Time to Play What If! What If Elvis Had Lived?

[Orange]

As I sit here watching the Aloha from Hawaii special, I'm left with the question in my head of what Elvis would have done had he lived past 1977.

So, I turn it over to FAN: What if Elvis had lived? Would he have gone back to movies, or could he have stayed in music and maintained a decent level of success? Let's just assume that through a sheer miracle he kicked the drugs and got back into the shape that he was when he was taking over America.

Honestly, I really don't know what the 80's and 90's would've been like to Elvis. His popularity was already on the decline right before his death, so I'm not sure those two decades would've treated him with much success. Given the sometimes abysmal management by Colonel Parker, I could see him being forced to release a New Wave album or something like that to try and keep up with a music industry that was really changing. However, in present day I could easily see Elvis packing arenas similar to how the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney do. The Stones haven't put out an album of original music since '05 and they're still selling out arenas because the fans that grew up with them still want to see them, so I can't imagine Elvis would be any different.

So, if Elvis had lived what do you think would've happened with his life?

[ICBM]

He'd have stayed in Vegas for years and years. No new music. He'd be forgotten about by most main stream and the MTV generation wouldn't have gotten him. Mid-80's he does a comeback after his music is compared to Michael Jackson's on the new MTV. Elvis gets over, kicks out a new record that kills thriller's sales record. In the 90's he does a mega group get together with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and George Jones. Johnny and Elvis do a single that slays all pop music at the Grammy's. Elvis dies in 2001 just before the other unfortunate events of that year and he gets forgotten. A few years pass and the hipsters get ahold of his music and decry the lack of attention surrounding his death.

Meanwhile during all the years he has been alive, persistent rumors of Jim Morrison sightings populate all the tabloids. He is even elleged to have been abducted by aliens in Paris before his "death". Morrison fills the celebrity death vacuum left by Elvis's long live

[BlackoutCreature]

He would've eventually signaled his home planet to begin the invasion. Our forces, worn down from years of listening to his golden tones, would've been no match and we'd be quickly overrun. The luckier survivors would become their slaves, the unluckier ones their food supply.

[Apricots And A Pear Tree]

You are implying that he is dead.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

Elvis probably puts out two albums during the 80s that get mixed receptions, and then he regains his form with a more adult contemporary-themed LP in 1995 that puts him back on the charts. It takes him a while to finally get sober, and he begrudingly accepts MJ and Lisa Marie's marriage, not saying much aside from "she's a grown woman now, it's her call".

He'd probably mostly market himself towards older audiences, the way Paul McCartney, the Stones and Bob Dylan do now. He'd still move a lot of records, but I don't see him (or his label) trying to foist himself on the Bruno Mars and Justin Timberlake scenes.

At most, he'd do a couple of collaborations and duets, a number of Grammy performances and maybe ONE VMA appearance just to be ironic, but he'll probably settle into his old age and quietly accept a bunch of lifetime achievement awards.

[Deleted]

Aug 7, 2013 20:10:58 GMT -5 ICBM said:

He'd have stayed in Vegas for years and years. No new music. He'd be forgotten about by most main stream and the MTV generation wouldn't have gotten him. Mid-80's he does a comeback after his music is compared to Michael Jackson's on the new MTV. Elvis gets over, kicks out a new record that kills thriller's sales record. In the 90's he does a mega group get together with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and George Jones. Johnny and Elvis do a single that slays all pop music at the Grammy's. Elvis dies in 2001 just before the other unfortunate events of that year and he gets forgotten. A few years pass and the hipsters get ahold of his music and decry the lack of attention surrounding his death.

Meanwhile during all the years he has been alive, persistent rumors of Jim Morrison sightings populate all the tabloids. He is even elleged to have been abducted by aliens in Paris before his "death". Morrison fills the celebrity death vacuum left by Elvis's long live

Honestly this is probably the closest to what would have happened. If John Lennon wasn't murdered I could see the Beatles and Elvis doing a huge tour sometime in the late 80s though.

[Deleted]

I think he tours the US a few years more and officially takes up residency in Vegas in the early 80's. He finally gets clean after someone intervenes and separates him from his friends and Parker. He releases a few albums but doesn't chart until he releases a duets album ala Sinatra in the 90's with guests such as MJ, Carl Perkins, Paul McCartney and others. He dies in the early 2000's of a heart attack due to the years of drug abuse despite being clean for a while (ala Eddie Guerrero.)

[Ben Wyatt]

Aug 7, 2013 20:30:52 GMT -5 Clash, Never a Meter Maid said:

Elvis probably puts out two albums during the 80s that get mixed receptions, and then he regains his form with a more adult contemporary-themed LP in 1995 that puts him back on the charts. It takes him a while to finally get sober, and he begrudingly accepts MJ and Lisa Marie's marriage, not saying much aside from "she's a grown woman now, it's her call".

If Elvia had lived, I'm pretty confident Lisa Marie would have never married MJ. His death really screwed her up

[Young Game]

"Pulp Fiction" cameo.

[Sephiroth]

I tried eating a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich once. Based on the experience I feel safe in saying he would not have lasted into the 90's regardless.

[Burst]

I feel like you would have to go back years to reset all the things that led to Elvis dying when he did. From everything I've read about his diet it's like the man would have been a charter member of the Heart Attack Grill if he had lasted that long.