Question for those who were alive when Elvis died??

[Brad Russ]

Ever since Michael Jackson's death, I have been wondering how the media, and fan reaction compared when Elvis died? I've heard both sides of the debate, my mom thinks Jackson's death has had a bigger impact on the world, while her boyfriend believes Elvis' death was bigger news. I'm not implying that anyone person's life is worth more than another's, so please don't think that's what I'm asking, since I wasn't alive when Elvis died, I'm just curious as to how people, as well as the media reacted to his death compared to Mr. Jackson's?? Thanks!!

Btw, I wasn't sure whether this message belonged here, or on the music board, so if it needs to be moved, I completely understand.

[Zoneboy]

There was extensive media coverage on Elvis but keep in mind that in 1977 we didn't have as many news sources as we do now. No CNN, FOX, MSNBC etc... I also doubt that there wasn't a single newspaper in the country where it didn't make the front page.

[Stuck In The '70's]

I was 12 when Elvis died so maybe someone a little older will remember it more. There was a lot of news coverage on it. Like Michael. all the stories came out about Elvis's drug use. I remember they even televised his last concert on TV. I was shocked at how bad he really looked.Everyone in school was talking about it. It came as a real shock. The difference between then and now is of course the 24 hour news channels. There was none of that back then.

[Zoneboy]

I was 12 when Elvis died.


Likewise. :)

[catlover79]

I was born 2 years after Elvis died but my parents said it was a complete shock to them. Of course, the internet wasn't around then, and the paparazzi wasn't nearly as bad then as it is now.

[Janice]

Elvis. The world went wild. I think Elvis was more loved. Just my opinion.

[Pus$y Galore]

They did, but imho, I'd say it was Michael. You'll see in the months to come too - more about the mystery and possible criminal investigation like Elvis', more about his life, the good and dirt, etc.. Michael was involved with more charities worldwide as well.

[Zoneboy]

That's not the question though whatsoever. It's not a popularity contest. He asked what was the reaction. Yes the world went wild, but I think both artists were loved, it's just their was no internet and way less media outlets in the late 1970s then the technology and 2000 era of nowadays. But I can't speak on Elvis, I wasn't born. I'll have to ask my Mom and Dad.

What's your problem? All she did was give an honest answer and you jump all over her for it. On top of that, You made the comment that you thought both were loved which is no different than her saying Elvis was more loved. Her response had nothing to do with popularity and I'm quite sure she understood the question perfectly.

[Janice]

That's not the question though whatsoever. It's not a popularity contest. He asked what was the reaction. Yes the world went wild, but I think both artists were loved, it's just their was no internet and way less media outlets in the late 1970s then the technology and 2000 era of nowadays. But I can't speak on Elvis, I wasn't born. I'll have to ask my Mom and Dad.
I think Elvis was more loved, so that does answer the question. Loved by more fans and media. Elvis also didn't have the pedophile accusation shadowing him as Michael did. A lot of people turned on and hated Michael because of that. He was a late night monolog joke. It's new with Michael, so it seems he has the edge. Elvis died over 30 years ago, and they still hold vigils. There's Graceland. I say Elvis.

[Janice]

Alright, thanks for clearing that up. I apologize Janice.
No problem at all. Charles, you're so cute. :hug: to both of you.

[Stuck In The '70's]

I think Elvis was more loved, so that does answer the question. Loved by more fans and media. Elvis also didn't have the pedophile accusation shadowing him as Michael did. A lot of people turned on and hated Michael because of that. He was a late night monolog joke. It's new with Michael, so it seems he has the edge. Elvis died over 30 years ago, and they still hold vigils. There's Graceland. I say Elvis.
Not to mention all the specials they had on him. Kurt Russell starred in a great TV movie about a year or two after he died that was a ratings smash. You had all those Is Elvis still alive rumors going around too. I even remember Bill Bixby hosting a special on that once. The Anniversary of his death is always a big event. And you're right about Michael. I've been reading other boards and there is a lot of hate out there for him. It wasn't that way when Elvis died.

