Elvis Presley phenomenon - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Elvis Presley phenomenon is the cultural and social impact of Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

during his career and following his death. There are over 500 Elvis fan clubs in the United States of America, and they exist in every state except three: North Dakota

North Dakota

North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

, Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

and Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

. According to the American Demographics magazine, 84% of Americans say that their lives have been touched by Elvis Presley in some way, 70% have watched a movie starring Presley, 44% have danced to one of his songs, 31% have bought an Elvis record, CD or video, 10% have visited Graceland

Graceland

Graceland is a large white-columned mansion and estate that was home to Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee. It is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community about 9 miles from Downtown and less than four miles north of the Mississippi border. It currently serves as...

, 9% have bought Elvis memorabilia, 9% have read a book about Presley, and 5% have seen the singer in concert.

Fans

Music critic and Presley biographer Dave Marsh

Dave Marsh

Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...

says about the singer's fans: "There are people in places that count in the world, and people in places that don't. He is the son of the people who don't count, and their shining star. That's what makes him unique and what people still respond to." A collection of essays entitled The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media critically examines what distinguishes fans from general audiences and explores the relationship between fans and their media products. Part of this volume is the article, "Fandom and Gender" which includes an examination of female fantasies of Presley. To many of his female fans, the songs Presley sang "were secondary to his personality and the way he performed them," evoking the well-known emotional responses. In her autobiographical article, "Sexing Elvis" (1984), Sue Wise

Sue Wise

Sue Wise is a feminist author, Professor of Social Justice and Director of Study for BA Social Work at Lancaster University, UK....

describes "how she came to terms with her lesbianism through a close identification with the feminine side of the King."

"Elvis's 'effect' on young girls threatened those men who assumed that young girls needed to be protected both from sex in general and from its expression in questionable characters like Elvis in particular" writes Joel Foreman. However, there were not only female fantasies directed at the star. According to Reina Lewis and Peter Horne, "prints of Elvis Presley appeared to speak directly to the gay community."

Commercial impact

"The recording industry... made Elvis Presley a mythical media demigod." "An excessive enterprise, empire and entity, Elvis appears on memorabilia and merchandise, in roadside relics and Graceland

Graceland

's gift shops; at fast food chains, in front yard flea markets and backyard shrines; World-Wide Web sites in cyberspace and sporting events; at parties and parades or as part of promotions, protests and pranks." On August 16, thousands of die-hard Elvis fans travel to Graceland every year in order to celebrate the anniversary of Presley's death. The ritualization of the Elvis cult is also manifested most prominently through the many live performances by Elvis impersonators. According to Marjorie Garber, "The phenomenon of 'Elvis impersonators,' which began long before the singer's death, is one of the most startling effects of the Elvis cult."

What is more, David S. Wall has shown that many authors who are writing books and articles on Presley are part of a "worldwide Elvis industry" which has a tendency towards supporting primarily a favorable view of the star. The content of the majority of these publications can be characterized as based on gossip about gossip, only occasionally providing some new surprising details. There are not many critical, unfavorable publications on Elvis's life. An example is Albert Goldman

Albert Goldman

Albert Harry Goldman was an American professor and author.Born in Dormont, Pennsylvania, Albert Goldman wrote about the culture and personalities of the American music industry both in books and as a contributor to magazines...

's controversial biography, Elvis (1981), in which the author unfavorably discusses the star's weight problems, his performing costumes and his sex life. Such books are frequently disparaged and harshly attacked by Elvis fan groups. Professor Wall has pointed out that one of the strategies of the various fan clubs and appreciation societies to which the bulk of Elvis fans belong is " 'community policing' to achieve governance at a distance... These organisations have, through their membership magazines, activities and sales operations, created a powerful moral majority" endeavoring to suppress most critical voices. "With a combined membership of millions, the fans form a formidable constituency of consumer power."

According to David Lowenthal, "Everything from Disneyland to the Holocaust Museum

Holocaust museum

The term Holocaust museum may refer to:*Ani Ma'amin Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem*Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education & Tolerance*Florida Holocaust Museum*Holocaust Museum Houston*Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center...

