If Strummer was twice as important as Elvis was to you, I believe you.

As to you knowing a lot of people who feel the same, I also believe you.

But, given that Elvis was twice, if not ten, or even twenty times as important to Strummer himself, as he was to you, and this by Strummer's own admission, then don't be surprised when, at the touch of a finger hitting an OK button on any given search engine, the difference in how the public at large, today, not in 1956, or in 1970, or in 1977, but I repeat, today, thirty one years after Presley passed away, feels about the need to know about the two, is about 28 million less hits for Strummer (31.8 to 2.8 million, to be exact)

However, don't dispair, since its's nice to be in the minority.

On the other hand, when the following individuals have been, and are, on record as stating that Elvis Presley drastically and altered the actual course of their lives, or who consider him the greatest, most important singer in history, then you really should start to worry.

I am also providing the year that the radical change took place, so here's the list.

i) Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Johnny Rivers, Mac Davis, Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly (The Crickets), Levon Helm (The Band), Buddy Knox, Waylon Jennings, Eddie Cochrane,
all from July 5, 1954 to November 1955.

ii) Paul Mc Cartney and John Lennon (Beatles), Bob Dylan, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Gram Parsons (Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers), Randy Bachman (Guess Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive), Roger Daltrey (The Who), Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones), Bruce Springsteen (E Steet Band), Johnny Tillotson, Rick Nelson, Mike Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac), Cher, Elton John, Isaac Hayes, Paul Simon (Simon and Garfunkel), Brian Wilson (Beach Boys), Loretta Lynn, Alvin Lee (Ten Years After) and Gordon Lightfoot, all in 1956.

iii) Rod Stewart (Small Faces), Johnny Hallyday, Cliff Richard (The Shadows), Bobby Solo, Roberto Carlos, Cauby Peixoto, Eric Burdon (The Animals), Jimi Hendrix, Jose Feliciano, Engelbert Humperdinck, all in 1957.

iv) Freddy Fender, Tom Jones, Jimmy Buffet, Ian Gillan (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath), Glenn Campbell, Billy Joel, all in 1958 and 1959.

v) Al Green, Barry White, Otis Redding, Freddy Mercury (Queen), all in 1960,

vi) Kenny Rogers (First Edition), Huey Lewis (The News), K. D. Lang, Tom Petty (Heartbreakers), Faith Hill, Brian Setzer (Stray Cats), Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake and Palmer), Kiri Te Kanawa, Bryn Terfel, Tobias Sammet, Bono (U2), Samuel Ramey and Robert Wallace, from 1961 till now.

Now, just as an exercise, and for starters, kidly tell me about those musicians whose lives were radically altered by Joe Strummer, or by the Clash. And by radical change I do not mean just that once they heard them they liked the songs so much, that they started playing them, or were even inspired by them. That is influence, certainly, but what I mean with the term radical change is that they were rather into something else, then saw, or heard Joe Strummer and decided, right there and then, to make rock music their life's work. That's radically altering the life of someone.

Actually, in the Clash's case, there's a lot of musicians whose lives they altered touched. You can find it on the net. Do your research. I've done mine.

But, one thing I tell you in advance, and that is the actual impossibility for the list of musicians whose lives Strummer altered( or anyone else in popular music, for that matter), to be longer, more impressive and especially more eclectic, than the one I just provided for you.

The founding of a musical and cultural revolution, a lasting one, has never been, nor will it ever be, strictly a matter of virtuosity...

Have a nice day!!

Strummer more important than Elvis? Give me a break.

Nobody is more important than Elvis. He is everywhere and not just in music.

Elvis was the man who broke down cultural barriers in 1950's U.S.A. which made it possible for all artists who followed him , including Strummer, to have a career in music.

Elvis was 'sui generis' and there will never be another like him. I firmly believe he will be the start of a new religion in years to come.

Jonsey started an Elvis battle!

Thank you! I will have a nice day! However, I don't think I need to do 'research' on a personal preference of mine, nor do I think I need to 'research' the fact that the Clash and Joe Strummer are more respected, musically and culturally, than is Elvis by many people. And while I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Quinn, and Mojo Nixon, that 'Elvis is everywhere', I question the premise that ubiquity=quality; and I'm sure there must already be a Church of Elvis somewhere (and its choice of diety is no sillier than any other organized religion). Elvis is fine, but I was much more affected by Joe Strummer's passing, and his music, than I will ever be by Mr. Presley. Oh, and just to throw another log on this particular fire- he's not even my favorite Elvis. 'Radio/ It's a sound salvation/ Radio/ It's cleanin' up the nation/ They say you'd better listen to the voice of reason/ But they don't give you any choice 'cause they think that it's treason..."

