Elvis in the 70s

[Vincent Vega]

One thing I've never understood is why Elvis' post 1968 career is trashed or laughed at by so many...The guy went on tour after tour and released albums every single year right up until his death. He got "fat", yes, but performed amazingly even to the very last show of his life. The guy explored more genres and took bolder steps musically in the 70s than he ever did previously, and despite all the fame and money, all the trappings of "70s Elvis", he seems like he was a truly decent man who didn't let fame go too far to his head. Listen to some of his 70s albums--He covers everything from rock to country to gospel to funk to disco. He was profilific in this period and at the end still came out and was warm to the fans and still enjoyed the music even as his body was failing. And he was lean until 1974/1975..He didn't start getting heavy until then...If you see the concert films That's the Way It Is or Elvis on Tour or Aloha from Hawaii, you'll see the man as of 1973 looked to be about in the same shape as he was in the '68 Comeback Special.

I don't understand why 70s Elvis is a punchline when really he was putting out some of his best material, really putting his all into his live act and whatnot. Yeah, he wore jumpsuits but so did Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and tons of other '70s musicians.

Elvis was probably the nicest, most down to earth and most interesting entertainer of the 20th century and probably among the most prolific and influential...It's sad that in the minds of most his career has come down to just the 50s songs and being laughed about for his jumpsuits. I'm becoming a very big Elvis fan, my girlfriend is turning my on to him.

[F*ck Fear]

I like a bit of his 70's stuff as I have those same DVDs you mentioned. But I still prefer the 50's Elvis. The music was better in my opinion, and his shows from then are something I wish I could have witnessed.

[Powerage5]

I prefer his later offerings honestly

[dalsh327]

Fame goes to everyone's head, he became more and more isolated and erratic, but he was an excellent showman to the end.

I think he would've ditched the jumpsuits, worked on his weight, and scaled down the flashy outfits once they had video screens in arenas. The jumpsuits were also made so he could move around comfortably and show off his martial arts moves on stage, no different than why Axl wore bike shorts, as far as the comfort part of it goes.

He was a "live in the studio" performer. The band had to be THAT good. Even though he did do a lot of takes of songs, I think very few were edit jobs. And what the audience heard was at times stronger than the studio recordings.

Elvis was only 42 when he died.

[Guest Len B'stard]

Elvis was brilliant in the 70s and i bet you ANY money on earth, 99% of Elvis naysayers that have the opinion that he "sucked in the 70s" are people who don't know a single fuckin song the boy made in the 70s. It's just like that, a lot of people have opinions about this shit that don't know shit about it.

The problem with Elvis was that he was one of the first victims of the whole media created image things...or self created depending on how you look at it. And the problem with those images is that when you start to grow up or change or get fatter or uglier or...y'know, whatever, people hold you to it. A lot of bluesmen etc don't have that problem but Elvis was first and foremost a teenyboppers icon, he came up on that and then when the shit that sent so many girls in the 50s just a-cryin' into their pillows faded, he was pilloried for it. That and making a bunch of shit films which to be honest, didn't give the image over substance thing and the fact that the films were just an excuse for Elvis to be Elvis, he was again trading on his most bankable aspect, his image.

Through none of this am i saying that the boy couldn't sing, i'd have to be a prat to suggest that but the sort of hysteria that bands like The Beatles and Elvis evoked isn't really about music, it's about the cult of personality, it's about image, it's about other peoples dreams and it's about sex. When that shit all withered, what was left was the people who love music and those people are still kickin'.

Although, ultimately, Elvis wasn't the victim of anything, Elvis made his own choices and was a grown man and some of those choices were very cynical and they led him down the path that he ended up on but at the same time, there weren't no fuckin blueprint for Elvis, bless his heart.