Referenced By / Elvis Presley

Even cute aliens can't resist impersonating the King.

A list of references in other works to Elvis Presley. These include references to his songs, live performances, TV specials, movies, album covers, persona, and life events.

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Anime & Manga

• The Pecola episode "Mysterious Pecola" has a major plot point of several Cube Town citizens having a secret they find embarrassing. One of them is that Gazelle is a fan of Elvis Presley, as he receives his belt in the mail and imitates his a voice a few times throughout the episode.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • The Warden of Green Dolphin Street Prison from Stone Ocean, Miuccia Miuller, possesses a Stand known as Jail House Lock, a rather clever prison pun on the Japanese Romanization of Elvis' "Jailhouse Rock", and causes its victims to learn only three new memories before getting permanently stuck trying to create new ones.
  • The Stand of Dolomite from JoJolion is named Blue Hawaii, after the soundtrack to the film that Elvis himself composed.
  • The Big Bad of JoJolion, Tooru, is seen dancing and singing to Elvis' rendition of "The Wonder of You", to the point that he named his Stand, Wonder of U, after the song itself.

Asian Animation

• In Season 3 episode 20 of Happy Heroes, the flashback taking up most of the episode begins with a scene showing Doctor H. dressed up as Elvis Presley as he is getting photos taken of himself.
• In the Simple Samosa episode "Mission 925", a few of the citizens of Chatpata Nagar are seen in strange costumes. Mayor Royal Falooda dons the famous hairdo and outfit of Elvis Presley.

Comic Books

• Elvis Shrugged, an Alternate History Affectionate Parody of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, set in the 1990s, says that the Elvis who died in 1977 was a clone created by Col. Tom Parker and that the real Elvis has been in hiding all this time, and the record industry, which has become a MegaCorp called Time-Warner-Sony, has collapsed because so many quality musicians have left the scene.
• In The Beano, Les Pretend's dad is an Elvis Impersonator.
• Elvis was a fan of Captain Marvel (his comic collection is featured in Graceland). In return, his favorite of the Shazam family, Freddy Freeman\Captain Marvel Jr., became an Elvis fan in the comics◊. Kingdom Come‎ has Freddy downright become an Elvis imitation called "King Shazam".

Comic Strips

• In Safe Havens Elvis faked his death and chose to become a merman instead.
  Thomas: That was him!
  Remora: That was a manatee. Elvis has gotten even larger.

Fan Works

• In the Junior Officers chapter "Heal", Deborah refers to her friend Susan's boyfriend as "a hunk a' burning love".

Films — Animation

• Presley is a huge influence to Lilo & Stitch and its franchise. From the use of his tunes and imagery in the films, to Lilo being such a huge fangirl of him that she uses him as a role model for Stitch, to Stitch's Elvis impersonations, and even down to influencing some of the experiments' names (such as Hunkahunka), the King reigns supreme on Kauaʻi.