Love & Music,
VP Jones!

Sweet merciful crap Jonsey, what have you done?
It's not enough to take on organized religion, the right wing, Free Masons, baby boomers,and Hank Steinbrenner...but now the cult of Elvis? Don't you know the power they have?

Are you trying to get my blog blacklisted?

Hi VP Jones!! So you question the premise that ubiquity=quality but, then, in the same sentence, you speak about a Church of Elvis and then make a mention that he's not even your favorite Elvis, Costello being the one you prefer.

I am OK with the letter statement, after all, as they say in Spanish, "entre gustos y colores, no han escrito los autores", but what has the Church of Elvis or, Mojo Nixon, or I'll throw you another two or three variables, the Elvis Party, the 74,345 Elvis impersonators out there, or the fact he dies on the toilet, have to do with the ubiquity equals quality business?

I just mentioned to you, in my previous message, the people whose life Presley radically altered, and, let me assure you, none of them "went the rock way" after seeing him live, or listening to him in the early stages of rock and roll, thinking, let alone knowing that quality, of all attributes, was missing in Presley's delivery.

Quite to the contrary...

Hey Justin, do you actually believe that the so-called "cult of Elvis" has anything to do with, say, the unsurprising fact that Elvis Presley fused, in 1954, on July 5th, to be exact, the two most important musical idioms then in existance in America? Not some obscure off spring of one of the two, with the illegimate son of another. The two most important..

Fats Domino sang R&B since 1950, and Little Richard did likewise since 1953, and they both influenced the then 16 year old Elvis, but none of them, let alone Bill Haley, who released "Rock around the clock" in early 1954, had a single record that, on one side, took the blues into another territory, rockabilly, whilst simulataneously doing the same to C&W music, on its B side and, again, producing "Rockabilly". No one did it, before Elvis. And, if that was simple, why no one did before? Have you checked Hank Williams' stuff? In the late 40's? He sang the blues, but in a country style, creating nothing as a result.

Moreover, by the time Chuck Berry came up with "Maybelline", and Bo Diddley released "Bo Diddley", both in mid-1955, 11 months (eleven months), had passed with Presley repeating the initial fuse, not with one, not with two, but with three similar "fusing" singles.

That's why the SUN Sessions have been included in the US Library of Congress, as amongst the recordings that changed the world.

I do not see either the Clash, the Sex Pistols, or Elvis Costello ever getting that kind of recognition, not in the foreseeable future, their cult notwithstanding...

Furthermore, I see no connexion between the power of the "Elvis cult", as you call it, and the fact these recordings got the recognition they truly deserve...

The Clash's "London Calling" album is known for being the first to imitate, on its cover, the layout of Presley's first album. It wasn't the last, with Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls (2000), Marc Bailey, (2004), K.D. Lang (2006); the producers of “Roots of Elvis� (2005), and jazzman Cyrus Chesnut in his 2007 album “Cyrus plays Elvis�, following in quick succession.

But what people do not seem to know, or to ackowledge, is the unsurprising fact that the beating of a guitar, into the floor, as seen in that cover, was not something Strummer got out after seeing Pete Townsend of The Who doing it (since 1967), but from seeing Presley's third film, "Jailhouse Rock", ten years earlier, in 1957..

Again, he was the first...

Yeah! Justin's away! Anarchy! Anarchy! Anarchy! Anarchy!

Whether people, today, realize it or not, the matter of Elvis' presence being felt throughout the world, has as much to do with the Elvis cult, as it does with the fascination that exists with both his tragic end, and how truly multi-dimensional his talent and personality really were, many in fact, reflecting the every day lives of millions upon millions of people the world over.

No matter how much bashing he takes, there is no escaping his being there, in four separate exhibits in as many Presidential Libraries, in 25 statues and at least 20 streets and avenues named after him in every corner of the world, in Music Hall of Fames and Museums, such as Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill was born, probably the farthest place where the not so well informed would think they would find a Presley reference. But he is there, too...

This has very little to do with the Presley cult, if one can call a cult a movement of millions of people throughout the world whose lives were touched by the magic he had.

Back in the fifties, his fan base consisted of women, of all social backgrounds, and young men, mostly of middle class origin. Today, 31 years after he passed away, he is equally revered by royals, Presidents, Prime Ministers and politicians, in every corner of the world, as he is by intellectuals and scientists who give a hoot about being either politically correct or not, in stating their admiration for him.