[browneyes106]

My parents and my aunt and uncle talked about this over the 4th of July. They told me there was a lot of tv coverage and they also remember his last concert being televised. My mom said magazines covered Elvis' death for a few weeks. My uncle says he remember record sales for Elvis' music were up for awhile.

I think because of the Internet, 24 hour news channels and shows like Extra, The Insider, Access Hollywood the coverage for Michael Jackson does seem bigger than the coverage for Elvis.

But like Janice mentioned Elvis was loved more than MJ. MJ's death also opened up various debates about his past such as the molestation accusations and his relationship with his father. My dad shortly after Elvis' death people did question the activities of the Colonel and Elvis' entourage the Memphis Mafia.

[MikeL]

im wondering how did elvis die anyway health issues drugs did he really die in bathroom i was born same year let me know

[Stuck In The '70's]

im wondering how did elvis die anyway health issues drugs did he really die in bathroom i was born same year let me know
Prescription drugs. Pretty much the way Michael Jackson died. He had a lot of handlers too who didn't look out for his best interest. Yea he died in the bathroom.

[Zoneboy]

The exact cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat most likely brought on by his addiction to prescription drugs.

[Janice]

Not to mention all the specials they had on him. Kurt Russell starred in a great TV movie about a year or two after he died that was a ratings smash. You had all those Is Elvis still alive rumors going around too. I even remember Bill Bixby hosting a special on that once. The Anniversary of his death is always a big event. And you're right about Michael. I've been reading other boards and there is a lot of hate out there for him. It wasn't that way when Elvis died.
True, and imagine if the internet and cable 24/7 had been around then. Elvis was a pioneer. He was in movies, Vegas, and he was a major sex symbol. I loved Michael Jackson, and always defended him against the molestation charges, but he was a weirdo.

[Schmoopie]

I remember where I was when I heard that Elvis died. My mom and I were in the car at a strip mall by my grandmother's house. My mom was pretty shaken by the news and I asked her if the Captain (of Captain and Tennille-I was a major fan back then!) was the King of Rock and Roll now that Elvis was gone! :crazy: She told me that Elvis will ALWAYS be the King! That just cracks me up now that I think about it! :lol:

I didn't really like Elvis up until just recently, but I have been to Graceland and have seen his headstone. I wasn't into ANY of that stuff when we went, but now I might find it interesting. I'm still not a major fan or anything, but I would probably consider buying a Greatest Hits CD if I could find one with a lot of songs that I like.

As far as publicity, I really don't remember anything, other than hearing it on the radio. I'm pretty sure it wasn't as overblown as Michael Jackson's death, though. However, I can't say for sure. I mean, people still talk about Elvis as though he were alive:crazy:

I agree with Janice about Michael Jackson. I am truly sorry that he has died. I loved most of his music and in the 80's I thought he was so cool. I listened to my "Thriller" album so many times, that I had every song memorized. Loved the videos on MTV. To this day I still remember by heart every dance move to "Beat It". I was in a pep squad in the 9th grade (in junior high) and every week, we would do dance routines to popular songs. During football season, we performed at the pep rallies, since the school wouldn't let us dance on the football field. During basketball season, we performed during halftime at the games. That was the most fun I'd ever had in school. We did that dance to "Beat It" probably 5 or 6 times and every time I hear that song, I want to get up and dance to it.
I did find Michael very strange toward the end, though. I have a People Mag that came out last week, I believe with a blue cover and inside is a 'time line' of photos. I'm sorry but I can't even stand to look at the latter ones. He started going downhill fast after 1985. Ugh, gives me the chills just thinking about it. He was so handsome in the beginning.

I don't know how to compare his popularity to Elvis, though. He died in 1977, right? Well, I was ten when it happened, so I didn't know anything about him, except that I couldn't stand to listen to my mom's Elvis Christmas album every year!:lol: I don't remember seeing any commemorative mags about Elvis back then. These days almost every magazine has Michael Jackson's face on it. I bought the People Magazine that has the mini pic of Farrah Fawcett on the cover, since I try to buy their commemorative issues on famous people. I also have the Princess Diana one with the white cover. However, I'm limiting myself to one Michael Jackson magazine. The main reason I even bought it was just to read it, but I'll keep it in a safe place with my Princess Diana one. I see that there is another People out this week with stuff about the memorial, but I'm just going to keep the one I already have.



