Elvis and drugs

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changeofhabit
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Elvis and drugs

#340075

Post by changeofhabit »

This thing has always made me wonder why it is like that. As we know, almost everybody good ol' rock'n roll artist used drugs. Real drugs or legal drugs like Elvis mostly(?) used. So, nobody in the media or on the "street" talks about another people using drugs but always about Elvis. Like Elvis would have been only man in the music business who has ever used drugs - legal or illegal.



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thefunkyangel
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#340079

Post by thefunkyangel »

I need 'em man :roll:!



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Hav-A-Tampa
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#340082

Post by Hav-A-Tampa »

That just isn't true!

Drugs... hmm, let me see: Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Brian Wilson, Jefferson Airplane, Kurt Cobain, Eric Clapton, Syd Barrett, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elton John, James Brown, even Anna Nicole Smith for God's sake! And those names are just a few out of the hundreds of artists/celebreties whose drug abuse is well-known, written and talked about. Is there too much focus on Elvis's drug abuse? Yes, there is, just as there is too much focus on his weight and the impersonators and the rubber ducks these days.




Jth

Re: Elvis and drugs

#340084

Post by Jth »

changeofhabit wrote:As we know, almost everybody good ol' rock'n roll artist used drugs. Real drugs or legal drugs like Elvis mostly(?) used.
Just for the record; Elvis never ever used real drugs as he despised them - he only took prescription drugs



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Hav-A-Tampa
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Re: Elvis and drugs

#340086

Post by Hav-A-Tampa »

Jth wrote:
changeofhabit wrote:As we know, almost everybody good ol' rock'n roll artist used drugs. Real drugs or legal drugs like Elvis mostly(?) used.
Just for the record; Elvis never ever used real drugs as he despised them - he only took prescription drugs
Well, almost never ever! :wink: He tried some of that illegal stuff too, you know. Just for the record.



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Keith Richards, Jr.
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Re: Elvis and drugs

#340091

Post by Keith Richards, Jr. »

Jth wrote:
changeofhabit wrote:As we know, almost everybody good ol' rock'n roll artist used drugs. Real drugs or legal drugs like Elvis mostly(?) used.
Just for the record; Elvis never ever used real drugs as he despised them - he only took prescription drugs
Yes. But perhaps he would have lived longer if he'd used proper drugs instead of those pills he took?

I certainly don't think there is too much focus on Elvis's drug abuse. In fact, the only place I ever read or hear about it is on the FECC message board! :shock: :D Of course everybody knows that Elvis took drugs, just like everybody knows that one of my other heroes, Jerry Garcia (he and Elvis had A LOT in common by the way), took drugs but it's probably not a big deal to most people. Not anymore.

Keith Richards, Jr.
Last edited by Keith Richards, Jr. on Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.


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Marko
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#340100

Post by Marko »

During Elvis' lifetime he had a very clean reputation. He served in the army and supported police. He didn't drink or smoke in public. He supported the establishment and was openly religious. He wasn't your everyday pill poppin' honky tonk star. But the public didn't really know what went on behind the scenes. His private life was kept secret. It was only after he died that his drug abuse and bizare behaviour became public and it shocked a lot of people. It was like completely different person that they had seen in public. Also, the fact that the true cause of his death was covered up played a part in that. If they had come open from the start it propably would have caused such a interest but because of the cover-up it became even bigger news.


"I've learned very early in life, without a song, the day would never end. Without a song, a man ain't got a friend. Without a song, the road would never bend, without a song. So I'll keep on singing the song."

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#340107

Post by Spellbinder »

Oh, good! A thread about Elvis taking drugs. Just what we needed. Seems like forever since we last had one.



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samses
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Re: Elvis and drugs

#340129

Post by samses »

Jth wrote:
changeofhabit wrote:As we know, almost everybody good ol' rock'n roll artist used drugs. Real drugs or legal drugs like Elvis mostly(?) used.
Just for the record; Elvis never ever used real drugs as he despised them - he only took prescription drugs
I think you're wrong on this one. Elvis did use illegal drugs several times. And buy the way, does it matter whether they were illegal or not. Elvis had a problem with drugs and if he had not been Elvis Presley, he would never had the access to "legal drugs" that he had. BTW, a lot of his "legal drugs" were prescribed to his entourage. How legal is that???

Elvis had a problem, it killed him and it has been discussed on this board over and over. Do we have to go over it again?



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Spanish_Eyes
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#340130

Post by Spanish_Eyes »

I recall one of the autopsy coroners stating: "Butter did worse to him than all the pills he was taking". So basically, drugs weren't that important into Elvis untimely demise, because he was tolerant to them back then.


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samses
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#340133

Post by samses »

That autopsy coroner seems to be of a completely different opinion than other people who know something about Elvis death.



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dreambear
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#340138

Post by dreambear »

Marko is spot on here. Clean image - big sensation!