Films — Live-Action

• In 3000 Miles to Graceland, a group plans a robbery in Las Vegas dressed as Elvis impersonators.
• Beetlejuice: The title character tries to distract the dead man sitting next to him by pretending he sees Elvis; "Yo, King!"
• The Commitments: Jimmy Rabbitte Sr. is a huge fan of Elvis in the movie, and any attempt to criticize the King pushes his Berserk Button:
  Jimmy Rabbitte Jr.: (after his father sings a few bars of "Can't Help Falling in Love with You") Elvis is not soul.
  Jimmy Rabbitte Sr.: Elvis is God!
  Jimmy Rabbitte Jr.: I never pictured God with a fat gut and a corset singin' "My Way" at Caesar's Palace!
  Jimmy Rabbitte Sr.: Jaysis Christ!
  Mrs. Rabbitte: Don't upset your father.
  • Later, Mr. Rabbitte gets equally incensed when he hears a group of musicians playing a song called "Elvis was a Cajun". Also, Joey tells the story of when he visited Graceland.
• In C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America it's noted that the influence that black musicians had on Presley's music put him under the eye of Confederate watchdogs, forcing him to move to Canada to continue to sing how he liked.
• Death Becomes Her: The premise of the film is people are invited to become immortal, with the catch after a certain period of time, they have to fake their own death, with Elvis being an example of someone who did so but keeps coming back (a reference to all the times people claimed to have "seen" Elvis even after he died).
• In Diner, Eddie, to his friends' annoyance, asks them who they prefer, Sinatra or Mathis. When Boogie asks, "Presley," it sets off Eddie's Berserk Button.
• In Ghostbusters (1984), Ray is interviewed by Larry King, who asks, "How is Elvis, and have you seen him lately?"
• Good Morning, Vietnam: In his first radio show, Adrian Cronauer says, "Time to rock it from the Delta to the DMZ! Is that me, or does that sound like an Elvis Presley movie?" He then goes into an Elvis impression.
• In Independence Day, upon escaping the Mother Ship, Hiller declares "Elvis has left the building!" to which Levinson imitates Elvis saying, "Thank you, thank you very much."
  • In an earlier scene, people are standing on top of the Library Tower in Los Angeles to welcome the aliens, and a woman is interviewed by the news saying, “Oh God, I hope they bring back Elvis!”
• Jerry Maguire: Jerry's bachelor party tape includes a tape from the documentary This Is Elvis, except in the clip of someone calling Elvis the "king of rock-n-roll", Jerry's name is dubbed in instead.
• In Like Normal People, Amy tells Roger that she thinks Elton John is better than Elvis. Roger tells her that he and Bobby went to one of Elvis's concerts once.
• Man on the Moon: The first time George Shapiro catches Andy Kaufman's act, Kaufman does his foreign man routine before breaking out into an Elvis impression
• In Men in Black, Kay sings along to Elvis' cover of "Promised Land" by Chuck Berry. When Jay points out that Elvis is dead, Kay replies that he just went home.
• In One-Trick Pony, Marion accuses Jonah of wanting to be Elvis since he was thirteen. Later, Elvis is mentioned when the band members are listing dead rock stars.
• In RoboCop 2, Elvis' skeletal remains with a picture of Elvis near it is seen by RoboCop at the sludge plant where the villain Cain and his Nuke Cult are hiding out.
• In Snatch., "Viva Las Vegas" plays over Frankie Four-Fingers fantasising about gambling.
• Somewhere: One of the residents of the motel Johnny stays at plays "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" for Johnny and Cleo at one point.
• The Thing Called Love: Miranda uses her middle name, Presley, as her last name. She explains she's not related to him, but her father was a big Presley fan, and gave her that middle name as a tribute. Later, she and James try to go to Graceland, but it's closed.
• Quentin Tarantino is a big Elvis fan:
  • In True Romance, Clarence is a big fan, who even has Elvis appear as his advisor.
  • In Pulp Fiction, an Elvis Impersonator performs at Jackrabbit Slim's.
• In This is Spın̈al Tap, the band visit Graceland.
• In Walk Hard, one of Dewey's first major gigs in his career involves playing as part of a concert headlined by Elvis (played by Jack White).
• In Wild at Heart, Sailor and Powermad perform "Love Me".
• In Zombieland: Double Tap, Tallahassee is shown to be a huge Elvis fan. He falls in love with Nevada, who owns an Elvis-themed hotel not far from the remains of Graceland.

Literature

• Wendy from I Think I Love You repeats the factoid that David Cassidy had a bigger fanbase than Elvis or The Beatles.
• In Evidence of Things Not Seen, the elderly Frank sings "Love Me Tender" to his wife Stella when the radio can't pick up a station.
• In Grass and Sky, Timmi remembers having a séance with her friends Samantha and Lydia. They thought they were talking to Elvis, until they realized it was Timmi's dad hiding behind the couch.
• In Needful Things, Cora and Myra are both very intense Elvis fans, so both their purchases at the title shop allegedly relate to Elvis. Later in the book, this leads to bloodshed between them.
• In Cemetery Bird, Karen listens to an Elvis record as she cleans out Boots' room after his death.
• In Shock Point, Thatcher's living room has a black velvet Elvis painting on the wall.
• John from Beautiful Music for Ugly Children was the first DJ to ever play Elvis on the radio. He owns a guitar played by Elvis, an autographed napkin, and a bust of Elvis in front of his house. He's forced to sell the guitar to pay his medical bills. Gabe often asks himself, "What would Elvis do?"
• Tom Gates:
  • In "Best Book Day Ever! (So Far)", Derek goes as Elvis Presley for Oakfield School's Book Week parade, wearing a costume inspired by his iconic Jailhouse Rock suit.
  • In "Mega Make and Do and Stories Too", Tom's grandmother Mavis talks about how she once had dinner with "a very famous singer". As Tom is curious to know who she's referring to, she shows him a picture of a younger version of her standing with a very familiar-looking figure, naturally implying that Elvis Presley was the singer in question.