Andrea

[comedyfreak]

Ever since Michael Jackson's death, I have been wondering how the media, and fan reaction compared when Elvis died? I've heard both sides of the debate, my mom thinks Jackson's death has had a bigger impact on the world, while her boyfriend believes Elvis' death was bigger news. I'm not implying that anyone person's life is worth more than another's, so please don't think that's what I'm asking, since I wasn't alive when Elvis died, I'm just curious as to how people, as well as the media reacted to his death compared to Mr. Jackson's?? Thanks!!



I was 14 when Elvis died there was coverage but I don't remember it being all week 24/7. Of course we didn't have CNN and all the other news channels. I do think it's being covered waay too much. Let the poor guy rest in peace, who cares where the kids will live and how much hush money Debbie Rowe will get to go away.

[Big Fred Fan]

There was extensive media coverage on Elvis but keep in mind that in 1977 we didn't have as many news sources as we do now. No CNN, FOX, MSNBC etc... I also doubt that there wasn't a single newspaper in the country where it didn't make the front page.

This pretty well says it all! Whatever media there was at thetime did cover E's death. There were special reports and breaking news all over the radio and tv. Every program was interupted with the news of his passing. Every paper carried the headlines.
And, yes, the Kind died on the throne! He was reading a book entitled "The Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus", by Frank O. Adams, when he "got the call".
I was arriving home from school in my 1966 VW Bug when I heard it on the radio. To my surprise, my mailbox contained two Elvis albums that I had ordered from the Columbia Record Club: Hawaii/Live Via Satelite & Moody Blue. I spent the afternoon getting smashed and listening to these records!

[Torgo]

I was 7 in 1977. Seriously, if it wasn't about Star Wars, I didn't care.

Though I did grow up listening to Elvis, my dad had all of Elvis' stuff on vinyl and reel-to-reel.

[Pus$y Galore]

True, and imagine if the internet and cable 24/7 had been around then. Elvis was a pioneer. He was in movies, Vegas, and he was a major sex symbol. I loved Michael Jackson, and always defended him against the molestation charges, but he was a weirdo.

Actually if you read Priscilla's book, "Elvis And Me" you'll see that Elvis was a few cards short of a full deck himself. His madonna complex is basically what messed his marriage up. He had a lot of wierd hangups, both sexual and otherwise.

Seems like with genius, comes a lot of other undesirable quirks.

It will be interesting in the years to come to see who will be the bigger legacy. I think it's a little early still to tell.

I'll say one thing, I always thought the burn on MJ's head during the Pepsi commercial was overblown until I saw actual footage of it last night on Access (or one of those tabloid shows). His entire head was on fire and he really did get burned badly. If only the public were allowed that kind of information on him while he was alive, we might have been more forgiving of his odd actions and addictions. I really think I have an understanding now of Michael I never did and just feel more sorry for him the more I hear of his life.

[Brad Russ]

Yeah, I really don't have an opinion on this since I wasn't alive in Elvis' day. You all make a good point about the 24 hour news networks, and the various media outlets today that weren't around in the 70's. Can you imagine how much coverage Elvis' death would have gotten had the news networks, and internet had been around back then? It would have been off the charts!!

[lilhave]

While not really a fan of Elvis, I did grow up with him and recognize the impact he played on America, more so then Michael. As "Uncle Miltie" made televison, with millions running out to buy TV's, just to see him on tuesday night, it was Elvis who put rock and Roll on the map. Till then rock and Roll was considered a noisy brand of music, with a bad influence on teenagers. Bill Haley had rock around the clock but overall rock was banned by preachers and was up for much ridicule. During a summer replacement, Tommy and Jimy Dorsey introduced a young country singer(Presley}, singing a Bill Monroe country tune, Blue Moon of Kentucky and then Sullivan took him on national Tv, with all the gyrations. Rock and Roll was born. Jackson followed in the footsteps of many. Thousands could not believe and some still do to this day, that Presley was dead.. He had a unbelievable following. Thought he sung Gospel quite well. On his death, the papers followed the story for years and years and to this day he is still written about.

