Elvis didn't have this crowd

In his final years Elvis was an oldies-act.

Elvis was never an oldies act.

Chuck Berry was and still is an oldies act and so is Jerry Lee Lewis.

Also, in the 70's, they screamed for what he once stood for and not for the performance he was giving at the time. So sad!!!

Did you see Elvis in the '70s? I did, and I disagree with your statement. Have you heard some of the ovations he got for the '70s songs he was doing? Listen to An American Trilogy from Atlanta on May 2, 1975 and tell me they did not scream for the performance he was giving at the time. Have you heard him doing Bridge Over Troubled Water both in Vegas and on the road and heard the ovation he was getting? How about How Great Thou Art? When he did the reprise a time or two, were they applauding for what he once was? Nonsense. Have you listened to America The Beautiful from the Rockin' Across Texas FTD release? When I saw him in Louisville in May '77, they were talking about My Way and Hurt before he ever took the stage. They were hoping like hell that he would perform them both that night (he did).

Trust me. They applauded (and screamed) for the performance he was giving at the time.

Last edited by Rob on Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

In his final years Elvis was an oldies-act.

Elvis was never an oldies act.

Chuck Berry was and still is an oldies act and so is Jerry Lee Lewis.

I agree about Chuck, but JLL probably had more country hits than rock hits. He is an oldies act for a few classics but most of his show is country (or was when I saw him in the 80's).

In his final years Elvis was an oldies-act.

Elvis was never an oldies act.

Chuck Berry was and still is an oldies act and so is Jerry Lee Lewis.

I agree about Chuck, but JLL probably had more country hits than rock hits. He is an oldies act for a few classics but most of his show is country (or was when I saw him in the 80's).

But he did do some of those old oldies package tours with Chuck Berry and Little Richard in the 70s.

His new material that he's coming out with now is Jerry Lee doing covers of songs from the 50s to the 70s.

Elvis' songs were not in American Graffiti because the licensing fee RCA wanted was too high. This is the same reason Elvis' hits were never on the oldies compilations of the era.

Somebody must have liked Elvis in the 1970s being that he charted more records in the decade than any artist in any decade and when everything was said and done was probably the decade's top record seller. And this was oldies and contemporary material. While the oldies of Chuck Berry needed to be peddled with the hits of other artists in the era to make a huge sales impact, a 1973 television album of Elvis' hits from 1956 to 1962 sold an astonishing five million units. Meanwhile Elvis' contemporary record Aloha From Hawaii made number one the same year and was the first album in the Quadrophonic format to move one million units, eventually on its way to five million units. Somebody must have liked him. 1971's Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas three million units. 1972's Elvis as Recorded at Madison Square Garden three million. Burning Love and Hits from His Movies two million. Aloha five million. Compare that to the pittance sold by Berry and Lewis.

Also, in the 70's, they screamed for what he once stood for and not for the performance he was giving at the time. So sad!!!

Did you see Elvis in the '70s? I did, and I disagree with your statement. Have you heard some of the ovations he got for the '70s songs he was doing? Listen to An American Trilogy from Atlanta on May 2, 1975 and tell me they did not scream for the performance he was giving at the time. Have you heard him doing Bridge Over Troubled Water both in Vegas and on the road and heard the ovation he was getting? How about How Great Thou Art? When he did the reprise a time or two, were they applauding for what he once was? Nonsense. Have you listened to America The Beautiful from the Rockin' Across Texas FTD release? When I saw him in Louisville in May '77, they were talking about My Way and Hurt before he ever took the stage. They were hoping like hell that he would perform them both that night (he did).

Trust me. They applauded (and screamed) for the performance he was giving at the time.

Spot On, well said.

Elvis' songs were not in American Graffiti because the licensing fee RCA wanted was too high. This is the same reason Elvis' hits were never on the oldies compilations of the era.

