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George Thorogood Under The Influence Of Elvis
08/16/2002 1:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Mark Armstrong
(8/16/02, 1 p.m. ET) -- He may be "Bad To The Bone," but George Thorogood told LAUNCH he wouldn't have that growl and bite without the lasting impact of Elvis Presley, who died 25 years ago on Friday (August 16).
"Elvis Presley is probably the Babe Ruth of the whole thing. Chuck Berry, Little Richard, invented rock 'n' roll. Elvis exposed us to it, there's no doubt about that, he brought it into our living rooms, he brought it on TV. He was the guy that really, y'know, woke us up. Wow. Here was the, not arguably, one of the great natural performers of all time. And great singing as well. He was so great, people didn't know what to think of him."
Like many rock veterans who grew up in the 1950s, Elvis changed everything for Thorogood. "See, I was only 6 years old when I first heard him, so I didn't think of him as a freak or something unique," he said. "I thought it was standard, y'know? I thought, 'Well this is regular.' So the first time I got on stage, I started doing all the things Chuck did and Elvis did and said, 'Isn't that what you do? I'll watch an Elvis Presley, even in his movies, some of them are better than others, and the next night when I go to perform, something weird happens.' So every time that touches me, something happens. Just imagine a whole generation that happened. And the country is still rockin' and rollin' since he first jumped out there and said 'You ain't nothin' but a hound dog.'"
-- Darryl Morden, Los Angeles
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