Elvis’s career length, if it ended today, would have started in …..

[ForeverElvis]

Those of us past middle age, I’m 60, all know how time flies so quickly.

When looking back at Elvis’s career that started 70 years ago, it always seems so long ago. Then considering all the live performances, recordings, movies he completed in his career it is hard to comprehend how that was done in such a relatively short period.

To give some context, Elvis’s career, from his first professional recording July 5, 1954 to his death August 16 1977 was 23 years and 6 weeks long.
That means that same career length were it ending today, would have started June 20, 2001!

That is such a short time ago.

For those that were there at the beginning it really must have felt like it was over in a blink of an eye.

[Christopher]

For those that were there at the beginning it really must have felt like it was over in a blink of an eye.

In hindsight, yes.
But back then, all of our members were much younger than today. and doesn´t time flow much slower, when you are younger?
And, regardless of this, isn't our world turning much faster than it did 30 or 50 years ago by now? (I'm thinking of the fast pace of our times and the rapid, ever faster pace of technological progress).
This is offset by the fact that people in affluent parts of the world are getting older and older, and a 50- or 60-year-old today often not only looks younger, but is also "younger" or fitter in terms of health than back then.
The older I get, the more often I think about what you are talking about.
It's kind of amazing that Elvis was already halfway through his young life in the year of his international breakthrough.
And that by the end of 1965, half of his music career was already over and done with.

This is more a philisophical discussion about the dimension "time", than it is about Elvis. Thank you nevertheless for bringing it up.

Of course I agree, it is funny indeed - and puzzling and hard to believe - how time slips away.
The older i get, the more puzzling it becomes.

[AndrewJ]

Those of us past middle age, I’m 60, all know how time flies so quickly.

When looking back at Elvis’s career that started 70 years ago, it always seems so long ago. Then considering all the live performances, recordings, movies he completed in his career it is hard to comprehend how that was done in such a relatively short period.

To give some context, Elvis’s career, from his first professional recording July 5, 1954 to his death August 16 1977 was 23 years and 6 weeks long.
That means that same career length were it ending today, would have started June 20, 2001!

That is such a short time ago.

For those that were there at the beginning it really must have felt like it was over in a blink of an eye.

I always think about things like this. For example, Elvis' overseas army service lasted 18 months and there were concerns he'd be forgotten in that time. Nowadays, an artist doesn't necessarily release 2 albums in that same time period.

[Mister Mike]

This is more a philisophical discussion about the dimension "time", than it is about Elvis. Thank you nevertheless for bringing it up.

Of course I agree, it is funny indeed - and puzzling and hard to believe - how time slips away.
The older i get, the more puzzling it becomes.

[Robert]

Another one..
The 1973 Aloha show was closer to 1923 than today, 2024.

[elvisalisellers]

It's the same with the later live years [1969-1977] when people bemoan the repetitive setlists.

It was less than a 8 year period [today, it would have begun in 2016 and ended this year].

[GaryP]

This could go on and on and thank you for all for thoroughly depressing me!

[jurasic1968]

Aloha was far away from the 1968 TV special, for sure. Elvis became a different singer after 4 years and 6 months.

[Swedish]

Really a contrast against Tony Bennett's career of 73 years & 3 months & 4 days First professional recording April 17, 1950 to death July 21, 2023!

805055.jpg

[brian]

For those that were there at the beginning it really must have felt like it was over in a blink of an eye.

No. You have to consider that many artists from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s etc. had short chart careers. While many of them continued touring and they were still around their careers were over as far as being contemporary artists. They scored hits for a few years and then it was over. With that in mind Elvis's 23 year chart career was quite long. Also Elvis's life was longer than many other pop/rock artists. Also consider that from 2001-2024 artists put out fewer albums than they did during Elvis's career so by comparison Elvis gave his fans a much larger body of work in the same amount of time. Artists today also tour less. So Elvis gave his fans more.

[Jaime1234]

This is more a philisophical discussion about the dimension "time", than it is about Elvis. Thank you nevertheless for bringing it up.

Of course I agree, it is funny indeed - and puzzling and hard to believe - how time slips away.
The older i get, the more puzzling it becomes.

Reading your post took me back to the fall of 1966, when I had hepatitis and spent four weeks staying at a bed, in my home in Lima, but in a special room they fitted for me. I flunked that school year, incidentally. Anyways, my mother got me e transistor radio and every day I would listen to the latest releases in Radio Miraflores, an AM outlet., One afternoon, they had been playing a song, and I, hearing it only from the third verse onwards, thought that it was Elvis. So,I made it, without anyone noticing it, to the nearest phone just across that special room, under the stairs, LOL, and called the radio station, asking the DJ to play, as I put it, "the latest Elvis song". .

