Twisted irony of Elvis' mid-60s commercial decline

[likethebike]

Pete- It wasn't chart positions though where those singles did better. "Kissin Cousins" moved more than 250,000 singles more than "Viva". The same with "Good Luck Charm" and "His Latest Flame". Perhaps more of head of steam could have been worked up for one side. But you would guess that a two sided hit would sell even more.

I think the less money argument works better than the less work. Parker had no trouble putting Elvis out on the road for six months every year. And you have to remember at least in the early '60s, when his shoots averaged about 12 weeks, movies were a lot of work for Elvis especially when he was making two to three per year with recording sessions mixed in.

I think the fact that the studios paid expenses for the soundtracks were a big factor in Parker's thinking. Production costs and promotion costs suck a lot out an artist's royalties. BTW- That Parker was able to get the studios to pay for the recordings and then give ownership to RCA was a pretty sweet deal. If you look at other artists of the time, you see that when they did a soundtrack, the movie studios recording subsidiary would release it.

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

Too many thoughts I already had have been covered, but I would just say that Elvis and Parker demonstrated a real "throw it all up there and whatever sticks..." attitude, with all sorts of quality and dreck all in between for a time there.

And in reality, the true turkeys (as I find even the worst soundtracks at least sort of light fun in the beginning...) only came probably as the formula began to falter, notably with "Kissin' Cousins." And even then, films like "Girl Happy" were still packing them into drive-ins and kept eye-balls interested into the '70s in T.V. re-runs. But as as far as meaningful music, there is a reason the '68 comeback was so necessary.


As was pointed out, "Kissin' Cousins" charted at #12 (and even rocked in a way) but by then the public was ready for something new, and as 'Bike pointed out, the audience had been changing anyway, demographically, etc. Elvis had his '54 and especially '56, but someone had to own 1964 and it wasn't going to be a now over-familar and tamer-to-boot Elvis. (Cue the now patented use of the opening chords of "I Wanna Hold Your Hands" in patented form...with gals holding pro-Beatle and anti-Elvis signs...)

I will echo Pete's points about "Elvis Is Back!" in fact being an okay seller, just that it was totally dwarfed by the wonderfully colorful and fun bonanza that was "Blue Hawaii." While I can cringe during "Ito Eats" like anyone (and other times enjoy it for the light flavor of the entire movie), a ballad like "Can't Help Falling In Love" surely struck a chord as did "Love Me Tender" in '56. The authors of "The Blue Moon Boys" (and it's on my reading list) surely must have a tell-tale "Sun" orientation that is uncomfortable with the more "pop" elements in Elvis' catalogue. Presumably, the authors are not going to be big "I'm Leavin'" or "American Trilogy" or "Jungle Room Sessions" fans. It's a acceptable bias, but one to be noted just the same...)


And yes, "His Hand In Mine" was if anything an indulgence at first that only later reaped rewards in terms of sales.

Good post, LTB. There's so much to wrap one's head around when it comes to the mysterious and often maddening but also "right" recording career of Elvis Presley.

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

It's a bit of a stretch to deny that he didn't lose focus on non-soundtrack studio-recorded material, which for too long became an afterthought to the movie material.

[bajo]

The formula with the movies and the soundtracks was drying out in the mid sixties. The arrival of The Beatles changed the direction of what was going on in the rock world.
Elvis was stuck with his conctracts which he fullfilled!
It's hard to find a pattern regarding how the world at large reacted to Elvis' musical output when you run a check on RIAA's database.
The strangest compilations have gained platinum status, while records one might find to describe as very good, can't be found.
Take the Pot Luck album and compare it's sales against the '76 Pickwick release in the US of the Frankie And Johnny LP. (It didn't even contain the entire original album tracks.)
The latter has earned platinum status. Where is Pot Luck in comparison?
There seem to be no differences between popularity of soundtrack recordings and studio or live recordings.
As if most products with Elvis' name on it sold!
Another point when checking RIAA's database: Where are all the other artists who during the years have been rumoured to challenge Elvis' crown. Check their gold and platinum status and there are many surprises of how few some of them have!

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

Good points, Bajo.

Just to save some time for now, who are those artists? Garth Brooks (who?)? Michael Jackson?

[Jth]

Isn't the first time us Elvis fans have been blamed for something, Lamar Fike accuses fans of the downfall of Elvis

[Cryogenic]

Isn't the first time us Elvis fans have been blamed for something, Lamar Fike accuses fans of the downfall of Elvis

So does Peter Guralnick.

"Careless Love". What do you think that really means? I think that Guralnick has implicated everyone -- Elvis, his family, friends, doctors, manager, and yes, the fans -- for his decline. He's correct.

[Erhan]

Blue River throw away by Elvis
Song was very childish IMHO...

Hi Spellbinder.

I appreciate what you're saying, but 64 was in the beat group era. Everyone had a crack at "memphis, tennessee" and Elvis did the best ever cut. Blue River is a great album track, and the likes of long Lonely Highway, Devil in Disguise and Witchcraft are great pop, very in keeping with the times.

There were a couple of blaring missed opportunities too. It Hurts Me could have been a terrific single, ballads being all the rage back then. But mostly, Slowly But Surely. What an epic single that could have been!!! 1963, fuzz guitar and a rockin' beat!! I don't recall an earlier mainstream track with fuzz guitar!

I think it could have been a classic big seller and stick with my opinion that it's his greatest ever collection of songs.

