Elvis Presley is The King. He was The King in 1956, and he is still today – 50 years later.

He earned the nickname because he was not only the top draw and biggest performer in the world, but also because he was the largest selling solo artist. For half a century that title has been safe.

But now that is in jeopardy according to the Recording Industry Association of America, as country music’s crossover pioneer Garth Brooks finds himself only 2.5 million sales behind Presley for history’s top selling solo artist. Forget Michael Jackson. Forget Aretha Franklin or Frank Sinatra. Brooks is on pace to surpass The King and subsequently takeover the nickname.

Will that make Brooks the new King? Is a nickname like the Stanley Cup or an Employee of the Month plaque that can be passed back and forth or handed off as regularly as… say… a burned CD-R?

No – it doesn’t matter how many albums Brooks sells, Elvis will always be The King. Nicknames are like reputations: some are good (ie. The King), some are bad (ie. Screech), but they’re permanent. Regardless of what happens once they’re in place.

And this isn’t just a Presley fan calling foul and refusing to admit the contemporarily unique obstacles Brooks has had to overcome to be such an enormous influence on pop country and today’s musical landscape. It’s not somebody flashing a neon Vegas arrow at the shoddy math bound to help dethrone the original pelvis shaker.

But make no mistake – both of those things are at work.

Brooks has had to deal with a music consumer and marketing savvy industry Presley never dreamed of. The boom, merger and boom again of record labels has made it possible for any Joe Schmoe to be his or her own Jimmy Iovine, even if it is just on a local scale. An influx of music television, expanded showcase festivals, radio stations and recent artist-friendly Web sites like Myspace, PureVolume and Artist Direct have made it easy to create semi-stardom, but nearly impossible to foster all out superstars. At the same time it was sending newly formed artists’ material around the globe with a click of a mouse, the Internet has created a form of piracy even the Dread Pirate Roberts would be proud of. Brooks has weathered all of this.

Presley has too. His music still takes a hit from the Net. But he has the benefit of the bulk of his popularity finding an audience in the grandparents of today’s computer savvy teens. Back then was a different time. People thought “Hound Dog” was actually about a puppy, trusted record labels and bought albums – they didn’t download songs.

Yet much like Presley proverbially and literally cashed in on his era, Brooks can reap the reward of some questionable RIAA recording keeping techniques. For example, the newly repackaged 5-disc boxset Brooks has unleashed counts five times per purchase. So those 2.5 million can be accumulated by only 500,000 actual sales of this set.

There hasn’t been any public outcry. There’s no Elvis2K panic in the streets about what could happen if he is no longer The King. But that hasn’t stopped Presley’s estate from releasing a full-on Internet campaign assuring people he is still tops. As if they’re worried they may have to recall all The King merchandise and send Brooks Graceland’s zebra print, gold throne as a peace offering.

But aside from the sales, The King got his moniker because he was the best. Sure, being the greatest performer of his day parlayed into his reign atop the RIAA’s charts. But Elvis Presley did something Brooks never did – he stopped everyone in their tracks.

In fact, there have only been a few artists to follow Elvis that had the same effect.

When people first saw Elvis Pressley – as with The Beatles, The Sex Pistols, Nirvana and (say what you will about the two follow-up releases) The Strokes in 2001 – they went out and started bands. People who were already in bands, broke up and reformed playing a new kind of music. These five acts stopped musical time and made everyone rethink what was happening. Before they broke, nothing sounded like them on the radio. But after, everything did. (And say what you will about not mentioning any Motown artist in that list, but there wouldn’t have been a Motown without Presley first).

That is why Elvis is and always will be The King.

There have been hundreds of great bands – U2, R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, New Order, Public Enemy – that didn’t change the entire face of music. They have their own army of followers, and rightfully so, but not in the way the most influential artists of all time.

Elvis was the first person to freeze time and make each person – each performer, record executive, consumer, radio personality, whomever – feel guilty for not being on board sooner. As if there was something so obviously wrong with the music of the era, that one act can wake everyone up and say, “This is how it should be done.” And after that proclamation is made, they become the most recognizable face of the movement and the flagship performer for the genre.

It happened in 1956 and it would happen again today. Which is why everyone just fell in line and followed his lead, as if he was some sort of… King.

Daily Herald’s BEEP, July 9, 2006