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EP

Interchange station

Elvis Presley

1954 to 1977 · on Rockabilly and Rock · born 1935, died 1977

Ride this journeySee on the network

Active years

192019401960198020002020

The journey

195519601965197019751980RockabillyRock19541956
  1. 1954Rockabilly · The Sun sessions
  2. 1956Rock · The King at RCA
  3. 1956Elvis on The Ed Sullivan Show · Landmark on the line
  4. 1964The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show · Landmark on the line
  5. 1965Dylan goes electric at Newport · Landmark on the line
  6. 1967Monterey Pop Festival · Landmark on the line
  7. 1969Woodstock · Landmark on the line
  8. 1969Altamont · Landmark on the line
  9. 1971The Concert for Bangladesh · Landmark on the line

2 platforms, 7 moments and landmarks along the way. Lines the journey does not ride are dimmed, as they are on the map while a journey plays.

Platforms

  1. Rockabilly1954 to 1955

    The Sun sessions

    On 5 July 1954 Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black cut Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right" at Sun in Memphis, with a country rhythm under a rhythm and blues song. Sam Phillips had the fusion he had been looking for, and rockabilly opens on that record. Five Sun singles followed before RCA bought the contract at the end of 1955.

    Key album: That's All Right, 1954

    Source: Peter Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, Little, Brown, 1994

  2. Rock1956 to 1977

    The King at RCA

    The Sun sessions of 1954 and 1955 made the rockabilly template; the move to RCA in 1956 and "Heartbreak Hotel" made rock and roll a national phenomenon. Presley stays on the trunk for the rest of his career, through the Hollywood years and the 1968 comeback.

    Key album: Elvis Presley, 1956

    Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Elvis Presley (opens in a new tab)

Connections

Influenced byArthur "Big Boy" CrudupSister Rosetta Tharpe
InfluencedThe Beatles

The lines

Rockabilly (Rock family)Rock (Rock family)

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Elvis Presley (opens in a new tab)
  2. Holly George-Warren and Patricia Romanowski (editors), The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Fireside, 2001

Cite this page

The Metro Map of Music, ‘Elvis Presley: station’, /stations/elvis-presley.