For impact Presley's was far greater.

Harv ey

[Janice]

Actually if you read Priscilla's book, "Elvis And Me" you'll see that Elvis was a few cards short of a full deck himself. His madonna complex is basically what messed his marriage up. He had a lot of wierd hangups, both sexual and otherwise.

Seems like with genius, comes a lot of other undesirable quirks.

You have to read her book though. You and I know because we're on top of things like that. I think most everyone knows Elvis wasn't the most normal person going, but he had nowhere near the almost obscene reputation of Michael. You didn't have to read a book to know Michael was a weirdo. Just read the newspaper or watch tv, Court TV, lol.

[Stuck In The '70's]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gA7rpS4hDdIOnEWR_SSMGloAAIgQ

Newsman remembers media frenzy over Elvis's death
Jul 7, 2009

WASHINGTON (AFP) — It was August 1977, another "King" of music was gone, the media converged on his famous estate while fans wept outside the gates, newsman Mark Knoller was there -- and wasn't sure he should be.

"I really wasn't very impressed" when the news broke that Elvis Presley had died, the CBS radio reporter told AFP as millions around the world were set to tune in to a televised tribute to the late "King of Pop," Michael Jackson.

"I wasn't a fan. I didn't think much of Elvis. I didn't have his records," he said. "I knew he had swiveling hips and a snarl for a (grin), but beyond 'You Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog,' I really didn't know much about him."

Knoller, then 25 years old, was in the AP radio newsroom in Washington that mid-August day in 1977 when the world learned that the "King of Rock 'n' Roll" -- well past his prime -- was taken to the hospital and might be dead.

"Although it didn't seem to me like that big a story, everybody else in the newsroom, including my editor, said 'we need to get somebody down there,' said Knoller, 57. "They said 'go home, pack a bag, get to the airport.'"

So Knoller and his partner, a fellow Elvis skeptic named Harry Rosenthal who was known as one of the best Associated Press writers, flew to Atlanta and spent the night, and got to Memphis the following day.

"The first thing we did, we went to 'Graceland," Presley's estate, where hundreds or thousands of people were thronged outside the gates in a "surprising, perhaps stunning, public reaction of grief and mourning," he said.

One day before Presley's funeral, his family opened the gates of Graceland to allow a public viewing of Elvis in an open casket, but kept the lines moving along very briskly, perhaps to thwart photographers, said Knoller.

So Rosenthal and Knoller made a plan: "He would take notes on top half of the body, and I would take notes on the bottom half, because they were walking us through so quickly to ensure that nobody got a chance to take a photo."

Knoller had to make special arrangements to get on the air with reports from Elvis's funeral -- "this was the days before the Internet" -- reaching a deal with the cemetery manager to be able to use the telephone in the building in which they prepared bodies for burial.

Knoller slipped away to telephone his office with reports on the "mountain of flowers" and the funeral cortege, the celebrity mourners, and other details -- but found he was sharing the room with an elderly lady's corpse.

At one point, two cemetery workers arrived and struggled to get the body into a casket, pushing down on her head to get her to fit, and "I found that a little unnerving," he said.

By the time of the funeral, the media crowd had swelled to "enormous proportions," said Knoller, who views the journalistic frenzy surrounding Michael Jackson's passing with something like his 1977 disbelief.

"I knew Michael Jackson -- I wasn't a fan, but I knew his music. I don't own any of it, but I was familiar with it -- 'Beat It' and 'Billie Jean' and 'Thriller,'" he said in the CBS booth at the White House.

"The coverage seems over the top. You see coverage of this nature and you're tempted to ask 'was I not aware that Michael Jackson cured cancer?' because that's the kind of coverage he seems to be getting, as though he's a great global hero."

