Remembering Elvis 30 Years On

[Benny Holiday]

30 years has passed since he left us, and I fear that his impact on pop music and culture has truly begun to fade. He is still an iconic image, like Marilyn Monroe or James Dean, but an empty one. His stage presence, his ability to interpret what was considered 'race' music (what a stupid segregationist term), his stance and look have been superseded by inane electronic noise as modern 'music' on the one hand, and by a parodied image of a bloated, jump-suited man forever trapped in the 1970's on the other.

For those of us interested in vintage music, especially early R'n'B, Rock and Rockabilly, he stands as a super-luminary star, clad in flashy, rebellious clothes, his legs aksew, his body moving with the ryhthm, his sound raw and gutsy and full of dynamic intensity. This is the man I remember today and think of, the cat who fused hillbilly, pop, gospel and R'n'B not of some desire to change the world, but simply because he loved and absorbed all those influences and they came out in his music:

Thanks for everything, Elvis. God bless you.

 

[dhermann1]

Many years ago, at least 20, I heard an excellent radio program on WFUV, the Fordham University station, about Elvis. It was not a slick professional job, and it was sort of clumsily quasi academic in its style. But the main thesis he was putting forth was that Elvis really should be understood as a country music singer first and foremost. It was very well argued. He pointed out, for example, that the first time Elvis sang on the Grand Ol' Opry, the first song he sang was "Old Shep", a country classic. He developed the idea very intelligently and persuasively, and played a heck of a lot of terrific Elvis cuts as well. I wish I could hear it again.
Anyhow, I'm one of those who regrets the way Elvis has been deified and cultified, at the expense of being remembered as an artist. He did a great TV special in 1967 that to me was Elvis at his best. Just him, the Jordonaires, and a small studio audience. Very simple, very classy.

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

1967 special was on PBS two nights ago, I believe. He still looked young. On the other hand, he was singing and dancing on an open stage, with girls literally "touching" the stage and looking up at him. No chaos or scream to be found. Only respectful clapping at the end of each song.

I learned that the three best selling souvenirs in the town of Hollywood that are sold is that of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean.

 

[Benny Holiday]

Ah yes, the NBC Special, AKA the "68 Comeback Special". Elvis re-united with his original guitarist Scotty Moore and drummer DJ Fontana. He was only 33 when that was made. He showed he still had the talent and charisma after all those awful years in the Hollywood wilderness. Thanks for that, Tom Parker. :rage:

Dhermann, there are a few people in the music industry here who argue that Rockabilly itself is a sub-genre of Country. If some decent promoters would noly back the idea up, I think there Country market here would go wild for it. I know on the few rural tours I've done, the response has always been nothing short of massive.

I hate that he's almost been turned into a joke - "Elvis spotted at Burger King"; "Is Elvis Still Alive?" "Elvis seen in UFO." - How nuts is that?

His musical legacy testifies to a genuine and rare talent.

 

[BJBAmerica]

Elvis.....An American Classic!!!

Long Live The King!!!

Here's an iconic picture of the Rock and Roll Idol that I gave the Photoshop treatment to...

 

[thebadmamajama]

Thanks for posting this thread. I've loved Elvis--the original Elvis--since I was a little kid and so many people miss out on the humble man of music and all of his unbelievable contributions to music.

 

[warbird]

Of course Elvis was country. All of the Memphis sound boys were country. They toured on country tours and played traditionally country venues. It wasn't until DJ's started calling them rock n roll that they started to develop into something different. Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis, identified themselves as much country and gospel as they did r-n-r.

 

[scotrace]

Few Larger Contributions

My kids (14 & 10) used to laugh at "Elvis music," whatever they thought that was, until I played several early tacks for them. There is no way you can listen to Jailhouse Rock or Any Way You Want Me and not start moving. He gets lost in the later, bloated, Elvis-on-velvet paintings by the roadside flea market junk, and it's too bad. Elvis was a stellar talent with one of the 20th century's best voices. Had he been born in Vienna or Milan, he could have taken the worldwide opera stages by storm.
Think of his impact on culture around the globe! Music, clothes, hair, motorcycling, and even the entire segment of Show Business that IS Las Vegas!

