Oh well. I'm off to eat junk food! It looks like I've just been ex communicated by the first Presleyterian Church of Elvis.
I think you are right. There is no hope for me to accept that Presley's gyrating and substandard vocals are even in the same universe as Arthur Crudup, Mama Thornton, Walter Jacobs and the other Bluesmen he helped to rip off. I am glad that Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry (Yes a Bluesman first) were wise enough to sort out The Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin when they did what they did.
That said, Muddy Waters always credited the Stones with getting his career back on track. I had an interesting conversation with Bill Wyman on the subject, and also mentioned it to Ronnie Wood when we met. So it wasn't all bad. My thoughts on Elvis were really about his singing, and they are not shared, as it happens by a lot of American Bluesmen including Paul Byrd the Texan Bluesman who is a committed Elvis fanatic, as is my wife by the way. I think you need to give me credit for being closely involved with the music business for Forty years, and my experience goes far beyond the Folk Scene, but fair enough that does not make me right, it just means I prefer Rick Astley. Oh yes that was what the thread was about. I am still amazed that Elvis provokes so much feeling, and nobody has answered my question above. If Elvis looked like a Warthog, how far would he have got on his singing alone. Honest answers please, (unless I've bored you to death)