Boys music and told The Rollingstones Magazine “The whole song to me feels like vintage Beastie Boys” then he went on to make a face mimicking Ad-Rock in the BB song “Pass the Mic”.⁸ Although Eminem’s look is very much his own, and his music is just the same, he makes it very clear through interviews and through shout outs in songs that his motivation to make music, not necessarily the music itself (though he does love it), is largely from the bands he grew up loving.

From Elvis inspiring Led Zeppelin to kick down the rock door, to LZ influencing lyrics and music in The Beastie Boys music, to The BB’s inspiring Eminem to push himself and work towards where he is now, music wouldn’t be what it is today. Rock and roll and music in general would not have gone in the direction it has without the backbone that is Elvis. The butterfly effect of his inspiring music and not caring of what the world thinks of him has touched every artist who has surfaced since his time. A true icon.

Work Cited

1. “The Elvisualization,” accessed July 18^th, 2018 http://static.echonest.com/insights/elvis/elvisulization.html .
2. “Elvis Presley Biography,” accessed July 18^th, 2018 https://www.biography.com/people/elvis-presley-9446466 .
3. “The Day Led Zeppelin Met Elvis Presley,” accessed July 18^th, 2018 http://ultimateclassicrock.com/led-zeppelin-meet-elvis-presley/ .
4. “30 Years Ago,” accesses July 18^th, 2018 http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beastie-boys-led-zeppelin-licensed-to-ill/
6. “Eminem Biography,” accessed July 19^th, 2018 https://www.biography.com/people/eminem-9542093
7. “Eminem Names the 15 Rappers Who Influenced Him,” accessed July 19^th, 2018 http://www.howtorapbook.com/2015/07/eminem-names-the-15-rappers-who-influenced-him/.

“Eminem Talks Beastie Boys,” accesses July 19^th, 2018 https://www.complex.com/music/2013/11/eminem-talks-beastie-boys-influenc

I chose to do an entry on Mammie Smith becauseof the lack of information available on her and because mom is a big fan. I have so many memories of her and my dad dancing to Mammie’s music and I’m super excited to learn and share my findings on this awesome woman.

Mamie Smith was born in Cincinnati in 1883 with the last name Robinson, she was most known in her life for her theatrical performances; singing, dancing, and playing the piano. Unfortunately, there is little to no documentation on the early years of Mamie’s life. In the nineteenth century African American people, especially ones considered to be of lower class, were not often kept track of.¹ When she was just ten years old she joined a traveling performing group called The Four Dancing Mitchells. This was a group made up of white folk, Mammie’s inclusion wasn’t a common thing. With them, Mammie travelled America ending up in New YorkCity. It was there that she quit their act and began working in performance centers around Harlem, most prominently showcasing in the Ford Theater. In this part of her life she met director and song writer Perry Bradford for whom she acted in a show titled “Made in Harlem”.²

From there on Mamie’s career and achievements were no easy feat. After the tremendous success of Bradford’sshow, Mammie was one step closer to her recording dreams. Perry introduced her to Fred Hagar of Okeh Records with the idea of producing their songs. when word got out Hagar recieved very negative reviews along with people threatening to boycott Okeh. Despite all that Hagar took a chance and the went on to record two songs backed up by a white band. These songs were the first ever to be recorded by a female black blues singer, or by any black blues singer for that matter.³ Her songs “That Thing Called Love” and “You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down” took off and later that year she recorded her biggest hit “Crazy Blues”. The insane amount of records sold opened up the opportunity for many more black artists to record, and in turn had her inducted into the grammy hall of fame.⁴

She later found herself with a full time band of all black race and under the name “Jazz Hounds” they went on an American and European tour and were shown plenty of love for it.⁵

Mammie Smith was the true underdog of her era. She started with the struggle of being a lower class, black female in the 19th century. She poured her sweat blood and tears into doing what she loved, working her way through the industry, climbing up the social ladder, and building connections with the people who could help her. She paved the way for other women and men alike to be involved in the music industry. A girl who started as nothing is now being remebered, quoted, and awarded to this day. Unlike artists whoare credited for braking records or created new sounds, Mammie’s dent on the music world was what allowed more people of all race and gender to express their creativity.

Mamie Smith’s first song, “A Thing Called Love”, is nothing spectacular when it comes to the music itself. The vocals don’t have a huge range and the instrumentals are a very mellow sound, keeping the same tempo all the way through. Overall it is a very calm sounding song, groundbreaking only for the time and person it was released by.

“You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down” I’d say is definitely the better of the two songs she recorded together. She shows more talent here by hitting, and holding, higher andlonger notes. Mamie also throughout the song controls her voice by using quivering notes and changing her pitch frequently. Even the band picks it up in this song by changing up their sound on the chorus but holding the same beat.

I chose these first two songs as they were the first Mammie ever recorded. These were the songs that impacted the system and I think it’s important for people to understand that it wasn’t some amazing qualities of them that made a difference in the music world, it was the artist.

Mamie’s song “Crazy Blues” as stated before, was her best selling record, and for good reason. The instrumental was much more technical, the tempo was ever changing and the beat stayed on point keeping the song to remain sounding smooth and without drowning out Mamie’s voice. The conjunct melody kept the song easy to sing and tap alng with as the note weren’tjumping all over the spectrum. Along with that, Mamie’s singing abilities, the fluxuation in her voice, kept the song interesting. She was able to match the pitch changed of the instruments and did so well.

I chose this as my third song because it was Mammie’s best hit. Although she is known for her groundbreaking involvement in female black reccording, this song is the title that pops into peoples head when they think of Mammie. I wanted to explore a little further into why that was, and what made it great.

Sources Cited

1. Tracy, Steven C. (1998). Going to Cincinnati: A History of the Blues in the Queen City. University of Illinois Press. p. 5. ISBN0-252-06709-6.
2. Gates, Henry Louis; Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks (2009). Harlem Renaissance Lives from the African American National Biography. Oxford University Press US. p. 458. ISBN0-19-538795-3.
3. Oakley, Gilles (1976). The Devil’s Music: A History of the Blues. Da Capo Press. pp. 83–84.
4. Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music. Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 154. ISBN1-904041-96-5.
5. Kernfeld, Barry Dean (2002). “Mamie Smith”. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, vol. 3(2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. p. 615. ISBN 1-56159-284-6.

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