Shabby Doll's First Post

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Shabby Doll
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Shabby Doll's First Post

Post by Shabby Doll »

Who do you think you are?
Using Muses to make you a Star.
And when the money starts rolling in
Turn your back and deny what you've ever been...

But you'll never be able to forget about them.
The hurt you have caused, the confusion within
No, you could never forget about them

Regrets are things we all deal with, and yours is no more than mine, but for all our sakes, as I said before 'Get Happy, mate'.

Goodbye

Cheri
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verbal gymnastics
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Post by verbal gymnastics »

That's a very neat line in character assassination :wink:
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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A rope leash
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You kept your mouth well shut, appeared to turn your coat...

Post by A rope leash »

Excellent, Shabby...

...I've been trying to come to terms with my current disgust of The Man. Seeing him attacking "paparazzi" in the new movie isn't helping.

He's all that, now. Good for him, I reckon...they should check for pods in his basement, though.

He's a great musician, no doubt. I hope his newfound "stardom" doesn't dilute that, but I find it hard to imagine that it won't.

This all goes back to the Lexus commercial. I can forgive his desire to be mainstream famous, but he went too far with the shill work.

Elvis, there's a name for you, but it's stuck in my throat...
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bambooneedle
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Post by bambooneedle »

Elvis doing the Lexus ad was like him venturing into the land of "informercials" as far as I see it. It's like declaring that your voice doesn't mean much anymore, he's lost some gravitas. And now the babies and the blonde are going to drag him down. I don't expect Elvis to make another brilliantly subversive album for a while now if ever again then. TDM 2 won't be anywhere as good as TDM.

I don't think he did the Lexus ads so much for money (he is smart and shrewd, he's got plenty of that, probably tens of millions), as much as he did it as part of a longer PR campaign to change his image (the Sting and Elton showbiz shenanigans, the uncomfortable grovelling on talk shows, the soft collaborations... it all makes sense now), to make him more likeable for the new softheaded generation of reissue buyers. And that he did it for second rate luxury cars that are ripoffs of Mercedes... just makes him look ridiculous. He's supposed to be a rocker.

No Elvis, I don't want to buy a frickin Lexus.
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spooky girlfriend
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Post by spooky girlfriend »

Well, Boo, he tends to make really good angry albums after a breakup, so we've got that to look forward to. :wink:
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A rope leash
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That made me laugh, Spook...

Post by A rope leash »

What always appealed to me about Elvis was the power of his talent and his anti-establishment message. I really fell for that, and I thought he built his career on those strengths despite the corporate misgivings about it, and the lack of airplay after the first few years. Now it seems that all that stuff was as much a part of the "image" as the hats and glasses, and he's given his career over to the agents, and he just does what they ask.

When I was younger, I was ridiculed by other rockers who thought Elvis was squirmy and untalented. They have now turned him in to some sort of icon of cool, and it turns out that they were all fans to begin with, or so it looks. Elvis hung in there and survived when other performers faded away like bad stains. Now he has a chance at mainstream stardom, but he's paying the price for it. He could have bought this back in '78.

The sad thing is, he's really a great man. Shilling for the corporation dilutes him, and I don't care for it. I don't want another repackaged hits album or contrived collaboration, I want a kickass issue of any genre that is new and from the heart. What I fear is that he will release a pop-tastic piece of crap that will get tons of airtime, and like Prince in "Purple Rain", people will swoon to him because he discarded the creativity and captured the cliche. So, the whole world will "dig" Elvis, except those who know better.

I don't like giving him up to the corporate machine, nor do I like the idea that he's always been one and the same with them. He used to be my hero, now he's taking a stab at being everyone's hero, but the reasons for admiration are different. I admired him because he was a young rebel with sneer and guitar, but he is now admired for his versitility and longevity by many of the same folks that thought he was dumb to begin with. Seeing now that it was pretty much all contrived image makes me realize how stupid and gullible I was when I was a kid. I see kids now fascinated with certain rebel pop-stars, and I know it's a gigantic mass deception, but I guess they'll have to grow up and see it themselves in a future commerical.

So, he's opening for Dylan and I guess that's cool, but every report I hear says he's not in good voice. When I saw him live a few years back he was the King of Rock and Roll. He shouldn't be opening for anybody, but it seems they have him running here and there like some sort of ambassador of coolness, being seen with the other icons, and appearing for short periods in various movies, where everybody acts like they always loved him.

It's complicated. It's like the final straw that broke the back on my suspicions that everything is just an illusion. Elvis isn't the corporation-despising new wave punk rebel...that's just his image. In reality, he's a shrewd businessman and gifted musician, playing to the ear of disenchanted youth. When I hear him now, it's like I don't even know who he is. Sure, without his rock and pop career much of his work would not exist, but I really wish it hadn't turned out this way, and I still hope that he will settle down and get serious about jazz or classical, instead of riding his pop career into a media toilet. He should get a handle on his own productions, like Frank Zappa did, and ditch the record company contracts, so he can concentrate on the music, and not the money.

It feels good to get that out.
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StrictTime
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Post by StrictTime »

What I fear is that he will release a pop-tastic piece of crap that will get tons of airtime, and like Prince in "Purple Rain", people will swoon to him because he discarded the creativity and captured the cliche. So, the whole world will "dig" Elvis, except those who know better.
Agreed. I'm new to Elvis, but because my parents like good music, not because I think he's cool. Very nicely worded.

And ShabbyDoll, good poem!
Why don't you write about it in your blag?
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bambooneedle
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Post by bambooneedle »

Elvis doesn't care about Lexuses obviously, he cares about trying to make a subtle but clear statement - that he must be a person of a certain importance that people should take notice of. They wouldn't have asked Graham Parker or someone... nooo, they wouldn't be important enough. It's sly and hypocritical and disingenuous. He is trying to claim iconic status retroactively, ie. by leading new naive fans to assume that he must always have been considered a very important person with too much credibility to question. I don't care about how he might manipulate his image in interviews and whatever, that's all part of the artfulness and legitimate communication of rock stars, but trying to do so resorting to tv adverts is just so crass and phony and counter to that.
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migdd
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Post by migdd »

Elvis is working to positively forward the potential of his two new sons. This may require financial gain, artistic recognition and /or historic prominence.

This is his birthright and the fruits of his talent and labors. All the more power to him.
sulky lad
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Post by sulky lad »

I don't know what Elvis thinks or feels,. I'm sure he hides much of his true feelings in even the most "open" of songs. However, I do believe the man who wrote "I want to bite that hand that feeds me, I want to bite that hand so badly" is now slobbering and fawning over those same corporate hands in a manner that disappoints me and acts as another episode of maturity onset disillusionment
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