Why Do People Rave About Elvis? Non-Elvis fans responses

[skatterbrane]

Yes Fabian and The Monkees were manufactured. But at leas the Monkees had members with some musical talent, especially Mike Nesbeth.

Others that come to mind are Menudo, and other "boy bands." There are people who think if it ain't rock music, (read: pop music) then it has no socially redeeming value and is manufactured fluff.

[poormadpeter]

Elvis lip-synched significant sections of the 68 special. Did that give the impression that HE couldn't sing?

I don't recall that Elvis lip synched at the 68 special but anyway it's apples and oranges.

Gospel medley?
Road medley?

[skatterbrane]

Yes, some of the production number sequences (but not all parts) were lip synced. The sitdown and standup segments were not. But there is a HUGE difference between lip syncing for a TV or Movie program and doing so at a live concert (which would not be live if someone lip synched would it?)

You expect lip syncing on American Band Stand, but not on Saturday Night Live, and certainly NEVER at a live concert. For movies and TV productions, it is the best way to get the job done, otherwise it would take FOREVER to get those scenes shot, as complex as they are; plus the environment would not be conducive to getting good audio. Much dialog in movies is overdubbed too for fidelity purposes.

I just saw an Ally McBeal Youtube where Robert Downey Jr and Sting perform for Ally. Well they are lip syncing. But it IS Robert Downey Jr's recorded voice. He CAN sing.

..

[skatterbrane]

But when he appears live in concert, no cheating, no lip synching:

..

[poormadpeter]

Yes, some of the production number sequences (but not all parts) were lip synced. The sitdown and standup segments were not. But there is a HUGE difference between lip syncing for a TV or Movie program and doing so at a live concert (which would not be live if someone lip synched would it?)

You expect lip syncing on American Band Stand, but not on Saturday Night Live, and certainly NEVER at a live concert. For movies and TV productions, it is the best way to get the job done, otherwise it would take FOREVER to get those scenes shot, as complex as they are; plus the environment would not be conducive to getting good audio. Much dialog in movies is overdubbed too for fidelity purposes.

I just saw an Ally McBeal Youtube where Robert Downey Jr and Sting perform for Ally. Well they are lip syncing. But it IS Robert Downey Jr's recorded voice. He CAN sing.

..

Yes, but the insinuation is that Bieber lip-synchs his way through a whole concert, which simply isn't true. Many pop singers today lip-synch certain sections of their show for whatever reason - but pop concerts are different entities these days, and much bigger productions, and that decision is obviously made for those reasons as much as anything. Do I approve? Couldn't care less, to be honest, as their shows are not aimed at me. But Madonna has also been known to lip-synch with alarming regularity, and there was the fuss a couple of years back of Beyonce lip-synching the national anthem. Are we saying they can't sing and have no talent as well?

[skatterbrane]

Yes, many pop concerts are more into the dancing aspect than the singing or musical aspect. To do some of those routines and be expected to have the breath to sing properly is not reasonable. However, I do not understand why someone would want to prioritize dancing over singing at a concert. Leave the dancing to the dancers, and the singing to the singer. I am not a fan of pre-recorded tracks or DJ stuff either. I want ALL the sounds to be live and generated by musicians not samplings of musicians or computer generated sounds. Seeing these people flipping switches and tweaking dials and claiming to be musicians just ain't gettin' it with me. It reminds me of the Guitar Hero South Park episode:

.. The kids are not impressed, they value Guitar Hero more.

[Joe Car]

To suggest the Elvis was manufactured, is the furthest thing from the truth. Elvis invented himself!

[elvis-fan]

Sometimes I think we take for granted how truly beautiful Elvis' singing voice was... failing everything else, Elvis was a phenomenal singer.

[MaryAnn]

Sometimes I think we take for granted how truly beautiful Elvis' singing voice was... failing everything else, Elvis was a phenomenal singer.

And communicator. When he sings those beautiful love songs, it feels like he's singing them just to you. Maybe it's a female thing... Nobody has ever done it better.

[Liverbobs]

It's not just the "in love" love songs, the sad "lost love" songs some sound like his heart is breaking in half for real. There's too many to mention but "Any Day Now" where he's almost begging her to stay, is phenomenal.

