Quote Originally Posted by bobsticks
Yeah, later Elvis--big, fat, sweatsuit on the toilet Elvis--was pretty well crap, but there's a lot of good content in the last few posts. Elvis isn't really my cuppa either, and you can add the Dead and the Beattles to that as well, but you'd have to be brain dead to accuse those artists of having no talent.

I love the Stones but don't care for the Beattles, that's just my bag. How am I gonna argue that one or the other wasn't talented or influential? Or, just flat-out sucked? P-Sky tell your boy to put down the glass pipe...
For me, I enjoy all of the various phases of Elvis. I like his earlier work for the more 'energy-driven' aspect and was at his most influential during those prime early years. Whether or not he invented the wheel or not, there is little argument that he made the wheel popular. It's one thing to invent something and it's another to make that something successful, especially on a global scale, which back in 1956 was much harder to do than today with things like 'the Internet'.

That being said, I also don't mind the middle years where Elvis branched into more ballad-like material as well as some Gospel/Country and a wide variety of styles. What I respect about Elvis is his ability to cross so many genres of music. Can anyone else think of an artist who could easily fit into the following: pop, rock, gospel, country, blues? Not too many. He is also the single-largest selling performer of all time and still remains one of the top selling artists. And to think he was only 42 when he died, imaging where things could have gone?

Ok, now ...the quote...fat, Vegas, sweaty Elvis...yadda yadda....well, for me I don't mind that either. At this point he was larger than life and quite honestly there aren't too many people that could pull off some of the outfits that guy wore and A. look cool and B. not look gay. Fashion sense? Absolutely. He revolutionized just about every piece of clothing he wore. Also, the sideburns became just as popular and as a sideburn person myself...I think they are cool. Also, what I think is important to mention is that if you actually look at Elvis during this part of his career (a la ALOHA FROM HAWAII) he actually isn't as fat or nasty as some people have labeled him and most of that comes from the various knock-off imitators and spoofs/parodies that have been done to the point where it reflects poorly on his character.

One of the points that I brought up during my debate with this guy is the plain and simple fact that you can play about 10 seconds of just about any vocal part of an Elvis song and very few people wouldn't recognize it. His voice is so distinct that it's impossible to not identify, plus there hasn't really been anyone since who could really pull of the voice part just right, even the best Vegas imitators, who usually are terrible. Let's face it...it's hard to imitate the King and whether you are a fan of his music or not, his contribution to the world of music is well documented and that doesn't happen by accident. This guy I was debating with made it seem like it was all some fluke...the music industry at that time was hardly a fluke....talent sold in those days.