Minutes later, I heard "Spinout"", which obviously was not the song I had heard. So I called again and the DJ told me that he had just received and played a 45, from a group called the Pozo Seco Singers, and that in fact, the lead singer had sounded to him a little bit like like Elvis as well.

So I asked him to play it again, and this time, I realized the guy, later known almost everywhere as the great Don Williams, didnt REALLY sound like Elvis.

Here is the song for which I risked the wrath of my parents, who demanded I did not move out of that room UNTIL i WAS TOTALLY OUT OF THE HEPATITIS.

[Dan_T]

I remember Bob Geldoff saying something like "He was a Genius that flashed across our lives in only 20 years"

I've seen posts I made on this forum over 20 years ago, and I it seems like yesterday. . Time flies very fast.

[Jokerlola]

Graceland has been a museum 2 times longer than Elvis lived there!

We lived in the house I grew up in for 30 years and it seems like we lived there forever. I’ve been living in the house I’m in now for 25 years and it still feels like we just moved in. I’ve wondered if Elvis felt that same way about Graceland by 1977?

The world was so different in the 50’s-70’s. Artists put out so much more material than they do now. Look at the output of the Beatles and look at how much they changed in just 7 short years. That would be unheard of today. Now if a band breaks up after 7 or 8 years, they would have maybe only 2 or 3 albums at the most.

When Elvis died, Aloha seemed like so long ago. But once I got older, I realized just how recent it was to 1977 and how much more shocking Elvis’ appearance must have been to older people and to those who had been around him like Jerry Schilling.

[T3ddy-be@r]

This has made me a little sad to think what a short time we had him and just how long we have been without him, sigh....

[Greystoke]

I'm echoing to some degree what Brian has already said, but there's a direct correlation between the length of Elvis's career and the length of his life. He died young. There's no getting away from that fact, but he also accomplished a lot during his career and experienced the kind of success and popularity that few artists have ever enjoyed over a similar period of time.

If we look back to 2001, or even 1954, and trace a line from then to 2024 or 1977 respectively, we can appreciate innumerable artists that had flushes of fame, moments of success, even tremendous popularity for a time, but most artists don't endure the way Elvis did. Even through the many ups and downs and inconsistencies of a career that was tragically cut short.

There are artists who have come to prominence since 2001 that have experienced genuinely great careers, but appreciating this in the here and now is different to looking back at the entirety of somebody's career from decades past. Time, after all, is relative to the reference frame of the observer. However, the industry, possibilities within the industry, audience tastes, trends, and the landscape of popular music - and the film industry - have all changed since Elvis rose to prominence and negotiated his career.

[ForeverElvis]

for a modern context, these artists' first recordings were in 2001.
imagine if their careers were now over. I am not comparing these artists to Elvis. I'm bringing them up because in their respective genres they are still very popular.

Alicia Keys
Blake Shelton
Norah Jones
Jack Johnson
Miranda Lambert

[Greystoke]

The Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 for this week in 2001.

Screenshot_20240805-231734~2.png

Screenshot_20240805-231742~2.png

[Jokerlola]

There was such a drastic change from the 50’s to the 70’s in music, movies and fashion that the 50’s seemed like ancient history by the 70’s. Elvis’ tv appearances in the 50’s looked old and old fashioned and lower than low tech compared to television production values in the 70’s which made it seem so long ago in the 70’s. The drastic change in fashion and hair styles added to that perception. Movies in the 50’s looked completely different than in the 70’s.
I was watching a movie the other night that looked like a very recent made movie based on the production values and the special effects, what made me realize that it was a 20 year old movie was that they were using flip phones otherwise the hairstyles, the fashion, the look and even the background music was not that different from today. So I think that the massive change in music, fashion and social norms made time feel slower then or made the 50’s seem like a longer time ago than 2001 feels to 2024.

When I was in Jr. High School in the mid 70’s, We had 50’s day every year where we dressed like the 50’s and then had a sock hop in the gym after school to 50’s music. I don’t think schools are having early 2000’s day now. Things aren’t that different fashion and music wise.

[brian]

There was such a drastic change from the 50’s to the 70’s in music, movies and fashion that the 50’s seemed like ancient history by the 70’s. Elvis’ tv appearances in the 50’s looked old and old fashioned and lower than low tech compared to television production values in the 70’s which made it seem so long ago in the 70’s. The drastic change in fashion and hair styles added to that perception. Movies in the 50’s looked completely different than in the 70’s.
I was watching a movie the other night that looked like a very recent made movie based on the production values and the special effects, what made me realize that it was a 20 year old movie was that they were using flip phones otherwise the hairstyles, the fashion, the look and even the background music was not that different from today. So I think that the massive change in music, fashion and social norms made time feel slower then or made the 50’s seem like a longer time ago than 2001 feels to 2024.