"I know he's a star," but "big stars die all the time," he said, pointing to Paul Newman, Bob Hope, and Frank Sinatra.

Part of the blame, said Knoller, has to do with "the insatiable appetite of the 24-7 media -- cable, Internet, and the like, which didn't exist back in '77."

[Stuck In The '70's]

http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/elvis-presleys-sad-anniversary

Elvis Presley's Sad Anniversary

That Elvis Presley was some'um, as my grandma used to say. I was living on Elvis Presley Boulevard on August 16, 1977, the day Elvis died. I lived about a block from Graceland, as a matter of fact. If you have ever been to the famous mansion, you know that the king's namesake is a real wide thoroughfare - six lanes, I believe, with a turn lane in the center. I was living it up in my very first apartment, an efficiency with a balcony overlooking the boulevard in apartments then called "Meadow Oaks." I attended school during the day and worked all night at a GGJ (good government job). Thanks to Elvis's death, I was late for work a couple of times, and had to ask for an extension on the time I had to turn in a class assignment. (See Elvis's funeral video on third row, left.)

My excuse for being late was all the loyal fans congregating around Graceland for days after Elvis died. Lots of them held tickets to the concert Elvis did not live to give. Many of Elvis's fans never even tried to get a refund for their tickets, and I guess maybe those tickets are worth something now. I tell you, folks were wandering around the area of the boulevard where Elvis's mansion is bawling their eyes out and stopping traffic. One man must have been as inconvenienced by our out-of-town company as I was, because he just plowed into a crowd of 'em! This was a tragic accident with injuries, but I can understand how it happened. Traffic moved so very slow that it was easy to get bored and distracted. I actually read while I inched along.

That August I really caught hell getting back and forth home -- even at 3:00 a.m. when I left work. The traffic was incredibly, steadily congested within five miles of Graceland with a stream of cars inching to and from the mansion with license plates from all over the country. Folks were actually sleeping on the grassy slope outside Graceland's fancy gates, having found no room at the inn, so to speak. I was too naive to consider what my efficiency might have been worth as a one-week rental. Boy, the opportunities of youth that we wish we had grasped! Hindsight.

Anyhow, I had to park up to three miles from my apartment and walk through crowds of mourners crying and consoling each other. I also felt bad about Elvis's death, and one evening I stopped and spent a some time with his other fans, having parked blocks away again. It was like a wake out there, and I met people from all over the U.S. and abroad. One family I met was from the UK. I'm glad I stopped and spent time with them. It turned out ot be a nice way to say goodbye to the legend that was Elvis.

Elvis Presley was a gifted vocalist with a colorful life story. I was always impressed with the tale about Elvis buying a Cadillac for a black lady he did not even know . Now, I don't know if the tale is true, but the story goes that one day Elvis was cruising about town in his famous pink Caddy, and he happened to pass by a Cadillac dealership in town where he noticed a black woman ogling the big, luxurious automobiles through the glass of the showroom floor. Elvis reportedly stopped his Caddy and walked right into that dealership and bought the lady a car! Truth or fiction, I don't know.

Elvis was some singer and dancer, alright. I used to watch his movies on the 24" black and white television set my dad proudly purchased when I was a pre-schooler. We were probably the first black family on our street to own a TV, and we had lots of problems with too much company for years afterward. Yep, white people lived on my street, too. We lived about 40 miles from Memphis in a very small town. The fact is that complete segregation was never feasible in small towns in the South due to space restrictions. I recently met some people from New York who told me that while growing up in Harlem, months would sometimes pass without their seeing any Caucasians. My friend and co-worker at a firm in Decatur was from Washington State. She told me that she was 18 years old before she went on her senior trip to Seattle and saw her first black person. At the time, I found these accounts hard to believe. In our little town, everyone knew everyone else, including most of their personal business and their ancestry. Half the town were cousins to each other. Despite Jim Crow and other silliness, there was a certain closeness, for lack of a better word, among the town's residents. Maybe you would have to be from a small Southern town to really understand what I mean. Do you think that for real fear and hatred to prevail in people's minds regarding another group of people, a certain amount of separatism is necessary? Anyway, back to Elvis.

