# Can someone explain why Elvis was and is so dammn popular? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2003, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234 "2003-04-12T09:58:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234/81 "2017-06-28T19:30:03Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > I’m in the middle of the first volume of a biography on him - pretty fascinating. **Last Train to Memphis** by Peter Guralnick? Excellent book - I haven’t read the second volume **Careless Love** because I know how crushing I’ll find it. But that set is considered the definitive Elvis bio to date. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234/82 "2017-06-28T20:34:29Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > 1. Another “quote” always sold me is the beginning of Heartbreak Hotel. Those who haven’t listened to the record typically imagine that he sings it in a normal English cadence, something like: > > \*Well SINCE my BA-by LEFT me… \* > > But he doesn’t do that. Instead he kills it by singing this: > > _WELL since MYYYY baby LEFT me…_ > > And it amps uo the song’s intensity by an order of magnitude. The first version, had Presley recorded it that way, might have given a young John Lennon some welcome relief from the bland BBC pop of the day. But the way he actually did sing it is like a shot of soul. It mourns your first break-up with pure intensity. Nice. I hear it but wouldn’t’ve called it out that thoughtfully. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234/83 "2017-06-28T22:10:57Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > I may be remembering this incorrectly, but when I watched the Beatles Anthology, I though the Beatles were initially impressed and starstruck with Elvis, but that quickly soured when they discovered that he didn’t want to talk music, and wasn’t as serious a musician as they were. I think the Beatles always wanted to be the best musicians that they could be, and the Elvis wanted to be the best performer. Here are various recollections of that night. None of them mention a souring of their opinion. > **[Elvis Presley Meets the Beatles | August 27, 1965 | Elvis Articles](https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvis-meets-the-beatles.shtml)** > > Elvis Meets the Beatles .. It lasted for about two or three hours and there were no cameras taken -- no pictures whatsoever. People say there's pictures. No recordings, nothing like that. The only pictures of that meeting were outside taken by fans... ---
**Author:** ![Marci\_Al](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Marci\_Al](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marci_Al)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234/84 "2017-06-28T23:47:23Z")
Compare him with Jacko. If both sang the same romantic song to a girl in their respective styles, who do you think the girl will consider? ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234/85 "2017-06-29T16:02:46Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Here are various recollections of that night. None of them mention a souring of their opinion. > > [Elvis Presley Meets the Beatles | August 27, 1965 | Elvis Articles](https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvis-meets-the-beatles.shtml) You’re right. I didn’t remember that correctly after all. Thanks for correcting that. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234/86 "2017-08-20T08:25:04Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Aside from the fact that he was drop dead gorgeous, he was also immensely charismatic, witty, talented, excrutiatingly humble (He always addressed people as “ma’am” or “sir,” for instance) and generous to a fault. Exactly. It wasn’t just a kind of charisma specific to a period in cultural history; I think it was the kind that’s timeless. I’ve been listening again to the material on YouTube; there’s not a whole lot of good live footage, but the montages of stills that you can watch while the music plays really shows off what the man looked like and a little bit of how he owned the stage. IMHO, he held onto that charisma at least through the end of the 1960s. He grew out his hair quite a bit more and, in terms of appearance, didn’t look too out of place among the rock stars of that time, even if his major recording successes had been several years before. Later I think he lost it when he got into the jumpsuits, put on all that weight, and gave rushed and careless performances. It is true that the early 70s were when a lot of the more current male musicians and bands were donning similar “glam” outfits, but they sure didn’t work on Elvis. Not at all. ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234/87 "2017-08-20T08:56:34Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Exactly. It wasn’t just a kind of charisma specific to a period in cultural history; I think it was the kind that’s timeless. I’ve been listening again to the material on YouTube; there’s not a whole lot of good live footage, but the montages of stills that you can watch while the music plays really shows off what the man looked like and a little bit of how he owned the stage. > > IMHO, he held onto that charisma at least through the end of the 1960s. He grew out his hair quite a bit more and, in terms of appearance, didn’t look too out of place among the rock stars of that time, even if his major recording successes had been several years before. > > Later I think he lost it when he got into the jumpsuits, put on all that weight, and gave rushed and careless performances. It is true that the early 70s were when a lot of the more current male musicians and bands were donning similar “glam” outfits, but they sure didn’t work on Elvis. Not at all. He looked pretty great during the Aloha from Hawaii performances. Still in tip-top shape there. Also, he was the first rockstar to wear the jumpsuit - the others like Jagger and Bowie were inspired by Elvis in their own jumpsuits. Elvis didn’t begin to decline until the second half of 1973, after his divorce was finalized. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234/88 "2017-08-20T12:08:44Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Since the thread was started, there was an interesting comment from Ian Whitcomb, a minor one-hit wonder in the UK during the British Invasion of the 60s who turned to journalism. His original impression of Elvis was the he was just imitating Dean Martin. > > As soon as I heard it, I realized he was right. Elvis’s ballads sound a lot like Martin, and his uptempo songs would the was Dino would have sounded like if he had done rock. > > Elvis might have denied the connection and would have said he was trying to imitate Bing Crosby. Actually Presley was an admirer of Martin. He told Dean’s daughter Deena that her father was the King of Cool. But more importantly in an early audition at Sun records, he sang a number of Martin’s songs and Marion Kreisker decided that if he wanted to be anyone, it would be Martin. But since Martin was considered a cultural lightweight, this tidbit got left out of a Jerry Hopkins biography and many others that followed > **[Elvis and Dean Martin | Elvis Articles](https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvis-and-dean-martin.shtml)** > > According to Marion, Sam asked Elvis to run through some of his repertoire, which seemed to lean so heavily on Dean Martin stuff, she thought Elvis had decided ... | Elvis Presley ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234/89 "2017-08-20T12:14:50Z")
He lives. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234/90 "2017-08-20T12:25:11Z")
More seriously, he made it acceptable for white people to like what was still called “race music”, a pastime that was only furtively engaged in by people who publicly had to claim to prefer Sinatra. Elvis sang “black” songs in a black style with a black voice, but was still acceptably white. It was OK to like his “Hound Dog” when it wasn’t quite as OK to like Big Mama Thornton’s, for instance. And the leg-shaking thing gave the ladies a thrill a little different from what Little Richard gave them. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234/91 "2017-08-20T14:23:03Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > More seriously, he made it acceptable for white people to like what was still called “race music”, a pastime that was only furtively engaged in by people who publicly had to claim to prefer Sinatra. Elvis sang “black” songs in a black style with a black voice, but was still acceptably white. It was OK to like his “Hound Dog” when it wasn’t quite as OK to like Big Mama Thornton’s, for instance. And the leg-shaking thing gave the ladies a thrill a little different from what Little Richard gave them. this is pretty much it. he was at the forefront of introducing a newer genre of music to a huge population of kids (early Boomers) at the time of their lives (adolescence) when they latch on to their favorite kinds of music. Same for the Beatles. 's why on the other hand, people like Bieber won’t have that kind of “staying power.” he’s not doing anything new or novel, he’s just the latest puppet for the tween pop music crap factory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-why-elvis-was-and-is-so-dammn-popular/168234.md?page=4)