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Elvis is ridiculously overrated

Intermission said:
Prince's own performed music in his prime is way more 80s tied compared to MJ. MJs music doesn't belong to any era.

But it's also the fact that MJs music is arguably a little bit more grand. I just don't feel Princes output was at the same level even though individual components were awesome, such as his guitar skills.
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I never thought of MJ's production, as great as it was, as anything revolutionary. Great, gleaming pop that would sell to everyone. Prince was more of an outsider intentionally but he was the premier artist of that decade.

It's not that that I think will hurt his legacy so much as just the internecine issues involving how his posthumous stuff is handled. He died with no will and no plans and it's just been a mess. With Elvis, there was Priscilla who wrestled control away from the colonel and for whatever shortcomings Priscilla had as a person, she's done a brilliant job of marketing Elvis and doing things to keep his name out there. Even now, there are docus, movies, always coming along. The Luhrmann film was a huge deal in the Elvis world. Ya, I know tons of young fans won't know or care a thing about him but there is a market out here for him and it's been nurtured along well.

I love MJ and think he was a great artist but I also think he was definitely a serial molestor, that's a lot for an image to overcome and his crazy fans are stuck in delusion and denial. But, how many more boys need to come out before it's generally accepted? To be honest, most rock stars did the same with girls but just the fact that MJ did it to boys is enough to sink him. He did nothing different, agewise than scores of rock stars who messed with 13 and up. It was boys though so, he'll always be a gay sick fuck rather than a jailbait chasing rockstar.
 
Batjester said:
American Idol is just as much about presentation as it is about a performers voice. Elvis had presentation for days and a voice the made it all work.

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those shows are the bane of modern music. A performer isn't supposed to be in front of 3 assholes and getting judged, the audience and the public is the judge.
 
FyrFytr998 said:
Prince gonna be just fine. As the newer generations find out just how much of a musical genius he was and the influence he had on the artists they like.
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I hope so, most young people don't know who he even is it seems, even moreso than Elvis.

It could be worse, there are groundbreaking, legendary artists like Liberace (who really influenced everyone from Elvis to MJ and Prince) or Sammy Davis (who''s likeness is owned by the IRS who don't do music promotion).
 
Batjester said:
American Idol is just as much about presentation as it is about a performers voice. Elvis had presentation for days and a voice the made it all work.

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the documentaries I've seen claim he was scouted based on his singing skills, and from that clip it's evident he has a great voice but his vocal skills aren't what you would expect.
 
Intermission said:
It¨s all granny voices in the crowd

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even in the 90's I went to a book signing and there were older women, one who I recognized as a customer from the grocery store I worked at. I was amongst the younger people there, maybe 30, the lady looked like a granny but she was probably barely in her fifties. She was a teen during the fifties and you could see that she was a real cutie once upon a time, just the type who'd be filmed going nuts for him.
 
Intermission said:
the documentaries I've seen claim he was scouted based on his singing skills, and from that clip it's evident he has a great voice but his vocal skills aren't what you would expect.
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which clip? Live singing and performing isn't perfect for anyone, not just Elvis, too many other factors which is why MJ spent most of the later live shows lipsyncing, he was perfectionistic.

He wasn't scouted he did what performers have done before and since. He created a fan base, a buzz and demonstrated that he could do it on a large scale, no one knew just how large but the Colonel, give him credit, had the vision to get him. The southerners have said a funny thing about that though, they say that Elvis, after having some regional hits, was really just cooling off right at the time when RCA signed him.
 
mozfonky said:
even in the 90's I went to a book signing and there were older women, one who I recognized as a customer from the grocery store I worked at. I was amongst the younger people there, maybe 30, the lady looked like a granny but she was probably barely in her fifties. She was a teen during the fifties and you could see that she was a real cutie once upon a time, just the
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Bruce Lee has the same ratio of young vs old fans as when I was growing up and I must say that surprises me. I thought he would be a dusty icon by now, like those old hitchock actors. He's HUGE on Youtube.
 
I was my understanding that it was the Colonel who pushed him towards hollywood and rock direction for pay days. blues music was where his heart was.
 
Intermission said:
Bruce Lee has the same ratio of young vs old fans as when I was growing up and I must say that surprises me. I thought he would be a dusty icon by now, like those old hitchock actors. He's HUGE on Youtube.
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not really in my view, most young people are on the ufc bandwagon as far as I can tell. The "not real fighter" talk was always there and has only grown since MMA made dinosaurs out of all the old school TMA's.

Once again though, with Bruce, I love the debate. That's not to love, Tarantino putting a scene where blowhard Bruce gets tossed into a car only helps to bring his name back up and the conjecture continues. That's the case with Bruce even more than Elvis. Bruce left so many questions and so much myth and we never got to see him fall flat on his face.
 
arathans said:
I was my understanding that it was the General who pushed him towards hollywood and rock direction for pay days. blues music was where his heart was.
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Funny thing, he never wanted to actually be a music star, he wanted to be an actor. Lots of actors are exactly the reverse, many of them have released albums and some have had hits. But I don't know if Elvis ever actually realized just how special he was. The scene in the Luhrmann movie where he tells Priscilla that he'll be forgotten and never did anything worth remembering, it was based on a conversation he had with a different woman but what he said was the same.

The movies was just not meant to be for poor Elvis. For as bad a rep as they have, some of them made tons of bank and the ones that did the best were the dumb ones, not the ones where he didn't sing or tried to be serious. Flaming Star flopped, so, after a few flops like that, business decisions ruled and he continued making silly moneymakers playing "lunk headed loverboys" until the wheels came off. He was hurt by it and wasn't really allowed to develop as an actor. Film is a totally different medium and a lot more complex than music, Prince found that out the hard way a couple times.
 
Nothing against the dude but I never got the hype. He never appealed to me. I guess he was quite the showman though. Eminem taught me everything I know about Elvis
 
Intermission said:
Yes he was. He was discovered..
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no he wasn't, he earned a following. Then, he came to the attention of the colonel who had bigger ideas when he saw the crowd reaction. The story goes, Elvis wanders into Sun Studios, gets recorded their months later on a fluke lark by the owner and releasing a huge local hit that's played back to back, then, of course the live shows where the girls went nuts. If you call the colonel seeing this "scouting" then he was scouted but that's how it happened. The colonel, as bad as he was, did actually help break Elvis out of the small time which Elvis spent the rest of his life dealing with loyalty issues afterwards.
 
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