Three simple reasons Elvis Presley is the most overrated musical act ever

Elvis Presley is an icon. There is debating that. He sold too many records and made too much money from his gigs and is too beloved by millions for the opposite to be argued.

But whether Elvis deserves all the adulation he receives is another thing. While the Beatles changed music just a decade after Elvis began his career, Presley just did what Colonel Tom Parker told him to do and stayed at home in the United States. The Beatles earned their international following; Elvis did not.

Everyone has a right to like who they want musically, of course. Your opinions, dear reader, are a s valid as mine. But here are three reasons Elvis Presley might be overrated.

Elvis Presley never toured international

Proving that he was simply a packaged and sold product, most of Elvis Presley's international fans never got to see him live. They would have had to fly to the United States (or see one of his handful of shows in Canada) to watch him. Give the people what they want? Elvis did not do that.

Who knows why he didn't play abroad? There are rumors that he was afraid of flying but he did fly internationally. There was a rumor that Colonel Tom Parker would not allow him to go aboard because Parker was not an American citizen (he was born in the Netherlands) and Parker was afraid he would get caught. Or maybe Elvis was happy making money but not delivering the real goods to his fans in other countries.

Elvis never wrote a single song

One might even wonder if Presley could write. Many people might feel guilty if they sang songs but never wrote the words to the songs they were singing. How can one truly feel emotionally connected to their art if they didn't produce the original work? Of course, calling what Presley did "art" is a stretch.

What is worse, though, is that while Elvis could not write (songs), he did get a bunch of co-writing credits because his publishing company, Hill and Range, forced the people who wrote his songs to give Elvis credit. This allowed Elvis to get paid as a songwriter even though he didn't do the work.

Elvis made millions off the work of others

Elvis Presley was democratic. He did not just steal songs from African-Americans, he stole them from white country artists as well. The hate directed at Elvis for only stealing from African-American artists is unfair, see. Everyone should hate him.

"Hound Dog" came from Big Mama Thornton, "Memphis, Tennessee" was from Chuck Berry, but Elvis was not against "borrowing" from Bill Monroe either. And, yes. Maybe "stealing" is not the right word as Presley did not go to someone's house and take a written song off someone's table. Instead, he and his record label paid little to African-American artists in royalties for using their songs. Basically, Elvis Presley simply was the best karaoke singer ever but with no talent to create an original song.

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