Skip to main content

TL;DR:

  • Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic Elvis has connection to a Kanye West song and electronica music.
  • The West song in question was a minor hit in the United States.
  • It appeared on one of West’s No. 1 albums.
Elvis Presley with a comb
Elvis Presley | Bettmann / Contributor

Elvis Presley inspired Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, a film filled with stylistic historical inaccuracies. Notably, Luhrmann played one of Kanye West’s songs on set in order to achieve a certain mood. Subsequently, the star of Elvis said the movie was supposed to capture how dangerous Elvis felt in the 1950s.

Baz Luhrmann played 1 Kanye West song while filming an ‘Elvis’ scene set in Memphis

Luhrmann is known for his creative use of anachronisms in movies. For example, his film adaptation of the classic Roaring Twenties novel The Great Gatsby includes dubstep and rap while his version of William Shakespeare’s Rome and Juliet combines period dialogue with a 1990s setting. During a 2020 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Luhrmann revealed he used anachronistic music while filming his biopic of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Specifically, he played West’s “Black Skinhead” while filming a scene set on Beale Street, Memphis, the historical epicenter of blues music.

“So we turn it up and immediately, everyone’s [moving], and it was so real that I just let the cameras roll,” Luhrmann recalled. “What you see in the movie is the live cameras just rolling because the music put a ring around everyone and made them go, ‘This is Saturday night on Beale Street.’ It feels like ‘Black Skinhead’ by Kanye West.”

Austin Butler explained why ‘Elvis’ makes use of anachronistic songs

The soundtrack of Elvis is anachronistic as well, combining elements of electronic music and rap with Elvis’ early rock ‘n’ roll. The film’s star, Austin Butler, said he wanted his movie to show how edgy the King of Rock’ n’ Roll felt at the time. “How do you get people to feel what it felt like at that time, rather than just creating a carbon copy?” Butler said. “How are young people going to understand what it felt like when Elvis was first performing?

“A lot of people don’t understand the punk Elvis, the vibrant youth rebel he was in the ’50s. People hadn’t seen something like this on stage, especially on television,” he said. “It started to tear off the chains of society at that time. We wanted to have the audience feel that.”

Related

Don McLean Reacted to the Idea That ‘American Pie’ Mentions Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan

How Kanye West’s ‘Black Skinhead’ performed on the pop charts in the United States

“Black Skinhead” became a modest hit. The tune reached No. 69 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for four weeks. The tune appeared on the album Yeezus. That album topped the Billboard 200 for a single week, remaining on the chart for 36 weeks. While the song and album were hits, West produced both more popular singles and more popular albums in the past.

Elvis became one of the most famous rock ‘n’ roll movies ever made and it has an interesting connection to West.

Best in Entertainment