Another Albert Goldman interview

[rocknroller]

Ah the legendary Tony Prince at the end there! A far cry from the slightly built figure in the superman top riding the tandem bike with Peter Aldersley round the streets of Luxembourg in TTWII!

yes nobody change's after 20 years......................

[drjohncarpenter]

Not sure if this has been posted on FECC before.
New to me, nonetheless, maybe new to you too.

..

PEP

Fascinating clip, PEP.

This must be from from an early 1991 U.K. book tour, as Elvis: The Last 24 Hours was published in late Dec 1990.

It's great to see Motown singer Edwin Starr ("War") and DJ Tony Prince defend the Elvis they knew and loved, and to note how celebrated author Philip Norman (Shout: The Beatles In Their Generation) totally shreds Goldman's factual vacuity and biographical inconsistencies.

Albert Goldman was a smug, frustrated, forty-something academic whose profession was writing about rock and roll: an art form that he HATED. How dysfunctional is that? He eschewed everything about the 60s generation in nearly the same fashion that he hated 50s cultural icons like Elvis Presley. As LIFE magazine's staff writer in the late 1960s, he offended fans left and right with his myopia, such as after Hendrix and Joplin died:




LIFE Magazine, Nov 6, 1970

And he had Elvis in the cross-hairs YEARS before he decided to write his scurrilous biography in 1980. I'll post an example or two soon.

[drjohncarpenter]

Here is Albert Goldman's Hendrix-Joplin obituary:







LIFE Magazine, Oct 16, 1970

Rock sucks, and they're dead. Thanks, Albert.

[midnightx]

Yeah, real uplifting analysis. Did LIFE even care?

[Cryogenic]

In March, 1994, aged 66, he suffered a fatal heart attack on a flight to the UK.

Not one relative or friend came forward to claim the body !

Albert Goldman.jpg

Rumours that the airline used him, for a while, as a runway bird-scarer at London's Heathrow Airport remain unfounded......................

Albert Goldman has been starring in Corrie for the last decade!

[Frankie Teardrop]

Hilarious stuff, Doc, thanks for posting! "Jimi Hendrix, a poor black...". Comedy gold! "Albert Goldman, a frustrated gay...".

[drjohncarpenter]

Yeah, real uplifting analysis. Did LIFE even care?

LIFE was owned by conservative interests, who likely did not have a problem with an anti-rock scribe.

[Elton]

Just found out that rented pallbearers for Goldman's funeral, were paid $20 each, plus expenses! What a piece of shite he was!

I would have done it free of charge!! what a douch-bag he was!

[Joern]

Great stuff. Cool to see Edwin Starr in there.

I was kinda surprised to see him there. His version of "War" is tremendous!

[ColinB]

In March, 1994, aged 66, he suffered a fatal heart attack on a flight to the UK.

Not one relative or friend came forward to claim the body !

Albert Goldman.jpg

Rumours that the airline used him, for a while, as a runway bird-scarer at London's Heathrow Airport remain unfounded......................

Albert Goldman has been starring in Corrie for the last decade!

LOL !

Does look like him !

[Alexander]

Yeah, real uplifting analysis. Did LIFE even care?

LIFE was owned by conservative interests, who likely did not have a problem with an anti-rock scribe.

Well, the Life magazine was far over its heighdays wasn't it Doc? They finally pulled the plug in 1972. The magazine just could not keep up with modern developments anymore and judgiung from the articles you posted it is not only technology or commercially but also contentwise. No wonder subscribers ran away en masse...

[Ton Bruins]

...Maybe it was an accidental suicide that fatal night because of all the pills he took...

If suicide is the deliberate taking of one's own life, it's hard to see how it can ever be 'accidental'...................

I guess you are right, I phrased it wrong but maybe you know what I mean. Suicide is not the good word, but what I meant was that all those pills he took over the years killed him that night. Especially in 1977 he swallowed a lot of pills...his body just gave up..

[ColinB]

...Maybe it was an accidental suicide that fatal night because of all the pills he took...

If suicide is the deliberate taking of one's own life, it's hard to see how it can ever be 'accidental'...................

I guess you are right, I phrased it wrong but maybe you know what I mean.
Suicide is not the good word, but what I meant was that all those pills he took over the years killed him that night.
Especially in 1977 he swallowed a lot of pills...his body just gave up..

If you mean that his lifestyle, diet, & over-use/abuse of prescription medication all contributed to his early death, then I agree.................

[Ton Bruins]

...Maybe it was an accidental suicide that fatal night because of all the pills he took...

If suicide is the deliberate taking of one's own life, it's hard to see how it can ever be 'accidental'...................

I guess you are right, I phrased it wrong but maybe you know what I mean.
Suicide is not the good word, but what I meant was that all those pills he took over the years killed him that night.
Especially in 1977 he swallowed a lot of pills...his body just gave up..

If you mean that his lifestyle, diet, & over-use/abuse of prescription medication all contributed to his early death, then I agree.................

Then we agree...

[ColinB]

...Maybe it was an accidental suicide that fatal night because of all the pills he took...

If suicide is the deliberate taking of one's own life, it's hard to see how it can ever be 'accidental'...................

I guess you are right, I phrased it wrong but maybe you know what I mean.
Suicide is not the good word, but what I meant was that all those pills he took over the years killed him that night.
Especially in 1977 he swallowed a lot of pills...his body just gave up..

