Why All The Fuss About Elvis

[Stinky Kat]

Tupelo, very moving, " The sand man is MUDD"

Top song, but surely Danny Mirror is 10 times the man Cave will ever be

 

[Buzzer]

Tupelo, very moving, " The sand man is MUDD"

Top song, but surely Danny Mirror is 10 times the man Cave will ever be

'tis heresy you speak.

 

[gothenburg_gull]

Tupelo, very moving, " The sand man is MUDD"

Top song, but surely Danny Mirror is 10 times the man Cave will ever be

Well, Danny Mirror did have that Dutch slightly too tight polyester suit thing going on... (!)

 

[Stinky Kat]

Plus Danny is a poet who knows no bounds when comes to lyrics

"I remember Elvis Presley Lord, how I love to hear him sing! So I'll adore him just forever ... I remember Elvis Presley And he won't ever set me free ..."

Excuse me Im off to cry its all too emotional

 

[gothenburg_gull]

It's just a shame he continued to try and (if you you'll pardon the expression in this context) flog a dead horse over the following years.

"I Recall John Lennon"

"I Haven't Forgotten Freddie Mercury"

"I Can't Quite Place Jeff Buckley"

were all much lesser works of art...

 

[NMH]

It's just a shame he continued to try and (if you you'll pardon the expression in this context) flog a dead horse over the following years.

"I Recall John Lennon"

"I Haven't Forgotten Freddie Mercury"

"I Can't Quite Place Jeff Buckley"

were all much lesser works of art...

What about "I haven't the foggiest about Nick Drake "?

You missed that one.

 

[Buzzer]

My favourite Elvis inspired lines in a song are "Rain falls like Elvis tears" from Catch me by St Etienne.

Dunno why but I think that's truly beautiful.

 

[Zed Seagull]

Elvis - women loved him, men wanted to be like him.

Classically handsome, a singer, dancer, writer, musician, actor and showman. And anyone who can bed Prisicilla Presley in her prime deserves credit.

Basically, Elvis had more talent in his sideburns that Robbie Williams could ever dream of. Elvis is a true legend and his like will probably never be seen again.

Priscilla in her prime Wasn't she 14 when they met?

 

[gothenburg_gull]

Priscilla in her prime Wasn't she 14 when they met?

Absolutely true, but according to Priscilla they didn't actually have sex until their Wedding night in 1967 when she was 21.

 

[Zed Seagull]

Absolutely true, but according to Priscilla they didn't actually have sex until their Wedding night in 1967 when she was 21.

Makes you wonder what he did for 7 yrs

 

[gothenburg_gull]

Makes you wonder what he did for 7 yrs

Juliet Prowse and Ann-Margaret mainly...

 

[gothenburg_gull]

Well, the "Elvis The King" album is number one in the UK album charts this week, and the single "Suspicious Minds" is number 11 - which considering everyone has it anyway and it was only released on Thursday (August 16th, the 30th Anniversary of Elvis's death) rather than on Monday which is the norm - that's pretty good going!

"Blue Suede Shoes" and "My Baby Left Me" are both out as singles tomorrow.

The fuss goes on!

 

[dougdeep]

I agree, I have no idea what all the fuss is about. What's he done in the last 30 years?

 

[gothenburg_gull]

I agree, I have no idea what all the fuss is about. What's he done in the last 30 years?

...apart from sell millions of albums and become a true cultural icon you mean?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Elvis who?

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Elvis is a true legend and his like will probably never be seen again.

Thank god.


Elvis was ok, but lets face it he wasn't the original anything. He took RocknRoll mainstream, made a few good tracks and then became a middle of the roadmainstay. He had charisma and a nice voice but he didn't write squat.
Here's a quick list of 50's stars with more talent:

Buddy Holly
Ike Turner
Chuck Berry
Little Richard
Jerry Lee Lewis
Johhny Cash
Ray Charles
Sam Cooke

 

[gothenburg_gull]

Thank god.


Elvis was ok, but lets face it he wasn't the original anything. He took RocknRoll mainstream, made a few good tracks and then became a middle of the roadmainstay. He had charisma and a nice voice but he didn't write squat.

Um, the very fact that he was the one who took rock'n'roll mainstream, as you put it, actually makes him the original rock'n'roll star, doesn't it?

Maybe it was unfair that because he was white, good looking and had amazing charisma that he was the one who did that when people like Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston, Jackie Wilson, Chuck Berry and so on had amazing talent that deserved to be heard by a wider audience. Elvis broke down the doors for black artists to really connect with white audiences - don't forget just how segregated America was back in those days. Plenty of those black artists have acknowledged just how much Elvis did for them.

Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis were making music before they heard Elvis, of course, but it was his success on the Sun label that led them there and his trailblazing made them realise the type of success that they could have.

Elvis was not a songwriter, he wrote a few songs throughout his life with colleagues, but nothing stunning. The artists that you mention all wrote some all-time classic songs that people will never tire of hearing, that's absolutely true. Elvis's gift wasn't song writing, Elvis's gift was being able to take a song and make it something special, to interpret it in a way that the writer had never imagined it could be done, to make it something new. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote "Hound Dog" for Big Mama Thornton. When they heard Elvis's version they couldn't believe what he had done to it, he had seen something in it that they didn't realise was there.

That was his gift, that is why the fact that he didn't write his own songs hasn't affected the way that he is seen as being so original and talented.

Also, Elvis was producing amazing songs and performance all through his career. "Reconsider Baby" from 1960, "Tomorrow is a Long Time" in 1966, "Long Black Limousine", "In The Ghetto" from 1969, "Merry Christmas Baby" / "I'm Leavin'" from 1971, "I Got A Feelin' In My Body" from 1973, "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" from 1976. Those are NOT middle of the road mainstream performances. Surre, you probably haven't heard them because bad management were trying to push him down the easy money Vegas road, but he was making great, relevant music all through his career. Not just a few good songs!!

The reason that people still make a fuss about Elvis is because he had the voice, the looks, the style and the.... special something that you can't really explain, that touched - and continues to touch people in an unexpected way. There are plenty of people who like a couple of Elvis songs, but generally can take or leave him, but there are plenty more who find that he reaches inside them and speaks to them in some way all through their lives. That is a very special gift that very few artists have.

 

[Northstander]

The really sad thing, if it wasnt (partly imo) for his manager, he'd still be about today....arguably!!

 

[Icy Gull]

Great showman as this video proves, although a little staid by today's standards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5CU6_FFWK8&mode=related&search=

 

[Frutos]

I like a little of his earlier, country stuff (Kentucky Rain mainly, his version of Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain is alright but Charley Pride sings the song better IMO), but the rest does nothing for me whatsoever.

At work, we've been seeling the limited edition singles that are being released every week in commemoration of his death. Every week, despite knowing full well that we open at 9am, the same group of sad bastards line up outside at 8am for them.

The singles are being released at the rate of one per week until December, and I fully expect that they will still be there at 8am every Monday in December, virtually wetting themselves in anticipation. For reasons beyond my comprehension, the bloke sure provokes a lot of passion and devotion from his fans, probably more so than any other musician, past or present.

Can't see the attraction myself, but live and let live I guess.