<P> During the post-WWII economic boom of the 1950s, many parents were able to give their teenage children much higher weekly allowances, signaling a shift in the buying power and purchasing habits of American teens . During the 1940s bobby soxers had idolized Frank Sinatra, but the buyers of his records were mostly between the ages of eighteen and twenty - two . Presley triggered a lot of demand for his records by near - teens and early teens aged ten and up . Along with Presley's "ducktail" haircut, the demand for black slacks and loose, open - necked shirts resulted in new lines of clothing for teenage boys whereas a girl might get a pink portable 45 rpm record player for her bedroom . Meanwhile, American teenagers began buying newly available portable transistor radios and listened to rock' n' roll on them (helping to propel that fledgling industry from an estimated 100,000 units sold in 1955 to 5,000,000 units by the end of 1958). Teens were asserting more independence and Presley became a national symbol of their parents' consternation . </P> <P> Presley's impact on the American youth consumer market was noted on the front page of The Wall Street Journal on December 31, 1956 when business journalist Louis M. Kohlmeier wrote, "Elvis Presley today is a business," and reported on the singer's record and merchandise sales . Half a century later, historian Ian Brailsford (University of Auckland, New Zealand) commented, "The phenomenal success of Elvis Presley in 1956 convinced many doubters of the financial opportunities existing in the youth market ." </P> <P> In spite of the facts that Nat King Cole had the #7 song in 1959, and the #1 song in 1961, and Chuck Berry had a major hit with "Maybellene" in 1955, in the United States in the 1950s legal segregation and discrimination against African Americans was common, especially in the Deep South . Presley would nevertheless publicly cite his debt to African American music, pointing to artists such as B.B. King, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Ivory Joe Hunter, and Fats Domino . The reporter who conducted Presley's first interview in New York City in 1956 noted that he named blues singers who "obviously meant a lot to him . (He) was very surprised to hear him talk about the black performers down there and about how he tried to carry on their music ." Later that year in Charlotte, North Carolina, Presley was quoted as saying: "The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I'm doin' now, man, for more years than I know . They played it like that in their shanties and in their juke joints and nobody paid it no mind' til I goosed it up . I got it from them . Down in Tupelo, Mississippi, I used to hear old Arthur Crudup bang his box the way I do now and I said if I ever got to a place I could feel all old Arthur felt, I'd be a music man like nobody ever saw ." Little Richard said of Presley: "He was an integrator . Elvis was a blessing . They wouldn't let black music through . He opened the door for black music ." B.B. King said he began to respect Presley after he did Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup material and that after he met him, he thought the singer really was something else and was someone whose music was growing all the time right up to his death . </P> <P> Up to the mid-1950s black artists had sold minuscule amounts of their recorded music relative to the national market potential . Black songwriters had mostly limited horizons and could only eke out a living . But after Presley purchased the music of African American Otis Blackwell and had his "Gladys Music" company hire talented black songwriter Claude Demetrius, the industry underwent a dramatic change . In the spring of 1957 Presley invited African American performer Ivory Joe Hunter to visit Graceland and the two spent the day together, singing "I Almost Lost My Mind" and other songs . Of Presley, Hunter commented, "He showed me every courtesy, and I think he's one of the greatest ." </P>

This musical genre had a strong influence on elvis presley