Ask one of your grandparents about Elvis and the others, they would tell you how big (and controversial) they were. All the teenage girls loved Elvis, for example, but a lot of parents thought his gyrating hips were inappropriate. Both the controversy and the fan girls brought him to the front of pop culture.
The Greeks were the culture that uses lavish perfumes and cosmetics in their religion rituals and who apply kohl to their eyes and vermillion their cheeks and lips.