Elvis

[william_kent]

I'll second @Benny B on the amazing quality of the Peter Guralnick biographies - although as he says, the second volume is dark

 

[Benny Bunter]

It really is. I reread the first volume earlier this year and extremely nerdily made this spotify playlist based around it:

The bit describing when Elvis and the boys get in the studio with Sam Phillips and hit upon their sound and start blowing up on radio are so exciting. Then the colonel shows up...
Couldn't face reading the second volume again though.

 

[woops]

sorry to report that my last book of poetry is sold out.

 

[Benny Bunter]

 

[Benny Bunter]

The devil himself:

 

[Benny Bunter]

When Luke sees this thread he's going to go mental

 

[martin]

You used to get Elvis fans in the UK in the early ‘80s, mostly older working-class couples who’d have little shrines in their flats…like these cherubic plaster busts of Elvis on the mantelpiece, with his mouth in an ‘O’…or they’d have the lyrics to Heartbreak Hotel written in neat cursive on the toilet door.

There was an early ‘80s obsession with James Dean and Marilyn Monroe too...their posters were everywhere.

Anyway, I’m with Chuck D on this. Don’t hate Elvis…feel nothing about him, really. Except to wonder who’d have won if he'd stuck around to have a transatlantic burger-eating contest with Britain's own R&B glutton, Buster Bloodvessel.

 

[william_kent]

You used to get Elvis fans in the UK in the early ‘80s, mostly older working-class couples who’d have little shrines in their flats…like these cherubic plaster busts of Elvis on the mantelpiece, with his mouth in an ‘O’…or they’d have the lyrics to Heartbreak Hotel written in neat cursive on the toilet door.

I'm going to use this as an excuse to repost my favourite clip of the Outlaw Dancer, Jesco White, talking about huffing glue while surrounded by effigies of Elvis ( and is that a Marilyn poster on the right? )


His ex-wife was called Marilyn as well..

 

[Benny Bunter]

Breathless, dripping with sweat, several large Cokes on the piano and looking like he's wearing fat prosthetics. The ailing king.

🥺😢😭

 

[william_kent]

🥺😢😭

Peter Guralnick paints a complicated picture of an Elvis in thrall to the evil Colonel, imprisoned by his public image yet yearning for spiritual release, jeered at by Red and co for his bookish ways, introduced to the wonders of amphetamines by the US Army, loving the money and the supposed freedom it brings but constrained by the expectations of the fans.. no wonder he fell to pieces...

 

[mvuent]

one of my best posts was rambling about elvis in choon of the day

the harlquinn


the visuals are important here. this is the memetic version of elvis, the one that's sold on tshirts across the world. the colors are more reminiscent of an old hand drawn poster than reality. it's as though an image tucked away in the corner of a bar in anywheresville, america has come to life, harry potter style.

the hairstyle and eye shadow, etc. remind me of the androgynous attractiveness of Desire in the sandman. at times i find it hard not to retroactively see the mannerisms of jim carey characters in elvis' facial expressions and movements. (probably they looked funny and unnatural to begin with--that was part of the magic.) this strange combination of associations furthers the sense that you're not looking at a regular human, but some other entity.

oh yeah and there's music too. this is what pop music could sound like when the majority of people in the US were just a generation or two removed from being hillbillies. now it's archaic, almost out of sync with the image of its performer. but really good and rollicking. a voice that has an undulating quality--the smooth, cartoony downward swoop of "you can do anything but stay off of my blue suede shoes".


bonus beats:


fragmented and transformed into a thousand new forms, all released in a single three minute explosion. roaring mechanical beasts to squealing cartoon chipmunks. sensory overload. at 1:16 elvis proper appears as a gibbering, statanic fool. hilarious and terrifying, but mostly the former. better than the original.

 

[luka]

that was actually really good

 

[luka]

You used to get Elvis fans in the UK in the early ‘80s, mostly older working-class couples who’d have little shrines in their flats…like these cherubic plaster busts of Elvis on the mantelpiece, with his mouth in an ‘O’…

was going to mention this cos i saw one in hastings earlier in the year. house called graceland, loads of elvis tat staring out from the windows

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

i think vegas/suspicious minds elvis is not exactly cool, but more acceptable today as they are just incredible pop songs.
the older rnr elvis, obv he looks better, but that era, and i think all the pushback against elvis as alleged/inferior cultural appropriator etc etc etc has rendered that a bit embarassing, as well as just a bit old and lightweight now. the idea that it was controversial is even more distant.
weirdly i have been seeing his old films pop up on bbc quite a bit recently.

 

[Benny Bunter]

That whole cultural appropriation criticism of Elvis is really stupid though, he was, at the beginning at least, a totally natural and unrefined synthesis of the music he grew up with all around him - hillbilly country, blues, r&b and gospel, plus his own totally unique thing that he brought to it. Recognising that shouldnt be embarassing and it doesnt diminish the music that inspired him at all, which I think he always treated with the utmost respect.

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

I'm not saying I subscribe to that, but it is there, and seems to get picked up quite a bit. The criticism is perhaps a bit poorly aimed though, and targets elvis, rather than the culture and structures that made it easier for an elvis than black rockers. But beyond that I'm not sure if there is much love still for 50s rnr beyond acertain generation. Its a bit like 80s hip hop.

 

[HMGovt’s Glorious Return!]

There's a baz luhrman film on Elvis coming

 

[the ig]

the joy of the sun sessions is in the glee at varied appropriation, it’s a magpie’s delight! the ‘freshly hatched’ feel is in that impurity and hybridity. it’s a kid discovering an existing richness as much as inventing. those who build a white myth of origin around him (the first, the source, the king etc) don’t get that so don’t get him, whilst relegating historically prior black rock‘n’roll to ‘race music’, by hastily labelling it rhythm and blues.

 

[the ig]

that’s the prob…imo

 

[Elvis]

the joy of the sun sessions is in the glee at varied appropriation, it’s a magpie’s delight! the ‘freshly hatched’ feel is in that impurity and hybridity. it’s a kid discovering an existing richness as much as inventing. those who build a white myth of origin around him (the first, the source, the king etc) don’t get that so don’t get him, whilst relegating historically prior black rock‘n’roll to ‘race music’ by hastily labelling it rhythm and blues.

Thanks ig, I appreciate it.