I liked Elvis's voice and have some of his music - a Christmas CD and another with Elvis's greatest hits, and I seldom miss a PBS's presentation of Elvis in concert. But I promise you, by the end of the week he died and caused the worse traffic jam in Memphis history, if Elvis were not already dead I might have strangled him myself. My schedule was tight in the 70's, you see. I only had a few hours to snooze after school each day before reporting to work at 6 o'clock in the evening. So, besides being a tragic, unnecessary waste, Elvis's death was also a serious impediment to my rest. It was no fun having to park and walk two miles to my apartment from a shopping center blocks away.

I had to look for alternate routes home. I learned some back roads nearby that I never knew existed and might never have known, if only Elvis had said 'no' to drugs (see notes below). Unfortunately, most of the back streets I tried were just circles and dead ends. One afternoon I was determined to get all the way home in my little red VW Beetle, a semi-automatic cutie! I was hot and tired, had no air conditioning in the bug, and I only had three hours before reporting to work. Slow traffic was making me miserable, so I tried once again to find another route home and avoid the congestion on Elvis Presley.

The houses were quite lovely on the street I found myself traveling that day, with beautifully manicured lawns. I had plenty of time to admire the homes, you see, because it took about five minutes for me to pass each one. Yes, apparently the out-of-town mourners had taken over that street, too. Cars were double parked on both sides of the street, and I found myself moving very slowly toward a cross street where I hoped to finally get free! Fortunately, there was a small gap between two cars parked on my right, because coming toward me was a big Lincoln Continental, and it just kept on coming although there was barely room enough for my bug to navigate the narrow passage between the double parked cars. I had to quickly back into the parking space to make room the Lincoln.

Do you want to know how really hurt Elvis's fans were by his untimely death? Well, let me share with you what I saw that day. As the driver of the Lincoln inched toward me, I noticed he was scrapping his beautiful car on both sides as he slowly rolled down the street. Moreover, he was also scratching the sides of each and every mid-sized or large car that he passed! (In case one of the cars was yours, no, I did not get his license number, but it was definitely an out-of-state tag.) Thank God for my VW's compact size! The driver was a heavyset, middle-aged guy, accompanied by folks who were likely his wife and two daughters. Everyone in the car was crying as they scrapped along.

Elvis dominated the headlines and conversation around Memphis and the nation for a long time after his untimely death. Even before Elvis's burial, I heard someone voice doubt about him really being dead. Elvis was so large in his fan's eyes that some could not conceive of his dying. Did you know someone tried to steal Elvis's body, which prompted the decision to lay Elvis to rest at Graceland? I should have bought several copies of the Commercial Appeal. They might have historical value today.

It is hard to imagine, but Elvis would have been 73 years old now. We could have had years more to enjoy his melodic voice and watch women swoon at his gyrations on stage if only . . . But alas, this was not to be, despite the many false sightings that occurred for years after Elvis was gone.

Goodbye, Elvis. We still miss you. Rest in peace.

[Stuck In The '70's]

http://www.questiaschool.com/read/5000920819?title=The%20Elvis%20Obsession%3A%20Coverage%20of%20His%20Death%20Was%20Only%20the%20Beginning%20of%20a%20Media%20Frenzy


The Elvis obsession: coverage of his death was only the beginning of a media frenzy



The day that Elvis Presley died, CBS Evening News -- then the highest-rated of the three network news programs -- led with a story about the Panama Canal treaty. CBS got crushed in the ratings. Three years later, Ron Bonn, the producer in charge of the broadcast that night, told the authors of a book about the media coverage of the death that he "may have been out of tune with the national consciousness." Just a wee bit.

