Cash Does Presley

CNN just posted some vintage footage from 1959 of Johnny Cash impersonating Elvis Presley.

"This is an impersonation of a rock-n-roll singer impersonating Elvis," says Cash. And a pretty scathing impersonation of Presley follows.

Ouch. With that simple introduction, Cash summed up neatly while I'll always be a Johnny Cash fan and have long found Elvis ersatz and superficial. From Presley would spring ten thousand manufactured pop stars and a music industry machine, which continuously thrusts market-formulated music down our throats today.

Not to dis the King entirely: without him admittedly, we'd have no Madonna (some may shrug at that thought). But neither would we have Britney Spears. He was an excellent performer. Just not a musician.