“Elvis Was A Hero To Most”
Dr. Rox Remember When? Article #138 August 2022
By: RLSchwinden aka MrZerr0
In the wake of the new “Elvis” film (2022 Baz Luhrmann), it was refreshing and exciting to see young girls buying Elvis Records as of late, because when Mr. Zer0’s opened back in 2009, young people were surprised to find out Elvis recorded albums, it seems they just thought of Elvis as some famous person like Marilyn Monroe or James Dean, they had no idea Elvis was a Rock N Roll Singer. So I thought it was time do a “PsychoGello Show” on Elvis. So as usual I decided to go a different route, than most. I chose to cover Elvis in the 70s. Everyone likes to go over the 50s , well as it was the birth of Rock And Roll, however Elvis had many hits in the 70s too.
My memories of Elvis, when I was a little kid 7 or 8, I loved music, I would sit and listen to anything, so I used to go through my Mom’s 45 Singles and play them on my 1970 Panasonic Record Player (NOT Turntable), my Mom’s record collection was from primarily from 1955 to 1962, as she worked in the Record Dept. of Kreske’s in downtown Sioux City. So I would pour through her 45s, as I am sure most people did too. I noticed she had a whole lot of RCA records with a black label. I played a few of them, usually I picked songs that I thought had a cool title. Well, I just didn’t care for Elvis, though I tried.
So my Mom was a huge Elvis fan, I remember we lived in Brandon (Jackson) Mississippi when Elvis died, I thought “what’s the big deal?” (little did I know then) but my Mom was devastated, she said “He died so young” at the time I thought 42 was ancient. Being a huge KISS fan I remember reading an article where they mentioned “They wanted to do a cover song on the last album ‘Love Gun’ (June 1977) at first they considered “Jailhouse Rock” but changed it to another cover “Sincerely” until finally they recorded “Then She Kissed Me” (Ace does not play on this song fans, Paul played the Solo) and they were relieved they did not record an Elvis song, as would have come off as a ‘Cash-In’ and they wanted no part of that” Apparently my father was a huge Elvis fan, he told me that when he was young many people in town thought he looked like Elvis, he even wore his hair the same way.
My baby sister Carrie was born in Miss. the year before Elvis died, somehow, someway she got an “Old Soul” as her heart is firmly planted in the late 50s, she has always loved that time period. My Mom once said years later, “well, I was there and it was not as magical as you might think, and maybe if you grew up at that time you may have been drawn to the 30s” Me, myself have always been drawn to the late 60s, worth noting, my favorite Local Band is “Thee Mod Garage” If I could I would be in that band. Since I love the 60s so much, I began to notice that most of the artists I loved, were heavily influenced by Elvis; Beatles, Deep Purple, Cheap Trick, Johnny Thunders, Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) Tommy and Johnnie Bolin. In fact Tommy Bolin’s very performance was on ABC TV doing a pantomime to Elvis on the Canyon Kid show. And having been to Johnny Bolin’s house many times over the past 17 years, I can verify there are dozens of photos of Elvis decorating the Bolin household to this day, in fact there is an Elvis postcard on my desk at Mr. Zer0’s 55113, sent to me form Johnny himself. So all of this got me to thinkin’ “Say maybe I am missing something?” now even as early as the 80s I found myself drawn to some 50s artists like Little Richard and Bo Diddley, but that was really about it.
I remember a comedy bit Eddie Murphy did on Elvis back in 1983 about how he couldn’t act so they just had Elvis sing his lines in the films, “Lemonade, that cool refreshing drink” now that’s some funny stuff right there, I don’t care who you are. Sometime in 1993 I discovered Chris Isaac, clearly this artist was firmly planted in the 50s, which started my 50s, musical phase, for about 2 to 3 (1995-97) years that was about all I listened to, or went to see in concert; Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Elvis, Chuck Berry and Bill Haley etc. my gal at the time, hated it, we used to go Sunday nights to “Stella’s Blue Sky Diner” in W. Des Moines, IA. I did get to see Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Bo Diddley in concert and even meet Little Richard and Bo. I never got to see Elvis even though he toured heavily in the 70s. in Sep 1995 I did see his 1977 Cadillac in Las Vegas at a car show and I did however get to see his daughter Lisa Marie Presley in concert in MPLS at the State Theatre in Aug 2003. Elvis played MN. 8 times from 1971 to 1977.
Elvis 1st concert in MN. was:
5 November 1971 in Bloomington at The Met Ctr.
and his last Concert was:
30 April 1977 in St. Paul at The Civic Ctr.
Mr. Zer0’s PsychoGello Show 2022: Episode #230 “Elvis The 70s”
“Kentucky Rain” #16: Jan 1970
“It’s Only Love” #51: Nov 1971
“He Touched Me” Feb 1972
“Raised On Rock” #41: Sep 1973
“I’ve Got A Thing About You Baby” #39: Jan 1974
“My Boy” #20: Jan 1975
“Hurt” #28: March 1976
“Way Down” #18: June 1977
“Unchained Melody” 1978
“I Got A Feeling In My Body” July 1979
He was born Elvis Aaron Presley on 8 January 1935 in Tupelo, MISS. and passed on 16 August 1977 in Memphis, Tenn.
In his career he released around 141 Single 45s, with 109 of these on the BillBoard Charts including 10 Top Ten Hits, and 7 Number One Hits. 29 EPs 7″ (5 songs or less) and 62 LP Albums. Elvis appeared in 33 Films, and 9 TV Shows.
I plan to do a Dr. Rox “Cover Up Show” on Elvis with such artists as:
Johnny Thunders “Crawfish”
Cheap Trick “Don’t Be Cruel”
Paul McCartney: “It’s Now Or Never”
New York Dolls: “Flip Flop Fly”
John Lennon: “Blue Suede Shoes”
Robert Plant: “Little Sister”
ZZ Top: “Viva Las Vegas”
Until the next time … MrZerr0 has left the building
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