If you mean that his lifestyle, diet, & over-use/abuse of prescription medication all contributed to his early death, then I agree.................

Then we agree...

Yes, taking the three things I mentioned into account, it could be said that he 'killed himself'.

But he brought that about by neglecting his health over a long period, rather than any deliberate action to 'end things'.

And, of course, his family history of heart problems was something quite out of his control..................

[Alexander]

Maybe Goldman was right ? Maybe Elvis was in big trouble the last year of his life and especially the last 24 hours, maybe Elvis only lived on pills that last year, maybe he was a junk ? Maybe he had depressions especially after "Elvis What Happened" was released. Maybe it was an accidental suicide that fatal night because of all the pills he took...

Of course there is truth in both Goldmans book and Elvis What Happened. I do not doubt that and it almost seems factual that Elvis was in deep trouble otherwise he would not die that young. But if you only hunt for the sensational and the negative like Goldman or the gostwriter from the West/ Hebler did, the books go far beyond the truth and the books reflect an unfair and unbalanced picture of Elvis. Considering the books and articles wrote on other artists I think the Doc is right by saying that Goldman hated rock 'n roll and had no other goal than to diss artists reputations.

[Ton Bruins]

...Maybe it was an accidental suicide that fatal night because of all the pills he took...

If suicide is the deliberate taking of one's own life, it's hard to see how it can ever be 'accidental'...................

I guess you are right, I phrased it wrong but maybe you know what I mean.
Suicide is not the good word, but what I meant was that all those pills he took over the years killed him that night.
Especially in 1977 he swallowed a lot of pills...his body just gave up..

If you mean that his lifestyle, diet, & over-use/abuse of prescription medication all contributed to his early death, then I agree.................

Then we agree...

Yes, taking the three things I mentioned into account, it could be said that he 'killed himself'.

But he brought that about by neglecting his health over a long period, rather than any deliberate action to 'end things'.

And, of course, his family history of heart problems was something quite out of his control..................

We agree again...

[norrie]

What a piece of work Goldman is.He does an obituary on two rock icons of which one
was a bona fide musical GENIUS yet at no point acknowledges that they have any talent
but focuses on painting them as useless junkies who are corrupting the worlds youth.
He clearly has found a niche in that he only focuses on the negative attributes of the
worlds most popular icons knowing that fans will read them and tabloids will use them.


norrie

[Cryogenic]

What a piece of work Goldman is.He does an obituary on two rock icons of which one
was a bona fide musical GENIUS yet at no point acknowledges that they have any talent
but focuses on painting them as useless junkies who are corrupting the worlds youth.
He clearly has found a niche in that he only focuses on the negative attributes of the
worlds most popular icons knowing that fans will read them and tabloids will use them.

You realize he's dead, right?

[norrie]

You realize he's dead, right?

Eh yes and I can see I wrote in the present tense.I meant what a piece of work Goldman was.

norrie

[Eddie]

Any writer that can find out his subject was ashamed of his "hillbilly pecker" has to be a genius, thats a real journalist coaxing out such secrets.

[ColinB]

both books were based on the ramblings of lamar the fink fike, it was obvious he wanted to smear ELVIS name from the get go it was pure dirt and its one book that many a fna do not want on their shelf or collection.

Getting his own back, perhaps, for all those years when he was the butt of Elvis' jokes !

[Alexander]

both books were based on the ramblings of lamar the fink fike, it was obvious he wanted to smear ELVIS name from the get go it was pure dirt and its one book that many a fna do not want on their shelf or collection.

Getting his own back, perhaps, for all those years when he was the butt of Elvis' jokes !

I guess there could be some truth in your assumption. Didn't the rest of the MM and Elvis use some very unflattering nicknames. Could very well be that this hit the guy a bit harder than everyone assumed.

[kris]

"Don't believe in Goldman
His type like a curse
Instant karma's gonna get him
If I don't get him first" (bono)


Okay, who made this baldheaded creep who's suffering from a lot of syndromes (stockholm to name one) a doctor, and a doctor in what?

[drjohncarpenter]

... he does have some valid points when it comes to our beloved artist.

- Elvis was a junkie!
- Elvis loved junkfood and medicated drugs (for whatever reason)
- Elvis his voice in general was declining in his final years except for those rare moments when it still showed his class (unchained melody,hurt) Nobody remembered Little Darlin'? It sounded like he was out of breath.
- Elvis was a blue collar as they would call now "white trash"

Valid points?

Your first two examples tell us almost nothing about Elvis, but a lot about the author, who despised rock and roll and the drug culture which sprang up in the 1960s, and frames most of his opinions through this warped perspective.

Your third "valid point" is hardly a novel observation, and in Goldman's case, he provides no context for Elvis' vocal troubles in the later years. In fact, there is no point in the book where he give Elvis sole credit for any musical accomplishment.

Perhaps it is because you are not from America that the fourth "valid point" escapes you -- Gladys, Vernon and Elvis Presley were NOT "white trash," except in the eyes of a Northern intellectual snob like Goldman.

Goldman's failure was a twisting of the facts -- or simply getting them wrong, or ignoring them altogether -- to suit his agenda, which was to dismiss Elvis' art, accomplishments, and southern background.

To top it off, it was all written in a hateful fashion. Here is a man who devoted years of his life to create a biography on someone he disliked and whose music he found awful. How dysfunctional is that?