“Elvis wasn’t the first rocker...The Beatles weren’t the first of their sort either”
I never said they were. Just that they influenced people, which is pretty undeniable. You don’t have to be the first anything to influence people. Though if you are derivative of something else, things that derive from you may be said to derive also from that from which you derived. For instance, when you rip off Elvis you may also be ripping off All Jolson, the Ink Spots, or Big Mamma Thornton without knowing it.
This is so because though there are more and less innovative people, no one creates ex nihilo. Everyone rips off everyone else. Even with someone who’s generally recognized as being the first of a new style, for instance Sam Cooke and soul, all you have is the mixing of two styles that hadn’t yet been put together. And that’s ignoring his strong, prexisting competitor for the title: Ray Charles. All soul is, after all, is r&b mixed with gospel in a manner that’s often indistinguishable from other rock and roll and/or “pop.”
“All Jolson”
“All” = Al