[sweetangeline]

Elvis lip-synched significant sections of the 68 special. Did that give the impression that HE couldn't sing?

I don't recall that Elvis lip synched at the 68 special but anyway it's apples and oranges.

Gospel medley?
Road medley?

...I`m actually surprised you didn't know that brian

[Squire Smart]

I think it's just because people are dumb.

Whether you like Elvis Presley or not people should realize that he wasn't a manufactured singer.

Manufactured singers are people like Fabian and Milli Vanilli who couldn't sing but were sought out by record producers because they felt they could sell records with the right marketing.

Elvis sought a singing career on his own, had a very unique sound for the 1950s and could really sing.

That's not what a manufactured singer is it's just the words of Elvis haters that don't know what the hell they are talking about.

As for people not getting Elvis' appeal in general you can't please everyone and obviously not everyone is going to be a fan.

Like everything, it's not as clear-cut as you make it. For the entirety of the 1960s, Elvis pretty much did what he was told and churned out a production line of movies and soundtracks - "production line" and "manufactured" are closely related terms. That doesn't work for his regular output, of course, but even so he rarely took control of his own career and simply did what he was told to do. That's not quite the same as putting a group together in a so-called artificial way through advertisements etc, but I'm not sure why that's looked down upon either - sometimes it works (The Monkees, One Direction and Take That did pretty well out of it), and sometimes it doesn't (the endless stream of imitation boybands that don't catch on).

But I'm not sure that any of it matters. Not everyone is going to like or appreciate the worth of the same kind of music as everyone else - so what?

I think it's got more to do with respect. Many don't respect what he did or was as a singer and I think this is to a large degree because they haven't a clue about what constitutes a really exceptional singing voice and that Elvis was able to inject so much feeling into a song. So many people treat music as throwaway stuff they don't care for a vocal in the way we Elvis fans do or other serious music lovers do, all they want is a beat, something to sing along to and then shuffle to the next track.

What I'm driving at is at the very least he should be given quiet respect by non fans even if they don't dig his music or career. Elvis had too much talent and acheived so much in a relatively short life for him to be simply rubbished. It's like saying Pavarotti was rubbish despite being one of the great tenors of the C20th; it has no base in fact.

[Dan_T]

Theres only one REAL QUICK way to explain Elvis' artistry. Go to and learn from the people who know...

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley#Quotes_about_Presley

Thanks for that link. I never knew Greg Lake saw Elvis twice.

Hmmm, Elvis opened with a medley ?

..

[r&b]

Sometimes I think we take for granted how truly beautiful Elvis' singing voice was... failing everything else, Elvis was a phenomenal singer.

And communicator. When he sings those beautiful love songs, it feels like he's singing them just to you. Maybe it's a female thing... Nobody has ever done it better.

I have heard this many times from the female fans, but I also heard it from female fans of Tom Jones, Engelbert, Barry Manilow and others. I guess it is a female thing if your a fan of a certain singer.

[r&b]

I do not understand the common opinion that he was a manufactured pop star. Yes, many of the rock bands since the 60s wrote their own songs, but prior to the 60s, it was uncommon for a singer to write. Yes, promotion is needed for a talent to become famous, but Elvis is anything but "manufactured". Now Fabian was a manufacture pop star, certainly not Elvis.

Not that uncommon

Buddy Holly
Chuck Berry
Fats Domino
Little Richard
Carl Perkins
Roy Orbison
Don Everly
Bobby Darin
Sam Cooke
Ray Charles
and probably others as well

[EPA4368]

Sometimes I think we take for granted how truly beautiful Elvis' singing voice was... failing everything else, Elvis was a phenomenal singer.

And communicator. When he sings those beautiful love songs, it feels like he's singing them just to you. Maybe it's a female thing... Nobody has ever done it better.

I have heard this many times from the female fans, but I also heard it from female fans of Tom Jones, Engelbert, Barry Manilow and others. I guess it is a female thing if your a fan of a certain singer.

How about Raquel Welch who's a big fan and what she thought of what the 60's movies did to Elvis…

'When Elvis came around, I suddenly understood what sex is all about'. Roustabout in 1964 was my very first film in Hollywood. I was a bit player in the opening moments. Like many adolescents of the '50s, I had been completely gaga over Elvis. I saw him live in San Diego in one of his early shows. It was my first rock 'n' roll music concert ever. That was the first time that I ever conjured up what a sexy guy could be.

