HOW FAMOUS WAS ELVIS? That was the question on Quora. Once upon a time, that it was fairly easy to answer: According to Jerry Hopkins, whose Elvis – A Biography (1971) was the first biography of the man, a global survey showed that more people in the world recognized Elvis by his first (or given) name—and that included you-know-who!—than they recognized anyone else with their given and family names combined.
But that was almost fifty years ago, before the Age of Celebrity and the coming of the world wide web made countless pop stars ubiquitous wherever there was electricity or a good connection. So, as I haven’t seen a similar global survey about fame and familiarity in the 21st century, I opted to answer the question with a bit of humor:
“Elvis was sooooo famous that if you were to get lost in the deepest, darkest part of the Amazon, and were captured by the last remaining tribe of cannibals — all of them starving after a weekend ayahuasca bender — and as they were preparing you for their barbeque, all you would have to do is say ‘Elvis’ and somehow, like in a bad movie, there’d be a bongo sound, the insistent throb of a bass guitar, and a stinging electric guitar riff from an invisible rock band in the background.
“Then all those cannibals would gather ’round and listen to that bongo sound. They’d grab their barefoot babies by the hand. They’d turn and tease, they’d hug and squeeze. And then they’d dig right in and do the clam!
“Of course, after doing the clam they’d have worked up an appetite and be even hungrier and you’d look even tastier, so you’d never be able to return and tell this remarkable tale about Elvis’s far-reaching fame and your, ahem, fortune.”
Wafer-sized portions
So far, there has been one comment left by a person of equally good mood and even temper: Marcus Lungren (who describes himself as very well-adjusted and not depressed at all, a rare thing indeed) asked, “But would they eat Elvis?”
To which I replied by making an allusion to you-know-who: “Only if he was served in wafer-sized portions by a holy man with a dash of wine to help it go down.”
If you want to follow this thread and see if anyone else takes the time to comment, look here: How famous was Elvis?
Finally, comparing the fame of the Beatles with that of you-know-who got John Lennon in a helluva lot of trouble below the fabled Mason-Dixon line in the United States. But this isn’t 1966 and I’m not one of the Fab Four.
FEATURED IMAGE: The image at the top of this page is from the little-known horror film (unless you are a horror film aficionado, of course) Cannibal Holocaust. This scene shows what could be a holy man serving up someone in larger-than-wafer-sized portions with what could be a dash of wine to help it go down. Butcher Block (a weekly series celebrating horror’s most extreme films) calls Cannibal Holocaust an “uncomfortable watch.” If you are squeamish, I suggest you do not rush on over to Google and type in “cannibal holocaust” and click on Images.
I have been around & around the net about this Elvis stuff. Maybe YOU can find out?
The current 2020 Billboard ‘all-time ’ album stats (starting in August 1963) notes Presley’s No.1’s at 2-Aloha From Hawaii (1973) and Elvis 30 (2002). As Roustabout hit no.1 in January 1965, why is it omitted?
Who, in any universe, can get Billboard’s editors to correct their error also noting more weeks on chart using these new rules?
It makes me wonder who else’s stats are overlooked?
A lot of young people look to Billboard as ‘official’.
It could be perhaps?
Please advise.
Thank you
Colin Bratkovich, author of Just Remember This
COLIN
Thanks for the comment.
First, I haven’t paid much attention to Billboard in decades. Decisions like weighting airplay above actual record sales when tabulating their pop chart back in the ’90s still baffles me.
As for their lists of the “greatest” thises and “all-time” thats, it seems like they go out of their way to set up systems where Elvis’s greatest accomplishments aren’t counted. One way they do this is to only use chart positions from their pop chart since it was renamed the Hot 100 in 1958. That means that all of Presley’s hits from 1956-1957 aren’t counted! The last list of Billboard’s greatest artists that I saw didn’t even list Elvis in the top 10!
As for the all-time albums list that only mentioned two Presley LPs, please send me a link so that I could check it out.
Hang in there …
NEAL
PS: Here is a link to a review of Colin’s book, Just Remember This:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22241773-just-remember-this
I can’t seem to link, but I can tell you that it is very easy to find Billboard chart history & navigate to Billboard 200. It is STILL not CORRECTED, as (already noted to you) Roustabout—by its current rules—is MISSING. Maybe you can get Sony to get this fixed?
I also note that, for some years, the same listing has a picture of Willie Nelson for Presley’s Classic Christmas Album, as well as a pic for Elvis’ Gold Records Volume 4, using the wrong cover (Vol.5). How come?
It’s almost 2021 and still a lot of confusion about Elvis Presley’s legacy.
How come no one will correct this?
Thank you.
COLIN
Thanks for the second comment!
Relying on Billboard to be consistent and reliable appears to be a waste of energy. The only consistency I can read into the way they change their chart history criteria regularly is to make newer artists look more successful than older artists.
As for reliablity regarding information about Gold and Platinum Record Awards, don’t expect that from the Rolling Stone or RIAA websites either as both are consistently error-prone.
As for getting Sony to listent ot me—Hell’s Belles, I have a tough time getting collectors to listen to me!!!
Keep on keepin’ on …
NEAL
Rockahula, baby!
NEAL