Dylan Jones, author of ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING: The Death of the King and the Rise of Punk Rock, offers a quick commentary on the milestones in the life of Elvis Presley:
January 8, 1935: Elvis Aaron Presley is born in Tupelo,
Mississippi to Gladys and Vernon Presley
Here, in a tiny, two-room house no bigger than a trailer,
the 20th Century came alive. As his twin brother, Jessie, was stillborn, Elvis
was cosseted by his parents, Vernon and Gladys, cherishing their precious gift.
It was a gift they would eventually relinquish to the world.
January 8, 1946: Elvis’ parents buy him a guitar at the
Tupelo Hardware Store for his 11th birthday.
Elvis actually wanted his Mom to buy him a rifle, but as
she had no intention of encouraging him to start mucking around with guns, she
bought him a musical instrument instead. The guitar cost $7.75 plus 2% sales
tax.
June 3, 1953: Elvis graduates from Humes High School.
It was at Humes where Elvis developed a reputation for
wearing extremely colorful shirts and pants, dressing almost like a black
R&B singer. He looked moddy, too: "He was a gentle soul," said
one ex girlfriend, "but he kind of had this swagger to him."
January 1, 1955: Elvis signs a contract appointing Bob
Neal as his manager.
Barely nineteen, Elvis puts his future in the hands of a
WMPS folk music disc jockey. Elvis said that increasing demands for appearances
made a manager necessary, and he preferred a Memphian for the job.
August 15, 1955: Elvis signs a management contract with
Hank Snow Attractions which appoints Colonel Tom Parker to be his exclusive
manager, with Neal remaining as an advisor
Tom Parker's gambling habits meant that he was constantly
doing deals which befitted him as much as they benefited Elvis. My decisions
that in hindsight may have seemed odd - song choices, concert engagements -
were made because Parker needed short-term cash to pay of gambling debts.
November 20, 1955: Elvis signs his first contract with
RCA Records. Among the songs he first records for the label is “Heartbreak
Hotel.”
Elvis's first million seller, it was a nightmare to
record, as Elvis kept jumping around during the session, so his vocals came in
and out. In the end the producer had to litter the studio with extra
microphones, so it didn't matter where Elvis danced, the engineers could still
hear him.
January 28, 1956: Elvis appears on Stage Show in his
first network television appearance
Seven months before Ed Sullivan, the band leaders Jimmy
and Tommy Dorsey had the honor of introducing Elvis to America, on their CBS
programme. It was the last time Elvis would look truly bashful.
September 9, 1956: Elvis appears on The Ed Sullivan Show
and attracts the highest ratings for any television variety show in history
This was the day that sex finally reared its ugly head on
national television, and a medium that had previously been marketed as a way to
bind a family together, suddenly became a vehicle for teenage insurrection.
November 15, 1956: Elvis’ first movie, Love Me Tender,
premieres at the Paramount Theater in New York City
Elvis's performance in this movie is the one that
convinced Barbra Striesand that he would be a perfect co-star for her remake of
A Star Is Born in 1976. She approached Elvis, and while he was desperate for
the role, it was turned down by his manager Tom Parker, because of issues with
billing (Parker wanted Striesand to play second fiddle to his charge).
January 6, 1957: Elvis appears on Ed Sullivan’s Toast of
the Town, but is only recorded from the waist up
Because Elvis has been causing such a stir with his
libidinous performances, it was decided that they couldn't film his pelvic
gyrations on TV, forgetting the fact that what initially seduced his audience
was his eyes, his cheekbones and his hair. He was, after all, a teen idol.
March 25, 1957: Elvis purchases Graceland Mansion in
Memphis for $102,500
Much derided by snobs who say that Graceland is what
happens when you give too much money to white trash, Graceland is actually a
design classic, while the Graceland experience today is as good as visiting
Universal Studios.
September 27, 1957: Elvis returns to Tupelo for a benefit
concert to fund the Elvis Presley Youth Recreation Center
Elvis would donate to the Center regularly for the rest
of his career, while the project would become one of the things he cared most
about in his life, strangely.
March 24, 1958: Elvis is drafted into the U.S. Army
When Elvis had his hair cut before being sent to serve in
Germany, it seemed as though he had been emasculated. Could Elvis really be
Elvis without that great greasy truck driver's quiff? Fifty years later a clump
of hair that was supposedly retrieved from the barbers' floor was sold at
auction in Chicago for $52,000.
September 13, 1959: Elvis and Priscilla Wagner meet at a
party
They met at Elvis' home in Bad Nauheim, Germany, during
his stay in the army. What many forget is that Priscilla was only fourteen at
the time, and yet she still had the ability to make Elvis tongue-tied.
March 20, 1960: Elvis holds his first recording session
since leaving the army
This session yielded "It's Now Or Never", a
modern version of an old Italian tune, "O Sole Mio" that Elvis liked.
