The Bizarre Life of Elvis, Part One: From Poverty to Pop Stardom

Summary

Ridiculous History — The Bizarre Life of Elvis, Part One: From Poverty to Pop Stardom

Podcast: Ridiculous History
Hosts: Ben Bowlin (A), Noel Brown (B)
Guest: Jordan Runtagh (E), music journalist and iHeart exec producer
Date: May 12, 2026
Episode Theme: An irreverent, energetic dive into Elvis Presley’s wild journey from Depression-era poverty to musical and cultural dominance, exploring his eccentricities, influence, and the memorable oddities that made his legend.

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode, Ben and Noel welcome music journalist Jordan Runtagh for a wide-ranging discussion of Elvis Presley's life before superstardom. The hosts and guest trace Elvis's arc from his hardscrabble Mississippi beginnings to his iconic status, dissecting myth, reality, and the ridiculous. They explore Graceland’s strangeness, the origins of Elvis’s style and stage persona, his relationship with Black culture and music, and the manipulations of those around him—all wrapped in hilarious banter and wild anecdotes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Graceland, Mythology, and the American Dream

Timestamps: [05:52]–[08:51]

• Jordan reflects on his work as a pop culture chronicler and how visiting Graceland deepened his Elvis fascination.
• Both hosts riff on the “mandatory” Tennessean pilgrimage to Graceland, poking fun at the legendary home's underwhelming appearance.
• Quote [08:20], Jordan: “It wasn’t until going to Graceland for the first time that I just became deeply fascinated with the weirdness of Elvis Presley. Because, I mean, the thing about Graceland... it’s not that nice of a house.”
• Graceland's over-the-top Jungle Room described as “a Taj Mahal to questionable aesthetic choices.”
• The discussion frames Elvis as the ultimate emblem of the American dream’s gaudier side: mythologizing “slightly upper class aunt’s house” as a palace.

2. Early Life and the Haunting Twin

Timestamps: [09:34]–[11:20]

• Born in 1935 in a two-room Tupelo house; formative poverty, deeply religious upbringing.
• The death of Elvis’s twin, Jesse, cast a lifelong shadow; friends recounted Elvis felt compelled to “live for both of them.”
• Quote [10:15], Jordan: “Elvis was haunted by the death of his twin his whole life… he felt this pressure to live for the both of them.”

3. Conspiracy, Death, and Celebrity

Timestamps: [11:09]–[12:58]

• Urban legends and theories: speculation about the burial of Jesse, thefts of Elvis’s body, and rumors of Elvis faking his death.
• Quote [11:20], Jordan: “Elvis’s dad… reportedly hired these bumbling thieves… to steal this… steel-lined coffin… Vernon had tipped them off, they got busted immediately.”
• The real reason Elvis is buried at Graceland: Vernon manipulated city ordinances via a staged “grave robbery” attempt.

4. Origins of the Elvis Persona: Blonde Roots & Comic Book Quiffs

Timestamps: [17:17]–[19:54]

• Elvis was a natural blonde—dyed his hair black for “edgier” appeal, inspired by Captain Marvel Jr., even mimicking the cape and lightning bolt.
• His childhood comic collection is reportedly still in Graceland’s attic.
• Quote [17:42], Jordan: “He apparently would color his hair black with shoe polish… inspired by his love of the comic book character Captain Marvel Junior.”

5. Hips, Stage Fright & Outraged America

Timestamps: [19:54]–[22:08]

• The pelvic gyrations emerged from stage fright; early nerves made his legs shake, a response which audiences loved and Elvis embraced.
• Authorities and press labeled his movements obscene—Florida judge threatened to arrest him, limiting him to “side-to-side movements” only.
• Quote [21:17], Jordan: “Those hip, swiveling leg shakes were actually a result of stage fright early in his career. He was so nervous… and he could see the audience’s reaction.”

6. Appropriation vs. Influence in Elvis’s Music and Style

Timestamps: [22:09]–[26:51]

• Explores the debate over whether Elvis appropriated Black music or was a product of his Southern environment.
• Big Mama Thornton resented losing out on royalties and recognition, but Elvis’s label would routinely require a share of writing credit for songs he recorded, regardless of authorship.
• Quote [26:07], Jordan: “He recorded something like 700 songs… and he was not a songwriter. But he’s credited on songs like All Shook Up and Don’t Be Cruel.”