Musicians as savvy as Bono, Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney have, on various ocassions "stunned" their interviewers by saying that Elvis was the one. Still, and in spite of these and thousands of accolades, coming from people much more well informed, Presley continues to ellicit envy, from obviously complexed individuals who either do not know the difference between not liking Presley, or his music, because they just don't get it (which would be totally acceptable), and discarding him altogether for being something he was never supposed to be, namely a songwriter or a guitar virtuoso.

And, as long as there are people like that, and as long as there are ways for those who do not share those views, then there will be messages such as this. It has little to do with a cult...

Don't make me quote Public Enemy at you, guys...I will do it...

VP Jones,

Hi!! I can't believe that, on the one hand, you are well aware of what "Public Enemy" said in 1989, but, on the other, you are totally, and I mean totally in the dark as to what Chuck D, himself, said about Elvis, retracting the earlier statement once he was better informed.

Since I am not going to leave everyone in suspense, espcially those that don't know what we are talking about, here are the two statements, made by the same man...

"Elvis was a hero to most but he never meant shit to me.Yes, he's a straight-out racist.The sucker was simple and plain".
(1989, Public Enemy, in "Fight The Power")

Thirteen years later...

"Elvis was a brilliant artist. As a musicologist — and I consider myself one — there was always a great deal of respect for Elvis, especially during his Sun sessions. As a black people, we all knew that. (In fact), Eminem is the new Elvis because, number one, he had the respect for black music that Elvis had.
(Chuck D, explaining how his feelings for Elvis'legacy are much more complicated than it was suggested by the lyrics in his song, "Fight The Power", written 13 years earlier (published following an interview with the Associated Press in connexion with the 25th Anniversary of Presley's death)

VP Jones

Hi again!!! I think we should all understand that, no matter how famous a person is, or how influential, or how powerful, the things that that person says do not necessarily mean that the person has done enough research when making a statement about either a political matter, or about another person, or about another performer, as was the case with Chuck D, in 1989.

But he must have done some research, for what he said 13 years later, was totally different.

Incidentally, retracting statements about Presley are legendary, the two coming from Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby are, or were (until Chuck D did the just thing) the most noteworthy.

The way Chuck D explained it, in front of the TV cameras for the "Elvis lives" special, there was the matter of Elvis receiving all kinds of accolades when those that influenced him did, or or do not. That, he believes is not fair. And I agree.

He also mentioned the Elvis stamp (which funnily enough, happened five years after he wrote the song...) and the matter of people calling him the "King", but gone were the allegatioons that he had ripped black musicians, or that he was a racist. But what he said about Elvis having great respect for blck music, and how talented he was, was more than enough. Every Elvis fan in the world (the special was seen by 39 million people) who saw that special, was happy enough, in spite of Mary Blige's ridiculous statement. She was also in the special but, obviously unaware of the Chuck D retraction, said (albeit thanfully off-camera), exactly what Chuck D had said in 1989!! Incredible!!

In the same special, B.B. King, who really knew him well (when they were both starting, in Memphis, circa 1954), said he deserved the title. Finally, if Mohammed Ali, who also knew Presley quite well, said that the only person he admired in the entire world, was Elvis Presley, then enough said, wouldn't you agree?

Or do you think Mary Blige is better informed than Muhammmed Ali about any topic under the sun?

There are only five people, out of say, 100,000 in every facet of the entertainment world and outside of it, all in the course of the last 60 years, who have said some really nasty, but untrue things about Elvis Presley.

Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Bo Diddley were three who retracted. Ray Charles was the fourth. He never did. Marlon Brando was the fifth, and he never did, either.

Care to know what Elvis did, other than to declare their total admiration for each of the five, to even begin to deserve the statements they made about him?

Hi!
Again, I don't think I'll need to do much 'research' on a personal preference (which is how this all began). I think oe Stummer was a better musician and a more important figure than Elvis Presley. A lot of people feel the same. It's true. No research needed.

Also, hey, senses of humor about onesself and one's (dare I say in your case) obsessions is a fun component of a well-rounded individual. Howsabout looking into that?

Love,
VP Jones

Fine, let us say that you don't need to do research about the matter of you liking Joe Strummer twice, or thrice, or twenty times more than you like Elvis.

But you must also agree that you ended up with a big tart on your face for not knowing about the Chuck D retraction.

And, moreover, it is precisely that lack of research that has you and the people you mention believing Strummer is more important than Elvis, unless of course you are limiting that notion to you, personally, and to those people you know feel the same way.

