Elvis Has Left the Building: The Death of the King and the Rise of Punk Rock
Aug 2014 · ABRAMS
Ebook
320
Pages
About this ebook
"An interesting look at how 1977 marked the explosion of punk alongside this heartbreaking (though not altogether surprising) loss of a legend" ( USA Today).
In the late 1970s, punk music was setting out to destroy everything Elvis Presley had come to represent. But punk couldn't destroy The King himself—he had already done that, succumbing to his excesses at Graceland on August 16, 1977.
Ever since, Elvis has permeated the world in ways that are bizarre and inexplicable: a pop icon while alive, he has become almost a religious icon in death, a modern-day martyr crucified on the wheel of drugs, celebrity culture, junk food, and sex. In Elvis Has Left the Building, Dylan Jones takes us back to those heady days around the time of his death and the simultaneous rise of punk. Evoking the hysteria and devotion of The King's numerous disciples and imitators, Jones offers a uniquely insightful commentary on Elvis's life, times, and outrageous demise. Recounting how the artist single-handedly changed the course of popular music and culture, he also delves deep into the cult of The King and reveals what Elvis's death meant—and still means to us today.
"I'm not sure punk would have existed without [Elvis]. In fact I'm not sure a lot of things would have existed without him. Dylan Jones is the right man to ponder such questions." —Bono
"A gripping tale of impossible success and terrible waste and lost beauty that veers from Memphis to Las Vegas and all the way to the broken backstreets of London." —Tony Parsons, author of The Hanging Club
"An interesting look at how 1977 marked the explosion of punk alongside this heartbreaking (though not altogether surprising) loss of a legend" ( USA Today).
In the late 1970s, punk music was setting out to destroy everything Elvis Presley had come to represent. But punk couldn't destroy The K...
Discover more
About the author
Dylan Jones is the editor of GQ. He studied at Chelsea School of Art and St. Martin's School of Art in London before becoming the editor of i-D magazine. He has since been an editor at the Face, Arena, Observer and the Sunday Times. Jones has won the BSME Editor of the Year award seven times, and was awarded an OBE in 2013. He has written studies of David Bowie and Jim Morrison, in addition to two anthologies of journalism and more on technology, popular culture, the war in Afghanistan, and even Prime Minister David Cameron.
Dylan Jones is the editor of GQ. He studied at Chelsea School of Art and St. Martin's School of Art in London before becoming the editor of i-D magazine. He has since been an editor at the Face, Arena, Observer and the Sunday Times. Jones has won the BSME Editor of the Year award seven times, an...
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