7. Naiveté and the Influence of Colonel Tom Parker

Timestamps: [27:07]–[28:04], [31:16]–[35:12]

• Elvis acquiesced to handlers—especially the manipulative Colonel Parker, who was neither American nor a real Colonel, and was so intent on his own profit that he restricted Elvis from touring abroad (since Parker’s own immigration status was shaky).
• Parker engineered dubious business deals, including taking half of all publishing from writers, leading top songsmiths to avoid pitching to Elvis after a while.
• Quote [33:18], Jordan: “[Larry Geller] sees [Parker] shove Elvis’s face into a champagne holder's bucket... The only thing that matters is that that man gets on stage tonight. That is the only thing that matters.”
• Attempts to circumvent RCA with spoken word “novelty” records backfired; legally, RCA owned everything recorded, not just songs.
• Notable Moment: Discussion about Dolly Parton refusing to give up copyright to “I Will Always Love You,” denying Elvis the song:
  Quote [32:16], Jordan: “Elvis deeply wanted to record it. And Dolly was so thrilled. And then Colonel Tom Parker said… you gotta sign over… at least half of the publishing rights. And Dolly said… I can’t. That’s my family’s financial future.”

8. The Memphis Mafia and Wild Hijinks

Timestamps: [38:09]–[39:33]

• “Memphis Mafia": Elvis's ever-expanding entourage; infamous annual “firework battles” with thousands of dollars worth of munitions.
• Quote [38:21], Jordan: “He and some of his friends… would wear like bomber jackets… goggles and gloves. And they would shoot Roman candles at each other.”
• Described as the original “unhinged rock star,” but with excess and destruction mostly reserved for his own property.

9. The Toxic Relationship with TVs

Timestamps: [36:36]–[37:54]

• RCA connection meant Elvis received endless complimentary TVs, so he’d shoot or destroy them for fun.
• Famous “Robert Goulet incident” – shot the TV because Goulet was onscreen and Elvis disliked him.
• Quote [37:21], E: “He just said, That guy’s got no heart, and shot the TV… RCA would just send him free ones whenever he wanted.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Graceland’s appeal, [08:51], Jordan: “It’s like the most American thing… you’re mythologizing this, like, not… slightly upper class aunt’s house…”
• On Elvis’s simplicity, [26:59], B: “Frankly, he was not super bright… he was taken advantage of himself.”
• On Colonel Parker, [27:49], B: “Instead [of world touring], we’ll hold you hostage in Vegas for the rest of your life.”
• On jaw-dropping record label control, [35:04], B: “Oh, he missed the boat on that one… Not as smart as he thought.”
• On the birth of rock and roll misbehavior, [37:37], B: “He was kind of the first bad behaving rock star guy. And like TV damage and destruction became a trope… But Elvis was the OG.”

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Timeline of Important Segments

• 05:52: Jordan joins and introduces his background; Graceland myth debunking.
• 08:20: Visiting Graceland as the origin of his fascination with Elvis weirdness.
• 09:34: Elvis’s humble birth, religious upbringing, and twin’s death.
• 11:09: Elvis death/burial conspiracy stories.
• 17:17: Elvis as a natural blonde; his adoption of the Captain Marvel Jr. persona.
• 19:54: Gyrating hips; stage fright transformed into performance signature.
• 22:09: Debate on appropriation vs. influence.
• 26:07: Elvis’s lack of songwriting yet receiving credits.
• 27:07: Colonel Parker’s origins and manipulations.
• 31:16: Colonol Parker’s ruthless control; infamous financial stories.
• 33:18: Chilling anecdote: Parker’s treatment of comatose Elvis before a show.
• 35:12: RCA’s legal dominance and exploitation.
• 36:36: Elvis’s TV-shooting antics and RCA’s indulgence.
• 37:54: Memphis Mafia, holiday fireworks battles, and Southern rituals.

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Tone and Style

• Informal, irreverent, peppered with inside jokes and asides.
• Mix of good-natured mockery, deep pop culture knowledge, and frequent self-references.
• Jordan Runtagh’s enthusiasm and his knack for obscure trivia are gleefully spotlighted.
• Hosts often riff and tease each other, reflective of the show’s “ridiculous history” ethos.

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Memorable Moments

• Outlandish descriptions of Graceland and the bizarre Jungle Room.
• The mythic "mandatory" trip to Graceland for Tennesseans.
• The “Hound Dog” story: Elvis's cover, Big Mama Thornton’s resentment, and how royalties (and credit) rarely flowed to original Black creators.
• The comic book origins of Elvis's jet-black pompadour and style.
• Anecdotes about Roman candle wars and blowing up TVs as “OG” rock and roll behavior.
• Chilling case study of Colonel Parker abusing a near-unconscious Elvis to merely get him onstage.
• Question of what record labels own: “his voice on anything” and how that shaped the industry.

