What Is the Half-Life of Elvis?

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Perham1

2,500+ Posts
The real Elvis. The only Elvis. The fried peanut butter and banana Elvis.

Will his aura eventually fade away like a cheap pastel colored jumpsuit? Or will Elvis enjoy a retro comeback? Will the Park Slope hipsters revive Him for the younger generation?

And what about Lawrence Welk?
 
Like Shelley's Ozymandias, all great Kings are eventually forgotten. Elvis won't die out until the last boomer draws a breath.
 
Equating Elvis to Lawrence Welk?
wtf.gif
Really?

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Elvis' prime is a little before my time. In fact, I didn't get interested in him until after he was dead. No individual rocknroller can match him and only the super bands are in his class. Icon.

Welk? It's a one-a, a two-a, a three-a for da money.

You, my friend, are nothing but a hound dog.
 
There is not a conceivable set of circumstances in which I would select Elvis Presley over Lawrence Welk.

Elvis Andrus, yes,

But Elvis Presley just wasn't my cup of tea.
 
Pre-Army Elvis was cool. A real rocknroller. See "Jailhouse Rock" or "King Creole".

Post-Army Elvis was a broken rebel, a money-making machine for Col. Tom Parker.
See any of his crap movies from the 60s and 70s, with the possible exception of "Viva Las Vegas".
 
The movies are awful. The Vegas Elvis that fat impersonators like to mimic is the sad one. I'd say Elvis' last good appearance was a TV special he did in the later part of the 60s. Still had a few good songs into the 70s.
 
Elvis died on my birthday. We were having a party for me and one of my friends walked in and said that he'd just heard that Elvis died. Another friend said that it was about time. And we continued.
 
CRAZY MONEY

Love him or hate him the dude rocked the world for decades. He has been the top earner among all dead celebrities for 20 years and was only surpassed (finally) by Michael Jackson in 2010. Need I remind everyone Elvis has been dead for over 30 years!

He has staying power.
 
Interesting discussion.

Elvis and the Beatles will have a longer 'half-life' than pre-Rock&Roll acts specifically because they are the considered grand-fathers of Rock & Roll. Perhaps if music continues the way it's going with a more Pop/Rap hybrid that will change. Perhaps as the baby-boomers die off the decline in their popularity will accelerate. It'll be interesting to pay attention to over the next 10-20 years.

I found it curious that in Keith Richard's autobiography he talked about when he first heard 'Heartbreak Hotel' and it was the first Rock & Roll song he heard and how different it was. I listened to 'Heartbreak Hotel' right after reading that and thought to myself, damn this song is slow, and not 'rockin' at all.
 
I guess I'll jump in here and be the one to give Elvis some love.

It's really easy to dismiss something, a "phenomenon," if you will, looking back after everything has changed because of it.

His early Sun recording are fantastic - particularly when taking in the way the world (and music world) was at the time.

My favorite of his from that period is "Mystery Train." With Scotty Moore & Bill Black backing him, Elvis really had a rawness and sincerity to him that few had matched. Maybe Sinatra, but that was a different genre.

The early to mid sixties - returning from the draft and the movies - were absolute crap, no question.

But after the "68 come-back special, Elvis put out some pretty rockin' music.

I know the stereo-type is a fat guy in a jump suit - but go back & watch him during those years. He honestly wasn't a fat-*** for the majority of that time (only the last year or so, due to thyroid issues). Watch something like "That's the Way it Is," and you can see that he really was the King. He has something about him, that you really can't take your eyes off the guy.

George Harrison said that during the '70's, no one could match Elvis' rythim section - and when led by James Burton, I'd argue that may have been true.

I despise Col. Parker, who I think never truly recognized the potential Elvis had, certainly in the later years, to create a fantastic library.
 
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