Between 1956, when he blazed onto the national scene with his close-cropped performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and 1977, when he burned out at forty-two from drug abuse, Elvis, as NBC's David Brinkley said at the time, changed things. And it was more than just the music. He changed the way people think about sexuality, about class, about celebrity, even about race. Fans connected with Elvis in a way that is difficult today to comprehend. In 1997, Elisabeth Cronin, then president of the Elvis fan club in Birmingham, Alabama, told The New York Times: "I have four scarves and 14 autographs. After the first autograph, he always remembered that my name was spelled with an s and not a z." When he died, millions around the world felt as though they had lost a family member. People heard the news and headed for Memphis, often without stopping to pack a bag.

CBS's early blunder aside, the press responded with a marathon of coverage that holds up even by today's climate of non-stop news. By late afternoon on August 16, wire service bulletins interrupted radio broadcasts coast to coast, and stations scrambled to assemble special programs, many of which continued on through the night. WAYS, a rock station in Charlotte, North Carolina, ran on for six hours,without a single commercial. TV, too, pieced together late-night specials, and The Tonight Show was delayed by half an hour.

The next morning, banner headlines and huge photos greeted newspaper readers around the country and the world. Elvis's death was front-page news from England to Indonesia. Even The New York Times ran a front-page obituary -- hastily written by Molly Ivins once editors realized they had no canned obit on Elvis -- along with an analysis by their rock critic and a two-column photo. Journalists descended on Memphis from Spain, Japan, Australia, Germany, France, England, Mexico, Portugal, and Switzerland. U.S. papers that did not typically send their own reporters to big national stories sent them to Graceland. By week's end, an estimated 250 journalists were chronicling the mourning in Memphis. In the days and weeks to come, news outlets would produce special programs, editions, and supplements to feed the bottomless demand for Elvis.

The frenzy surrounding Elvis's death produced some bizarre media moments: An issue of the August 17 Memphis Commercial Appeal -- deemed a collector's item -- reportedly sold for $300 in London; Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President Kennedy, used her celebrity status to get inside Graceland. She was actually under cover, reporting for the New York Daily News, but she missed her deadline and later filed her story for a special Elvis issue of Rolling Stone. A van carrying a special edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was reportedly forced off the road by a car, and a man wielding a baseball bat demanded fifty copies.

Twenty-four years after Elvis's death, it is clearer than ever just how out of tune CBS's Ron Bonn was. Six hundred thousand people make the pilgrimage to Graceland each year. In 1991, Life magazine reported that 17 percent of Americans thought Elvis might still be alive. The Internet abounds with Elvis sites peddling rumor, legend, and memorabilia, including at least one that tracks Elvis sightings and has a form on which to post your own sighting. In 1992, there was a national debate over whether the svelte, young Elvis or the bloated, old Elvis should adorn his postage stamp. And in 1997, the twentieth anniversary of his death, tens of thousands of fans turned up at Graceland. One was Mia Biggs, then a student at Humes Junior High in Memphis, where Elvis went to school. "There have been people here all week taking pictures of the water fountain," she told the New York Times reporter Rick Bragg. "And I heard that some people are going in the boys' bathroom and kissing the bathroom floor." Out of tune indeed. -- B.C.

[Fleet]

I was looking through some old newspapers yesterday and read something interesting in Parade magazine...

In 2003, "Elvis" earned $37 million! Not him of course, but those who inherited his income.

[Zebra 3]

I also doubt that there wasn't a single newspaper in the country where it didn't make the front page.
I was a paperboy in Canada back then, and it's the only headline I still remember.

A 1999 Canadian poll asked to name the singer of the 20th century. Elvis finished in first place with everyone, young, old, men, women, anglophone and francophone.

[Janice]

The TV Guide Network is running a Special exploring Elvis and Michael, and the impact of their lives and their deaths. It's called Elvis and Michael/Two Kings. It just ended, and it's on again in an hour, if anyone's interested.

[catlover79]

The TV Guide Network is running a Special exploring Elvis and Michael, and the impact of their lives and their deaths. It's called Elvis and Michael/Two Kings. It just ended, and the it's on again in an hour, if anyone's interested.
Cybill Shepherd was on ET a couple of nights ago comparing them, too. I guess she dated Elvis at some point in the 70s.