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Conclusion

Part One of this two-part Ridiculous History deep dive paints a bold, colorful, and at times tragicomic portrait of Elvis Aaron Presley. From his meager Mississippi birth and the psychological burden of a lost twin to his transformation into the world’s most mimicked star, the episode showcases how American myth, cultural appropriation, manipulation, and personal eccentricity collided to make Elvis a truly ridiculous—and truly unique—figure in pop history.

Stay tuned for Part Two, where Ben, Noel, and Jordan promise to dig even deeper into the wildness and contradictions of the King.

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[End of Summary]

Transcript

[A]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartradio. Welcome back to the show, fellow ridiculous historians. Thank you as always so much for tuning, tuning in. Let's hear it for the man, the myth, the legend, our super producer, Max the Hound Dog Williams.

[B]

Max, the whole grumpy, grumpy Gus Williams. We just, we just called him a grump off air.

[A]

We just roasted you, so don't be cruel.

[B]

Side note, everyone, side note, everyone. I am actually up in Canton, Georgia, so I'm basically in Tennessee right now.

[A]

Hey, congratulations.

[B]

That's hollers.

[A]

Yeah. What's it like at the top of the map or if you're in the

[B]

hollers, at the bottom?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, the bottom is the top. That is getting a little hermetic for us. That's none other than the legendary Mr. Noel Brown. Noel, how you feeling?

[B]

You know, I'm pretty good.

[A]

Nice. I am feeling pretty good myself. We're very excited about this one. Oh, they call me Ben Bullen on this show because, Noel, today we are tackling one of the biggest figures in all of American music history. This is a larger than life son South. He was known as much for his offstage eccentricities and shenanigans as he was for his onstage performances and groundbreaking or at least record breaking music. That's right. We're finally tackling the one and only Elvis Aaron Presley.

[B]

A real iconoclast, a real divisive figure when he was first hitting the scene. Those hips don't lie. He did that way before Shakira ever was a glint in the eye of whomever birthed her. Yeah, Elvis was it. The pelvis.

[A]

I like that. Had many monikers and nicknames as so many icons.

[B]

The King of Pop. No, that's. Different guy. Sorry.

[A]

Well, it's. It's a. It's kind of. He was just the King.

[B]

It's like he was the King.

[A]

Dread Pirate Roberts. I would argue different people get the title over time. Now you may be asking yourselves, folks, who is that providing these amazing laughs? There's so much to get into here. And lucky. Luckily we are not venturing forth alone.

[B]

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[D]

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[A]

As you know fellow ridiculous historians, yours truly, we recently got back from Baha Mar in Bahamas. We had the most amazing time. One of my favorite things, and I'm just gonna name one, and you know,

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[A]

Ridiculous historians, we are thrilled to be joined with none other than the iconic, legendary in his own right, music journalist, writer, executive producer with us at iHeart and the podcast host, Jordan Runto. Jordan, thank you so much for hopping on the show with us, possessor of

[B]

quite the pelvis himself.

[E]

Thank you. Thank you very much. It is so good to be here. Oh my God, guys, thanks for having me.

[B]

And while he's not in the building with us, currently he is in a building and presumably when we conclude this podcast, he will leave the building.

[E]

No, it's my apartment, so I guess I'm not leaving this building.

[B]

You're not going anywhere.

[E]

You got no plans for today? This is it.

[A]

Well, Jordan, Jordan, you are. It's Weird that you are so humble, man, because we are all friends outside of the show and you host things like you've hosted so many shows, created so many shows, like off the Record Rivals, Music's Greatest Feuds, and of course, tmi. Too much information.

[E]

Oh, thank you. No, that's a fun one. My. In my job as a music journalist, my favorite stuff to write were all these like, you know, listicles, 10 things you didn't know about Led Zeppelin, 420 different things you didn't know about, you know, David Bowie station to station or things like that. And, you know, a lot of my journalist friends would look down their nose at writing these, you know, research trivia pieces, basically. But I just thought it was the most fun thing. I love diving in and, you know, getting paid to learn about your favorite records and share that with other people. So that was kind of what tmi, the podcast was more about. Just the little known behind the scenes stories, little known facts about your favorite movies, music, TV shows and more. And we never got to Elvis. Actually. We were going to do an episode on his house, Graceland. We did Paul Simon's album Graceland, but we never got to his house. I had notes for that and honestly, my notes for that were something like 50 pages and I was too afraid to put it together because I'm a huge Elvis nerd. Have you guys ever been to Graceland?

[B]

Yes, I have not, but I'm a big fan of the Paul Simon album Graceland. And I've been watching this show on. I think it's on Hulu or maybe Disney. I guess they're all the same thing now called paradise, where there is a plotline surrounding Graceland in a post apocalyptic environment where it serves as kind of a fort. And it's pretty cool. I don't know if it's the real Graceland or if they just did a really good mock up of it, but I know about the Jungle Room.

