Elvis — Long Live the King
In today’s media-drenched, myopic, instant-gratification culture, it is hard to picture a celebrity having such a long-lasting hold over the culture like Elvis Presley did for his entire career and beyond. The pop icons of today come and go with an almost annoying frequency. They sell a krillion records, show up on every TV show on the dial, are the talk of the town, then six months to a year later, they are gone, nothing more than a trivia question.
The young fans of these modern performers don’t have any memory of Elvis. They have probably never heard his music, which is a shame. They have probably never seen any of his movies, which is perfectly fine. If they have any memory of Elvis at all, it is likely of a fat guy squeezed into a sequined jumpsuit with sideburns that look like two muskrats running down the sides of his face. There is so much more to Elvis Presley than this frozen-in-time caricature.
Elvis Presley was one of the most talented and prolific musicians of the 20th century. He had hits across several musical genres, including rock, pop, blues, country, and gospel. By all respectable estimates, he remains the best-selling solo artist in the history of music. Some bean counters put his…
