Similarity – Strange Outfits and Dancing
Elvis became known as the “King of Rock and Roll” or just “The King,” which obviously shows that he was very popular during his singing days. Katy Perry’s music is also becoming very popular as shown by the 42,476,992 likes on her Facebook page. Katy Perry and Elvis are similar because they both enjoy dancing and expressing themselves while performing. Each enjoy wearing outfits that are not generally worn in public.
Each of Elvis Presley’s strange black suit outfits shown below remind me of Katy Perry’s black cat outfit shown on the Katy Perry page. All of the outfits show what the person wearing them is interested in. One of the suits shown here includes animal print, which is why his black suits make me think of Katy Perry’s outfit. Elvis’ suits show that he was interested in dressing up as well as standing out and being different. He also enjoyed wearing outfits with fringe, sparkles, rhinestones, bright colors, and big belts. Katy enjoys wearing outfits that suit her songs but are not commonly worn, like her peppermint dress or her peacock outfit.
Similarity – Start as a Gospel Singer
Katy Perry is similar to Elvis because they both started their singing careers as gospel singers. An example of an early song by Elvis is shown in the video below. Katy Perry started off singing using her birth name, Katy Hudson. Not many people knew who she was when she came out with her first album and her songs did not become very popular.
Similarity – Controversy
When Elvis began his singing career, his music and dancing became a very controversial topic of conversation. “A combination of his strong response to rhythm and nervousness at playing before a large crowd led Presley to shake his legs as he performed: his wide-cut pants emphasized his movements, causing young women in the audience to start screaming.” It was said that “during the instrumental parts he would back off from the mike and be playing and shaking, and the crowd would just go wild.” Ben Gross of the New York Daily News opined that popular music “has reached its lowest depths in the ‘grunt and groin’ antics of one Elvis Presley. … Elvis, who rotates his pelvis … gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be confined to dives and bordellos.” Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, but his waist down were not shown due to the controversy over his inappropriate gyrating dance moves. People said his dance moves were “unfit for family viewing.” Elvis became the first musical megastar of the rock and roll era. Not only were his dance moves noted as inappropriate, but also his new style of music was not accepted right away.
A similar thing happened with Katy Perry when she was creating a clip for Sesame Street called “A Play-Date with Elmo.” The clip was never shown on TV because her outfit was said to be inappropriate. See this news article for more information. In this clip, her clothes were noted as unacceptable for children’s viewing. When she started her singing career, her song “I Kissed a Girl” became a very controversial topic because parents were not sure if they wanted their children listening to songs with these kinds of lyrics.
Similarity – Music to Movies
Just as Katy Perry did, Elvis moves from singing to acting. He took part in movies such as “It Happened at the World’s Fair” and “Blue Hawaii.” Some of the movies he was involved in were biographic stories of his life, while others were more typical movies that had a story line where he had to act out a character other than himself. In “Blue Hawaii,” he was a very outgoing boy. In one scene, he sings while riding a surf board. He was still able to show a part of his true self in the movies he played roles in. Movies were another way to make money off of Presley’s talent.
Difference – Technology
Although there are many similarities seen between Elvis and Katy, there is obviously a time difference between the two. Katy was born after Elvis’ death. Elvis lived from 1935 to 1977 and Katy was born in 1984. The video above shows an example of Elvis’ crazy outfits. It also shows a distinct difference between the technology during Elvis’ career and the technology that was available during Katy’s California Dreams Tour. In the Elvis video above, Elvis only had a simple microphone, backup singers, instrument players, and simple lighting. In Katy’s videos from the concert, there are some pretty advanced lighting effects and other special effects, many props, backup dancers, more advanced instruments, and three giant screens to show the background story of the show. The availability of technology in today’s day and age has caused an end to books, which is explained in Robert Coover’s New York Times article, “The End of Books.” The end of books has been caused by our ability to create stories such as this one on the internet.
Difference – Ending
Elvis experienced a medical crisis in his later years. Journalist Tony Scherman writes that by early 1977, “Elvis Presley had become a grotesque caricature of his sleek, energetic former self. Hugely overweight, his mind dulled by the pharmacopoeia he daily ingested, he was barely able to pull himself through his abbreviated concerts.” In Alexandria, Louisiana, Elvis was on stage for less than an hour and “was impossible to understand.” Presley failed to appear in Baton Rouge; he was unable to get out of his hotel bed, and the rest of the tour was cancelled. He was suffering from many years of drug misuse. He had glaucoma, high blood pressure, liver damage, and an enlarged colon, each was aggravated—and possibly caused—by drug abuse. He was found dead of heart failure in his Graceland home on August 16, 1977 at the age of 42. I don’t foresee Katy Perry following Elvis when it comes to his tragic ending and drug abuse.
Katy Perry 