//björn




Jth

Re: Elvis and drugs

#340144

Post by Jth »

samses wrote:
Jth wrote:
changeofhabit wrote:As we know, almost everybody good ol' rock'n roll artist used drugs. Real drugs or legal drugs like Elvis mostly(?) used.
Just for the record; Elvis never ever used real drugs as he despised them - he only took prescription drugs
I think you're wrong on this one. Elvis did use illegal drugs several times. And buy the way, does it matter whether they were illegal or not. Elvis had a problem with drugs and if he had not been Elvis Presley, he would never had the access to "legal drugs" that he had. BTW, a lot of his "legal drugs" were prescribed to his entourage. How legal is that???

Elvis had a problem, it killed him and it has been discussed on this board over and over. Do we have to go over it again?
Ahh, yes - sorry I forgot about that one time (there weren't more, were there?) when he, Priscilla and some others took some hard drugs - or at least one - and I now remember that Elvis did drink rose wine, at least once, at least according to Joe Esposito



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samses
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#340146

Post by samses »

I think there were several times. I don't think he got liquid coke on prescription nor Marijuana. I really don't think it matters though. He had a problem with it, legal or not.



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#340162

Post by Elvis' Babe »

the liquid cocaine is a synthetic prescription for opening up the nasal cavity or throat, or such. i swear i heard something about that. everybody freaks on the word cocaine, but it is actually something quite different.

fact--most hospital-strength pain-killers aren't much better or equal to heroin and every other illegal painkiller. some are natural and some are synthetic. both are equally addictive and dangerous. morphine is a form of heroin.

i've lived for 10 months in a rehab, people. i've seen more educational videos about the affects of drugs, what is in them, what each one does to you, and how they relate to each other, than i care to admit. i've watched people come off of near overdoses of speed. by the way--the girl i watched come off speed sitting across from me at a table for 2 days was a truly horrific experience. everybody always likes to claim elvis' eyes are glazed over here, there and everywhere, saying--look! drugs! bull. i've never seen a picture of him where he looked half as scary as this girl did. we are talking red eyes that were glazed and huge, and her heart was beating right out of her chest. there are a lot of pictures where elvis is tired (a person with insomnia generally looks tired--me included), but never did he publicly look like she did.

and lest we forget all the people who bitch about elvis' polypharmacy, generally have heroes who have probably done as many as or more drugs than he did. when the beatles did illegal drugs and promoted them, they were heroes and geniuses. when elvis did prescribed drugs and hid it from everyone, he was a fat loser junkie who was over-the-hill.


"Thank you very much. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the big, freaky International Hotel. Those little weirdo dolls on the walls. And those little funky angels on the ceiling. Uh, this is my first live appearance in 9 years. H-uhh! Thank you. I've appeared dead a few times, but this is my first live appearance. Before the evening is up, I will have made a complete and total fool of myself, and I hope you get a kick out of watching it." --EP


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#340175

Post by chris c »

Thank you, Elvis' Babe, and all those who take Elvis's side on this, and display some insight into HIS situation and stresses. It can never be right to baldly state, "Elvis took drugs". You have to think of his basic extremely sensitive and vulnerable disposition - go right back to what it was that his mother was referring to when she wept and said he wouldn't survive show business - you have to take into account his physical and emotional inheritance, his family's problems with addictions, nervous conditions and suicide, and to the enormous stresses he was under due to his family relationships, money problems, fears for the future, etc etc. I cannot bear to read these comments by people who suggest Elvis's problems with drugs were due to self-indulgence and that he had only himself to blame.



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#340177

Post by Joe Car »

Elvis' Babe wrote:the liquid cocaine is a synthetic prescription for opening up the nasal cavity or throat, or such. i swear i heard something about that. everybody freaks on the word cocaine, but it is actually something quite different.

fact--most hospital-strength pain-killers aren't much better or equal to heroin and every other illegal painkiller. some are natural and some are synthetic. both are equally addictive and dangerous. morphine is a form of heroin.

i've lived for 10 months in a rehab, people. i've seen more educational videos about the affects of drugs, what is in them, what each one does to you, and how they relate to each other, than i care to admit. i've watched people come off of near overdoses of speed. by the way--the girl i watched come off speed sitting across from me at a table for 2 days wasa truly horrific experience. everybody always likes to claim elvis' eyes are glazed over here, there and everywhere, saying--look! drugs! bull. i've never seen a picture of him where he looked half as scary as this girl did. we are talking red eyes that were glazed and huge, and her heart was beating right out of her chest. there are a lot of pictures where elvis is tired (a person with insomnia generally looks tired--me included), but never did he publicly look like she did.

and lest we forget all the people who bitch about elvis' polypharmacy, generally have heroes who have probably done as many as or more drugs than he did. when the beatles did illegal drugs and promoted them, they were heroes and geniuses. when elvis did prescribed drugs and hid it from everyone, he was a fat loser junkie who was over-the-hill.
Nice post Elvis Babe! Glad to read that everything worked out for you. I remember watching a video of Mick Jagger I think it was, from an interview from the sixties, his eyes were completely bloodshot and he was so frickin stoned, he couldn't even speak. I think back then it was excepted that rock stars from the sixties did get high, like it was just a fact of life.



