cal historians will tell you, however when Elvis and his iconic charm came along the music went mainstream and that is the point. For the next 40 years music was in one form or another, an iteration, imitation, categorization, blend or copy of a rock and roll based rhythm.

So what about Eminem?

Eminem and probably a few others brought hip hop to the masses. In 1997 (40 years exactly from 57 when Elvis emerged on the scene) the hip hop generation was becoming very po

I watched Roy Williams in a quite literally amazing presentation about society's 40-year Pendulum recently. His presentation was a delightful hidden bonus in the agenda from the Call to Action seminar hosted by Bryan and Jeff Eisenberg at the Wizard of Ads Academy 1 in Buda, Texas.

Roy?s presentation explained a phenomenon that happens every 40 years where folks? attitudes gradually shift over time in an opposite direction to that of the previous generation. He finished by predicting that in the next 2-3 years we?re going to see radical shifts in the way people buy and what they are influenced by. I am labeling this shift for the purposes of this article Reality Branding.

The shift starts with the arts

Roy described how music and art is the first indication that ?times they are a changing?. Typically music precedes this social shift before the whole idea goes mainstream. If you think about it, looking at music and the arts is a reasonable indicator of what people think. I?m not talking about the reaction to one hit wonders, but the general trends. Why does everyone suddenly get the same kind of groove, coast to coast, continent to continent?

I remember reading a CaveChat (bulletin board) thread from 5000BC 2 a few months back where one post compared Eminem to Elvis. I thought it was a strange comparison at the time because it was not explained in the context Roy described. I now understand that it wasn't that these icons were comparable as artists; it was that they are comparable in the shift they reflected in the "mainstream" in society.

Take Elvis?

Since the late 50's we've had rock and roll in one form or another and it all started in 1957 with Elvis Presley curling his lip and shaking his knees in a fashion that made the young ladies of the time pass out with excitement.

Or did it? Rock and roll has its roots well before Elvis as I?m sure all the musical historians will tell you, however when Elvis and his iconic charm came along the music went mainstream and that is the point. For the next 40 years music was in one form or another, an iteration, imitation, categorization, blend or copy of a rock and roll based rhythm.

So what about Eminem?

Eminem and probably a few others brought hip hop to the masses. In 1997 (40 years exactly from 57 when Elvis emerged on the scene) the hip hop generation was becoming very pop

y predicting that in the next 2-3 years we?re going to see radical shifts in the way people buy and what they are influenced by. I am labeling this shift for the purposes of this article Reality Branding.

The shift starts with the arts

Roy described how music and art is the first indication that ?times they are a changing?. Typically music precedes this social shift before the whole idea goes mainstream. If you think about it, looking at music and the arts is a reasonable indicator of what people think. I?m not talking about the reaction to one hit wonders, but the general trends. Why does everyone suddenly get the same kind of groove, coast to coast, continent to continent?

I remember reading a CaveChat (bulletin board) thread from 5000BC 2 a few months back where one post compared Eminem to Elvis. I thought it was a strange comparison at the time because it was not explained in the context Roy described. I now understand that it wasn't that these icons were comparable as artists; it was that they are comparable in the shift they reflected in the "mainstream" in society.

Take Elvis?

Since the late 50's we've had rock and roll in one form or another and it all started in 1957 with Elvis Presley curling his lip and shaking his knees in a fashion that made the young ladies of the time pass out with excitement.

Or did it? Rock and roll has its roots well before Elvis as I?m sure all the musical historians will tell you, however when Elvis and his iconic charm came along the music went mainstream and that is the point. For the next 40 years music was in one form or another, an iteration, imitation, categorization, blend or copy of a rock and roll based rhythm.

So what about Eminem?

Eminem and probably a few others brought hip hop to the masses. In 1997 (40 years exactly from 57 when Elvis emerged on the scene) the hip hop generation was becoming very po

onable indicator of what people think. I?m not talking about the reaction to one hit wonders, but the general trends. Why does everyone suddenly get the same kind of groove, coast to coast, continent to continent?

I remember reading a CaveChat (bulletin board) thread from 5000BC 2 a few months back where one post compared Eminem to Elvis. I thought it was a strange comparison at the time because it was not explained in the context Roy described. I now understand that it wasn't that these icons were comparable as artists; it was that they are comparable in the shift they reflected in the "mainstream" in society.

Take Elvis?

Since the late 50's we've had rock and roll in one form or another and it all started in 1957 with Elvis Presley curling his lip and shaking his knees in a fashion that made the young ladies of the time pass out with excitement.

Or did it? Rock and roll has its roots well before Elvis as I?m sure all the musical historians will tell you, however when Elvis and his iconic charm came along the music went mainstream and that is the point. For the next 40 years music was in one form or another, an iteration, imitation, categorization, blend or copy of a rock and roll based rhythm.

So what about Eminem?

Eminem and probably a few others brought hip hop to the masses. In 1997 (40 years exactly from 57 when Elvis emerged on the scene) the hip hop generation was becoming very po

sn't that these icons were comparable as artists; it was that they are comparable in the shift they reflected in the "mainstream" in society.

Take Elvis?

Since the late 50's we've had rock and roll in one form or another and it all started in 1957 with Elvis Presley curling his lip and shaking his knees in a fashion that made the young ladies of the time pass out with excitement.

Or did it? Rock and roll has its roots well before Elvis as I?m sure all the musical historians will tell you, however when Elvis and his iconic charm came along the music went mainstream and that is the point. For the next 40 years music was in one form or another, an iteration, imitation, categorization, blend or copy of a rock and roll based rhythm.

So what about Eminem?

Eminem and probably a few others brought hip hop to the masses. In 1997 (40 years exactly from 57 when Elvis emerged on the scene) the hip hop generation was becoming very po

cal historians will tell you, however when Elvis and his iconic charm came along the music went mainstream and that is the point. For the next 40 years music was in one form or another, an iteration, imitation, categorization, blend or copy of a rock and roll based rhythm.

So what about Eminem?

Eminem and probably a few others brought hip hop to the masses. In 1997 (40 years exactly from 57 when Elvis emerged on the scene) the hip hop generation was becoming very popular. Eminem was one of the emerging talents of the time, but the white guy in a predominantly black musical genre signaled the approach of the mainstream.

It reads like a script when you compare how Elvis before him was preceded by less famous Rock and Roll artists that were the true pioneers. Eminem and Elvis can be compared because they hit the scene around the time that people were ready for it and made history. Ever heard the saying ?there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come??3 Eminems brash, hard hitting, realistic and edgy approach has the latest generation of young ladies screaming "That shit is bumping" 4 but they wouldn?t pass out because it isn?t cool.

And it?s ?what?s cool? that?s the point isn?t it?

What do hip hop artists sing about? Trouble on the streets, too many guns, poverty, sex, saving the world, where is the love - The Black Eyed Peas ? and their rap about social conscience?

In addition other bands which aren't hip hop are of a similar vein in their lyrical content. Think Coldplay from the UK and their lyrics in Lights out.... "Come out upon my seas, curse missed opportunities (am I) A part of the cure, or am I part of the disease".

Am I a part of the cure or a part of the disease??

Right now, it?s cool to be talking about real problems people have or reflecting on the reality surrounding them. Fantasy is out of the window, dreaming is for hippies, Can you imagine Coke releasing ?I?d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony? without causing an entire generation to throw up? In 1971 people actually sang along!

Cool right now is all about reality and social conscience, where as for the last 40 years we've gone from individual rebellion (rock and roll), to free love (individual dreaming), to rebellion (punk rock), to material girl (the individual success story) to free your mind (90?s acid rock).

In