Elvis Presley Represents The American Nightmare, Not The American Dream
Overworked, under-appreciated, and dead by 42
The King of Rock ’n’ Roll died 46 years ago, yet his legend still casts a huge influence over Western society.
We’ve all heard the name Elvis Presley. You know it, your parents know it, and your grandparents know it. In fact, I’ve never met anyone in my life who didn’t know who Elvis Presley was.
‘Elvis Presley represents the American Dream’ is a saying I’ve heard more than once. Indeed, the singer’s rise from obscurity to superstardom is a true ‘rags-to-riches’ tale. That is, of course, if you ignore the plethora of health problems, the perpetual feeling of loneliness, and the massive debts that plagued him in his final years.
Born into the most severe poverty only a few years after the Great Depression, the Presley birth house was nothing more than a ruggedly-built shack in Tupelo, Mississippi. Told that he would never make it as a singer and that he should stick to truck driving, the young Elvis Presley was unable to find a place in the music industry due to his unconventional sound and unusual name.
It was only when Sam Phillips, owner of Sun Records, embarked on a mission to find a white singer with an African-American sound did Presley’s career take off. Within 2 years, 21-year-old Elvis Presley had become a bonafide household name.
‘’ ‘If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars.’’ — Sam Phillips
Elvis was commodified from day one of his career and remained a commodity until the day he was found dead in his bathroom at age 42. Some say Elvis died young, however, the fact he made it to that age is nothing short of miraculous considering the laundry list of health problems he had and the severity of his crippling addiction to prescription drugs.
What part of this is supposed to be ‘Dream’, again?
In a proper society, a poor country boy can become anything he wants to be. However, only a mega-capitalist hellscape would ever think of making him a King. One German newspaper wrote a fitting epitaph for Presley when they stated:
‘’Elvis, hero of democracy, a victim of capitalism’.’’
The story of Elvis, behind all the glitz and glamour, is incredibly sad. He tortured himself for never becoming a ‘real’ movie star. He was worried that his back catalogue of forgettable, cheesy records would tarnish his legacy. His tours, though profitable, left him feeling increasingly isolated, stressed, and dependent on drugs. He was swindled out of millions of dollars by his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, and despite selling hundreds of millions of records over his life, found himself in dire financial straits.
Elvis Presley’s life does not represent an idyllic, enviable paradise at all. Instead, it represents everything wrong with our glorification of work, fame, and stardom. Chewed up and spat out by corporate America, the singer was squeezed for all his worth before dying in the most humiliating way possible.
Almost half a century after his death, Elvis Presley remains a symbol of the United States — for better or worse.
