YMMV / Elvis Presley

• Archive Panic: Wikipedia counts the total number of songs he recorded at 786, spread out over dozens of studio and live albums, and countless compilations and box sets.
• Audience-Alienating Era:
  • The peak of his career ended when he was drafted into the US Army in 1958, but when he completed his service in 1960, he seemed poised for a comeback. Unfortunately, his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, pushed him into a film career, which saw him star in a long string of Strictly Formula musical comedies that, while mostly successful at the box office, were almost universally panned by critics. Worse, the heavy production schedule (he was making two or three movies a year for the whole of The '60s) was cutting into his music career. Most of the hits he had in the '60s came from the soundtracks to his movies, which were met with diminishing returns starting mid-decade as The British Invasion caused his style of Rock & Roll, already quite sanitized by then compared to the edge of his Glory Days, to feel increasingly out-of-date. Until his televised comeback special in 1968, he did not perform live after 1961 and only recorded one album of non-soundtrack music after 1962. By the time his career bottomed out with the failure of the film Clambake and its soundtrack in 1967, music enthusiasts saw him as a joke and his former fans saw him as a has-been. His comeback special inspired a Career Resurrection, and while he never again enjoyed the mega-stardom he had in The '50s (John Lennon, upon Elvis's passing, remarked that Elvis "died when he went in the Army" and that the rest of his career was a "living death"), he still found success as a country and adult contemporary musician.
  • By the time he died in 1977, he had regained his position as pop music royalty and the King of Rock & Roll. That said, the last few years of his life, often derisively referred to as the "Fat Elvis" period (a term popularized by Lennon), are remembered as a pretty ignoble way for a legend to go out. Starting in 1973, Elvis's health went into decline due to both drug addiction and a very heavy touring and production schedule, and before long, he was stumbling out of limousines high on barbiturates; after Elvis's autopsy, his doctor saw his license to practice medicine suspended for three months due to all the sedatives, amphetamines, and narcotics he had prescribed the singer. His divorce from his wife Priscilla also took a steep toll on his finances, leaving him less able to afford his extravagant lifestyle. A 1976 show in Syracuse, New York went down in history for all the wrong reasons when the Syracuse Post-Dispatch published a scathing review calling him a "fat, puffy has-been" who seemed to be going through the motions while numerous other shows were canceled outright due to Elvis not being in good enough health to perform. That same year, Elvis's father Vernon, by that point also his de facto manager, fired three bodyguards who had been members of Elvis's "Memphis Mafia" clique, leading them to co-write a tell-all book called Elvis: What Happened? that came out shortly before his death in 1977. As the final insult, when Elvis finally died on August 16, it was in one of the bathrooms at his Graceland estate, leading to a popular urban legend claiming that he had died while sitting on the toilet (and many jokes about "the King on his throne").
• Broken Base: No one will deny that Elvis was one of the greatest singers in music history and was a one-of-a-kind performer. At the same time, many believe his success and fame were unwarranted, due to him more or less making a career out of singing other people's songs and reaching stratospheric heights thanks to the strong racist and segregationist elements in American music, which left the original versions, recorded by Black musicians, in relative obscurity. To Elvis's credit, he was himself on the latter side - he was fully aware of the effect he was having, and was not at all happy about it, especially since he wound up doing this to his idol, and the reason he got into music in the first place - Fats Domino. He makes a point of mentioning rock & roll's roots in African-American musical traditions - rhythm & blues and gospel music - in the middle of his comeback special in 1968. Regardless of Elvis' own feelings on the matter, it hasn't stopped the base-breaking over his impact.
• Covered Up:
  • "Hound Dog" was written by Leiber and Stoller and first recorded by blues singer Big Mama Thornton, though it was the version by the white vocal group Freddie Bell & The Bellboys on which Elvis based his rendition.