[Juan Luis]

Everything in excess is bad. So no question the FANS abnormal, excessive love for a person (stengthened that persons EP weaknesses) that includes thinking everything done was great and low quality material be explained or even thought great!! Be excused ....btw this was BEFORE the fans knew about The Colonel (Goldman book etc..which only fed more the Elvis can- do- no- wrong apologists etc...).

[likethebike]

But blaming Elvis' fans for his decline in quality is specious because they were always there and the more casual fans were the ones who had to be catered to with stuff like Blue Hawaii and Girls Girls Girls. The diehards bought Elvis is Back and went to see Flaming Star. Also as in the case of all diehards of all groups, the fans who would have most appreciated Elvis deviating from his hit pattern in the 1970s was the hardcore fan base. They were the ones who knew stuff like "I'm Leaving" or "It Hurts Me". They were the ones who had heard already heard "Hound Dog" live 20 times. That is the mistake in the blaming the diehard fans theory. After 1960 Elvis' most experimental work on stage, screen and wax was simply not supported by an audience beyond his base with a few notable exceptions in the Memphis show and the tv special. Even a track like "Kentucky Rain", a track that made early 1970s hits like "My Baby Loves Lovin'", "Easy Come Easy Go" sound like dogfood by comparison had trouble breaking out. Today it's considered an all-time classic and it did break somewhat beyond the base but not in the numbers of the singles in previous years.

Think about many of Elvis' best moments post army.

Flaming Star 1960. Makes a meager profit thanks to the fan base. No one else sees it basically despite mostly positive reviews. (By the way this is an excellent example of Elvis' legions making daring work possible if Col and Elvis had seen it that way.)

"It Hurts Me" 1964 generates airplay but largely ignored.

"Viva Las Vegas" 1964. No time in the Top 20 despite the fact that it is most unusual blend of Latin, swing and rock influences with a tremendous hook and finish. Meanwhile movie audiences make the entertaining but less ambitious film one of the hits of the year.

"Big Boss Man" 1967 ignored.

"Guitar Man" 1967-early 1968 ignored.

"Kentucky Rain" 1970 gets some airplay but sales peter out quickly at 600,000 less than half the hits of the previous year.

Elvis Country 1971. Elvis finally records an honest to gosh concept album. Widely praised in the music press. Never hits the Top Ten. Takes six years to break the 500,000.

"I'm Leavin'" 1971. Loses even some of the hardcore base.

"An American Trilogy" 1972 ignored despite the fact that fans across the country are exposed to the piece in Elvis' live act.

"Separate Ways"/"Always on My Mind" 1972 one of the best ballad combos of the decade. Both sides are brilliantly and deal with adult themes in an intelligent manner. Bashed by the music press. Sales of half of its predecessor. Meanwhile crap like "Ben" by Michael Jackson, America's "Horse With No Name" and Mac Davis' "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me" top the charts. Such taste for that mass audience.

"Promised Land" 1974. Explosive rocker that almost jumps off the turntable. Plus, there's a lyric that defines what Elvis is all about. Gets some airplay but craps at 350,000 (mostly the faithful I presume). It's better though than the reception that greeted Chuck Berry's fine original though.

Vegas. August 1974. Elvis changes up the live show to a tepid response. There's apparently not enough hits. Now for the diehards anything Elvis does is gold. Yet who is retarding Elvis' development at this point? Where are the complaints about no hits coming from?

"T-R-O-U-B-L-E" 1975. After years of whining that Elvis doesn't record anymore, he dishes out a great one. No one is listening.

The diehard fans are always there. The elusive pursuit of the casual fans costs Elvis as much anything and really diminished his hitmaking radar. And Elvis himself can be forgiven for a not necessarily commercial piece like "Trilogy" being slapped on a single. After all wasn't a quality and personal expression supposed to be what it was all about.

[paulwood]

Die hard fans that don't like the movies - isn't that a contradiction? If Elvis had followed the dictate of the purist philosophy he wouldn't have had much of a career after 1960. He'd be Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry. Still doing the same old stuff, not moving on and not having much impact on the public concoiusness..unless you count 'My Ding a Ling' that is?!

If we look at it objectively rather than with perfect hindsight we might find that with the relative not so hot box office and sales of; King Creole, Flaming Star, Wild In The Country and Elvis Is Back etc Elvis needed Blue Hawaii and Gi Blues to be huge hits if he was to continue at the very top.

The Elvis comeback - people call that a comeback for different reasons. He's gone back and pulled out songs from the 50's but its not a 'gone back' to what he was before it was a 'comeback' because he's doing what he does best of all - performing live rather than miming and being choreographed. The song most people remember the show for wasn't something from the past it was If I Can Dream. He had moved on but purists hadn't and still haven't. They'd have Elvis as an obscure artist recording Milking Cow songs in Sun Studios between truck driving assignments.

Theres too many negative things written and said about the 60's films - you might not like them but Elvis found a formula that worked and had a fairly sucessful and sustained film career and its sad that he's never given credit for it.

Some of the soundtracks are good albums as well; Girls Girls Girls, Blue Hawaii, Gi Blues, Fun In Acapulco, Roustabout one of the few #1 albums he had - and its NOT even available as a CD in its own right such is the politics of the day.

If the dictate of die hard fans - is that only certain kinds of films and certain types of music are acceptable then call me casual. A casual fan who wears rose tinted glasses and enjoys nearly everything Elvis did.

Theres die hards and then theres purists.