Elvis Presley is undoubtedly the King of rock ‘n’ roll. His music, a mash-up of country, gospel, and rhythm and blues, not only revolutionized the 1950s and beyond, but his distinct voice, electric dance moves, and magnetic persona did too. Beyond his influence on music, his talent graced the big and small screen, and he defined what it meant to be a triple threat. Today, his legacy is synonymous with the word “icon.” During his lifetime, few artists could outmatch his talent. However, even big stars experience slumps in their careers, and legends like Elvis Presley were no exception. There was a time when Presley’s career was on a downward decline, that is, until one song changed his trajectory for the better.
Elvis Presley’s 1968 Hit ‘Suspicious Minds’ Catapulted Him Back Into the Spotlight
In 1968, following his widely televised comeback special, several media outlets proclaimed Elvis Presley the most outstanding living music performer. The title of greatest music performer was not given without merit to the then 33-year-old. By the time of his tragic passing in 1977, Presley was already one of the best-selling solo artists of all time. To his credit, he has achieved seventeen number-one singles and eight number-one albums, starred in seventeen top-ten films, and won three Grammy Awards. However, despite his global fame, there was a time when the “Can’t Help Falling In Love” singer was not as popular as he once was, particularly at the beginning of his career.
This challenging period in Presley’s career began, according to The Sound of Life, in the late 1960s, after Presley starred in a string of movies, many of which were considered of low quality. When Presley stopped making films, his last being the crime drama musical Change of Habit, released in 1969, he was reportedly already less popular with moviegoers.
According to HowStuffWorks, during that time, Presley’s music primarily consisted of quickly produced and low-budget soundtracks, which were released concurrently with his movies. As a result, Presley’s career and image began to suffer, which, according to many of his contemporaries, Presley felt great dissatisfaction with. It was during that time that Presley turned to his first love of gospel music, and in 1967, he received his first-ever Grammy Award for Best Sacred Performance with his version of “How Great Thou Art” from his gospel album of the same name. But it was the 1968 rock single, for which Presley was famous, that went beyond critical appeal and garnered him success with audiences again. That song, titled “Suspicious Minds,” afforded Presley a number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and would also mark his 18th and one of his final number one singles (“Burning Love“ being his last number one song on an entirely different chart).
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Elvis Presley Grew to Resent the Rock Sound That Made Him Famous
Despite his revived fame and personal love for music, Elvis Presley wasn’t always pleased with his work. In fact, according to his stepbrother Bill Stanley, he couldn’t listen to his own music. When asked why, Stanley stated in an interview with The Guardian, that Presley responded: “Billy, I know I can always do it better. When I hear my own music, all I want to do is go fix it. But I can’t, because it’s already been done.” One of the tracks Presley stated was his least favorite song of his ever was the 1972 track “Burning Love.” In fact, according to Grunge, the crooner not only didn’t want to record the song, he also hated it! However, music executives were unhappy with Presley’s previously low record sales and pushed him towards keeping up with the blues and rock ‘n’ roll genres that had made him famous. Despite protests, executives persuaded him to record the rock and soul track “Burning Love.”
The song became a massive hit for Pressley and arguably one of his most iconic, but it was also to be his last mainstream song. According to Paul Simpson’s biography, “The Rough Guide to Elvis: The Man, The Music, The Movies, The Myth,” not only did Presley continue to severely dislike “Burning Love,” he also “sang it as rarely as possible.” In another book about Presley, titled “I and A Guy Named Elvis,” author and former Presley associate Jerry Schilling went deeper into Presley’s aversion to “Burning Love.” Schilling recounted that Presley couldn’t keep track of the song’s frantic, disjointed lyrics. “Elvis,” he wrote, “who had close to a photographic memory when it came to books, scripts, lyrics—always insisted that he needed a lyric sheet to perform “Burning Love.””