Somebody must have liked Elvis in the 1970s being that he charted more records in the decade than any artist in any decade and when everything was said and done was probably the decade's top record seller. And this was oldies and contemporary material. While the oldies of Chuck Berry needed to be peddled with the hits of other artists in the era to make a huge sales impact, a 1973 television album of Elvis' hits from 1956 to 1962 sold an astonishing five million units. Meanwhile Elvis' contemporary record Aloha From Hawaii made number one the same year and was the first album in the Quadrophonic format to move one million units, eventually on its way to five million units. Somebody must have liked him. 1971's Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas three million units. 1972's Elvis as Recorded at Madison Square Garden three million. Burning Love and Hits from His Movies two million. Aloha five million. Compare that to the pittance sold by Berry and Lewis.

Spot on as well.
It seems many are making flipant comments without sufficient knowledge of what was.

Elvis' songs were not in American Graffiti because the licensing fee RCA wanted was too high. This is the same reason Elvis' hits were never on the oldies compilations of the era.

Somebody must have liked Elvis in the 1970s being that he charted more records in the decade than any artist in any decade and when everything was said and done was probably the decade's top record seller. And this was oldies and contemporary material. While the oldies of Chuck Berry needed to be peddled with the hits of other artists in the era to make a huge sales impact, a 1973 television album of Elvis' hits from 1956 to 1962 sold an astonishing five million units. Meanwhile Elvis' contemporary record Aloha From Hawaii made number one the same year and was the first album in the Quadrophonic format to move one million units, eventually on its way to five million units. Somebody must have liked him. 1971's Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas three million units. 1972's Elvis as Recorded at Madison Square Garden three million. Burning Love and Hits from His Movies two million. Aloha five million. Compare that to the pittance sold by Berry and Lewis.

Of course, his death gave him his bigggest sales since the 50's. Please be reasonable here. Elvis was not selling more records before he died than say Elton John or others. Those numbers you quote, many of those sales were posthumous.

Well said likethebike and Rob.

Also,he charted so many records because there were so many records released. His catalog was always flooded as it still is today. When all those records chart. of course his number of chartered records appear more than an artist who may release an album every other year. The numbers you quote on sales are not initial sales, (Im sure The WW of Christmas did not sell that much when released) but accumulative sales years later. Believe me, Elvis was not a popular record seller in the 70's. I worked part time in a store. Other than Aloha and Burning Love, the only records folks showed any interest in was The Sun Sessions in 1976. Of course after he died, sales exploded on all of them.

, Elvis was not a popular record seller in the 70's. I worked part time in a store. Other than Aloha and Burning Love, the only records folks showed any interest in was The Sun Sessions in 1976. Of course after he died, sales exploded on all of them.

Elvis sold more records than that though.

MSG, On stage and a few others did very well at the time.

You also have to take into consideration that after Aloha Elvis recorded more country type material and so he appealed more to that market.

Elvis sold well in the 1970s considering that it was his third decade in the business.

The Christmas record had racked over 400,000 sales by 1972 according to Ernst. This is an impressive number being that the Christmas season is only five weeks long. Its lack of chart performance was solely due to the fact that Billboard segregated Christmas releases from the regular chart in this era. MSG was certified Gold almost over night. Aloha From Hawaii was a number one album. Its initial sales ranking in the 2 million range. The BL and hits from his movies 750,000. It would, like all of the Camdens, obtained a much higher chart position were it not for its low list price. The TV LP sold its millions mostly between 1973 and 1977. Elvis' death was only icing on the cake. The Legendary Performer sets again sold 750,000 in their first runs. By releasing so many LPs one could argue that Elvis cut into his own sales potential by not leaving any particular LP with enough time to rack up significant sales. Elvis-That's the Way it is and Elvis Country were released six weeks apart and yet both achieved Gold status prior to Elvis' death.The bottom line is that Elvis was selling in the hundreds of thousands and millions of units and scoring chart singles and LPs and Berry and Lewis were most decisively not.

If you take Elvis' cumulative album ansd single sales from 1970 to 1976, without the TV sales, he moved more than 25 million units domestically alone, and that's supposing that an LP like MSG sold nothing after its initial run and that his still available back catalog sold nothing either. It's worth noting that other highly certified albums like the Eagles' Greatest Hits racked up most of their tally after the 1970s as well.

I remember reading somewhere that Elvis was the #1 seller of records in the 50's. Number 2 record seller in the 60s behind the Beatles and #3 in the 70s.