Elvis Presley
Sir: John Grigg is wrong in his sweeping and bitter article on Presley (27 August). Myths of all kinds are omni-present and invariably gross and should be treated with circumspection. To say that Presley was not original or talented however is just not true. We may all prefer Mozart (whose venal father exploited him in his childhood) but !he fusion of 'poor white' rock and ironically black folk music, apparently eschewed by the blacks, is correctly ascribed to the singer and is arguably the genesis of a fair amount of modern popular music.
As for youth rebellion eta!, surely that is a rather passé idea, a kind of social menopause, and as a movement an indication of a protein and leisure surfeit. Need We take it still so seriously? The perennial Great Threat was the biggest pitfall, but rest assured, Mr Grigg, for I have an uncanny feeling it is -where it has been lurking for some time now — in the very bastions of the Establishment. Aided by a pliant minority of articulate and truly rebellious youth, it is sponsored by a cabal of peasant autocrats mit noted for their devotion to culture who propound that most false and ghastly cult of all, socialism; the efficacy of which forms the one myth which cannot remain unquestioned if even the threads of our culture are to survive. \ Its more odious manifestation in our fragmented society is what Auberon Waugh delightfully describes as our wetness. To deny this is nonsense. Left unchallenged for much longer our whole choice as to whether or not to tolerate the relatively harmless 'pop machine', etc., will be brought into question — and with it more vital aspects of our freedoms. In spite of the mawkishness and sentiment there is emerging a truly united young whose orthodoxy is calmer and upon whose shoulders will rest who knows, perhaps, a quieter tomorrow but wherever the threat to our freedom comes from in all events it certainly doesn't emanate from the concert halls of Pittsburg or Preston. What is amazing is that someone of John Grigg's calibre should devote a whole article to someone he considers to be worthless. And no man, whatever he may be or stand for, is that.
Jonathan Howarth
Matching Vicarage, Harlow, Essex
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