Myth-busting Elvis
What's the truth behind the toilet shoot-outs, copious drug-use and two-way mirror stories?
Elvis Presley is usually described as the king of rock 'n' roll, but he was also the first modern pop star. He signalled the beginning of the era of larger-than-life musical deities whose mythology subsumes them even as they live, and whose voices echo long after their bones have ground to dust.
On the 40th anniversary of Elvis's death, what is striking is the eerie similarity between his death - expedited by an over-prescribing doctor and an addiction to prescription drugs - and that of the other King of Pop, Michael Jackson. In life, too, they both had signature clothes and moves, and both left behind an exceptional back catalogue, sprawling rock 'n' roll residences, and many unanswered questions.