[E]

Mm. I did a piece for Rolling Stone that was just a history of the Jungle Room, which is this weird, like, man cave in Elvis's home. And it was like 5,000 words. It was really ridiculous. But it's a fascinating room. It definitely, I think there was one journalist called it a Taj Mahal to questionable aesthetic choices, which I just thought was beautiful. Yeah, that's a beautiful term. Truly ugly. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And to your question there, Jordan. Yes. Obviously, having family in Tennessee, we were all required to go to Graceland at some point. It's like our Hajj. Like, I had to go because if I Didn't they will legally be allowed to destroy my birth certificate. So that's part of why so many people go to Graceland. And it's fascinating. You guys in TMI didn't get to Elvis Presley. You didn't get to Graceland.

[E]

No, I mean, going to Graceland was honestly the thing. I always was obviously aware of Elvis. And as a classic rock lover, I was always. I appreciated some of his work. But it wasn't until going to Graceland for the first time that I just became deeply fascinated with the weirdness of Elvis Presley. Because, I mean, the thing about Graceland, and I hope I don't offend you as a native Tennessean, but it's not that nice of a house.

[B]

Yeah, no.

[A]

Why? We only go because our birth certificates are under threat.

[E]

But that's what's the main reason. It's like the most American thing is like you're mythologizing this, like, not like you're like slightly upper class aunt's house. Like this just like crappy kitchen with like an avocado. I think actually he actually had the first microwave in the city of Memphis. I believe he paid $600 for it, which is a lot of money.

[B]

Memphis also, he wasn't exactly known for his like, refined taste, you know, I mean, that's kind of a bit of the mythology surrounding him. Like, dude ate like. Was it peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Like, he carried his humble roots into the most ostentatious lifestyle imaginable and kind of was unapologetically garish.

[E]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Nobody ever said, you know what I love about this Elvis guy? His subtlety, his understatement. Yeah. Nobody was ever like, what nuance to this man. But this is an excellent setup that we're getting into here, guys, because we're talking about taste. We're talking about what some may describe as the struggle of the novu riche. Maybe we start with the fact that Elvis Aaron Presley was born into the opposite of a silver spoon situation. Right. We're talking a two room house. Tupelo, Mississippi. It's 1935, January 8th. So that puts us right in the middle of the Great Depression. Yeah.

[E]

Oh, yeah. Smack in the middle. And his. And then you have. I mean, it seems like, I know there's so much mythology around Elvis, but his birth really is. I mean, you can't make this stuff up with the death of his twin brother Jesse. And that really haunted him for his entire life. And he had a very good friend, his hairdresser was this guy Larry Geller and Larry was one of these guys who, he was an LA guy and in the early 60s was one of those people that was turning him on to the I Ching and all these slightly spiritual bent things that Elvis would eventually get into. And he's given some really interesting interviews about Elvis and would talk about these late night conversations they would have. And Elvis was haunted by the death of his twin his whole life. And he would talk about how he felt this pressure to basically live for the both of them. And that is really one of the motivating factors in his drive to succeed and do what he did.

[B]

Aren't there some kind of conspiracy theories surrounding the twin brothers, like burial sites and like maybe like missing remains or something along those lines?

[E]

Oh, I don't know about that. I know that. I'm sure we'll touch on this later. But I know that Elvis's dad, you weren't allowed to have a burial on a private property in Memphis. And Elvis's dad was saying, well, he's Elvis, we can't just bury him in a public cemetery. There's gonna be grave like the loon fringe is going to come out. And the Memphis city council didn't care, so they buried him in, I want to say Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, something like that. And Elvis's dad, Vernon, who you didn't pull one over on Vernon, he apparently, reportedly, allegedly, all the disclaimers, hired these bumbling thieves through a middleman to break into the cemetery at night and steal this, I want to say, 900 pound steel lined coffin that had just been buried and hold Elvis's remains for ransom. And these guys show up with pickaxes and shovels under cover of darkness. And they get to the cemetery and there's representatives from every major news network there. Vernon had tipped them off, they got busted immediately. And so Vernon could go back to the town officials and say, look, see what happens. He's already, people are trying to steal him, so we gotta bury him at home where we can have private security. And that's why they changed the city ordinance so that Elvis could be buried at Graceland at his home. So maybe that's, that's the, the story. But I don't know.

[B]

I think it's probably. No, no, no, no, that's, that's something to do with it. I'm sorry. It's also like when we say conspiracy theories. There are people out there saying that maybe he didn't actually die. You know, maybe he actually.

[E]

I have a theory about that out,

[B]

you know, the remainder of his life under an assumed name or something like that, but not much credence to any of this.

[E]

He's an extra theory.