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samses
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#340217

Post by samses »

Elvis had for a fact a drug problem that killed him. To me it doesn't matter why and what drugs. He is still the greatest artist ever and was a great human being. His drug habits does not affect my opinion and I don't think that his fans bothers. It was shocking when I read about for the first time, which was actually several months before his death when excerpts from Elvis what happened was published in Swedsih tabloids. But that was in the 70's and Elvis had his clean image. There was also another attitude towards drugs than today. At that time it was a problem for me that Elvis had drug problems. It ain't no more and has not been for many years. Im no drugliberal, but I have come to the conclusion that I did not appreciate Elvis less just because he had an addiction to drugs, prescribed or not.



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norrie
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#340229

Post by norrie »

The big difference is whether or not you come through it.Look at
Johnny Cash.In the mid 60s(see the cover of Sings The ballads of
The True West)he was in a terrible state,gaunt and skeletal from
Amphetamine abuse.But he (eventualy)came through it and lived
to tell the tale and the world loved him more for it.Same kind of
story with artits like Bowie or Clapton.Elvis' crime was that he
refused to see or admit that the end was coming and died.That's
what is hard to forgive.If he had made an effort to overcome his
addictions and problems and came back fans would have forgiven
him anything.So you either live and your a hero for surviving or
you die and are thought of as a junkie loser which is very harsh.
Or of course you could be Keith Richards :!:

norrie




chris c
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#340250

Post by chris c »

Norrie, I'm not sure there is anything to forgive.



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Cryogenic
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#340255

Post by Cryogenic »

thefunkyangel wrote:I need 'em man :roll:!
Besides pictures, is there anything of value or interest you contribute to this board? I think we all get dumber for reading your "contributions".

In the last four days:
thefunkyangel wrote:I need 'em man :roll:!
Source: http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27763 (Here)

thefunkyangel wrote:More like the upstairs office in Graceland. Incidently, it's the room above his parents/ grandma' room!
riley wrote:this is not his office room at graceland, it is the one at Beverly Hills (LA)
thefunkyangel wrote:Like hell it is :roll:!
thefunkyangel wrote:I have been corrected. It is not Graceland!
Source: http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=339693
thefunkyangel wrote:I have been told by a reliable source (not sauce) that her family will bury Anna with her tits sticking out. The family wishes to use them for a community bicycle rack! I thought how nice is that! I just hope to god someone doesn't reverse up their motor bike.
Source: http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27679

Does anyone else find these remarks / behaviour arrogant, obnoxious, distasteful and offensive?

Maybe you should confine yourself to the "Picture Section" from now on.



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norrie
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#340276

Post by norrie »

Chris,ok maybe a bad choice of phrase although I mainly meant the
press and media.Perhaps hard to accept is more apt.

norrie



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drjohncarpenter
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Re: Elvis and drugs

#340323

Post by drjohncarpenter »

changeofhabit wrote:So, nobody in the media or on the "street" talks about another people using drugs but always about Elvis.
Here on planet Earth, virtually every famous rock artist or band has had warranted -- or unwarranted -- media exposure regarding drug use or lack thereof.

Heck, back in 1948, tough guy actor Robert Mitchum got busted on a marijuana charge. In 1948! He survived.

Note to Cryogenic -- it's well established by distasteful MB commentary like the above that "thefunkyangel" is a misogynist. For all the lovely women who are earnest members of this MB, I hope you can ignore his pathetic, offensive words. We're not all like that.


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#340330

Post by E-Cat »

Elvis' Babe wrote:fact--most hospital-strength pain-killers aren't much better or equal to heroin and every other illegal painkiller. morphine is a form of heroin.
no, no, no - not true - Heroine is a Schedule I Narcotic Drug while Morphine is a Schedule II (III) Narcotic Drug. There is really a big difference...


Please do not thank me--- Thank Elvis for making THIS happen.


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Re: Elvis and drugs

#340331

Post by Guest »

drjohncarpenter wrote:
changeofhabit wrote:So, nobody in the media or on the "street" talks about another people using drugs but always about Elvis.
Here on planet Earth, virtually every famous rock artist or band has had warranted -- or unwarranted -- media exposure regarding drug use or lack thereof.

Heck, back in 1948, tough guy actor Robert Mitchum got busted on a marijuana charge. In 1948! He survived.

Note to Cryogenic -- it's well established by distasteful MB commentary like the above that "thefunkyangel" is a misogynist. For all the lovely women who are earnest members of this MB, I hope you can ignore his pathetic, offensive words. We're not all like that.
I knew you had a heart Doc :wink:


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