Reply #23: Here I come to save the day!

[ForrestGump]

Actually, that was Roy Hallee...and then Andy Kaufman, who -- let's bring this full circle -- parlayed his Elvis fixation into a successful act that -- let's turn that full circle into a double helix -- caught the attention of, and garnered the approval of, Elvis himself. Glad we got that cleared up...

Elvis was great in the '70s. If you know anything at all about the man you'll perhaps see that he really was mixing and melding the same basic influences at the end of his career that he did so stunningly at the start (blues, country, black and white gospel traditions). He may have changed in some ways, and may have made millions of dollars by then, but there's a strong continuity that's visible throughout Elvis' recorded legacy from "My Happiness" to "He'll Have To Go."

As for that f***wit Chuck D, who bought into one of the more stubborn and fallacious of Elvis myths, he later clarified his thoughts about Elvis by saying that Elvis never meant much to him because his influences were more direct from a prior generation of musicians....in other words, he said, he and Elvis probably gained inspiration and musical form from the SAME people. Of course, this doesn't change the fact that Chuck D's a misinformed f***knuckle who's best 'musical' output isn't worthy of licking the sweat from the armpits of Elvis' "Confidence" from the Clambake soundtrack.

Elvis was a legend in the '70s...but he was a god up there on that stage and a vastly more effective musician in the studio than the uninformed would credit.