Live-Action TV

• In Cheers, Carla is a fan, even going so far as to refuse service to customers who get facts about him wrong.
• The Father Ted episode "Competition Time" has the priests impersonate Elvis for a talent show.
• In Miami Vice, Crockett owns an alligator named Elvis; Switek is a fan.
• The Red Dwarf episode "Meltdown" has Elvis amongst the heroic waxwork droids on the planet.
• An episode of The Tom Green Show had a skit where Tom was wearing an "Elvis sucks" shirt outside of Graceland. To avoid getting tossed by security, he claims that he was really wearing it in "honor" of Elvis Costello, but he soon begins to mock Presley's singing style and dancing with his own poor imitations.
• Married... with Children:
  • "I'm Going to Sweatland" revolves around Peg and Marcy's love for the King, especially after the former bumps into an Elvis lookalike at the mall and the latter discovers a sweat stain on Al's shirt that resembles his profile.
  • In "Take My Wife, Please", Peg!Death confirms to a shocked Al that she (and her fellow Deaths) took Elvis.
• Saved by the Bell: In "House Party", as Screech's parents go off to a second honeymoon at Graceland, her beloved Elvis statue gets accidentally broken by the gang with the rest of the episode having them trying to earn money to buy a replacement.
• Full House:
  • Jesse is a huge fan of the King and for a while, his character almost entirely relied on his love for the musician and his moonlighting as an impersonator.
  • One episode has Becky in a Nightmare Sequence where she and Jesse are dressed just like how Priscilla and Elvis looked on their wedding day, with her sporting a comically huge beehive and him repeatedly calling her "Priscilla".
• In The Partridge Family episode "Whatever Happened to the Old Songs?" Shirley's mother accuses her father of thinking he's "Elvis Preston."
• Sliders: "The King is Back" doesn't feature Elvis himself, but it does contain allusions to him by portraying a world where Rembrandt's double was the equivalent of the King. Among the references are a manager patterned after Tom Parker, the regularity of impersonators (with our Rembrandt initially mistaken for one), and questions surrounding his death (though it turns out Remmy's double did fake his death in order to lead a normal life).
• Quantum Leap: "Memphis Melody" (the penultimate episode of the series) sees Sam leap into Elvis shortly before the King's big break. Sam has to both keep history on track for Elvis and help a female singer named Anne Winters. As Gladys worries about her son's course in life, Sam assures her that Elvis will become a famous singer that she will want for nothing.
• The Chronicle: Tucker and Wes are tasked with getting proof that Elvis Lives, which Donald calls the biggest prize of all in the tabloid business. In disguise at a convention full of super fans, they meet a guy calling himself Jesse who seems to tick every single box, but the ending strongly implies he's actually Jesse Garon. It also turns out the convention has been infiltrated by a cult of vampires who enjoy impersonating Elvis, due to the cape, shades, and other motifs.
• Designing Women: In the third season episode "E.P., Phone Home", Charlene wins tickets for a tour of Graceland, and ends up dragging the others along. Julia is reluctant at first, but ends up bonding with a truck driver who tells her how Elvis' music helped him personally.
• Treme: In the first season episode "All on a Mardi Gras Day", Delmond stands in the balcony of the apartment belonging to Presley's character in King Creole, and Janette gets to visit a party being thrown in that same apartment.
• Birds of a Feather: "We'll Always Have Majorca" is full of them - Malcolm dresses like Elvis, the prison band are called the "Jailhouse Rockers", Malcolm plans to sing "Blue Suede Shoes" and the first song sung at their gig is "Heartbreak Hotel".
• Homicide: Life on the Street: In the first season episode "Smoke Gets in your Eyes", when Munch asks Bolander what kind of music he likes, Bolander admits he like Elvis. At the end of the episode, Bolander sits in a bar and talks with a bartender (John Waters) about how the public adoration killed Elvis.