  • "Blue Suede Shoes" is another one; it was actually a big hit for Carl Perkins before Elvis's own version was successful. Elvis, who was friends with Perkins, knew very well this would happen and only agreed to record the song for RCA if they would delay releasing it as a single to avoid killing Perkins's version.
  • Presley was also late to the party in recording "Shake Rattle and Roll"; his version actually combines elements of the previous hit versions by Big Joe Turner and Bill Haley (Turner's lyrics, Haley's arrangement, though alternate takes with Haley's lyrics have been released, too). Possibly too late to the party as it was the first (new) Elvis RCA single to underperform on the charts (that it was released the same day as six singles pulled from Elvis Presley (The Album) must not have helped either).
  • Later in his career there was "Suspicious Minds" (originally written and recorded by Mark James), "Burning Love" (first recorded by Arthur Alexander), and "Guitar Man" (originally a minor 1967 hit on the Country Music charts for Jerry Reed, who went on to play guitar on the Elvis version).
  • The holiday standard "Blue Christmas" was first popularized by Ernest Tubb a decade before Elvis's version.
  • "Always On My Mind" is a messy situation. B.J. Thomas was the first to record it, but it didn't get released for another 25 years. Gwen McCrae released it first, but Brenda Lee recorded it before her and released it shortly after. Elvis had the first hit version in 1972 (though it was a bigger hit in Britain than in the US). Willie Nelson's version became a major crossover hit in the US in 1982. 5 years after that, Pet Shop Boys had a huge worldwide hit with it. These days, Nelson's is the most popular version in North America, with the Elvis take mainly being a fan favorite. In the UK, Elvis' rendition still gets regular airplay but the Pet Shop Boys version is much more popular.
  • Another example of Elvis having the better-known version of a song outside the US is "Polk Salad Annie". The original by singer-songwriter Tony Joe White was a Top 10 hit in America in 1969, but it didn't chart in the UK, while Elvis' cover was a hit there and in Ireland in 1973. In the British Isles, it's considered an Elvis song first and foremost, while in America, it's a fondly-remembered One-Hit Wonder moment for White, with the Elvis rendition as a footnote.
  • "My Boy" was originally written by Claude François as "Parce que je t'aime mon enfant", and Richard Harris was the first to record the English translation.
  • There was a minor trend in The '80s and The '90s of Country Music artists covering some of his obscure tracks from The '70s and having hits with them. The Judds had their Breakthrough Hit with "Had a Dream", which was simply a new title for Elvis's "For the Heart", while Travis Tritt had a big hit with "T-R-O-U-B-L-E".
• Creator Worship: As the first rock superstar, Elvis has been crowned the "King" and shook up the life of many young people in the 1950s, breaking them out of the constraints of their boring every day life. His popularity increased thanks to Colonel Parker's excessive marketing of Elvis and even bringing in older people too when the singer made Hollywood movies and sang more general pop tunes. At a certain point, he was literally one the most famous persons on the planet. After his death, the Elvis cult became even more excessive, with more people buying his records than during his own lifetime. His house in Graceland, Tennessee is visited as some kind of shrine. Many fans refuse to believe he took drugs or that he is dead. There is even an actual religious cult based around him in the USA. This is parodied by the Mojo Nixon song, "Elvis is Everywhere," which sounds like an over-the-top Baptist sermon that replaces each instance of "Jesus" with "Elvis" before claiming Elvis is the source behind many conspiracy theories (the pyramids, Stonehenge, the Bermuda Triangle, etc.)
• Critical Dissonance: During his lifetime, Elvis won three Grammy Awards - but not a single one for any of his rock and roll or country music. Instead, all three recognized his Gospel recordings: the 1967 album How Great Thou Art, the 1972 album He Touched Me and a 1974 live performance of "How Great Thou Art" from Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis. Among his snubbed works (the Grammys having been established in 1959): the critically acclaimed Elvis is Back, Comeback Special, From Elvis in Memphis, Elvis Country and That's the Way It Is albums, and singles such as "It's Now or Never", "Guitar Man", "Suspicious Minds", and "Burning Love".
