Post by erik on Oct 9, 2021 12:12:07 GMT -5
This week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight focus on a medley of six of Elvis' many signature songs, a medley that became something of a minor cult hit five years after the King's untimely passing.
ELVIS MEDLEY (Elvis Presley; RCA; 1982)—During 1981 and 1982, there were a number of hits on the Hot 100 that were basically medleys. The trend had begun with the Dutch studio groups Stars On 45, when their “Stars On 45” single, which, aside from bits of the Shocking Blue’s “Venus” and the Archies’ “Sugar Sugar”,, consisted entirely of big hits by the Beatles, reached #1 on the Hot 100 in America, and also #1 in countries like their native Holland, West Germany, Australia, Canada, and many other territories (though it fell short of #1 in England). For the following two years, there were a number of “medley” releases, many of them tribute records. The most celebrated of these was “Hooked On Classics”, a sizeable #10 hit in America in January 1982 that consisted of twelve well-known classical works and was performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Louis Clark. The medley craze even spread into the realm of rock and roll’s ultimate uber-star Elvis Presley. Apparently with the blessing of the powers-that-be at Elvis’ label RCA, the Presley estate, and even Elvis’ much-derided former manager Colonel Tom Parker, producer and keyboardist David Briggs, who worked with The King during Elvis’ last seven years, assembled a medley of six of Elvis’ biggest hits into a four-minute audio montage simply titled “The Elvis Medley”. The medley consisted of: “Jailhouse Rock”; “Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear”; “Hound Dog”; “Don’t Be Cruel”; “Burning Love”; and “Suspicious Minds”. Given that this record, when it came out in the fall of 1982, came at the tail end of the public’s obsession with medleys, and perhaps the fact that the tawdry details of Elvis’ untimely death on August 16, 1977 were still fresh in the minds of the public five years after the fact, “The Elvis Medley”, despite a sizable amount of radio airplay, stalled at #71 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending December 11, 1982, though it did reach #51 in England, and #31 on Billboard’s C&W singles chart. Nevertheless, with Elvis’ fan base still quite huge, the Presley Estate decided that Elvis’ Memphis home Graceland would be open to tourists, partly out of a need to keep up the home and the grounds, including the Meditation Garden where Elvis and his mother Gladys lay at rest, an even that happened in June 1983.
ELVIS MEDLEY (Elvis Presley; RCA; 1982)—During 1981 and 1982, there were a number of hits on the Hot 100 that were basically medleys. The trend had begun with the Dutch studio groups Stars On 45, when their “Stars On 45” single, which, aside from bits of the Shocking Blue’s “Venus” and the Archies’ “Sugar Sugar”,, consisted entirely of big hits by the Beatles, reached #1 on the Hot 100 in America, and also #1 in countries like their native Holland, West Germany, Australia, Canada, and many other territories (though it fell short of #1 in England). For the following two years, there were a number of “medley” releases, many of them tribute records. The most celebrated of these was “Hooked On Classics”, a sizeable #10 hit in America in January 1982 that consisted of twelve well-known classical works and was performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Louis Clark. The medley craze even spread into the realm of rock and roll’s ultimate uber-star Elvis Presley. Apparently with the blessing of the powers-that-be at Elvis’ label RCA, the Presley estate, and even Elvis’ much-derided former manager Colonel Tom Parker, producer and keyboardist David Briggs, who worked with The King during Elvis’ last seven years, assembled a medley of six of Elvis’ biggest hits into a four-minute audio montage simply titled “The Elvis Medley”. The medley consisted of: “Jailhouse Rock”; “Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear”; “Hound Dog”; “Don’t Be Cruel”; “Burning Love”; and “Suspicious Minds”. Given that this record, when it came out in the fall of 1982, came at the tail end of the public’s obsession with medleys, and perhaps the fact that the tawdry details of Elvis’ untimely death on August 16, 1977 were still fresh in the minds of the public five years after the fact, “The Elvis Medley”, despite a sizable amount of radio airplay, stalled at #71 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending December 11, 1982, though it did reach #51 in England, and #31 on Billboard’s C&W singles chart. Nevertheless, with Elvis’ fan base still quite huge, the Presley Estate decided that Elvis’ Memphis home Graceland would be open to tourists, partly out of a need to keep up the home and the grounds, including the Meditation Garden where Elvis and his mother Gladys lay at rest, an even that happened in June 1983.