Members Anderton Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 I mean, he was the king and all that...but does anyone of today's generation care?
Members gearmike Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 That would explain why two bands did Suspicious Minds covers at my gig this weekend...
Members blackpig Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 King of what, exactly? Hyperbole? Las Vegas? Constipation?
Members ShakaCthulu Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 He ain't dead! I seen him in the Save-a-Lot! Haha. I care. But I'm 28, and hardly of today's generation. Elvis did alot for music and racial integration, even though he did flip out later on. So sad that all the bull{censored} lies about him being a racist are still being repeated long after having been disproven.
Members LiveMusic Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 I don't have the perception that the young generation are Elvis fans but I'm not around them. Early to mid Elvis was pretty cool.
Members Rabid Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 I care, but like the Beatles his time has past. I don't listen to either of them anymore. Robert
Members Johnny Storm Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 The Beatles' time will never be over. I still listen to them frequently, as do many other fine folks on this board.
Members Jon Doe Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 Originally posted by Rabid I care, but like the Beatles his time has past. I don't listen to either of them anymore.Robert Music isn't like milk or beer. It doesn't go bad. Good music is good music forever. It may not always be popular, but it will always be good. I'm sure if people go to the library they're more likely to get the new Tom Clancy novel instead of "The Old Man and the Sea", but Hemingway was 10 times the writer regardless of how popular he currently is...
Members kylen Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 I care that he lived. He was influenced and influential, both a man and a myth, loved and hated. He was a part of something that began as some fun and snowballed into something unimaginable to most of us. I visited Sun studios last year with the wife and we saw the recording equipment that Sam Phillips used to capture that great early SUN sound. We stood where Elvis and Scotty Moore and Bill Black stood when they made those revolutionary rock'n'roll sounds. We also took a trip to Graceland where the spirits of the success and good fourtune lived a long time ago as well as the darker spectres that formed behind the scenes. I picked up a copy of Scotty Moore's 'That's Alright Elvis' that was in the Graceland giftshop which gives a different view of the success of the whole affair - from the view of a sideman (haha - merely the architect of the rockabilly guitar sound IMO). Elvis was huge musically as well as becoming a celebrity and myth. I appreciate him because of his music and his association with SUN and the very cool sounds that were created by all involved. I don't believe the early Elvis was a solo act but that sound was the result of all involved including Sam Philips (same as The Beatles and George Martins crew). His popularity was staggering though this diminished everything else in my opinion, even the music. Me? I have trouble getting noticed at the cash register in a hardware store while holding a $20 bill - so I don't have that problem...no siree The World is different for his having walked thru it - one measure...
Members phaeton Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 i liked buddy holly and the cricketses much more. Honestly, I'm sure Elvis was important in the whole mix and history of rock n roll, and i do't regret anything, but i can't ever think of anything he's done that i've really gotten into...
Members Rabid Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 Originally posted by Johnny Storm The Beatles' time will never be over. I still listen to them frequently, as do many other fine folks on this board. I'm sure your kids will have the same feelings about Backstreet Boys and NSync. I'm not saying they are bad, only that time moves on and I listen to other things now. Beatoven and Bach are also good and I played them a lot on piano. But their music is not the first thing I think to put in the CD player. It is not the 100th thing I think to put in my CD player. Just to be clear, I'm not comparing Elvis or the Beatles with Beatoven or Bach. Robert
Members Counterpoint Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 Originally posted by Anderton I mean, he was the king and all that...but does anyone of today's generation care? I'm not from "today's generation," so do my comments count? I don't know. It's been a long time. His death is accepted by most people. It was shocking at the time, but when we found out what kind of shape he was in, it wasn't really a big surprise. He wasn't young like Jim Morrison or Jimi Hendrix. He wasn't murdered like Kennedy or John Lennon. He didn't die in a spectacular crash like Buddy Holly or Stevie Ray Vaughn. He wasn't bludgeoned in a bar fight like Jaco or shot by his father like Marvin Gaye. And he wasn't gunned down in the street like Biggie and Tupac. Elvis just took too many pills for too many years. Elvis is a part of history now, like Sinatra or Ellington or Caruso. Do people "care" if it's the day that Ellington died? I've never heard a DJ mention that date, but we still love the man's musical legacy. Same with Elvis. The impersonator thing really needs to start dying out, though.
Members Johnny Storm Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 Originally posted by Rabid I'm sure your kids will have the same feelings about Backstreet Boys and NSync. Actually, my kids can't tell the difference between Backstreet Boys and NSync, but they love the Beatles.