• Eclipsed by the Remix: "A Little Less Conversation" is basically unheard outside the 2002 Junkie XL remix that really broke the song into the mainstream.
• Fandom Rivalry: With The Beatles. The fact that they had their artistic zenith which helped transform popular music in the late 1960's while Elvis was drastically declining in popularity draws a lot of unfavorable comparisons. The fact that Elvis then tried to get US President Richard Nixon to ban the band from the USA, seemingly out of sheer jealousy, even as he regularly covered their songs in his concerts also embitters fans.
• Fan Nickname: The lesser-known "Elvis the Pelvis", among others.
  • Might've been used as a detractor nickname, too. Presley notably disliked the nickname, saying something along the lines of "I can't fathom what sort of adult would come up with that" in an interview (which can be viewed in Graceland, Memphis, if you take a tour of the estate as it is).
  • Despite the official name Elvis or the Elvis NBC TV Special, Presley's 1968 concert is widely known as The Elvis '68 Comeback Special.
• Funny Moments: The performance of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" in which he throws in a joke and laughs throughout the remainder of the song (see "Corpsing" on the Trivia tab).
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Elvis is still well-loved worldwide, but especially in Japan. One of his many Japanese fans is the former Japanese Premier Junichiro Koizumi, known for dropping by in Graceland during an official visit in 2006. Additionally, some deep-voiced Japanese singers from the Sixties started their careers either as Elvis Impersonators or by including covers of Elvis's songs in their initial repertories; one of them was none other than Isao Sasaki.
• He Really Can Act: Elvis is often remembered as starring in a lot of movies despite not being a good actor, and this was famously ribbed by Eddie Murphy in his Delirious special ("Elvis sang so good, they put him in movies; he couldn't act!") Elvis actually had a perfectly acceptable screen presence and undeniable charisma and sincerity; it was the films themselves that let him down, and didn't use him to his full potential. His dramatic performance in Wild In The Country is occasionally cited as an example of his legitimate acting skill, and a sign of what he could've done had he gotten better opportunities and been allowed to really challenge himself rather than simply do variations on his stage persona.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • The segment during the Comeback Special, where Elvis, surrounded by Black dancers and Black backup singers, does a medley of gospel numbers. It's a nod to the Black churches he used to go to, where he heard the music that inspired him to start singing. He introduces it by discussing rock & roll's roots in rhythm & blues and gospel — say what you want about Elvis, but he was a bit more vocal about his Black influences than he's given credit for.
  • Elvis was a huge fan of Fats Domino, and invited him to his first concert in Vegas in 1969. After the show, Elvis publicly called Fats "the real King of Rock N' Roll" and got a picture taken with him. 'Til his dying day, Fats said that picture was one of his most treasured possessions.
  • Elvis was also a diehard fan of rhythm & blues singer Roy Hamilton, which is clear if you compare their singing voices. When Hamilton died suddenly in July of 1969, he'd been deep in debt, and Elvis personally stepped in to cover his outstanding medical bills and funeral costs (confirmed by Hamilton's son).
• Just Here for Godzilla: Pretty much sums up why even the worst Elvis movies usually made money (some didn't, to be fair). Col. Tom Parker was quoted as saying that the content of the films was irrelevant and that audiences bought tickets to see Elvis on-screen singing a few songs.
• Memetic Mutation: The Jailhouse Rock one, the glittery white Vegas one, take your pick.
  • Also the black leather one from the comeback special.
  • His then-scandalous hip shaking.
  • His iconic "Uh huh huuuuh" Verbal Tic, so much so that one of the promotional advertisements for his 1968 Comeback Special was built around this (an outtake of Elvis doing the "uh huh huuuuh" numerous times can be found on one of the DVD editions of the special), and it was also built into his 1962 #1 hit, "Good Luck Charm."
