Elvis, if still alive, would be 74. I wonder if he'd be singing Jonas Bros. & Kelly Clarkson shit.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

...because remember, one of the last studio tracks he recorded was Olivia Newton-John's "If You Love Me Let Me Know"...real thrash-y speedcore stuff.



Would Bruce Springsteen, Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, and all of the other rockers who wanted to take Elvis into the studio to record one more PROPER ROCK & ROLL record have gotten their way, or would he have been regurgitating American Idol bullshit?

[Tabasco_Dave]

1. Elvis was becoming more conservative as he got older

he was big pals with Nixon and was trying to get the Beatles deported because he thought they where promoting drugs and hippie immorality. If he had survived during the 80's he would have campaigned for Reagan and gotten saved by Falwell or Pat Robertson. Had he witnessed Punk, Heavy Metal and alternative Rock he would have blown a fuse and start to denounce Rock and Roll. It's probably better that he died when he did.

[johnnie]

3. Elvis was friends with Jimmy Carter too

The whole Nixon thing was just to get that friggin' badge.

[Iggo]

2. To be fair, "If You Love Me Let Me Know"...

...was right in his Country/Gospel wheelhouse.

He loved that shit.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

6. Sad but true...

I remember the "behind the scenes" stories from the 1968 "comeback" special.

The show's producers basically wanted the Elvis that was presented in the show that aired. They got what they wanted.

Colonel Tom, on the other hand, wanted Elvis to sing a "traditional" song like "Frosty The Showman" or "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" and smile and wink into the camera at the end and proclaim "Merruh Crizmuz Evvuhbuddy"...and he, fortunately, did NOT get what he wanted.

If you believe any of the "serious" Elvis biographers...the ones who wrote books after Presley's death that weren't intended as "payback" or hatchet jobs or cash-ins (like the excellent books by Peter Guralnick, "Last Train To Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley" and "Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley"), Elvis finished out his post-comeback special career on Vegas stages, in a large part, to pay off Colonel Tom's gambling debts.

I still have to wonder what would have happened if musicians like the ones I've named...or retro kings Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe, to addd two more to the mix...had gotten their hands on Elvis behind closed doors, with top-notch musicians.

We'll never know. In many ways, Elvis began his death spiral after two events: the death of his mother and his hitch in the Army. The "comeback special" was a minor miracle, and if he could have sustained that momentum...holy CRAP. But he just kept listening to Parker, and we can see how well that worked out for him.

[Deja Q]

4. Like my sex life, he's dead. I'm over mine. Why aren't people over him?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

5. Well, he was the King of Rock & Roll, so unless you were the King of...er, what I mean is...

...never mind. You're right. People should be over Elvis AND your sex life.

[keroro gunsou]

7. he's the king

of rock and roll over.