[B]

He shows Macaulay Culking where the lobbyists. That's not true.

[A]

So if if he were alive today, he would be. Let me see. He died officially in August, on August 16, 1977, just 42 years old. So he'd be like 91 years old, which is possible waiting for that album. And Elvis. If you're here, thanks for tuning in. It happens to a lot of people. You may have a moment where you catch your passing reflection and notice your hairline is creep back. This can be challenging for a lot of people, but the good news is HIMS makes it simple to do something about it.

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[D]

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[D]

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[A]

We know he had a lot of financial hardship growing up, similar to Dolly Parton, we could say, and similar to so many other musicians of the time. We also know that he was from a deeply religious background. And Jordan, one thing you pointed out that we did not know was that Elvis Presley was a natural blonde. Did he really have blonde hair?

[E]

Natural blonde. There's some cute photos of him as a kid. I mean it's so weird because he still like very much looks like Elvis, but he's a little toe headed kid. And the theory, I mean this was his humble beginnings. He apparently would color his hair black with shoe polish when he was younger, when he was first starting out. Which, I mean the logical question is why would you, why would you do this? Apparently he Thought that dark hair made him look cooler and edgier on stage when he was just starting out. And it's believed that his look, this dark haired look, was inspired by his love of the comic book character Captain Marvel Junior. And if you look him up, he does have this kind of swept back Elvis style quiff and these sideburns. He's like a teenager and later on in his career when he was in the 70s era and he had those big jumpsuits and the capes. Those capes look a lot like this Captain Marvel Junior's superhero cape. And even the lightning bolt symbol that Elvis had later in his life that he had painted on the wall of one of the media room at Graceland. I think he had it on one of his planes too. That was a symbol from this Captain Marvel Jr comic book. So it hasn't been. He never really spoke about it, but it's been theorized by fans that he borrowed this from his favorite comic book character. And it's so cute. His comic book collection is still in the attic at Graceland.

[B]

Ooh, I wonder what that's worth.

[E]

Yes, seriously.

[C]

So to jump in here real quick,

[B]

we actually did talk about that in our episode from a couple years back, the Litigious History of Captain Marvel, which we found that very interesting that he really liked Junior. Gosh, we do so many of these. I totally spaced on that aspect. And I honestly couldn't have told you that Captain Marvel Jr. Was a thing. Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder, Jordan.

[A]

Please tune in to that one. And also we talked a little bit at the top of one of the most iconic pieces of any Elvis performance live, which was the dancing, right, the switch of the hips, as Noel said, pre Shakira. And this became quite controversial, right, to the more buttoned up, pearl clutching crowd. But Jordan, you told us there is a reason for his infamous dance moves and it may not be the one we expect, but it's.

[E]

I mean, Elvis was a shy country boy at heart. And the theory, the rumor is that those hip, swiveling leg shakes were actually a result of stage fright early in his career. He was so nervous that he would start to shake and he could kind of see the audience's reaction and they were into it. So he kind of leaned into it and made those weird moves his own and he put them in future shows. But like you said, this deeply upset the Pearl clutchers of the nation. So much so that in, I think it was August of 1956, juvenile court judge Marion Gooding attended one of Elvis's shows in Florida. And he was so horrified by what he saw that he threatened to have Elvis arrested. And he insisted on only, and this is a quote, limited side to side movements.

[A]

Stop looking like you're doing the air guitar version of sex. Is that what his consistent was?

[E]

Yes.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

Yeah. You definitely could classify what he did as gyrating, perhaps. You know, it's funny though, Jordan, I didn't realize the nerves angle at all. And it really makes me think of an iconic sort of stage presence associated with Ian Curtis of Joy Division. Yeah. Who had, I believe, epilepsy or some form of seizures. And he was known for these kind of real shaky, tweaky dance moves. And oftentimes it was a result of a combination of stage fright and his condition.

[E]

Oh, that's so true.

[B]

Yeah.

[E]

There's some amazing footage of him on one of those Tony Wilson shows, like the local Manchester Cable Access, where he's performing She's Lost Control. And it's like. It's really jarring, but it's.

[B]

Oh, it's interesting.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Arresting is the word.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Now, we also know another theory that often gets brought up, right, by analysts and music historians, which is they're going to argue that Elvis was appropriating, Right. Music culture and even dance moves of the time. So if we were to ask you, Jordan, which of those arguments you fall more in favor of, would you say stage fright, nerves or would you say appropriation?