Music

• The album cover design and color typography of Elvis' 1956 Elvis Presley (The Album) was paid homage to by The Clash for London Calling, by Tom Waits for Rain Dogs, Distorted Dimensions by Mad Sin in 1990, F-Punk by Big Audio Dynamite^note A group led by former Clash co-leader Mick Jones in 1995, and Reintarnation in 2006 by k.d. lang. Chumbawamba's controversial single "Tony Blair" pays homage too.
• The title and cover art of the Bon Jovi Boxed Set 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong is an obvious homage to Elvis' greatest hits album, 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong.
• Kate Bush's "King of the Mountain" is a rumination on Elvis' relationship with fame, with the narrator believing that he faked his death to escape from it.
• Depeche Mode: According to Martin Gore, "Personal Jesus" is based on Elvis' dysfunctional relationship with his wife, Priscilla, as chronicled in her 1985 book Elvis and Me.
• Eminem, frequently compared to Elvis by the press as a fellow white innovator — and maybe appropriator — of a Black musical style, frequently compared himself to Elvis in his lyrics.
  • "Without Me" sees Slim Shady namedrop Elvis as a symbol for out-of-touch parents while simultaneously comparing himself to him. The music video even has Eminem wearing an Elvis costume while sitting on the toilet.
  • In his Invasion freestyles, he mocks his rival Benzino's racial essentialism by calling himself "the evil Mr. Elvis Presley" coming to take rap away in a white supremacist conspiracy.
  • In the music video for "We Made You", Slim dresses as a young Elvis and recreates the dance from Jailhouse Rock. (Eminem claimed this was one of the hardest things he'd had to learn for a video.)
  • In "Deja Vu", a song about his drug addiction, obesity and overdose, he describes himself as a fat, depressed washed-up star gobbling prescription pills, and sardonically remarks, "what would Elvis do in your shoes?"
  • In "Fall", Em responds to Lord Jamar's insults that he is a white "guest" in the house of hip-hop by warning him "leave me the hell alone or I'll show you an Elvis clone... Walk up in this house you own, thrust my pelvic bone, use your telephone and go fetch me the remote, put my feet up, and just make myself at home".
  • "The King and I" has Eminem conclude that he and Elvis are Not So Similar after all — Eminem got out of his drug addiction, lived longer, and is now happy and healthy, getting to enjoy his money and long influence while still making music he has creative control over and can be proud of (even if the critics doubt it).
• Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis" talks about Elvis in the second verse:
  Saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue
  Followed him up to Graceland, and I watched him walk right through
  Now security did not see him, they just hovered round his tomb
  But there's a pretty little thing waiting for the King down in the Jungle Room
• R.E.M.:
  • "Just a Touch" recounts the night Elvis died and the public reaction to it; the title itself came from an advertisement for an Elvis impersonator who was performing when the news broke, with the tagline "Is it the King... or just a touch?"
  • In ''Man on the Moon", the band's tribute to Andy Kaufman, the song mentions Kaufman's "goofing on Elvis", and Michael Stipe does an Elvis impression when singing, "Hey, baby". The mention of Elvis additionally alludes to the persistent Elvis Lives conspiracy theory, connecting it to the similar rumor that Kaufman (who among other things was known for an Elvis impression that was beloved by the man himself) faked his own death.
• The Replacements' "Bastards of Young" references Elvis' death eight years prior to the song's release as a symbol for the Baby Boomer generation's fading grip on the youth zeitgeist.
• Robbie Williams' "Advertising Space" is a Celebrity Elegy where Robbie talks to Elvis beyond the grave (with some influence of True Romance, listed on the Film folder).
• Frank Zappa's "Elvis Has Just Left the Building" is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to Elvis.

Theatre

• Conrad Birdie, the title character of the stage musical and movie Bye Bye Birdie, is a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Elvis, and the play itself is based upon the public hysteria that occurred when he was drafted into the U.S. Army.

Video Games

• In Civilization II, the "Attitude" Advisor in the player's "High Council", who advises on the peoples' happiness, is an Elvis Presley caricature, wearing sunglasses even in the Ancient period.
• The first ClayFighter game has Blue Suede Goo, an Elvis Impersonator whose name happens to be a pun on "Blue Suede Shoes".
• In Fallout: New Vegas, one faction is called "The Kings", raiders who come across an Elvis Impersonator School. Although The Kings impersonate Elvis and know his songs, they don't know Presley's real name as none of the Elvis material they found at the school used it (The game is set a century after a nuclear war and as a result, knowledge of Elvis was lost until they found the school). They instead call Elvis "The King".
• One of the bosses in God Hand is a fat bald demon in a white suit named Elvis. While he only really shares the name, his Leitmotif features some Elvis-like humming and when he's finally killed his death is announced with "Elvis has left the building".
• In Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the English translation uses Elvis songs for the chapter names.
• In Perfect Dark, the Extraterrestrial Maian Diplomat, known as Protector 1, adopts the name Elvis as he becomes enamored with terrestrial culture, going as far to own a pair of blue suede shoes during the climax of the game.

