The Man Who Invented Elvis
Atlantic, The, October, 2003 by Mark Steyn
 | Content provided in partnership with |  |
On the day Sam Phillips died, the crowd at the world's (alleged) all-time biggest rock concert, in Toronto, booed and threw bottles at teen heart-throb Justin Timberlake, of the boy band 'N Sync. Master Timberlake was said to be too "plastic" and "manufactured" for the taste of rock fans there to see Rush and AC/DC.
- Most Popular Articles in News
- The Ten Best Laptop bags
- Tata plans cheapest-ever car for Indian market
- GLOBALIZATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF THE THIRD WORLD
- Corn is good for you; Corn is not only a tasty treat, but also a cereal that ...
- THE 50 BEST STYLISH HANDBAGS TO CARRY
- More »
This is the fellow to whom, as she revealed this summer, Britney Spears surrendered her much-advertised virginity, which suggests that letting the suits in the head office mold your identity is not without its compensations. But young Justin sportingly said he thought the bottle-hurling was "understandable." And so it is. Rock-and-roll may be the most aggressively corporate branch of show business ever invented but it's still obsessed with being "raw" and "authentic" and "countercultural." That's where Sam Phillips comes in: he represents rock's B.C. era—Before Corporate—before Elvis said good-bye to Sam's Sun Records, in Memphis, ...