[E]

I would say in terms of the dancing, I would say nerves. I do believe that does feel. And it was honestly those around him that kind of. Or those sort of. That stood to gain from that attention that would kind of put him up to it. I mean, there's the famous story of when he went on the Milton Berle show in June of 56, and that was like his first real big. I think it was. I can't remember if it was his first national appearance, but it was certainly the first really, truly big performance. And he spent most of the show with a guitar, which kind of limited his ability to move around. And then when he started singing Hound Dog Burle, the host, Milton Berle, the comedian, told him to take the guitar off and said, let him see you, son, was the advice. And he must have known what he was doing. And that was, you know, the big, like, national furor where all these.

[B]

That's good television, right?

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Milton got it. Uncle Milty got it.

[A]

Also, Milton had a hog himself.

[E]

Yes, yes, he did had a hog.

[A]

Yes. And you know exactly what I mean. Like, he Had a Lyndon Johnson level jumbo.

[B]

Oh, that I did not know. I'm sorry. I didn't know that about Uncle Milty.

[E]

Wasn't that stupid story where they were at, like, he was at a urinal with, like, Groucho Marx, and Groucho was just like, you better feed that thing or it's liable to turn on you.

[B]

That's pretty funny.

[E]

You can cut that.

[B]

No siree Bob.

[A]

We're keeping.

[B]

Staying in.

[C]

Nah, we're actually going to cut it

[B]

from that spot and put at the

[C]

very start of the episode before anything.

[B]

That'll be like the opening music and everything.

[A]

All right, fast forward past the foreskin jokes. Since we're talking about cutting hogs, if we must.

[B]

You know, it's interesting, though, because we're talking about appropriation. You know, he grew up in rural. The rural South. He was directly influenced by black culture and black music, gospel music. A lot of stuff like that was just happening around him. So then the question becomes, is he the appropriator or is he just kind of taking in what was around him? And then his handlers sort of pushed him to that level that might be considered appropriation. Like, what even is appropriation? And I don't mean to make some sort of, like, gotcha question or hot button debate here. Cause I think we all kind of know what it is. It's when you maybe unjustly take something from a culture that doesn't get credit for it and then claim it as your own. Was he doing that or was he just sort of internal? Cause I believe he gave a lot of love and respect to many of the artists and people that he was surrounded by, but then got so into drugs and sort of out of it that his handlers were sort of the ones basically propping him up and, you know, pushing him out on stage. And he maybe didn't have the agency to do make some of those connections or give some of that credit.

[E]

I mean, he would say, this was what I grew up with. This was. I am a reflection of what was around me. That is what he would say was he held to a completely different standard and had opportunities that these other artists did not. Of course. Yeah, absolutely. But he, you know, and people like Big Mama Thornton deeply resented the fact that, you know, he covered her song Hound Dog, and he made it, you know, made a gazillion dollars off of it while she did.

[B]

And she didn't get any residuals for that.

[E]

Well, there' this is a bad example, but they're famously. I need to check on this, I don't think in that case this occurred. But when songwriters would submit songs to Elvis, his label insisted that he get a writing credit on it. Like that was part of the deal when writers would submit.

[A]

Even though he didn't actually write any songs.

[E]

No, he recorded something like 700 songs in his career. And he, he was not a songwriter. But he's credited on songs like All Shook up and Don't Be Cruel.

[B]

We also know that the largely white record industry was infamous for taking advantage of black artists. So that's why I'm not trying to give Elvis a pass, but I'm just saying it seems like, was it the Colonel and all the people that were sort of handling him and the record company, they were more the ones turning the screws and making those bad deals. To your point about the writing credit, that's hogwash. But I'm certain that Elvis wouldn't have pushed for that himself.

[E]

I don't think he was very involved with any of that. I don't.

[A]

I mean, to be.

[E]

He was very naive.

[B]

No, right. That's what I mean.

[E]

He just wasn't.

[A]

But he wasn't a business guy. He wasn't a business and development shark. He wasn't out there redlining contracts.

[B]

He was frankly not super bright. No, I mean, I don't mean to be a dick, but like he was, he was taking advantage of himself.

[E]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Because he was just all those.

[E]

For all those reasons.

[A]

Yeah. Jordan, could you tell us a little bit about the Colonel and the so called Memphis Mafia?

[E]

The Colonel was, I mean, my favorite story about the Colonel was that he was not a colonel, that was just a name.

[A]

L. Ron Hubbard started calling himself the

[B]

Admiral or the Admiral.

[A]

Excuse me.

[B]

Thank you.

[E]

Stolen valor in the highest. He illegally came to this country from, I want to say Copenhagen. And the reason Elvis famously never performed a concert abroad and the Colonel would always give him these like fictitious business reasons why, like, oh yeah, it's a bad idea. Like you don't want to. You don't want to perform anywhere but right here in the good old.

[B]

So instead we'll hold you hostage in Vegas for the rest of your life.