, ... from Elvis memorabilia to the Elgin Marbles

Elgin Marbles

The Parthenon Marbles, forming a part of the collection known as the Elgin Marbles , are a collection of classical Greek marble sculptures , inscriptions and architectural members that originally were part of the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens...

bears the marks of the cult of heritage

Cultural heritage

Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...

." "When it's an exhibition of Elvis memorabilia," even Marilyn Houlberg

Marilyn Houlberg

Marilyn Houlberg is a leading expert on the arts and culture of Haitian Vodou. She is currently Professor Emeritus of Liberal Arts and Professor Emeritus of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, having taught there since 1974.-Education:Houlberg entered...

, professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...

, "puts on the campy art-world hat and becomes a priestess of the Elvis cult." Paul A. Cantor goes as far as to call the American Presley cult "a postmodern simulacrum of the German Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

cult." Some fan groups even refuse to accept the fact of the star's death in 1977 (see the "Elvis lives?" section of this article).

In his book Elvis after Elvis: The Posthumous Career of a Living Legend (1996), Gilbert Rodman traces in detail Presley's manifestations in contemporary popular and not-so-popular culture. He draws upon the many Elvis "sightings," from Elvis's appearances at the heart of the 1992 presidential campaign to the debate over his worthiness as a subject for a postage stamp

Postage stamp

A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...

, and from Elvis's central role in furious debates about racism and the appropriation of African-American music to the world of Elvis impersonators and the importance of Graceland

Graceland

as a place of pilgrimage for fans and followers. The author further points out that Presley has become inseparable from many of the defining myths of US culture, enmeshed with the American Dream

American Dream

The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each...

and the very idea of the "United States," caught up in debates about race, gender

Gender

Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...

, and sexuality

Human sexuality

Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...

, and in the wars over what constitutes a national culture.

Postmortem Elvis sightings

A considerable number of people believe that Presley did not die in 1977, but went into hiding for various reasons and remains alive to this day. Over the years there have been frequent reports of people who claim to have encountered him, and even to have come to know him well, in a range of new identities. These reports have helped to fuel speculation within the mass media, both serious and within comic situations. The anthology The King Is Dead: Tales of Elvis Post-Mortem included a selection of stories about Elvis's post mortem life. Another example, within a comedy situation, was in the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

television show called Give My Head Peace

Give My Head Peace

Give My Head Peace was a satirical television comedy series on BBC Northern Ireland that pokes fun at political parties, paramilitary groups and the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland...

. A Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

special entitled "The King and I" featured a plot line of Presley saving one of the characters (Andy) from a very dangerous situation. When he recounts the events, nobody believes him until the end of the show where Presley himself (played by impersonator Martin Fox) pops around to check if Andy is okay. In the 2002 film Bubba Ho-tep

Bubba Ho-tep

Bubba Ho-tep is a 2002 American comedy horror drama film starring Bruce Campbell as Elvis Presley — now a resident in a nursing home. The film also stars Ossie Davis as Jack, a black man who claims to be John F. Kennedy, explaining that he was patched up after the assassination, dyed black,...

, Elvis is still alive and living in a nursing home, having switched identities with a double in the 1970s.

If Presley were still alive in November 2011, he would be 76.

Religious and spiritual experiences

In a later essay, Neal and Janice Gregory critically discuss the media attention on the subsequent Elvis religion as a means to discredit his fans. Indeed, after his death, Presley had been seen by fans as "Other Jesus" or "Saint Elvis". "I don't think he will ever die down," Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton

Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

says. "He's considered by many to be like a religious figure, like Jesus. ... I don't know how to explain it, but it's there, and it's real, and people love it."

The first serious attempt to examine the Elvis phenomenon in religious terms was made over 15 years ago by Ted Harrison, a former BBC Religious Affairs correspondent in his book The Elvis People. He saw parallels between visits to Graceland and pilgrimage to Christian holy sites. He looked at the trading of relics and the offering of prayers to Elvis and the iconography, especially that involving Elvis and Jesus.