One in every 1,000 people, would agree with you, including 99 percent of music and rock historians.

Love to you too,
Jim

Hm..
Well, I'm not sure that I got a big 'tart' on my face for anything, but that's mainly because I have no idea what that refers to. Like a pie? Or and smaller, fruit-filled baked good? I ask merely for information.

Oh, and that baked good you suggest I have on my face because of my purported neglect of doing 'research' into the 'Chuck D retraction'? Well, see, here's the thing with that...your assumption that my temerity in asserting that there are many many many people who do not share your fetishistic obsession with Elvis Presley is based on one, slightly misinformed, concept...THAT I AM SOME ILL-INFORMED NITWIT WHO DOESN'T KNOW EVERY, BELABORED, 'RESERACHED' 'FACT' THAT YOU CONTINUE, AT NAUSEATING LENGTH, TO TROT OUT. See, I know all about Elvis. I know all about the history of rock music. I know about the blues. I've seen more Elvis movies than you have. (Trust me on this). I own Elvis Presley records. I have, as a well-read, well-listened thinking human being, evaluated these things that you're saying and...wait for it...I STILL DISAGREE WITH YOU. Not everyone who disagress with you needs a patronizing lecture. Sometimes...and this may be a shocker...they JUST DISAGREE WITH YOU. They're not dumb, or ignorant of those 'facts' that you have so assiduously 'researched' in your fetishistic, hero-worshipping flogging of an overrated, long-dead icon who was in the right place at the right time, had some showmanship, and slowly but inexorably retreated into self-parody and excess. (Oh, did that seem patronizing?) Oh, and I'm going to need to see some 'research' on the whole '1 in 1000 people agree' with you thing, by the way...maybe you could get on that.). There are plenty of examples of the American public blindly loving something completely unworthy; and I'M NOT EVEN SAYING PRESLEY WAS UNWORTHY. Jesus, god. There are lots of people, myself front and center, who listen to the Clash and Joe Strummer and feel moved, feel inspired, feel excited, feel the warm, tingling glow of genius and who do not feel the same thing about Elvis Presley. And, see, that's the thing...I don't feel the need to tell you you're wrong for feeling the same thing about your chosen idol.

And, hey, that whole, clearly-to-anyone-not-in-a-red-rage 'don't make me quote Public Enemy' thing was clearly a playful jab at those who seem to be taking this whole thing (where some guy happened to state that Joe Strummer was someone he, shocking as it may seem, found much more interesting than Elvis Presley) waaaaaaaaaay too seriously. Just adding some Cliff Notes there.

Dear Mr. Tart-on-face Jones,

A full one-third of North America and one-fifth of Belgium considers themselves fans of Elvira, regardless of what NWA had to say about her (Ice Cube later retracted his statement regarding Elvira being "schlocky", by the way, you ignoramus. Don't you know you can read back issues of Vibe on microfiche? Reading old periodicals on microfiche is ALL I DO! You probably don't even know how to work the machine!). Do your homework the next time you write a capsule review of a home video release! Your opinion is meaningless unless you can back it up with statistics, you opinion-having, well-informed, well-spoken, even-tempered buffoon! Do you even know what an opinion is? It's idolatry, moron! You base an opinion on the hero worship of the majority, or don't you know? Yeesh -- you probably find Jane Russell more attractive than Marilyn Monroe! You are wrong. Marilyn Monroe is the more attractive of the two because she was the blond one, and everyone (three-fifths of according to the 2000 census) knows blonds are prettier than brunettes! Even if a brunette makes you feel something more real than a blond, that doesn't mean you can like Jane Russell more than Marilyn; can't you understand that Marilyn is an icon worthy of our scientifically-based respect? Go back to college, college boy! You make me sick (one-third upset to my stomach, and one-eighth to my large intestine. Also some [less than 1%] tracheal irritation), you weirdo!

In closing, rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Furthermore, I refer you to my collection of bumper stickers.

What I'm trying to say is, don't you ever, EVER, EVER, NEVER, EVER, NEVER, NERVER, NEVERNEN give a less than glowing review to the makers of "Superhero Movie"! Your lukewarmitudeness is reviling.

I shudder.

Hey VP

Here´s just one twelfth (1/12th, his r&b output, only), of the reasons why Joe Strummer as well as thousands upon thousands of musicians and music critics feel Elvis was the one whose work shook the music world, circa 1954, and beyond, to its very foundation.

And it has never been the same since.

