Elvis Is (Finally) Dead
So, did you see that Mariah Carey has beaten Elvis Presley's record for No.1 singles in the US pop chart? Exciting times, eh?
Mariah told Associated Press that this doesn't mean she personally considers herself to be better than Elvis: "I'm just feeling really happy and grateful. I really can never put myself in the category of people who have not only revolutionised music but also changed the world, that's a completely different era and time."
Which is only right and proper. Good manners are important. What worries me is how Elvis's peeps are going to react to this fairly inevitable turn of events. I mean they've already proved themselves to be fairly sensitive to any claims that The King Of Rock 'N' Roll is no longer the global icon he once was.
Remember that initiative they had to re-release all Elvis's UK No.1 hit singles one-per-week in a limited run which would guarantee a No.1 hit and then disappear the week after? You know, the one where the artifact which carries the music suddenly became more important than the music itself, and the songs rocketed to the top on the back of healthy sales to Elvis obsessives and record collectors, most of whom already owned each song several times over? THAT initiative?
Rubbish, wasn't it? That's not even a personal opinion on the quality of Elvis's music, either, because Lord knows the music was the very last priority in that situation. It was all about breaking records, setting standards and generally making Elvis's cultural achievements seem as big to modern eyes as they were during his lifetime.
And that is an admirable aim, except all it really does nowadays is reinforce the suggestion that Elvis's career was managed by people who just wanted him to keep turning a decent profit. Stunts like the big No.1s campaign play to a cartoon, safe version of the man in which he's forever doing karate moves in a white jumpsuit and slurring "thangew verrmush", and neglect the stuff that Mariah was on about.
Y'know, revolutionising music and changing the world, and all that.
If the Presley estate now takes action to try and remedy that whole 'Most No.1s' situation, by embarking on yet ANOTHER re-release programme...and then does likewise every time Mariah overtakes again...is ANYONE going to like Elvis at the end of it all?
Oh, and if anyone is seriously thinking that it's an outrage that Mariah Carey should beat a chart record set by Elvis Presley, as if what she does wipes what he did from cultural memory forever more, might a suggest a good stiff walk around the block to calm down? It's only statistics, after all!
Comments
Did she really hang up on the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú after they got the number of records she'd sold wrong? I find that hilarious