[A]

You could go as far west as

[E]

Hawaii, but he was. Because only in the movies he couldn't leave the country. He couldn't. He. And so. Which is so funny. I mean, so that's the level of just, you know, Elvis just puts blind trust in this guy.

[C]

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[D]

I'm the host of Irsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast, I am sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator of Andy Weir's Audiobook project, Hail Mary, Massive sci fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake up alone, very far, far from Earth.

[F]

I really had to make a decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary as I'm narrating some of these sections and it's like, okay, yo yo yo, is this indulgent? And I really thought about it. I was like, no. At this point it would kind of be betraying the trust the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it. But there's places in this book that that deeply, emotionally affected me.

[B]

Me.

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And I left it on the mic. That's great because it served the story. People will say like oh my God, I cried at the end. It's like, yeah dude, me too.

[D]

Listen to Hearsay, the Audible and I Heart Audiobook Club on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[E]

What I was talking about earlier about the writing credit thing that, I mean, it seems on the surface like a good business move. Oh yeah, you want Elvis, who's gonna make whatever song he records a massive hit, to record your song.

[A]

Cool.

[E]

Give us a 50% cut. Brill Building songwriters and pro songwriters out of Nashville stopped offering him their best stuff. Which is why in the 60s, I mean, one of the several reasons why his career started tanking in the 60s, he just wasn't getting good. And I mean, one of the most famous examples of this is that Dolly Parton wrote I Will Always Love youe in the early 70s and she was still kind of on the rise as a solo artist herself. And Elvis deeply wanted to record it. And Dolly was so thrilled. And then Colonel Tom Parker said, well, you know, you gotta sign over, I think get a co write credit and at least half of the publishing rights. And Dolly said, you know, no, I can't. That's my, you know, those publishing rights belong to my. It's my family's financial future. I can't just sign that away. And so she said, and that's one

[B]

of the many reasons that Dolly is a badass. Dolly rules. Just absolutely rules. I mean, because that in those days, you know, being a woman songwriter, you would have already been like, relegated to a certain level of dismissed kind of attitude, you know, from the patriarchal and white run record industry. And you wouldn't have had the luxury of saying no to a thing like that. And she really did stand her ground and stick to her guns. And other, you know, cowboy related metaphors.

[E]

I mean, two stories about Colonel Tom Parker, one that illustrates just his viciousness and one that illustrates the fact that he was not as smart as he thought he was. There's a famous story that Larry Geller guy, Elvis's hairdresser, who became his really close friend, tells the story a lot. Where I think it was during the Elvis residency. It was sometime towards the end, in the 70s, and Elvis was just comatose. He was not in any. Conditioned to perform. It was maybe like an hour or two before showtime.

[A]

Because of pills.

[E]

Yeah, just.

[B]

And

[E]

he calls the Colonel and tells him to come to Elvis suite and thinks that he's gonna, like, you know, okay, you know, the old man is here. He's gonna set everything right. He's gonna see what's going on, and he's gonna put a stop to it. He's gonna get Elvis the help he needs. Like, you know, dad's here and he's gonna, like, fix everything. And he sees Parker go in, and he sees him shove Elvis's face into a champagne holder's bucket. Yeah, shove his face in there, pull it out, pull him out by the hair. Shove him back in, pull him out by the hair. And Parker just looks at this guy, Larry Geller, and says, the only thing that matters is that that man gets on stage tonight. That is the only thing that matters.

[A]

Interrogation method.

[E]

It was chilling. So that's the viciousness. Parker started a. Elvis was signed to RCA Records, famously. But he started. Parker started the subsidiary label. I don't fully understand the specifics of it. It doesn't really matter. But he wanted to release an album on that label so that he personally could just profit from it because he owned this label himself. And so he thought, wait a minute, RCA owns the songs. What if I have Elvis own release a spoken word album. Those aren't songs. And so he put.

[B]

And Elvis just did it. He just did it.

[E]

No, even dumber. They recorded a bunch of his live shows, and then they just spliced out all of his onstage. The banter's stage speech. And it's called having fun with Elvis on stage.

[B]

That's amazing. So is that a novelty record now? Is that, like. Did they not make many of them?

[E]

He was gonna sell it just at concerts as like a memento. And then RCA was like, no, you idiot. Elvis's voice on record. We own all of that. Not just songs.

[B]

Oh, he missed the boat on that one.

[A]

So he wasn't as smart as he thought.

[E]

No, he was not as smart as he thought. So he was kind of evil and not as smart as he thought.

[B]

Now that does raise a question for me, Jordan. And maybe you don't know the answer to this, but, I mean, do they own his speaking voice? Like, to what degree does a record label own an artist? Like, I guess, their likeness, their whatever, life rights. There's so many different angles of that.

[E]

Right.