That’s all right(Crudup)/Good Rockin' Tonight(Brown)/Milkcow Blues(Arnold)/Mystery Train (Jr. Parker)/Baby, let's play house (Gunter)/My babe left me (Crudup)/Lawdy, Miss Clawdy (Price)/Shake, Rattle and roll (alt, Stone )/So Glad You're Mine (Crudup)/I’m gonna sit down and cry over you (Biggs)/One-sided love affair (Campbell)/I Got A Woman (Charles)/Trying To Get To You (Singleton-McCoy)/One night (Bartholomew-King)/When it Rains it Really Pours (Emerson)/Don’t be cruel (Blackwell)/ Rip it up (Blackwell)/Long Tall Sally (Johnson)/Ready Teddy (Blackwell)/I need you so (Hunter)/All shook up (Blackwell)/Hard Headed Woman (Demetrius)/Ain't that loving you baby(fast version, Hunter)/Like a baby (Stone)/Reconsider, Baby (Stone)/I Feel So Bad (Willis)/I want you with me (Harris)/Memphis, TN(Berry)/What I’d say (Charles)/Big Boss Man (Smith/Dixon)/Down in the alley (Stone)/Stranger In My Own Home Town (Mayfield)/Only the strong survive (Butler)/Baby what You Want Me To Do (Reed, live 69)/My Babe(Dixon, live 69)/Tiger Man (Burns, live 69)/See See Rider (Trad. live70)/Merry Christmas, Baby (Moore)/Got my mojo working-Hands off her(Foster)/Promised Land (Berry)/Shake a hand (Adams)/ Pledging My Love(Washington)

After you´done hearing this anthology, hopefully following its sequencve, go back to Joe Strummer´s music and convince yourself that what he did was more important.

If you do, then I shall exercise my right to terminaste any further contacts with you (LOL)

Hey VP!!

You say you know everything about Elvis. Another thing you say is that Americans are known for liking things that are not that likeable.

So, let us check, first and foremost, your supposed knowledge of all things Elvis and then let´s put the last nail on your notion that Jose Strummer may be more appreciated, outside of American circles.

The good thing is that even if you spend an indordinate amount of time getting the information, I will still be able to know that your knowledge of Elvis is just marginal, since there´s no way in the world that you can check when a negative is a negative, unless you are or were there, and did your research.

Here´s the question.

Identify the only three cities in the list below where there is not at least one street named after Elvis Presley

Tupelo, Mississippi
Memphis, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Jackson, Tennessee
Shreveport, Louisianna
Las Vegas, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Milton, Florida
Ocala, Florida
Rockwall, Texas
Hudson Valley, New York
Honolulu, Hawaii
Badalona, Spain
Bad Nauheim, Germany
Bremerhaven, Germany
Friedberg, Germany
Baal, Switzerland
Glasgow, Scotland
Tel Aviv, Israel
Muscat, Oman
Campo Grande, Brazil

The second question is, please provide the name of a city which has named a street after Joe Strummer, anywhere in the world.

AFTER THIS EXERCISE, WE SHALL MOVE TO NAMING THE CITIES WITH STATUES OF ELVIS AND JOE STRUMMER, IN A PUBLIC PLACE...

Yeah, no I won't be doing that. Nor will I be naming the company that makes Elvis comemorative plates, Graceland scale model cigarette lighters, nor even the worldwide wholesaler of black Elvis paintings or wall tapestries.

And, of course, I never claimed to 'know everything' about Elvis Presley, (See, you could 'research' that by checking this very web page!), and while you clearly have a LOT of time on your hands to 'research' abstruse 'Elvisiana', see, the thing is that I don't really care to know such minutia BECUASE ELVIS PRESLEY DOESN'T MEAN A WHOLE LOT TO ME! I don't know where Slim Whitman was born, I don't know how many gold records Boxcar Willie's had, and I don't know the name of Robert Goulet's first pet cat. I could find these things out, and even make interminable lists on an internet message board with them, but, you see, I'm just not that interested. You have fun, though. Joe Strummer was more important to me than Elvis ever will be. A lot of people feel the same way. You may have to incorporate that shocking fact into your world view.

Also, 'irony' is something you may want to brush up on.

Oh, if anyone's still reading this nonsense, I may as well get in a plug for 'Spaced' the great TV show from Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright (of 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'Hot Fuzz' fame) which comes out this coming Tuesday, July 22nd; Videoport'll have plenty, and it's really one of the best shows I've ever seen.

Peace and movies.