When I was in Jr. High School in the mid 70’s, We had 50’s day every year where we dressed like the 50’s and then had a sock hop in the gym after school to 50’s music. I don’t think schools are having early 2000’s day now. Things aren’t that different fashion and music wise.

This is a great post and a great point.

[bajo]

What strikes me the most: He was one of the greatest stars of his century! But, he never seem to be "accepted" for everything he really did well.
Ok, he got that Bing Crosby award. A few grammies. Still.....

[brian]

What strikes me the most: He was one of the greatest stars of his century! But, he never seem to be "accepted" for everything he really did well.
Ok, he got that Bing Crosby award. A few grammies. Still.....

He got a star on the Hollywood walk of fame in 1960 and he had a street named after him in 1972. Most of the time people don't receive honors like that until they are older. They usually don't give lifetime achievements awards and Hall of fame inductions to people who are 25 years, 35 years old, 40 years old etc. They usually get most of those things later in life as a recognition for their life's work. If Elvis had lived another 30 years he would've been honored more with those type of accolades. The Grammy awards are heavily political and RCA and Parker didn't campaign for him to win. Artists that win a lot of Grammys have their record labels supporting them which Elvis didn't have. The Grammy awards were also incredibly old fashioned during Elvis's lifetime.

[ForeverElvis]

What strikes me the most: He was one of the greatest stars of his century! But, he never seem to be "accepted" for everything he really did well.
Ok, he got that Bing Crosby award. A few grammies. Still.....

He got a star on the Hollywood walk of fame in 1960 and he had a street named after him in 1972. Most of the time people don't receive honors like that until they are older. They usually don't give lifetime achievements awards and Hall of fame inductions to people who are 25 years, 35 years old, 40 years old etc. They usually get most of those things later in life as a recognition for their life's work. If Elvis had lived another 30 years he would've been honored more with those type of accolades. The Grammy awards are heavily political and RCA and Parker didn't campaign for him to win. Artists that win a lot of Grammys have their record labels supporting them which Elvis didn't have. The Grammy awards were also incredibly old fashioned during Elvis's lifetime.

Let’s not forget that the Grammy Awatds only started in 1958-1959 and the majority of the winners were the established artists: Sinatra, Crosby, Cole, Fitzgerald.

Elvis was nominated in 1959, 1960 etc but RnR wasn’t firmly established in the eyes of the industry.
It really wasn’t until he Beatles won in 1965 or 66 with Michelle (A RocknRoll song of theirs wasn’t even nominated) that it began to shift.

I was always surprised that Suspicious Minds and Burning Love weren’t even nominated.


21st Annual GRAMMY Awards

Nominations
Best Country Vocal Performance, Male
Softly, As I Leave You (Single)


17th Annual GRAMMY Awards

Wins
Best Inspirational Performance (Non-Classical)
How Great Thou Art


15th Annual GRAMMY Awards

Wins
Best Inspirational Performance
He Touched Me


11th Annual GRAMMY Awards

Nominations
Best Sacred Performance
You'll Never Walk Alone (Album)


10th Annual GRAMMY Awards

Wins
Best Sacred Performance
How Great Thou Art


4th Annual GRAMMY Awards

Nominations
Best Sound Track Album Or Recording Of Original Cast From Motion Picture Or Television
Blue Hawaii (Motion Picture) (Album)


3rd Annual GRAMMY Awards
At these awards
Percy Faith, Bob Newhart, Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and West Side Story were the winners.

Nominations
Best Performance By A Pop Single Artist
Are You Lonesome Tonight? (Single)

Best Sound Track Album Or Recording Of Original Cast From A Motion Picture Or Television
G.I. Blues (Motion Picture) (Album)

Best Vocal Performance Album, Male
G.I. Blues (Album)

Best Vocal Performance Single Record Or Track, Male
Are You Lonesome Tonight? (Single)

Record Of The Year
Are You Lonesome Tonight? (Single)


2nd Annual GRAMMY Awards
At these awards Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Ellington and Darin were the winners.

Nominations
Best Rhythm & Blues Performance
A Big Hunk O' Love

Best Performance By A "Top 40" Artist
A Big Hunk O' Love (Single)

Record Of The Year
A Fool Such As I (Single)

[On Stage]

Those of us past middle age, I’m 60, all know how time flies so quickly.

When looking back at Elvis’s career that started 70 years ago, it always seems so long ago. Then considering all the live performances, recordings, movies he completed in his career it is hard to comprehend how that was done in such a relatively short period.

To give some context, Elvis’s career, from his first professional recording July 5, 1954 to his death August 16 1977 was 23 years and 6 weeks long.
That means that same career length were it ending today, would have started June 20, 2001!

That is such a short time ago.

For those that were there at the beginning it really must have felt like it was over in a blink of an eye.

Good one!

Now let's do the math with Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry.