The Legacy Of Elvis Must Be Defended!
Elvis fans, as you might have guessed, are a bit of a nutty breed. When I was the sort of person who collected and sold records, a woman begged me to sell her a copy of the soundtrack to Roustabout. (Actual begging, I assure you.) She needed it, apparently, to complete her collection of all the Elvis soundtracks. I ended up giving it to her, partially to get her to go away. But to actually consider that there are people out there collecting Elvis soundtracks, as if the movies themselves weren’t bad enough, is somewhat staggering, which may be why it didn’t surprise me to see the latest front of Elvis-related insanity.
If you’re the editors of Parade, a Mariah Carey cover story seems like a slam-dunk. People know who she is, you can use some slightly creepy short-shorts pictures. It’s a win/win. Little would you guess that Mariah’s presence in the magazine would bring out the nutjobs on your Web site:
(as a disclaimer, all spelling, etc. within in the quote is the author’s own)
Part 1 In referrance to the article about Mariah Carey sharing the record for most number one hits on the Billboard Top 100 with Elvis. If Billboard allows this to happen it will take the last bit of respect i and the public has for them. Everyone knows that Carey’s former husband (Tommy Mattola) had huge influence with pop radio stations when he was president of Sony music corporation. This resulted in payola (the practice of paying off radio stations to play artists songs) which is supposed to be illegal. Now that she is at Island Def Jam her friend L.A. Reid is doing the same thing. A couple of years ago Sony along with other record labels were caught and fined for payola. This proves that when Carey was with the label she benefited from the actions of her label. Now Island Def Jam must be investigated. The government should go after these people just like they’re going after athletes for steroid use. It is cheating, plain and simple and Miss Carey should be exposed for the fraud she and her record labels are perpetrating. Back in the 1990s she was sued in court three times for plagiarism (sampling other people’s music without their permission) which she settled out of court for an undisclosed sums. This also proves she is dishonest and she most likely knew about her record labels practice of paying radio stations to play her music.
I guess there’s an interesting point somewhere in there, although assuming that Mariah “likely knew” about anything seems like a false premise.
Part two is where the agenda comes in:
Part 2 If Billboard plans to go through with this farce they should do one of two things. 1. They should recognize the Elvis number ones on the Billboard Single Sales Chart (for the simple fact that you can’t fake sales) “A LITTLE LESS CONVERSATION” 2002 , “RUBBERNECKING” 2003, “THAT’S ALRIGHT MAMA” 2004 and “HEARTBREAK HOTEL” 2006. or 2. They should put a disclaimer at the top of their weekly chart listings explaining that the resulting chart placings are a result of dishonest practices between the artists record labels and the radio stations that play their music. Tommy Mattola must be questioned as well as other Sony executives that were there during Carey’s tenure. Elvis would’ve never gotten away with it if his label would’ve participated in payola. He was investigated along with **** Clark back in the late 1950s payola scandal which rocked the music world ,but he and Clark were found not guilty. If someone were to top Elvis (like the beatles did) without cheating we would have no problem accepting it ,but payola is music’s version of the steroid scandal going on in baseball now. We must show our young and old people that taking short cuts to the top is wrong because it is lying and cheating.
He’s actually upset that Mariah Carey is currently tied with Elvis for second place on the list of artists with the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. The Beatles are still solidly at the top with 20, but Mariah and Elvis have 17 a piece. Hence, just like the Mitchell Report rocked baseball, the 19 comments left by “Don” will be similarly thought-provoking for anyone who stumbles upon the comments section of a Mariah Carey article from Parade. At very least, we might know what Eliot Spitzer has been up to… cracking down on radio payola even while temporarily unemployed.
