omnirook
16 Aug 2007, 01:20 PM
Today is the 30th anniversary of the King's death. Elvis Presley died 30 years ago today.
Most of you have been born since and don't remember Presley as a living human being. But I do. I remember having been shocked by a press photograph of Presley a few weeks before he died: Damn! - Wow, he got fat! I remember thinking that he'd die if he kept on like that - and he did die. I wasn't surprised to hear that he had died.
1977 was one of those years when a whole host of celebrities died. Bing Crosby died that year. So did Groucho Marx, Ethel Waters, Peter Finch, Maria Callais and a whole crop of others. The one death that affected me more than any other was Marc Bolan's death on 30 September, a few weeks after Presley's death.
Bolan was also a singer, but he was also a song-writer and a guitarist. And he had become a journalist. It was Bolan who wrote Presley's obituary for The New Musical Express. Bolan's death was even more of a shame. He was far younger and had, unlike Presley, shed the excess pounds that he had piled on during his divorce, and he had quit drugs, and he had gotten his career back on track, scoring several UK and European hits in 1976.
I have always liked Elvis Presley's music, but I have never much cared for the man. It's not that he was bad or anything like that - he just didn't capture my imagination as a person. Not that that matters. His contributions to music are undeniable, and it was a shame that he died when and how he did. So, here's to the King - there will never be another like him!
Most of you have been born since and don't remember Presley as a living human being. But I do. I remember having been shocked by a press photograph of Presley a few weeks before he died: Damn! - Wow, he got fat! I remember thinking that he'd die if he kept on like that - and he did die. I wasn't surprised to hear that he had died.
1977 was one of those years when a whole host of celebrities died. Bing Crosby died that year. So did Groucho Marx, Ethel Waters, Peter Finch, Maria Callais and a whole crop of others. The one death that affected me more than any other was Marc Bolan's death on 30 September, a few weeks after Presley's death.
Bolan was also a singer, but he was also a song-writer and a guitarist. And he had become a journalist. It was Bolan who wrote Presley's obituary for The New Musical Express. Bolan's death was even more of a shame. He was far younger and had, unlike Presley, shed the excess pounds that he had piled on during his divorce, and he had quit drugs, and he had gotten his career back on track, scoring several UK and European hits in 1976.
I have always liked Elvis Presley's music, but I have never much cared for the man. It's not that he was bad or anything like that - he just didn't capture my imagination as a person. Not that that matters. His contributions to music are undeniable, and it was a shame that he died when and how he did. So, here's to the King - there will never be another like him!