Videoport Jones

Please don´t confuse outstanding knowledge on a subject with having fetishistic obsessions or hero-worshipping for the same subject. But even the latter falls short of the kind of massive problem you shall be encountering when debating with me, on this subject.

You really have no idea. I have a twenty year advantage on you, at least.

Yes, because I am, of course, ten years old. Patronizing silliness. I'm bored. Bye now.

Hey VP, on your message of July 17, 2008, sent at 12:54 a.m, you specifically said

"See, I know all about Elvis", which was enough for me, as a means by which I could then ask you to identify streets named after Presley.

And no mattrer how much you say you know about him, it is obvious that you thought that, other than Memphis, and Tupelo, or Las Vegas, perhaps, that there would be no other such examples.

For your information, the answer is the cities of Ocala, FL, Muscat in Oman, and Baal, in Switezerland have no streets named after him. All the rest do.

Now, here's the list of statues, if only to hammer, one more time, what Elvis Presley means, both in America, and elsewhere, to millions of people in all the five continents of the world. How important he is...

Tupelo, MS
Memphis, TN (2)
Shreveport, LA
Dallas, TX
Las Vegas, NV
bakersfield, CA
Myrtle Beach, SC
Honolulu, HA
Bad Nauheim, Germany
Genoa, Italy
Dublin, Ireland
Liverpool, England
Gloucester, England
Cracow, Poland
Tel Aviv, israel
Jerusalem (2)
Casamance, Senegal
Tokyo, Japan
Bangkok, Thailand
Melbourne, Australia
Wycliffe Well Park, N.Territory, Australia
Adelaide, Australia
Auckland, New Zealand

Now, a little more Elvis trivia which, again, tells you how important he was, and is, to so many people, in so many pleces, as to name their son after him.

Of course, these are only those that made it quite big, themselves, some becoming quite well known in their own countries, some of them in entire regions, a few of them becoming known worldwide, and not just in the field of music, but in all sorts of different sports, as well.

• Brajkovic, (Croatia)
• Costello (UK, in his case, he himself changed his name after Elvis)
• Crespo (Puerto rico)
• Dumervil (USA)
• Grbac (USA)
• Hammond (UK)
• Knapman (USA)
• Manuel (Cuba)
• Mitchell (USA)
• Perkins (USA)
• Polanski (France)
• Sinosic (Croatia)
• Stojko (Canada)
• Vermeulen (France)

Nowe, how many people you know were named after Joe Strummer?

Great Hera!

OK, look, I've tried to stay out of this, and I'm happy for the traffic - seriously, I am - but enough already people!

Couldn't a simple "agree to disagree" work here? We've got two intractable forces here - Elvis love and Jonesy's love for Joe Strummer. They're different, and neither is based on cold hard fact - and that's fine. Personal preferences prevail.

Let's just walk away to our CD libraries to enjoy the music we love!

Hsy Justin!! Personal preferences prevail, that's right, but if someone who was born, say, twenty years after Charles de Gaulle became the leader of the French resistance against the Nazis, says not only that De Gaulle was more important to him than Napoleon, but in the overall context of history, he's more important, then that's not a personal preferance, but a monumental lack of knowledge on that person's part.

Hey Justin!! Hi!!
I gave this guy the chance to say, "Hey Jim, Presley was more important than Strummer because when he arrived, everything changed but, to me personally, and to a lot of people I know, Strummer was way more important".

Instead, what he could come up with was he was the right guy at the right time, and had a good stage act, a great look, or something to that effect, all of which are of course part of his package.

Contemplate, if you willl, someone saying the following...

"Coca Cola came at the right time, had a great marketing team behind them, the bottle was iconic and that's why, 122 years after they came up with the formula, they are STILL the biggest soft drink in the world.I prefer Fanta orange, and a lot of my friends think it is a better drink. In fact, we grew up with it, and it changed our lives much more than Coke did. Fanta is more important than Coca Cola ever was"

The main reason why I even bothered aswering this guy was the following statement.

"nor do I think I need to 'research' the fact that the Clash and Joe Strummer are more respected, musically and culturally, than is Elvis by many people". By the wording "many people", the writer implies that those who may believe the contrary are those remaning, namely a "few people".

And that may be the case, indeed, and he would have been right, had he used "many people I know, or have contact with, or who are a part of my generarion", which will definitively circunscribe that notion to those people.

I just couldn't resist....(LOL)

Kindly go to

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elvis#About_his_musical_style.2C_as_a_musician_and_impact_as_a_vocalist_and_stage_performer