The King of Pop or the King?

certainly not his nose

 

Elvis is dead?

 

Even if we stick to your time frame, Michael Jackson sold 32 million copies worldwide of "Dangerous" (which came out in 1991) and 20 million copies of "HIStory" (which came out in 1995). Garth Brooks isn't anywhere to be found on the link Evil posted.

Brooks might have been the best-selling solo artist in the United States in the 20th century. Worldwide, it's not even close -- it's Michael Jackson.

Re: Elvis, to me, he's not even the best of his era. Yeah, I'm a Buddy Holly guy.

 

Scores of people remember where they were the moment they heard about Elvis. Even 30 something years later. Will that hold up with Jackson? Not with near as many.

 

You suck. ;D

 

Respectfully disagree. He's that generation's Elvis.

 

I presumably would be of that generation, and I would say, no. Michael Jackson happened to be a very popular singer who sold a lot of albums. Elvis, unintentionally on his part, was a cultural and political force just by dint of being a highly sexualized rock-n-roller in a highly repressed time culturally, sexually and racially. Just like how the Beatles' (and John Lennon's) biggest political moment was when they got off the plane in New York for the first time.

 

I always associated Elvis' death the same day the beautiful, old school German church my mom and dad were married in burned to the ground in Burlington, Wis. As I recalled, Elvis' death was no more than a distraction that day in my family.

But then I looked it up and Elvis died a month after that fire, so I don't know what the fuck.

I was 6 at the time, maybe Superfriends got pre-empted and I mixed the two tragedies together.

 

Lennon's death was a bigger deal than either Elvis or MJ.

Both Elvis AND MJ were known to be leading pretty marginal lifestyles in terms of health -- MJ's parading around in a surgical mask, Elvis waddling around on stage like a Poland China hog -- frankly, neither one was a stunning surprise. Maybe a moderate surprise, yes, but not a "holy shit" moment.

Lennon was from all appearances healthy and happy, had just released a comeback album (which was selling well before his murder), was planning a tour, and had just made a spate of interview appearances.

Lennon was assassinated. The news broke on Monday Night Football and broke instantly into the 11 o'clock news. Anybody on the East Coast who was still awake knew about it; the rest of the country was still watching prime time TV (which of course was immediately interrupted by bulletins of the murder).

Anybody over the age of 35 remembers: the news hit like an absolute bomb. There was literally nothing else on TV the rest of the week.

 

Youtube football Lennon and football and you will understand what Starman is talking about.

Cosell was The. Freeking. Man.

 

Didn't Quebec shut down when Howie Morenz died in the 1930s. I remember reading a story about 35,000 sticks being laid at his coffin as he laid in state at the Forum. Of course, that's not an American superstar.

 

I was at home when the news about Elvis came out. My mom was out and when she came home I told her. To this day, I can still picture the look on her face--almost as if a close member of the family had died.

For the generation that grew up when Elvis came on the scene, nothing else comes close.