Web Original

• In season 2 of Epic Rap Battles of History, Elvis rap battled against Michael Jackson; notably, Elvis spends most of his first verse singing his lyrics to the tune of "Jailhouse Rock" instead of rapping, and he transforms into Fat Elvis for his second verse.
• SCP Foundation: It was once thought that Listzomania was an SCP, and one O5 member so feared the 'return' of it because of the rising rock scene that he took...drastic measures to neutralize it. Elvis was initially believed to be the first reoccurence of the SCP, and the Foundation 'neutralized' it by having him drafted into the Army. He was the lucky one: most of the other alleged carriers were just plain assassinated.

Western Animation

• In Clone High, two of the students at the titular high school are twin clones of Elvis, one of whom really let himself go over the summer while the other stayed thin and healthy.
  Skinny Elvis: [looking into his lunch bag] Oh yeah, steamed vegetables. What did mama make for you?
  Fat Elvis: Nine fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches and a thermos full of tranquilizers, thankyouverymuch. [gulps down tranquilizers and falls over] I have left the building.
• Fireman Sam: Fireman Elvis Cridlington, as his name suggests, is caricatured after Presley. He has the hairstyle and interest in rock music down pat.
• The main character of Johnny Bravo has a voice and mannerisms inspired by Presley. The show itself evolved from a student film about an Elvis impersonator, Mess O' Blues.
• OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes resident pompadour-sporting Pretty Boy Raymond wears one of The King's signature rhinestone-studded jumpsuits to the Plaza Prom, complete with provocative dance moves and all the girls fawning over him.
• Rocky and Bullwinkle: In one series of episodes, Boris is tasked to find the Kirwood Derby, which makes anyone who wears it the smartest person in the world, and we see a montage of kings who wore it when they ruled the world, including Elvis Presley.^note Oh, never mind
• The Simpsons:
  • Elvis appears in the Itchy and Scratchy short "The Front". Scratchy's head ends up in his television. He complains that "This show ain't no good" and shoots the TV.
  • "Viva Ned Flanders" takes its title from "Viva Las Vegas", which plays during the chase sequence.
• In Tamagotchi Video Adventures, Ginjirotchi has Elvis' voice and dons his hair style after going through a car wash. He also wears Elvis' iconic white dress when he presents a car for Cosmotchi to consider as a potential Earth exhibit for Tamagotchi Museum (speaking of which, that car is clearly meant to be Elvis' Cadillac, but it's colored differently). Furthermore, Ginjirotchi's verse in the "What's a Tamagotchi?" song mentions blue suede shoes, a reference to one of Elvis's most famous songs.
• Bobby's World features multiple references to Elvis, as Martha, Ted, and Ruth are big fans. "Suspects, Lies & Videotape" concerns Bobby trying to cover up accidentally breaking Martha's bust of the guy, but he's convinced to tell the truth by someone who looks suspiciously like the King.
• Duckman: Elvis appears in "The Germ Turns" as one of the cases that Cornfed solved while Duckman was away. Cornfed simply tells the King that he has to go home sometime. Elvis occasionally appears as a background extra in later episodes.
• The Pink Panther: The episode "Pink-A-Rella" has the Panther acting as a Fairy Godfather for a waif, trying to help her win a contest and get a date with "Pelvis Parsley".
• Garfield and Friends had an Us Acres musical segment with Roy dressed as Elvis, and a Garfield short where it turns out a newspaper wanted pictures of Bigfoot with Elvis - who passes by the cat and Jon asking for directions.
• Cartoon Planet song "I Love Almost Everybody" is sung by Space Ghost in the style of "Love Me Tender".

Other

• Canadian figure skater Nicolas Nadeau performed to Elvis Presley's music for his long program during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 competitive seasons. The songs are "That's Alright", "Bridge over Troubled Water" and "Blue Suede Shoes".

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