Gargantuan and classically pleasing the singer took the stage on national television. Charismatic, electrifying, sneering and lascivious with his dyed black hair slicked back, sultry blue eyes, pouty lips and gyrating hips his overtly sexual performance shocked the norms of society. The nation was polarized in their response.

The media frenzy began. He was accused of corrupting the moral values of the young. He was accused of “vulgarity” and “animalism.” Sexuality oozed from every pore of his being. One of the most popular shows on television vowed that he would not perform there. Who am I describing? Adam Lambert or Elvis Presley?

Adam Lambert November 22, 2009
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Elvis hound dog June 5^th 1956
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About Adam:

TheNew York Daily News Adam Lambert delivers raunchy AMA performance filled with hip thrusts, crotch grabs and a makeout. [i]

ABC

Cancels Adam Lambert from Jimmy Kimmel Live, New Years Rockin' Eve

Cancels Adam Lambert Good Morning America Performance; Cancelled Following AMAs

A spokesperson for ABC made a statement about the cancelation, “Given his controversial American Music Awards performance, we are concerned about airing a similar concert so early in the morning.”

MTV

“If Adam Lambert proved anything during his sexually charged performance at Sunday night's American Music Awards, it's that he continues to give obedient headline. The American Idol runner-up closed the show with a polarizing set that drew cheers, jeers and a lot of dropped jaws as he unveiled the title track from his major-label debut, For Your Entertainment”.
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Adam Lambert's AMA Performance Generates 1,500 Viewer Complaints such as:

“I'm just glad my children were already in bed when he was on last night!”

About Elvis:

The New York Journal-American wrote that the young man's “primitive physical movement difficult to describe in terms suitable to a family newspaper.”

The San Francisco Chronicle called the performance “In appalling taste.”

The New York Daily News said that Elvis “gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be confined to dives and bordellos.”

Milton Berle said that 4 days after the show he received 400,000 “pan” letters. Not “fan mail” but “pan mail.” People wrote to Berle and said that they would never watch his show again after he showed that disgusting young man.

Los Angeles Mirror-News

One of Presley's biggest critics was Dick Williams, the Los Angeles Mirror-News Entertainment Editor, who on October 29, 1957 wrote an article titled 6,000 Kids Cheer Elvis' Frantic Sex Show. In his review of Presley's concert at the Pan Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles Williams called Presley a “sexhibitionist” and blasted the performance as “a corruption of the innocent.”

Adam Lambert and Elvis Presley burst upon the music scene with the same type of intensity and controversy. As gripping artist they share the gift of undeniable talent and a unique ability to garner passionate reactions. Both faced objections to their demonstrate of raw sexuality. Both came from relative obscurity and captivated, mesmerized and polarized an entire planet of people with their tall, striking, gyrating, tantric sexual energy, their charisma and last but not least, their superb vocal ability. Many from Elvis's generation experienced an instant recognition of the Elvis phenomenon when Lambert appeared on American Idol. The audience acknowledged a rare new talent while recalling what happened long ago. Elvis fans understood that history repeats itself.

The Borgata Casino Picture = An Uncanny Resemblance
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Elvis Presley's profound influence heralded a cultural revolution. The icons of pop culture change the history we pass on to the next generation. Sexual repression was released when a talented young singer dared to move his body with the tempo of his music. His movements shocked polite society but when asked about them Elvis politely said, “Music should be something that makes you gotta move, inside or outside.” Elvis understood that music like all titanic art should impact you physically and emotionally. As a pop cultural icon Elvis conveyed ideas that brought us together in spite of our differences.

Elvis's music amalgamated African-American blues, Christian gospel, and Southern country. There is no doubt that Elvis's musical legacy was instrumental in desegregating, not just music, but society. Relieve in 1920s and 30s black actors like Step'n Fetchit and Hattie McDaniel were portrayed as stereotypes of their race in predictable and demeaning roles. Black musicians never integrated their music with whites. Elvis's music unleashed his generation from their racial prejudice and sexual repression.

What impact will Adam Lambert have in liberating the lesbians, bisexuals, gays and transgenders of our society as he shatters stereotypes and changes perceptions? Politicians can make laws and attempt to compel behavior but right change occurs only when people are engaged in their hearts and minds at an internal level. The iconoclast pushes boundaries and creates debate that drives the conversation that causes our culture to grow and evolve. Why should there be sexual taboos between consenting adults when that behavior does not harm the life, liberty or property of another? Adam Lambert has caused many people to contemplate that question. It is frightening to assume that in 93 countries around the world it is a criminal offense to have homosexual sex and in 7 countries it is punishable by death.

