“The Grain of the Voice”: Elvis Presley’s 1968 NBC-TV Special

Abstract

Simon Frith has stated that the aim of even serious rock musicians is, in short, to be popular (Frith 1983: 176). But popularity, Frith continues, “is taken to mean occupying a particular place in the community rather than just accumulating large record sales. The tensions emerge when these two goals are thought, for whatever reasons, to be incompatible” (Frith 1983: 176). Elvis’s epoch-making return to the stage in 1968 had all the hallmarks of an acrobat negotiating a tightrope, as he had to balance the expectations of his manager and the record-buying public on the one hand and his own sense of performance and popularity on the other. In focusing on the 1968 NBC-TV Special, an important milestone in Elvis’s career as a popular singer, this paper proposes to examine the production of the ’68 Special against the backdrop of the tensions and the drama that led up to this signal moment in the history of American rock ’n roll – a moment that would serve as a template for performing artists of the future. In many ways, the “Christmas” Special was a fulfilment of the vision of Steve Binder, the 23-year-old director, who said, “The one thing I knew that I wanted was Elvis to say something – let the world in on that great secret, find out what kind of a man he really was” (Hopkins 2007: 209).

 Opsomming

 Volgens Simon Frith is dit die doel van selfs ernstige rock-musici, kortom, om gewild te wees (Frith 1983: 176). Gewildheid, sê hy egter voorts, “is taken to mean occupying a particular place in the community rather than just accumulating large record sales. The tensions emerge when these two goals are thought, for whatever reasons, to be incompatible” (Frith 1983: 176). Elvis se epogmakende terugkeer na die verhoog in 1968 het al die kenmerke getoon van ’n akrobaat wat op ’n spandraad probeer bly, aangesien hy die verwagtinge van sy bestuurder en die albumkopende publiek enersyds en sy eie gewaarwording van vertoning en gewildheid andersyds moes balanseer. Hierdie artikel fokus op die spesiale TV-vertoning wat NBC in 1968 aangebied het – ’n belangrike mylpaal in Elvis se loopbaan as ’n gewilde sanger –, en ondersoek die opvoering teen die agtergrond van die spanning en drama wat gelei het na daardie belangrike moment in die geskiedenis van Amerikaanse rock ’n roll – ’n moment wat vir die uitvoerende kunstenaars van die toekoms as sjabloon sou dien. In talle opsigte was die “Kers”-opvoering die vervulling van die visie van Steve Binder, die 23-jarige regisseur, wat hom soos volg daaroor uitgelaat het: “The one thing I knew that I wanted was Elvis to say something – let the world in on that great secret, find out what kind of a man he really was” (Hopkins 2007: 209).