How Different Celebrities Made an

Impact on Society
All over the world, different celebrities have made a huge impact on society in many different
ways. Such as, on technology, teenagers all over the world, drugs, etc. The artists I will be
talking about are; Elvis Presley, The Beatles and James Brown, but they might have had a
impacted me, but I respect them and I wanted to research how they impacted society in different
ways.
Firstly, I will be talking about the Hillbilly Cat Elvis Presley. The 1950s were a time of
monumental transition-color replaced black and white, and the century itself was coming into full
bloom and the American dream was taking its first bold steps into new economic freedom.
There is one particular moment that took place in that seminal decade grew to be a
contemporary culture. The book, The Fifties written by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David
Halberstram considers Elvis Presleys music, at the perfect confluence of the golden age
portable radio, the rise of credit buying and rock and roll crossover of Bill Haley, Chuck Berry
and Little Richard and that it ushered in a new era of the teenager as a flag bearer of consumer
culture. Elviss timing was considered to be almost nearly perfect, because parents were
disapproving of the beat and their children listening to what they knew was black music. But
their disapproval only made Elvis more popular and like a hero to the young people. A new
generation of young generation of Americans was breaking away from the habits of their parents
and defining themselves into the music. There was nothing the parents can do, this generation
was surrounded by both money and the new inexpensive appliances, this was the new wealthy
America. Elvis started to become popular in 1955 and after ten years of rare broad based
middle class prosperity. Among this prosperity were the teenagers, they had almost no memory
of the depression or of the great war. Elvis had a strong influence on the youth. During the
1950s teenager began to think of themselves as being quite different from their parents
generation. Because of the economic prosperities of the period, teenagers could easily enjoy
things like purchasing records and listening to Elvis rather than helping their parents with costs
and money. With that money, they would dress up in such fashions marketed in their age group,
went to the movies that featured celebrities from their generation and listening to music that they
liked and enjoyed and not that old stuff that appealed to their parents generation, because their
parents music was becoming to be out of style. It wasnt all that surprising when the youth
began to idolize Presley, with his rock and roll music, his fashion sense and hair style became a
big part of the new culture for the teenagers. Elvis caused a burst of expression amongst the
young people, especially the boys, as they started to dress like him and started to mimic him for
either idolization or to impress. One of the people he influenced and inspired was John Lennon
from the Beatles. If Elvis wasnt so daring, different and unique, then the 1950s wouldnt have
been what they were. Elviss music has changed music forever, if you listen to the music of the
1950s and after Elvis hit it big, you have to listen to how it has changed just seemingly
overnight. He has paved ways for groups such as; The Beatles and The Stones. Without his
influence and popularity music wouldnt have ever blossomed into what it has become to this
very day.

Next off, I would like to talk about The Beatles. Its difficult to underestimate the Beatles
influence on the course of popular music in America. Like other certain key individuals such as;
Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. The Beatles progressed beyond the stage
and became a cultural force, their compositions and attitudes transforming the way pop music
was experienced by the large number of people. With one of the most socially tumultuous
periods in the history of America, the Beatles music reflected its own era but it has also
transformed it, that even now, their music still remains new and fresh to the new generations
who discover it. One of the things that that Beatles had done was that they made irreverence
hip in mainstream pop.Although there is a long tradition of irreverent, anti-authoritative behavior
in American culture, the Beatles appeared at a moment in time when this type of attitude was
still largely sub-cultural. In fact, performers like comedian Lenny Bruce, who was persecuted for
his rule-breaking, were dismissed by mainstream America as troublemakers. American
entertainment strived to be an industry that people would respect. They recognized a certain
absurdity in the pop game and seemed determined to go their own way. This attitude was
always going towards dealing with the press. During such encounters, they would turn the
questions back to reporters or answer them with nonsense. The Beatles made it clear that they
were independent thinkers who were going to do what they wanted to do, whether the world
approved of them or not. Teens had cottoned on to the rebellious stance of James Dean and
Elvis Presley a few years earlier; the Beatles adopted this stance, but they made it in a more
sophisticated and subtle way. Never as docile as Elvis, who was always polite to all adults no
matter how crass they were, the Beatles quips during their press conferences could have a
genuine bite to them. It was one of the many ways that they showed their awareness of the
showbiz that they operated in and how deserving it was to even be apart of. The resultant
anarchy was confusing and charming to adults in equal measure. Occasionally the group would
push their irreverence a bit too far; a John Lennon remark that they were bigger than Jesus
resulted in record album bonfires in certain parts of the country. They also opened the door for
any number of bands who could express this attitude more freely once the barrier had been
pushed. By the 60s both teenagers and rock music were in their second coming. For teens
there was a higher sense of awareness where their position was in life. For popular music
sounds got increasingly louder, amplified, and electrifying; recording technology began to adapt,
opening the doors for more audio possibilities, and lyrics started to loose their innocence.
Suddenly rock music began to influence girls in strange and odd ways: females began to form
mobs, grow hysterical over boys, disregard the law, physically abuse themselves by yanking on
their hair, sobbing until exhaustion. The Beatles have changed the way we experience our
music. We live now in the age of the audio download, when music listeners are more likely to
buy music over the Internet than in a record store, and when they are more likely to buy one hit
song by an artist than an entire album. Although this was the accepted way that the record
industry functioned, the Beatles did not see themselves as a singles machine, even though they
released some of the most successful singles in music history. They tried to make all of their
songs worthwhile at a time when album releases were mostly filled up with lesser material

included to bolster sales of a hit song. There had been exceptions to this rule before the
Beatles, such as Frank Sinatra, who assembled many LPs of songs that related to a theme, or
various jazz artists, whose sound evolved with each record release. But the Beatles were the
first pop musicians to craft consistent albums in which each song was an important part of the
whole. They worked to make each Beatles album high quality, beginning to end.

Lastly, I would like to talk about James Brown. He has impacted style, just like his music his
style was just one of his many that his fans adored. From his velour jumpsuits to his trademark
cape routine, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer fashion also inspired his protg, Rev. Al
Sharpton. the civil rights activist-turned-on-air-personality explained how The Godfather of Soul
influenced his hairstyle. He became like the father that I no longer had. He even had me do my
hair like his. I did it, because a man has never asked me to do something that really validated
me as having worth, and that someone wanted me to be like them. Its the James Browns that
inspired me. And there are a lot of James Browns out there that may not be stars, but have
enough passion to survive in the world and enough compassion to help bring somebody along
like me. Throughout the mid 1960s James devoted a lot of his time to a number of social issues
such as: The Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the assassination regarding Martin
Luther King Jr,and recording Say It Loud (Im Black and Im Proud), James Brown also
launched the Operation Black Pride initiative in 1968 where he reportedly presented 3,000
certificates for free Christmas dinners in impoverished neighborhoods in New York City.

All over the world, famous people are changing the world day by day. These are just three of the
thousands that have impacted society. Some stars have impacted society in a positive and in a
negative way. But writing this paper was rather difficult because these stars didnt have a huge
impact on me but the reason why i chose to them was because they had a huge impact on the
world and i found them rather interesting, so i wanted to learn more about these three
individuals.

"Beatlemania: The Defiance of a Generation." PopMatters. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.
McGasko, Joe. "We Love Them, Yeah Yeah Yeah: 7 Ways the Beatles Changed American
Culture." Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 2016. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.

Williams, Brennan. "5 Ways James Brown Made An Impact On American Culture." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.
Popova, Maria. "How Elvis Presley Ushered in the Era of Teen Consumer Culture." Brain
Pickings. N.p., 2015. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.