30 years ago today Elvis died.

I know he has millions of fans around the world who are remembering him today. I was very young when he died, but I enjoyed his music and corny movies as I was growing up. I have an uncle who knew him a little and said he was always a friendly, caring man and never treated anyone badly.

Thanks for all the great music Elvis!
[Edited 8/16/07 6:57am]

I remember watching TV the day he died and seeing all the thousands of people on the streets watching that line of white Cadillacs go down the street.

In honor of the King, I'm having a fried peanut-butter & banana sandwich for lunch.

Yum, yum! Don't forget to melt butter on both sides of the bread in the skillet.

vainandy said:

After that, I'll date a 15-year-old, take every drug known to man, get a policeman's badge and pull people over.

uPtoWnNY said:

Don't forget to gyrate your hips while you're doing that

Elvis was out of control, but the dude was a pimp. He got Ann-Margaret, and she was smoking hot back in the day.

uPtoWnNY said:

Speaking of Ann-Margret, she's playing Casino Niagara next month. She's got to be in her early 70's these days. I'm sure there will be lots of people there to see her though. She still looks great.

That shit was funny as hell. He had lost his damn mind.

vainandy said:

"This here's Officer Elvis! Pull over!"

The funniest story was Nixon making Elvis his drug czar. It doesn't get more ridiculous than that.

Didn't Elvis beat up Hamburger James for having a sexy picture of Priscilla?

Frankly, I'm glad he's dead.

He was crazy as hell for being a "make believe policeman" but even crazier for pulling over people with drugs and he did drugs his damn self.

vainandy said:

Rick James had nothing on Elvis!

PFunkjazz said:

wtf

Dewrede said:

Some people are such assholes. I wonder how PFunkjazz would feel if someone said they were glad Marvin Gaye is dead or Miles Davis? Hmmmmm.

Jerks!

Empress said:

uPtoWnNY said:

Did it taste good?

For some reason, I like watching documentaries on Elvis, he was a very strange guy when he wasn't on stage.

My favorite is "Elvis' final years" from the E! True Hollywood Story.

People seem to forget that Elvis made several classic albums -

1. Sunrise/ The Sun Sessions 1954-55 - Where it all began.

2. Elvis Presley 1956 - (first 'proper' album release, with the sleeve design the Clash 'borrowed' for 'London Calling').

3. Elvis 1956 - (second album.Several Elvis albums were imaginatively titled 'Elvis' . This is the first and by far the best.)

4. Elvis is Back! 1960 - His first non-movie album since leaving the Army. A strong candidate for his best ever album, and one of the strongest pop albums of the '60s.

5. From Elvis in Memphis 1969 - My favourate Elvis album, containing many of his great late '60s songs, and also 'Long Black Limousine', an great, gospel flavoured album cut which is a strong candidate imo for best ever Elvis track).

6. Elvis Country 1970 - Elvis recorded a great deal of country rock/pop flavoured material, and this is probably the best example on album.

Of course, this list is highly selective and there's tons of other great stuff, and I would specially recommend anyone with an open mind to check out all of his imo under-rated '70s studio recordings. He was doing good/ very good and the occasional classic track right up until the end.

He did tons of great but obscure recordings (if you ignore most of the '60s movie soundtracks anyway ), and if you think you know Elvis due to a handful of the famous tracks, there's probably twice as many obscure album tracks that are just as good.

Yes, his life story is amazing, bizarre, hilarious and tragic, sometimes all at the same time, and I suspect the whole experience did little to bring the man true happiness, but we should never lose sight of his life's work - the music, and the musical worlds he so loved, many of which we love here on the Org.

Forget all the other BS - just listen to that voice. That's all that really matters, and is all I listen to him for. He sang with a feeling that makes me feel. That's soul to me.

Along with that of so many other great artists of his era(s), black, white, blue and green, it will last almost for all time.

Stupid man. Why did you have to destroy yourself when you had so much left to give?

Miles said:

Valid points in deed.

Empress said:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...BiLFEI82Ww

Timmy84 said:

Sometimes he was strange on stage - fat, bloated & sweating gravy. Dude was a train wreck.

Imagine Charlie Murphy doing Elvis stories? "I'm Elvis, b!tch!", then BOOM! Elvis shoots the TV.
[Edited 8/16/07 14:42pm]

uPtoWnNY said:

Yeah I heard sometimes he would laugh uncontrollably on stage (probably because of the abuse of drugs) and he would lay down and sing a song while lying on his back. Very weird guy at the end of his life and he died weirdly too in his bathroom. I heard when he died that he had bit his tongue and that the tongue was clamped down so tight that it was almost broken in half.

I think Charlie would've gotten his gun and told Elvis "you try that sh*t again, I'm gonna blow your head off" and that would've scared Elvis into actually stopping his self-destruction. Because Elvis wasn't like Rick.
[Edited 8/16/07 14:46pm]

Timmy84 said:

A long time ago, Howard Stern played a tape of Elvis losing it during a recording session of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" Dude started laughing like a hyena, and at the end, he tells the background singer, "sing it, baby!" Sh!t was funny as hell. Howard said the King's drugs probably kicked in.

uPtoWnNY said:

Wow... that must have been recorded in Vegas or something, lol. Because I heard he always f*cked around while "singing" that song. He said he would get into fits of laughter and he just let the background group sing it because the laughter was apparently uncontrollable. Musicians during his last final years said they didn't know what was so funny that Elvis was laughing and said that years of drug abuse had caused Elvis to act so erratic.

Last year,
they closed the gas-station where he was working at.

I sure do hope he's okay.

Timmy84 said:

Even beofre he got heavy into the drugs, Elvis claimed to have not liked the song very much. Can't blame him for not taking it seriously, pills or no.

meow85 said:

True, I think someone said Col. Tom Parker made him do the song.

The man had a beautiful voice. Nevermind the drugs or the fuck-up behaviour or the rhinestone polyester suits or anything else. Just listen to that man's voice on songs like In the Ghetto or Suspicious Minds. Take into consideration the fact that he was recording years before fancy editing tools to clean up vocals existed, and before artists were allowed hours and hours and hours on end for one track. Elvis would have things nailed down often in only 2, 3 takes at most. That is a real and rare gift.


To think what passes for good singing these days....

meow85 said:

Oh I heard it. He DID have a voice on him especially in the late-'60s. I was amazed at how vocally soulful he was. You can't steal soul, it has to come from inside you and it was clear from what I heard, that Elvis had it in him. Amid the hype, history and megalomania that has surrounded him, he was a great singer.