Adam

“I'm not trying to preach to anybody, I'm not trying to spread any agenda, I'm impartial trying to get people up and dancing and feeling good. There's nothing controversial about that.”

Adam Lambert's stage has become his soapbox, not because of what he advocates but because of how he lives his life. He is a confident, unapologetic openly gay man that dares to drawl in countries where his love life is a crime. In Malaysia Lambert restrained his performance because his fans were more important to him than being an advocate for any cause. Paradoxly that makes him a stronger advocate. He is the public face of someone who is intelligent, comfortable in his own skin and fearless. He is the kind of human being you would want for a son, a brother, a lover, a friend or a role model for anyone who feels disenfranchised.

Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll :

Elvis Presley is “an American music giant of the 20th century who single-handedly changed the course of music and culture in the mid-1950s.” His recordings, dance moves, attitude and clothing came to be seen as embodiments of rock and roll.

Women Going Wild

Elvis at Daytona Beach, August 9, 1956

“The Peabody Auditorium was packed with teenage girls and their mothers, grandmothers, aunts and cousins to see Elvis do his gyrations, which had become a share of his mystique in spellbinding his predominately female audiences. Oh, there were a few males in any audience, hoping to learn just what it was Elvis had that 'drove women nuts'. What they learned that evening is that Elvis had a certain charisma that simply could not be imitated.”
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Adam Lambert's American Idol Tour – 2009

There were lacy, flowery bras and perky, polka-dotted bras, … a spongy E-cup on which some ardent fan has scrawled the initials A.L. over each giant boob. As a friendly prank, crew members have strung the bras up in the bowels beneath the stage at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, just outside Chicago … The groupies also hurled riding crops, feather boas, handcuffs, panties; it looks a little bit like a grenade went off in Frederick's of Hollywood.

What did Lambert think when screaming women were littering his stage with undergarments as he was emerging as the first openly gay man to become an international sex symbol? “I think it's beautiful,” Lambert says. “That's the arrangement it should be. It shouldn't matter what a person's sexual preference is—it doesn't change their appeal.”
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An interesting fact about both Lambert and Presley is that at the beginning of their careers women dominated the audience and men initially found both entertainers disturbing.

Bob Neal wrote about Elvis:

It was almost frightening, the reaction… from teenage boys. So many of them, through some sort of jealousy, would practically hate him.” In Lubbock, Texas a teenage gang firebombed Presley's car. At the two concerts he performed at the 1956 Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, one hundred National Guardsman were on hand to prevent crowd exertion.

Much of the hatred generated towards Adam Lambert was focused on his orientation but there was another dimension to the male animosity. When Allegra Huston wrote an article titled, “What Is It About Adam Lambert? ” in June of 2009 the article ignited a passionate response that generated 24,398 posts as they confirmed their feelings of attraction to this stunningly gorgeous and talented young contented man. This number is not for views but for post, which is astonishing. With the female adoration came male confusion. The most prevalent comment from men was “Don't women know that Adam Lambert is pleased? ”

Lambert like Presley is the archetypical tall, strong, dominant Alpha male who entices women with shear hypnotic allure. At the same time Presley and Lambert were attracting women they presented a conundrum to men somewhat like the hierarchy in a wolf pack. Young strong wolves challenge the Alphas for supremacy for the opportunity to breed. The remnants of the more primitive parts of the male brain identify an Alpha male as a rival. That response is diminished when more intellectual brain function prevails.

On yet another level the male response to Lambert was more complex. The stereotypical gay male in America is portrayed as a Beta and is submissive and effeminate. Anyone who has seen Lambert perform on tour knows that he is neither. Just like Elvis Presley changed the evolution of music and Michael Jackson proved that a shadowy man could be an international star Lambert is changing the programmed perception that every delighted men is the same gay man. With cosmic stage presence Lambert is a manly, cocky, strutting peacock, wielding a weapon of mass destruction that has most other males shudder in his presence as they tumble short in comparison. Like Elvis, slowly Lambert has attracted more and more straight male fans because of his authentic artistic genius and mammoth, once in a generation talent.

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