But when I saw him on the set of Roustabout, I was a little bit taken aback because something had changed about him. It seemed like he was more packaged. His clothes were not the same, his hair was obviously dyed now, and it was all sprayed into place. It was a little shocking to me because it was a whitewashed, cleaned-up Elvis. They took all the sex out of him!"

[mysterytrainrideson]

Elvis lip-synched significant sections of the 68 special. Did that give the impression that HE couldn't sing?

I don't recall that Elvis lip synched at the 68 special but anyway it's apples and oranges.

Gospel medley?
Road medley?

...I`m actually surprised you didn't know that brian

I'm actually surprised someone as picked out just two lip syncing episodes, just to compare him with Beiber who spends most of his career doing it.

[matilda]

the "elvis did not wrote his songs"argument keeps koming up to put him down.
funny, frank sinatra did not wrote his songs either. ...but nobody held that against him ever...or put his artistry in question ( maybe because was not a pop singer like elvis).
so there is resentment against elvis which has less to do with facts....and more with prejudice against him or a resentment with his music.
well, some things will never change.
don't know why he will never get the recognition as an artist...i guess, there are too much elvis haters out there.
why...i also don't know.

[brian]

I can name a bunch of artists from the 1950s to the 1970s who didn't write their own songs.

Yes, a lot of bands started to write their own stuff and it became more common but there was still many artists who didn't.

Most singers in the big band era didn't write their own songs and there are a lot of country arists who don't either.

It's more common if you are a rock singer to write your own material though.

[skatterbrane]

I am not sure where the resentment originates from, but I have felt it from most people (other than fans) all my life.

However, musicians, people in the business, generally have nothing but the greatest awe-struck respect for Elvis, including many Opera singers, and that says a lot.

[JimmyCool]

I am not sure where the resentment originates from, but I have felt it from most people (other than fans) all my life.

Same here, don't know why's that, though...

[sweetangeline]

I am not sure where the resentment originates from, but I have felt it from most people (other than fans) all my life.

Same here, don't know why's that, though...

...there is many forms of jealousy

[joekro1977]

It has been interesting to me to see the younger generation (people in their early to mid twenties) express their thoughts (or lack thereof) about Elvis. Of the limited amounts of experience that I have had, there is less pure dislike for Elvis now in this age group then there used to be. But the dislike is being replaced with indifference, which I'm not sure is much better.

[MikeFromHolland]

Nice quote from Kenneth Partridge on "Why Elvis' legend persists":

Elvis’ legend persists because you can read so much into his story. He’s Christ, Icarus, Superman, the manifestation of the American dream, and the ultimate cautionary tale—all of those things plus whatever else anyone with a thesis and a keyboard cares to make the case for. As with any major historical figure (Lincoln, Hitler, JFK, etc.), Presley’s life is no longer bound by facts.

Except, maybe, when it comes to music. Whatever the Presley saga becomes 500 or 1,000 years from now, it’ll be a way-gone tall tale with only a passing resemblance to the one Guralnick or anyone else has told. But From Elvis In Memphis will still provide the best single-disc reminder of why anyone bothers to push the story forward.

Source: http://www.avclub.com/article/elvis-memphis-only-elvis-presley-record-you-need-214308

[Squire Smart]

I am not sure where the resentment originates from, but I have felt it from most people (other than fans) all my life.

Same here, don't know why's that, though...

...there is many forms of jealousy

Precisely, they just can't deal with it. And I think also people lose context with what Elvis acheived because pop/rock music has travelled so far since the mid 1950s. I'm sure a person who has grown up on a limited amount of music, say just heavy rock for sake of argument, might see Elvis as tame and not appreciate how many boundaries he broke so that this person could have his/her heavy rock or whatever 30-40 years later.
You have to compare like with like and that's where non fans come unstuck when trying to 'rate' Elvis; they try and pin him up against The Beatles or some other act of that period or later and it's just not going to work.
Also, sadly, there are those who just like to rubbish people no matter what they've acheived.