Still all shook up over Elvis, 30 years after his death by Aisling Cordon Maki

Still all shook up over Elvis, 30 years after his death by Aisling Cordon Maki
2 hours, 48 minutes ago



MEMPHIS, United States (AFP) - Thirty years after Elvis left the building for the last time, the world is still all shook up over the King of rock and roll.

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While his music is no longer topping the charts, the legend of Elvis Presley continues to draw in new fans, and his iconic image graces everything from the tackiest of ceramic busts to multimillion dollar ad campaigns.

Elvis defined what it meant to be a pop star, and his swagger and croonings are imitated by aspiring front-men and impersonators alike.

He was the poor boy made good, the white boy who brought black music into the mainstream, the sex symbol who was a mama's boy, the rebel who remained a patriot, the star who died young as fame and fortune pushed him to drugs and depression.

"Elvis is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century," American composer Leonard Bernstein once said.

"He introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution."

Tens of thousands of devotees will make the pilgrimage to Graceland this week to mark the 30th anniversary of his death on Thursday.

It is a trek made by some 600,000 visitors annually, including Japan's former prime minister and ardent Elvis fan Junichiro Koizumi, who took a tour of the jungle room last year with US President George Bush while on a state visit.

While Elvis was not the first to blend blues and country - musical styles segregated by the same social forces that kept Southern blacks out of white swimming pools - he was the first to truly popularize rock and roll with his breakthrough 1956 hit "Heartbreak Hotel."

At a time when teenagers were beginning to challenge the authority of their parents, Elvis was a rebel and a threat: he was shot from the waist up on his first appearance on the Ed Sullivan television show to avoid broadcasting his "obscene" hip gyrations.

A devout Christian, he once asked fellow rock'n'roller Jerry Lee Lewis if they were playing the devil's music.

"Why boy, you are the devil!" Lewis said.

His reputation became much more benign after he served two years in the military in Germany and began appearing in a series of Hollywood films like Blue Hawaii and Jailhouse Rock.

But even as Elvis descended into the kitsch of his rhinestone-studded jumpsuits and Las Vegas shows, he continued to produce classic songs like "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds."

And the rock stars who replaced him as the icons of subsequent generations - Bob Dylan, Al Green, Elton John, the Beatles, punk rockers the Clash, and U2 - continue to pay tribute to the king.

"Before Elvis, there was nothing," John Lennon once said.

Decades later, U2 singer Bono wrote in Rolling Stone magazine, "Elvis changed everything -- musically, sexually, politically."

Elvis remains the best-selling solo artist of all time with over a billion records sold worldwide. He is arguably pulling in more money now than he did at the height of his career, with annual earnings of between 40 and 50 million dollars.

He topped the charts ahead of the 25th anniversary of his death in 2002 after a remix of his "A Little Less Conversation" was used by Nike in its World Cup advertising campaign.

An aggressive global marketing campaign is underway to mark the 30th anniversary.

Newly reissued CD box sets, "deluxe edition" DVD releases of Elvis films, and even a limited edition Reese's "King" sized peanut butter and banana cup are being pushed into stores.

Carnival Cruise lines is offering an all-Elvis cruise at sea, as Graceland prepares for a 250 million dollar renovation of its tourist complex under the new owner of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Robert Sillerman, a billionaire Elvis fan who also owns TV hit American Idol.

There is an enormous audience for Elvis merchandise, most notably among the more than 600 active official Elvis Fan clubs in 45 countries -- not bad for an artist who never toured outside North America.

There are thousands of Elvis impersonators or "tribute artists" worldwide, including the Mexican El Vez, lesbian Elvis Herselvis, and skydivers The Flying Elvi.

Thirty years after his death, Elvis sightings and conspiracy theories live on. People everywhere continue to be mesmerized by the magic and mayhem of Elvis the man and Elvis the legend.

Perhaps Bruce Springsteen put it best when he said "... it was like he came along and whispered some dream in everybody's ear, and somehow we all dreamed it."