[B]

That's fascinating. I'd love to. We need to do another episode at some point, Ben, on something like life rights. Yeah, Yeah, I think that would be interesting.

[A]

Yeah, that's a great call. Because if I, If I understand correctly, you know, RCA was such a. A huge monopolistic force at the time. They had the best lawyers, so they could drag people through court just making their opinion fact. So it does make sense that a group as litigious as RCA would say, nope, everything this guy says automatically.

[E]

Microphone. Yet.

[B]

Yeah. RCA was Edison. Right. I mean, literally the first.

[A]

That's why.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

They owned the medium of, like, recorded music. They invented it. And then eventually, more or less.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And then they had it on lockdown. I would love to talk a little bit about that aspect of it just for a second. I know that you're into all aspects of recorded music, but that's fascinating. Always been fascinating to me. You're picturing the dog listening to the Victrola. Just the branding around that and that being literally, RCA being first to market on the concept of recorded music.

[E]

And televisions too. I mean, they, of course, and Elvis, famously, He loved his TV and he had something like 14 TVs at his house.

[A]

I would say he had a toxic relationship with television sets. Jordan.

[E]

Yes. He liked to shoot them just like, because he knew that because he was with rca, they would just send him free ones whenever he wanted.

[A]

Oh, that makes sense.

[E]

He.

[A]

A lot more TVs.

[E]

Yes. Yeah. So he, he. He would, like, do it just to, like, be funny. Like if there's somebody. Like the famous story of the singer Robert Goulet was on the tv and he was, like, watching it with his friends and he. I think, I think there was some, like, weird love triangle thing with Goulet. I don't remember why he hated him so much, but he just said, that guy's got no heart, and shot the tv. And when it was on, dude, what a.

[A]

What a hip hop level flex to say, oh, I don't turn channels, I shoot the television. And then RCA sends me a new tv. Are you so broke that you have to change the channel? You reuse your tv?

[E]

That's unsanitary.

[B]

He was kind of the first bad behaving rock star guy. And like, TV damage and destruction became a trope kind of further down the line. But Elvis was the OG of the unhinged megalomaniacal musician. Right.

[E]

Just with his own stuff. He wasn't like Keith Moon level trash and hotel room, but with his own stuff, he definitely had a much more cavalier relationship too. But also it gets back to the. And I say he was a lovable himbo.

[B]

I love that.

[E]

Have you heard about his firework battles?

[A]

Let's talk about the firework battles before we get back to the Memphis Mafia, because I don't want to miss that one. And we do have to explain that Entourage.

[E]

Well, so Memphis Mafia was his ever expanding crew of guys. And every year on New Year's, Elvis would drop like 2 grand on fireworks, which in 60s money is. I don't even want to know. It's probably like 20, 30 grand these days. And he and some of his friends, they would wear like bomber jackets, like thick motorcycle leather jackets, goggles and gloves. And they would shoot Roman candles at each other. Other, as one does.

[A]

I'm Southern enough to have conducted similar escapades, but not with. Not with thousands of dollars worth of fireworks. You know what I mean? Everybody gets one, and then we count down before it's time to run.

[C]

Ben, to jump in here. I'm Southern enough to have done the

[B]

same thing, except not with the bomber jacket.

[A]

You were just relied on your dexterity and your agility.

[B]

Yeah, I've certainly heard of like Roman candle wars, you know, people. Oh, yeah. It must be a southern thing. Or just. It's just the height of drunken redneckery.

[E]

You know, it's stupid.

[A]

So did it add fun? A lot of stupid things are fun.

[B]

But did a lot of fun things are stupid?

[A]

Yes. And fellow ridiculous historians, we are going to pause the conversation in media rest. This is part two of our bizarre saga of Elvis Presley. And we just can't thank Jordan Runto enough.

[B]

Mm mm. He's our pal. He's a true friend inside and outside of the show. And we were both kind of astonished to realize that he hasn't been on the show before. And it's largely because I think we both spent time together and separately with our boy Jordan, just chatting about this kind of stuff. So it just sort of felt like we'd done it before, but that was just real life. And to jump in here, he. He kind of has been on the show as he's written episodes, but so

[C]

we've had him in a different in

[B]

spirit, just like Christopher Osciotes and Eva Jeffcoats.

[A]

And big, big thanks to our super producer Mr. Max Williams. Big thanks to our composer Alex Williams, who made this slap and bop, as well as AJ Bahamas Jacobs, AKA the Puzzler.

[B]

And geez Louise, Ben, thanks to you, you got me all shook up.

[A]

And Big, big thanks, of course, to Jonathan Strickland, AKA the Twister, because every show like ours needs a kernel of its own.

[B]

We'll see you next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[C]

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