    • This tic began with "All Shook Up", but "Hard Headed Woman" features it at the end of each line in the chorus. In fact, the '68 Comeback promo mentioned above sounds like it may be a self-parody of that performance.
  • "I never wrote a song in my life".
  • "Thank you. Thankyouverymuch."
• Misattributed Song: Elvis never sang "Lonely This Christmas" (Despite what several uploads of the song would have you believe. One of which being on the official Elvis Presley YouTube channel!). It was actually written and performed by British Glam Rock band Mud. It's easy to see why people would think it was Elvis singing, though, since Les Gray did indeed sound a lot like The King.
  • After his death, a number of songs recorded by a singer named Jimmy Ellis (who also performed under the name "Orion") were mistaken for Elvis tunes due to Ellis' physical and vocal similarity to Elvis.
• Older Than They Think: It's well-known that "It's Now or Never" takes its melody from the 1898 Italian song "O Sole Mio", but many fans aren't aware that it's actually a Suspiciously Similar Song to the previous Americanized take on "O Sole Mio", 1949's "There's No Tomorrow", a #2 smash for Tony Martin. Elvis had wanted to do a Cover Version of "There's No Tomorrow" but was convinced that a new set of lyrics that he controlled the publishing to was a more viable option. Elvis also invoked this trope in his later live performances of it by having his male tenor backing singer Sherrill "Shaun" Nielsen sing a verse of "O Sole Mio" before Elvis launched into "It's Now or Never".
• Once Original, Now Common: Compared to what some pop stars get away with now, Elvis's performances, which were once infamously censored on The Ed Sullivan Show, look almost quaint. It's hard to understand how blatant and transgressive his sexual presence actually was, especially when washed-up "Fat Elvis" in the white Vegas jumpsuit is many people's go-to image of him.
• Posthumous Popularity Potential: By the time he died, he'd fallen into a slump again after his late 60s comeback. He hadn't had a Top 10 hit in America since 1972 and a Top 20 hit since 1974. One immediate effect of the resurgent interest in him after his death was that his current single "Way Down" had been falling down the charts after peaking at #31, but immediately started a second run and wound up getting to #18.
• Signature Song: A few candidates here, actually! From his earlier material, "Heartbreak Hotel," "Jailhouse Rock," "Hound Dog" and "Blue Suede Shoes." For latter-day Elvis, it's "Suspicious Minds", "Burning Love" and (for his life and overall popularity) "Can't Help Falling in Love".
• Strictly Formula: While Elvis's roots were forever based in 12-bar blues and gospel, he would expand his musical repertoire throughout his career, moving from rock to pop, novelty, worship, and even funk and proto-disco near the end of his life with songs like "I Got a Feeling in My Body" and "Moody Blue". The same was not true of his 1960's movies, which began to lapse into an easily replicated formula after GI Blues:
  • Elvis plays a free-spirited young man — either a sociable, friendly guy or a gruff lone wolf, but always a romantic at heart — that blows into town.
  • He gets involved with a girl who's madly in love with him, tries to get involved with a girl who can't stand him, or both.
  • He performs several diegetic songs, both on and off-stage.
  • He starts, or gets roped into, a brawl at some point (which he wins, or at least is winning when it's broken up).
  • He participates in some kind of vehicle race (especially common after the climax of Viva Las Vegas!).
  • Finally, a happy ending, where Elvis emerges triumphant and (usually) gets the girl.
• Unintentional Period Piece: In "Return to Sender", the singer tries to send his apology letter to his former lover, only to be sent with a "Return to sender, / Address unknown, / No such number, / No such zone" (referring to postal district/zone numbers that were implemented by the United States Post Office Department in 1943). Ironically, within nine months of the song's release in 1962, all postal zone numbers were replaced with the nationwide rollout of ZIP [Zone Improvement Plan] Codes by the United States Postal Service in 1963, making the song seem dated before its time.
• Values Dissonance: Elvis's shaking hips: downright subversive and controversial in the Fifties, barely something even worth noticing today.

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