Elvis Presley ‘Couldn’t Give a Damn’ About Making 1 Album

For much of his career, Elvis Presley felt proud of the creative control he exercised over his music. It frustrated him to no end when executives tried to override his decisions. By the end of his career, though, he could hardly be bothered to get in the studio. A member of his entourage said Elvis hardly cared about making one of his final albums. 

Elvis Presley tried to avoid recording music in the 1970s

In the early days of his music career, Elvis was eager to record new albums. He spent long hours in the studio, working excitedly to achieve his creative goals.

“The point is that I know how talented the man can be when he has a challenge,” bodyguard Red West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “In the early days of his recording, he would cut an album in two nights, and that may be twelve or fourteen songs. He was fantastic. He really knew his stuff.”

By the mid-1970s, Elvis could hardly be bothered to record new music. West said he tried to avoid going into the studio while working on From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee in 1976.

“Toward the end, when we were doing Elvis at Home in 1976, he couldn’t give a damn,” he said. “He would use any excuse to hold up recording or just goof off.”

He had different methods to distract himself

Many people in Elvis’ life sensed the singer was bored with his career at different points over the years. He disliked the films he made and tired of the endless, monotonous series of performances. He had various, predictable ways to deal with his boredom.

“By 1962, when the boredom set in, he started on those big spending sprees,” West said. “He would get whacked out on uppers and then just spend a fortune to end the boredom.”

The singer purchased large, expensive presents for people in his life, often without reason. 

Elvis Presley used to care a great deal about his music

Elvis’ obvious frustration with his music career saddened those who were close to him because he was once so passionate about it. He had clear ideas about how he wanted his music to sound and disliked it when people questioned him.

“[Elvis] liked to work as a team — with his voice, the backup singers, and the instruments all recorded at the same volume,” Priscilla Presley wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “He didn’t want his voice out front alone. He liked the impact of the whole group. It was his sound, and it was a fabulous sound until one day Colonel said there were complaints from fans and from RCA that they couldn’t hear Elvis well enough.”

Priscilla explained that Elvis hardly ever disagreed with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, but he pushed back against his interference with the music.

“This is one of the few times Elvis bucked heads with him, stating, ‘I’ve been singing that way all of my life. What do a few heads in RCA know about music? I’ll sing the songs the way I hear them.’”