 

[BeBopBaby]

Of course Elvis was country. All of the Memphis sound boys were country. They toured on country tours and played traditionally country venues. It wasn't until DJ's started calling them rock n roll that they started to develop into something different. Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis, identified themselves as much country and gospel as they did r-n-r.

My husband & I were discussing this the other day. Whenever you watch documentaries or read articles on the creation/evolution of rock and roll, it seems country music's contribution is always ignored or glossed over quickly. For example, Bob Wills was writing rolicking songs in the 1930s that were pretty close to rock and roll. He was the first great amalgamator of American music styles like jazz, blues, country, etc. And yet his influence on rock is pretty much ignored today.

 

[BellyTank]

That's alright Mama...

I don't think 'Elvis as an Icon" has begun to fade at all.
But musical genre is so diverse and the product so profusely being pumped out...
He is still and will always be an inspiration.

The book:
"Elvis '56" is a killer.


B
T

 

[RIOT]

Here's remembering Elvis Aaron Presley before he was drafted to the 3AD in '58. Since that, it was never the same.

Best Elvis movie - King Creole

Best Elvis song - "That's All Right"

 

[pretty faythe]

Elvis Dead? Fading away?

No way! How can some one say that?! I see him everywhere I go. Each street corner, each casino. Heck, I see him at Target all the time. As a matter of fact is on all day on TCM. Even at church, although at church he is a very pale blonde hair man unless he is performing. Oh, wait, it that could do with the fact that I live in Vegas. Although the gentle man at church has very pale blonde hair unless he comes to church to perform special as Elvis that day, even if he performs as himself, he is Elvis influenced. So, still, I don't see Elvis fading away.

p.s. What I learned from the History of Rock and Roll course I took last semester, (oh, and who is it that is on the very first page of the book? yes, Elvis) the world before rock and roll, 20-40's the roots, Tin Pan Alley then we get to Country and Western over to Rythm & Blues which goes to Rock and Roll

 

[Edward]

Here's remembering Elvis Aaron Presley before he was drafted to the 3AD in '58. Since that, it was never the same.

Best Elvis movie - King Creole

Best Elvis song - "That's All Right"

You agree with Lennon, eh? "Elvis died the day he joined the army."

I'm not so sure myself- I actually like late Elvis material, the big, showy Vegas stuff. I have to admit it was the kitsch appeal of the jumpsuit years that got me interested in Elvis first, then I learned to appreciate him as an artist beyond that. It is a shame, IMO, that he is remembered that way... One of the free evening papers last night had an article on the annversary of his death, where they sent out a reporter "dressed as Elvis" (read: dreadfully poor jumpsuit and a wig that looked like a hollowed out dead cat - the man was barely recognisable as being dressed as Elvis. Awful 70s platform shoes too, nothing like Elvis ever wore) to interview folks in London about Elvis. The highlight of this was some "punk musician" saying he hated Elvis because Elvis was "commercial" (as something of a punk myself, it really hurts when people are that narrow-minded in their dogma... the whole "success = sellout" crap), and a black lady singer saying that while she liked Elvis on some stuff, he stole all his ideas from black folks (that tired old argument, though i usually hear it coming from pretentious white folks, it has to be said).

ISTM that Elvis will never be forgotten, though folks nowadays remember him as an icon, typically his Vegas image, which IMO really detracts from his value as an artist. A lot of folks too I think in this day and age of manufactured chart artists look down on Elvis as something similar because he was a singer primarily, rather than a songwriter. (There's a palce for both IMO, and I never get why some people will dismiss a singer simply because they do not write the music they perform - and then in the same breath rave about some actor who is, after all, by hteir own standards merely reciting someone else's words...). It is fitting that the people he is grouped with are Marilyn Monroe and James Dean - both of whom, IMO, have also become icons for so many people who know nothing more than their image. Hopefully this anniversary will help to challenge this status quo....


Hell, I've just realised too, it must be twenty years ago this week then since Dad put us in front of the TV when the "Elvis dead ten years" story came on the news. They had trailed it promising footage of elvis' last ever gig - they interviewed a guy who was there and filmed it on a cine-camera. Elvis looked awful - bloated, puffy, didn't really appear to be fully aware of where he was - obviously pilled to the gills. Then they played one of his early recordings - I remember Dad saying "listen to the voice than man had, and then look at that - that's what drugs do to you."