In his book Elvis Religion: The Cult of the King (2006), Gregory L. Reece describes the presence of Presley in books, songs, art, movies and on the Internet. The author sets out to appraise the religious significance of the star for popular culture. For instance, Paul Simon

Paul Simon

Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

's 1986 song "Graceland" presents Graceland

Graceland

as a holy place. Movies like "Finding Graceland" and "Mystery Train" have Presley as the central character, bearing spiritual messages. In Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

, a woman opened the so-called 24 Hour Church of Elvis

24 Hour Church of Elvis

The 24 Hour Church of Elvis is an exhibit at a museum and gallery called "Where's The Art?" in Portland, Oregon, USA, run by artist Stephanie "Stevie" G...

. There, visitors could slip a quarter into a machine, — The Mystery of the Spinning Elvis — to supposedly contact the spirit of Presley. Some Internet sites even invite people to post accounts of their spiritual encounters with the singer. Several artists use Presley as a recurring theme because he is such an icon of pop culture. The Naked Art Studio in Birmingham had a showing of Elvis art. A mosaic entitled "The Last Supper (Elvis)," shows Presley enjoying a turkey leg at a table littered with pill bottles — allusions to Presley's religion and drug abuse. However, "Elvis stands for violence, uncertainty and loss," says Reece. "Elvis is the apocalyptic messenger. One doesn't seek him out for spiritual advice, but shudders at his presence."

Elvis in the 21st century

Interest in Presley's recordings returned during the buildup to the FIFA World Cup 2002, when Nike

Nike, Inc.

Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...

used a Junkie XL

Junkie XL

Tom Holkenborg , better known as Junkie XL or JXL, is a Dutch musician. He uses the name JXL in cases where the term "Junkie" might cause offense. XL is for "Xpanding Limits"....

remixed version of his "A Little Less Conversation

A Little Less Conversation

"A Little Less Conversation" is a song written by Mac Davis and Billy Strange that was originally performed and written for American rock and roll icon Elvis Presley for the 1968 film Live a Little, Love a Little. When the song was released as a single with "Almost in Love" as the b-side, it became...

" (credited as "Elvis Vs JXL") as the background music to a series of TV commercials featuring international soccer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

stars. The remix hit number one in over 20 countries, including the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. At about the same time, a compilation of Presley's US and UK Number 1 hits, Elv1s: 30

Elv1s: 30

ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits is a greatest hits collection of songs by American rock and roll icon Elvis Presley that reached #1 in either the United States or the United Kingdom's pop single charts. The album was released by RCA Records on September 24, 2002...

, was being prepared for release. "A Little Less Conversation" (remix version) was quickly added as the album's 31st track just before release in October 2002.
Further stimulating popularity for the remixed "new" Elvis song, was the inclusion of Conversation into the opening credits of the NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

series Las Vegas

Las Vegas (TV series)

Las Vegas was an American television series broadcast by NBC from September 22, 2003 to February 15, 2008. The show focuses on a team of people working at the ficticional Montecito Resort & Casino dealing with issues that arise within the working environment, ranging from valet parking and...

; due to the large expense of such a song, however, home DVD sets of the TV show feature Conversation in the Pilot episode only.
Nearly 50 years after Presley made his first hit record and 25 years after his death, the compilation reached number one on the charts in the US, the UK, Australia and many other countries. A re-release from it, "Burning Love

Burning Love

"Burning Love" is a song written by Dennis Linde, first recorded by Arthur Alexander, who included it on his self-titled 1971 album, and made famous by Elvis Presley, who took it to #2 in the United States in 1972...

" (not a remix), also made the Australian top 40 later in the year.

Presley's renewed fame continued with another remix in 2003 (this time by Paul Oakenfold

Paul Oakenfold

Paul Mark Oakenfold is a British record producer and a trance DJ.-Early Career: 1979–84:Paul Oakenfold's career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band. He describes his early life as a "bedroom deejay" in a podcasted interview with Vancouver's 24 Hours, stating he grew...

) of "Rubberneckin'", which made the top three in Australia

Australia

and top five in the UK

United Kingdom

. This was followed by another album called 2nd to None

2nd to None

ELVIIS: 2nd to None is a greatest hits collection by American rock and roll icon Elvis Presley. The album was released by on October 7, 2003 by RCA Records as the sequel to the previous year's highly successful ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits....

