ANOTHER DAY, another question about Elvis on Quora needing a sane answer. And there are a lot of questions about Elvis. This one was “What was it about Elvis that captivated his millions of fans?” First please notice that the person who asked the question placed it in the past tense, which I addressed.
I didn’t intend this to be a long answer: just short and to the point. My answer is indented between the images below:
If you don’t get Elvis by now
In 1972, Stereo Review magazine reviewed Elvis’s HE TOUCHED ME album and said (more or less), “If you don’t get and appreciate Elvis by now, you probably never will.”
So, if you have to ask this question in search of a serious answer, you’re probably never going to understand what it is about Elvis that captivates his millions of fans.
(Please note that I answered your question in the present tense, not the past. Old fans continue to be captivated while new ones are being born every day.)
If you don’t get Elvis by now, you probably never will (and you’ll probably get through life okay nonetheless). Click To Tweet
FEATURED IMAGE: The photo at the top of this page was taken on June 9, 1972, during Presley’s much-ballyhooed press conference for the series of concerts he would be doing at Madison Square Garden:
“Elvis’ Madison Square Garden shows were the first time Elvis performed in front of a live audience in New York since his TV appearances on the Dorsey Brothers, Steve Allen, and Ed Sullivan shows in 1956 and 1957. Elvis performed before an audience of 20,000 fans at each of the four shows that took place June 9-11, 1972 (that’s a total of 80,000 fans for the entire weekend). Initially, only three shows were booked, but those sold out instantly, so the fourth show on June 11 was added.” (Graceland)
I loved Elvis’ music from as far back as I can remember.Probably about 6 years old.That was 1960.Here I am in 2018 and I still dont know what captivated me.Perhaps it could be that he has the best singing voice the world has ever known or ever will know.
D
Yup. Me, too. I’m 67 and can’t remember ever not loving Elvis. It became a “thing” for me when I inherited my Aunt’s 45 rpm collection and record player when I was 10 and hasn’t slowed down much since.
Even his dumb records move me: Whenever I’m feeling a little down, I just get up off of my behind and do the clam for a couple of minutes and I feel like I’m king of the whole wide world!
N
Amen to that.