Members halljams Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 Actually he lives up here now. I remember the day he died. i was helping this older kid fix his moter bike in his garage and we were listening to the radio. I remeber thinking it was some sort of important moment. Years later Miles died. That hurt.
Members Anderton Posted August 17, 2005 Author Members Posted August 17, 2005 The thing that's interesting to me is how someone can be such a phenomenon at the time, then drift into the mists of time. Yet sometimes an artist breaks the mold. The Beatles' CD "1" was absolutely huge, and it wasn't just baby boomers who bought it. There was an Elvis remix a few years ago (don't recall the artist) but it was big too. BTW I certainly agree that Buddy Holly was great. He had a huge influence musically, probably bigger than Elvis. But I think Elvis' biggest influence was on society. It's hard to imagine today, but the idea of a white guy singing music that obviously had its roots in black music and country was revolutionary (remember, in those days there were separate drinking fountains and bathrooms for blacks and whites). He also flaunted his sexuality in a way that, say, Frank Sinatra didn't, but Elvis also had the contradiction of being the ultra-polite, "yes sir, yes ma'am" type of guy. Honestly, Elvis Presley is not on my mind much, to say the least. I heard about the 28th anniversary of his death on the radio, and it made me think about the guy for a second...it's really quite a story, what with the out-of-the-blue success, the army hitch, the bad movies, the exploitation, and ultimately, the excesses wrought by his version of the "American Dream."
Members Lee Flier Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 Never was an Elvis fan. I think lots of people of his time had more talent and I enjoy their music more - Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, etc. Like you said Craig, I think Elvis was more of a "you had to be there" thing, idolized more for the social impact than the actual music.
Members Johnny Storm Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 Originally posted by Anderton There was an Elvis remix a few years ago (don't recall the artist) but it was big too. That was Elvis vs. JXL - A Little Less Conversation remix. It rocked. I did the transcription for the Motorola MIDI ringtone of that song. Originally posted by Lee Flier Never was an Elvis fan. Yeah, I wasn't either, Lee, but I know you must appreciate the genius and wide-reaching influence of Scotty Moore on lead guitar!
Members Lee Flier Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 Oh yeah, Scotty was kewl. Actually that early Sun Records stuff was pretty raw and cool, but he really lost me after that. I think John Lennon said it right: "Elvis died when he went in the Army."
Members songrytr Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 The day Elvis died I was at my girlfriend's house watching TV in the den. We knew it was big, but it wasn't until her mom got home from work - bawling her eyes out - that I finally realized just how important Elvis was. The only other time I had seen a mom cry (mine) was years earlier when Bobby Kennedy got shot.
Members Base Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 Originally posted by Rabid I'm sure your kids will have the same feelings about Backstreet Boys and NSync. That gave me a good laugh Elvis was ok, I'm not going to run screaming from the room if he comes on the radio, but other than liking the films when I was about 7 - 8, I've never been into him. The first thing I think of when he's mentioned is dodgy impersonator's, usually presiding over wedding scenes in very bad movies, probably the same for a lot of people, which really doesn't help... He finished his short life, Sweaty and bloated and stoned (A-Hey-Hey) He ruled his domain and he died on the throne No "Yes-Men", no colonel, he went... ...all alone... He lived on southern deep-fried spam, Killed on pills and woke in disgraceland Dis-Grace-Land Dis-Grace-Land Dis-Grace-Land
Members Jotown Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 I am not someone who could even be remotely described as an "Elvis fan", but you gotta' give people their due. He was the King if only for a minute and nothing anyone says can ever change that.
Members The Pro Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 It's worth mentioning that a couple of Elvis songs reached the top of the UK charts in the past few years, new made-for-tv movies also came out recently as well as a new documentary ("Elvis by the Presleys"), and his former band is still touring with video performances of "the King" worldwide. So Elvis has an interesting and profitable career in the afterlife going on. And then there's Lisa Marie Presley who continues to make hit records on her own. I went to one of her concerts earlier this year... the audience was more mixed than I would expect for a "current generation" performer. There were a good number of older people there to see her because she was Elvis' daughter, and I remember their faces after the concert - they were puzzled. Lisa's music is nothing like her father's and she doesn't do any covers of his music. But there's no escaping the shadow of the King I guess. My wife and I went to Graceland a few years ago while on vacation. We'd never been before. Graceland itself seems to be doing well but the rest of "Elvis Presley Boulevard" in south Memphis is mostly abandoned strip malls and closed Walmarts. Elvis has definitely left those buildings...
Members boosh Posted August 17, 2005 Members Posted August 17, 2005 Originally posted by Johnny Storm Scotty Moore is THE MAN! Why??? He only has 2 signature licks on guitar and he only played 15 years..........
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.