This not only turned out to be a huge hit, but became one of Elvis's most
successful and most enduring songs.
August 27, 1965: The Beatles visit with Elvis at his
California home and the group informally play music together.
John Lennon in particular found this a rather depressing
meeting (especially as he was his childhood hero), as Elvis appeared to be
rather uninterested in this new English beat sensation. They spent most of the
time playing records and mucking about on the pool table, like teenage boys.
May 1, 1967: Elvis and Priscilla marry during a small
ceremony at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas.
The Aladdin was the first major casino to open on the Las
Vegas Strip in the 1960s, although in recent years it was demolished, making
way for the Planet Hollywood hotel. Because of his addiction to gambling, it
was always Tom Parker's dream to get Elvis to Vegas.
February 1, 1968: Priscilla gives birth to Lisa Marie
Presley at Baptist Hospital in Memphis.
The most extraordinary thing about meeting Lisa Marie is
discovering that she looks almost identical to her father, with the same
brooding eyes, the Mount Rushmore cheekbones and even the same shock of dyed
black hair.
December 3, 1968: The 1968 TV Special “Elvis” airs on
NBC. It is incredibly popular and one of the biggest television successes of
the year.
Not only did Elvis copy the dress sense of the Doors' lead
singer Jim Morrison for this performance, he also had his entire leather
wardrobe especially commissioned. He dieted, too, as he didn't want to have to
disguise his body.
August 28, 1971: Elvis receives the Bing Crosby Award
from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), the
organization that presents the Grammys. This award is later renamed the
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Before Elvis received this there had only been five
previous recipients: Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Ella
Fitzgerald and Irving Berlin. It told Elvis that he had finally arrived.
October 9, 1973: Elvis and Priscilla divorce with joint
custody of Lisa Marie.
The eight -year courtship of Priscilla Beaulieu would
last longer than their marriage, principally because Elvis tried to emotionally
smother his bride, while continuing to sex with other girls.
August 16, 1977: Elvis dies at Graceland.
Elvis died during the month of punk rock's apotheosis,
relinquising his crown to a new generation o
rockers like Johnny Rotten, Sid
Vicious and Billy Idol. But even though the punks laughed when Elvis died,
little did they know that everything about them - the aggressive nature of
their music, the shocking, extravagant way they looked, their rebellious nature
- had all been invented by Elvis twenty years previously.
Advance Praise for Elvis Has Left the Building
"Elvis
Presley died on a stormy summer night when punk was at its very height – Dylan
Jones explains why the heavens wept, and why they are weeping still for the
only rock star to become a religious icon, the once and future King of them
all. Elvis Has Left the Building is the ultimate rock and roll fable about the
ultimate star, a gripping tale of impossible success and terrible waste and
lost beauty that veers from Memphis to Las Vegas and all the way to the broken
backstreets of London. This is best Elvis book ever written, revealing Elvis
the Memphis Flash and Elvis the fallible man and Elvis the mother’s boy and
Elvis the rock Messiah, and it is a must-read for anyone who ever had the music
at the absolute center of their universe. Dylan Jones has written a glorious
tribute to the man who burned all the maps, and broke down every barrier, and
filled this world with magic." – Tony
Parsons, author of Man and Boy
In a
new book, Elvis Has Left the Building, British
journalist Dylan Jones takes offers a unique and provocative reconsideration of
the life and times of Elvis Presley, and his lasting impact on music and
popular culture. Winding the clock back to mid-1970s, Jones examines the
intersection between the rapid rise of punk rock in Britain and America and the
decline of the world’s first rock and roll icon, Elvis Presley.
Punk had set out to destroy Elvis, or
at least everything he came to represent, but never got the chance. Elvis
destroyed himself before anyone else could. Yet nearly forty years after his
death, rock’s ultimate legend and prototype just won’t go away and his
influence and legacy are to be found not just in music today, but the world
over.
With great flair and exacting detail,
Dylan Jones evokes the hysteria and devotion of The King’s numerous disciples
and imitators, offering a uniquely insightful commentary on Elvis’s life, times
and outrageous demise. This is an original, fresh account, written with the
author’s customary panache, recounting how Elvis single-handedly changed the
course of popular music and culture, and what his death meant and still means
to millions today.
A final chapter offers the author’s
own list of Elvis’s fifty greatest songs in chronological order, beginning with
his first commercial single in 1959, “That’s All Right, Mama,” and ending with
“Way Down,” released shortly after his death in August 1977 and quickly made
its way to number one on the Billboard charts.
Elvis
Has Left the Building
adds a new chapter in the vast literature of books about Elvis – not only does
Dylan Jones pinpoint the moment of the death of the King, he explains its
impact on our society and culture. “The cult of Elvis,” the author writes,
“actually started on August 16, 1977. Whether it was the sharp-featured Elvis
you wanted, or the latter-day idol in all his magisterial pomp, the King could
supply it all.”
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