, a collection of his hits, including the "Rubberneckin'" remix, that just failed to reach number one.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary in mid-2004 of Presley's first professional recording, "That's All Right", it was re-released, and made the charts around the world, including top three in the UK and top 40 in Australia.

In early 2005 in the United Kingdom, RCA began to re-issue Presley's 18 UK number-one singles as CD-singles in the order they were originally released, one of them a week. The first of these re-issues, "All Shook Up

All Shook Up

"All Shook Up" is a song recorded by Elvis Presley and published by Elvis Presley Music and composed by Otis Blackwell. Elvis Presley's single topped the U.S. Pop chart on April 13, 1957, staying there for eight weeks. It also topped the R&B chart for four weeks, becoming Presley's second single to...

", was ineligible to chart due to its being sold together with a collector's box which holds all 18 singles in it (it actually sold enough to be number two). The second, "Jailhouse Rock

Jailhouse Rock (song)

"Jailhouse Rock" is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller that first became a hit for Elvis Presley. The song was released as a 45rpm single on September 24, 1957, to coincide with the release of Presley's motion picture, Jailhouse Rock...

", was the number one in the first chart of 2005, and "One Night"/"I Got Stung", the third in the series, replaced it on the January 16 chart (and thus becoming the 1000th UK number one entry).

All of these have reached top five in the official charts. These re-releases have made Presley the only artist so far to spend at least 100 weeks in the British top 40. On December 9, 2005, the Book of British Hit Singles & Albums unveiled its annual list of the Top 100 Most Successful Acts of all time, based on the total number of weeks each recording artist has spent on the official UK Singles and Albums charts. Elvis Presley ranked first, with Cliff Richard, Queen

Queen (band)

Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...

, the Beatles and Madonna rounding out the top five.

Shortly after taking over the management of all things Elvis from the Elvis Presley Estate (EPE)http://www.elvis.com(which retained a 15% stake in the new company, while keeping Graceland and the bulk of the possessions found therein), Robert Sillerman's CKX company produced a DVD and CD featuring Presley (titled "Elvis by the Presleys"), as well as an accompanying two-hour documentary broadcast on Viacom

Viacom

Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...

's CBS Network, which alone generated $5.5 million.

In a list of the greatest English language singers of the 20th century, as compiled by BBC Radio, Presley was ranked second, behind Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

.

In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #3 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In mid October 2005, Variety named the top 100 entertainment icons of the 20th century, with Presley landing in the top ten. That same months Forbes magazine named Presley, for the fifth straight year, the top-earning dead celebrity, grossing US$45 million for the Presley estate during the period from October 2004 to October 2005. Forbes pointed out that CKX spent $100 million in cash, and stock, for an 85% interest in Presley's income stream in February 2005.

In mid 2006, Forbes updated its list, with Presley ranking second behind Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...

.

In November 2006, Atlantic Magazine asked 10 prominent historians to name the 100 most influential Americans, with Presley (who ranked # 66), along with Louis Armstrong (79), being the only two musicians on the list.

In December 2006 EPE announced a strategy to bring Elvis and his music to a younger demographic in 2007. In addition, in 2010 Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil , is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy...

will open a residency show in Las Vegas based on Elvis' music and life, Viva ELVIS.

In September 2010 Anonymous created an online quiz called "Which Elvis are You?" that garnered incredible exposure and was featured in several online websites and publications.

During the two months in August – October 2010 when 33 miners were trapped in a Chilean mineshaft, one of the miners, Edison Peña, entertained the other miners by singing Elvis Presley songs to them. Edison, an Elvis fan, was invited to visit Graceland upon his being freed from the mine, which occurred in the early morning hours of October 13, 2010.

External links

Official site (Elvis Presley Enterprises)
ElvisPedia – Elvis's own wiki
Rockhall
Complete Elvis Bio and Discography at Music.com
Elvis Information Network link – eclectic and comprehensive online site offering daily news, articles, criticism, analysis; reviews, interviews and miscellaneous information
Elvis Gospel Service
Ed Bonja – Elvis's official photographer
The Most Popular Elvis Shrine

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Fans

Commercial impact

Postmortem Elvis sightings

Religious and spiritual experiences

Elvis in the 21st century

See also

External links