Can we help falling in love with the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll?
WHEN JOHN Lennon heard the news that Elvis Presley, his one-time hero, had died, he remarked: “Elvis died the day he went into the army.”
No doubt many people agreed. Certainly the raw, devastating young talent who turned popular culture on its head in the mid-1950s, was a far cry from the bloated wreck found slumped on the bathroom floor of his Memphis mansion – dead at the age of just 42.
Forty years have now passed since the untimely demise of the man dubbed “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, yet he continues to fascinate music fans the world over. He spawned a legion of impersonators and all manner of memorabilia, some may say tat, everything from teddy bears to a novelty singing and dancing Elvis telephone.
Ever since he died on August 16, 1977, fans have clamoured after rarities or items he once owned, sometimes paying astronomical sums for the privilege. A few years ago a collector paid more than £20,000 for a Bible given to the singer, while another person paid £18,000 for a ring. Even a pair of the King’s unwashed underpants were put up for auction, though bids failed to match the £7,000 reserve price.
But as the number of original Elvis fans starts to dwindle is his memorabilia becoming less valuable? The answer, according to Paul Fairweather at Omega Auctions, is yes and no. He says it tends to be genuine personal items that can be traced to Elvis which still do well at auction. “There aren’t as many collectors out there now and things like vinyl records are easier to come by, it’s only the rarer records that hold their value.”
And what about the man himself? Music journalist Chris Charlesworth, whose new novel –
– is published this week, says Presley remains an important cultural figure.
“Back in the 1950s sons looked like their fathers, they had crew cuts and wore cardigans and then suddenly there’s this young guy with sideburns and greased back hair, shaking his hips and singing black music to white people and it scared the living daylights out of the older generation.”
To parents he was poison, but to a burgeoning youth culture he was Elvis the pelvis. “He created a cultural explosion and that’s why he’s important. He looked dangerous unlike Bill Haley who was about as threatening as a cucumber sandwich,” says Charlesworth.
“There was something latent among teenage girls and he lit the fuse. At the time America was a conservative, church-going society and he ushered in this cultural change.” The music wasn’t bad either. “You had people Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis but Elvis was man.”
Presley was drafted into the US Army in March 1958 and after being demobbed two years later he embarked on a movie career that yielded more turkeys than hits.
His music ‘comeback’ in 1968 saw him revive his flagging career as he set out to reinvent his original Rock ‘n’ Roll image, moving from black leather in his famous TV special, to white, figurehugging jumpsuits in Las Vegas.
It’s perhaps easy to mock this later incarnation but Charlesworth says one thing that Elvis didn’t lose was his voice. “People often forget that he had a tremendous range. He could have been an opera singer with the right training, he could have been like Placido Domingo or Pavarotti.”
And for all the sadness at the figure he became in his latter years, those early songs like
and haven’t lost their oomph. “People are still playing the records and they still sound great. They’ve stood the test of time and they get passed down from generation to generation.”
Elvis may have long since left the building but his music hasn’t.