What are you listening to?

[Lindsay's Liver]

I'm in an Elvis phase right now

Reliving your twenties, huh?

They were great times! Elvis, malt shops, whites-only drinking fountains! You kids will never understand.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

Come to think about it: Why hasn't Elvis the Cultural Appropriator been cancelled yet?

[Guest]

Come to think about it: Why hasn't Elvis the Cultural Appropriator been cancelled yet?

It's been tried

[Lindsay's Liver]

Young generations don't care enough about Elvis to have strong feelings about him either way, but when he does come up in conversation, depending on the group, there's always some blowhard who wants to dismiss him because he "stole black music". They might even quote the line from "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy, who young people also don't care about anymore, that calls Elvis a "straight-out racist".

The truth, meanwhile, is complicated. Elvis, and all early white rockers, were definitely influenced by black music, but they were also influenced by country music. And Elvis was from an era where everybody stole from everybody.

And as much as I love Chuck Berry, who was in his 30s when he started having hits, and Little Richard, who was gay, they just weren't going to appeal to the screaming girl element like Elvis did.

[Moe Bitches]

But, I like Fight the Power....
....I speak for all young people.

[Lindsay's Liver]

That's great. 80s, early 90s Public Enemy was amazing. I never see young people talk about them anymore, but maybe I just don't notice because I'm old.

[Guest]

Public Enemy sort of recanted their Elvis hatred. Situation is, like you say, somewhat complicated. Because, yeah, Elvis did 'steal' a lot from black musicians but he was also first to credit black musicians with being rock and roll pioneers, admitted that he didn't sing better than a lot of black singers and Elvis did a lot to increase the visibility and popularity of that kind of music to the point that a lot of black singers were copying Elvis

[RAPEMAN]

Rockers like Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry owe a lot to artists like Elvis for opening the doors to black blues/rock musicians to mainstream America. Music and cuisine have always been the one thing where cultures intertwine and should never be dictated to certain groups of people.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

Don't worry. It's just a matter of time before tumblrinas tell us it's problematic to cook foreign food.

[Guest]

Don't worry. It's just a matter of time before tumblrinas tell us it's problematic to cook foreign food.

They've been doing that for at least five years now.