So in reading this thread about whether or not 1970’s Elvis was a tacky joke at the time or not, I got to wondering about what artist/artists in the present day most correspond to the washed-up and tacky Elvis, but still have huge legions of loyal fans?
I’m not much of a music fan, so I really don’t know the answer, but my first thought was some of the old-timer rock bands like Aerosmith or the Rolling Stones, but I’m not so sure they’re washed up and tacky.
Elvis Costello, naturally.
Edgy and skinny in his youth, and now fat and covering show tunes.
Up until his premature death (like Elvis) in part from chronic drug use, Michael Jackson.
Maybe McCartney, though his decline was much, much more gradual and dignified than Elvis’, and even now he is not nearly as tacky or ludicrous as Elvis became at a much younger age.
Maybe The Who as they now exist. I love the “real” Who, but,as I have said before, they really should have jacked it in when Keith died, and they definitely should have jacked it in when John died. You are the guys whose signature line was “Hope I die before I get old,” fer chrissake. You don’t actually have to die, but just retire already!
Maybe The Stones, even. Though they still rock and pull in the crowds.
Grace Slick destroyed her own considerable reputation in the '80s when she sold out with “We built this city on Rock and Roll.”
Gerry of Gerry and The Pacemakers is still performing, I think (certainly he was until last year). The joke is that it’s just Gerry and his pacemaker now. (Actually, the joke is at least 20 years old itself.)
I suppose almost anyone whose original greatness depended in large part on their unironic youthful energy and iconoclasm, but hung around in the business, without really reinventing themselves, until they got seriously old.
The unique thing about Elvis, though, was the enormous speed at which he turned from genius to a joke, even despite the abortive attempt to reinvent himself in '68. (The ‘68 show was an impressive effort, but it never really regained him anything like the popularity he had once had, and did not deserve to. The records that came out in the wake of it it were still pretty schlocky.) But perhaps it was thanks to to Elvis’ example, that the rock artists who came after him were able to avoid the pitfall he fell into for much longer than he did.
Possibly the best example of someone who went, relatively quickly, from being involved in smart, cutting edge rock to MOR schmaltz, like Elvis did, is Phil Collins. But his height was not nearly so high (nor was he the prime mover in it) nor his low nearly so low. (I was never really a Genesis fan, but I can see why people admired them.)
I don’t think I agree. Not to defend the music he makes now (which I have paid little attention to), but EC’s personna, quite unlike EP’s, always had a large measure of ironic detachment and self awareness about it. As a young man he was more playing the part of the edgy, angsty punk than really living it (he played it very well, but it was always, openly a performance) and it seems to me that that distance he always kept from his stage persona gives him the license, now, to carry off the role he is now more suited for, of the aging muso of eclectic taste, with some dignity.
Neither you nor I may much like the music he makes now, but no-one can help actually getting old, and I don’t see any sign that he has sold out, and, if anything, he has gained in dignity. He has successfully reinvented himself, as EP could not, and no longer has to pretend to be a dumb punk.
Barry Gibb?
That’d be my choice, as well. Went from the hottest singer in the country (maybe on the planet) to a joke in under a decade, then spent the rest of his life becoming progressively weirder, all the while trying to recapture that original spark.
The Beach Boys?
While I certainly agree that it ain’t the “real” Who anymore, you can’t really accuse Pete and Rog of being fat :D. (and I didn’t see a single review of last year’s Quad tour that accused them of being tacky)
First name that came to mind: Elton John.
Elvis became a parody of himself. The only name that really qualifies so far in this thread is MJ. Most of the other musicians above are guilty of nothing more than growing old.
Metallica.
Barry Gibb has a following? Who knew?
I’d add Madonna.
I’d say Dylan. Basically a sad parody of himself, though his fans still maintain he’s doing “great” work despite all objective evidence to the contrary.
Is it too soon to say Miley Cyrus? But she probably wasn’t popular enough in her first incarnation to count.
He crossed my mind too, but I thought: on the one hand, Elton was always schmaltzy (and kinda fat, too), and on the other hand I feel like he also always had at least a hint of that self consciousness and irony about him that I mentioned above in connection with Elvis Costello, and that sort of immunizes you against tackiness. Eltons costumes (and really, much in his music too) have always been tacky, but he knows it and embraces it, so that makes it OK.
It occurs to me, mind you, that I actually have no idea what sot of music, if any, Elton is making these days. Maybe you don’t like it, and maybe I wouldn’t either. Maybe heis no loner doing anything very interesting or creative (I don’t know). However, I very much doubt that whatever he is doing could reasonably e describes as “selling out” or “giving in to showbiz values” (any more than he has overtly done for his whole career).
Paul McCartney has certainly declined as a songwriter, but he still sings his old songs very well and still puts on a great show. VERY few people who saw a McCartney concert in 2013 came away thinking, “God, he ought to pack it in, he’s embarrassing himself.” He’s aged with dignity, which isn’t easy in the world of rock and roll.
Michael Jackson and the Beach Boys are among the few acts I can think of who were once hugely popular but reached a point where they were making a lot of former fans cringe.
Personally, I think Bob Dylan reached the Talentless Embarrassing Caricature of Himself phase decades ago, but he still has fans who think he sounds as good as ever, and that detractors like me just don’t “get” Dylan.
I’m not sure you can count the Beach Boys. They were touring all those years without the one person who was almost solely responsible for their success.
The comparison just doesn’t work as well with bands, in general.
The Beach Boys had a new album and tour last year that were both well-received, albeit they had a lot of help from backing musicians. They’re no longer the band that inspired the Beatles into making Sgt. Pepper, but they still have their fans, and it’s inspirational to see Brian Wilson making a comeback from his self-imposed withdrawal and get back into performing and songwriting. The Beach Boys have split up again, but Wilson wanted to keep their reunion tour going and record another album. He, Al Jardine, and David Marks have been touring while Mike Love, who legally owns the rights to the Beach Boys name, has been touring with Bruce Johnston.
Michael Jackson strikes me as the closest fit, though of course he’s no more alive than Elvis nowadays.
All the suggestions so far have been musical performers. Any once-hot movie stars that have gotten “fat” like Elvis? Think someone like Marlon Brando or Orson Welles, but still alive today.
It occurred to me that George Lucas has had a sort of Elvis-like career trajectory in some ways, being seen by many nowadays as washed-up and tacky where he was once on top of the world.