Luhrmann shows how Elvis turned songs – including Hound Dog, initially performed by Big Mama Thornton, and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's blues classic That's All Right – into Billboard chart hits. Elvis was renowned as a white singer who "sounded black". Commentators at the time said that he borrowed some of his infamous performance techniques from black musicians; his gyrating hips became the talk of the nation earning him the nickname Elvis the Pelvis.
