50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong: Elvis' Gold Records, Volume 2
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (February 2011) |
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Elvis' Gold Records, Volume 2, also known as 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong, is the ninth album by Elvis Presley, issued by RCA Victor in November 1959. It is a compilation of hit singles released in 1958 and 1959 by Presley, from recording sessions going back as far as February 1957.
The title of this album is appears on the original record's labels as "Elvis' Gold Records, Vol. 2," with a comma and an abbreviation of "Volume", but on the jacket, it appears as "Elvis' Gold Records — Volume 2". The phrase "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong" does not appear on the labels of any of the original records, and it is the title of the records—not the jacket—that is usually given preference when conflicting titles appear on albums. Therefore, the phrase was not part of the original title of the album. It was from 1959 through 1961; beginning no later than 1962, RCA Victor added "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong" to the labels of the mono records and to the newly released "electronically reprocessed stereo" records. The boasting on the label appears nearly exclusively on records from RCA Victor's Hollywood pressing plant; copies pressed at the other plants tended to use the proper title only. It remained there for several years, but by 1968, it was removed from the labels and was not found on any records for years, but then it was added (again), this time to the CD releases of this album, where it has stayed.
"Elvis' Gold Records, Vol. 2" peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.[1] It was certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for a Gold Record Award (based on $1,000,000 in wholesale sales) on November 1, 1966. It was certified for a Platinum Record Award for sales of one million copies in the US on March 27, 1992.[2]
Content
Elvis' Gold Records, Vol. 2 consists of both sides of five singles released during 1958 and 1959. Two sides made number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and six others reached the Top 10. In the 1950s, a Gold Record awarded to a single required certified sales of one million copies in the United States. This is different from the definition in use since the 1990s, when a Gold Record for a single was reduced to sales of 500,000 units.
The original compact disc was issued as PCD1-2075 in "electronically reprocessed" (or "fake") stereo and "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong" was again part of the title! This disc was quickly withdrawn; it is now very rare and very valuable.
In 1985, it was reissued on compact disc as PCD1-5197, this time in "digitally restored" monophonic. That is, the mono sound was achieved by a complicated system of eliminating extraneous "noise" from the fake stereo master tapes. This was necessary as RCA had "mislaid" the mono tapes. Eventually, clean mono tapes were located and the original mono sound was restored to later CDs.
The July 15, 1997 reissue doubles the number of tracks to 20, adding one A-side ("Hard Headed Woman") and one B-side ("Playing For Keeps"), along with tracks from top-selling EPs (e.g., "Peace In The Valley"). Several of those EP tracks were hit singles in other countries, notably the UK (i.e., "Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me"). The bonus tracks are interspersed within the original tracks, with the running order to the album substantially altered.
The unified Billboard Hot 100 singles chart was not created until August, 1958. Chart positions for records (below) prior to this date were taken from the magazine's "Best Sellers in Stores" chart. In some cases, the early measurement of success of rock and roll records also came from the "Most Played on Jukeboxes" chart. Chart positions (below) for the bonus tracks on the CDs were taken from the peak position that the EP album achieved on Billboard's then extant EP chart (1957–60).
Homage
| This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2016) |
The famous cover photo, of multiple images of Elvis wearing the gold lamé suit designed by Nudie's of Hollywood,[3] has been copied many times. Album covers so inspired include:
- Phil Ochs' Greatest Hits album of 1970; not a "greatest hits" album at all but consisting of new original material, ironically subtitled "50 Phil Ochs Fans Can't Be Wrong!"
Mark E. Smith ponders the maths - The 1983 album by Rod Stewart, Body Wishes.
- The Elvis Costello & The Attractions bootleg album of the same name from the 1980s.
- Blues Traveler's more modest 1,000,000 People Can't Be Wrong of 1994.
- Blumfeld's second studio album L'Etat Et Moi from 1995.
- The Fall's compilation 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong from 2004.
- 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong, also from 2004.
- 50,000,000 Soulwax Fans Can't Be Wrong from 2005.
The meme has also been adopted to other media, such as:
- The 1982 bootleg Elvis' Greatest Shit, a compilation of tracks and out-takes that the bootlegger considered among Presley's worst recordings, is subtitled "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can Be Wrong".
- The second album by the group Dread Zeppelin, which is fronted by an Elvis impersonator, from 1991 is titled 5,000,000 in reference to this album; the footnote says "Tortelvis Fans Can't Be Wrong." The cover more obviously parodies Led Zeppelin's fourth album.
- The title used verbatim in the lyrics to "The Thanksgiving Song", by Adam Sandler in 1993.
- The 1997 documentary by Joe Franklin 50,000,000 Joe Franklin Fans Can't Be Wrong.
- Marilyn Manson's 1998 book The Long Hard Road Out of Hell contains a chapter entitled "Fifty Million Screaming Christians Can't Be Wrong".[4]
- Mindless Self Indulgence's song "You'll Rebel To Anything" from their 2005 album of the same name contains the lyrics, "you're telling me that 50,000,000 screaming fans are never wrong, I'm telling you that 50,000,000 screaming fans are fucking morons".
- Die! Die! Die!'s self-titled debut features a song named "Franz (17 Die! Die! Die! Fans Can't Be Wrong)" in 2006.
- Stephan Pastis, author of comic strip Pearls Before Swine, released a collection in 2010 titled "50,000,000 Pearls Fans Can't Be Wrong."
- In 2013, the band Supersuckers released a free digital EP entitled 50,000 Middle Fingers Can't Be Wrong.[5]
- Doc Yewll references this album while talking with T'evgin in the Defiance 3rd season episode, The Last Unicorns.
Title meanings
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The blurb "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong" that became an on-and-off part of the album's title originated with a one-page article titled "Can Fifty Million Americans Be Wrong" by Les Brown that appeared in the September 19, 1956, issue of Down Beat magazine. The article was an unfavorable look at Elvis and his fans, with Brown bemoaning the lack of appreciation of the "fine talents" of Jerri Southern, Dick Haymes, and "other serious vocal artists." The article concludes, "The educational responsibility seems to fall mainly on the disc jockey, who still has the greatest proximity to, and the greatest influence over, the record-buying public. Fifty million Americans can easily be misled."[6]
The title is itself a reference to the hit song of 1927, "Fifty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong", by Willie Raskin, Billy Rose, and Fred Fisher, most notably performed by Sophie Tucker. It is also supposed to be an estimate of the number of singles that Presley sold worldwide by late 1959.[citation needed]
Track listing
Chart positions for LPs and EPs from Billboard Top Pop Albums chart; positions for singles from Billboard Pop Singles chart
Original release
| Side one | |||||||
| No. | Song title | Writer(s) | Recorded | Catalogue | Release date | Chart peak | Time |
| 1. | 0"I Need Your Love Tonight" | Bix Reichner and Sid Wayne | June 10, 1958 | 47-7506b | March 10, 1959 | 4 | 2:04 |
| 2. | 0"Don't" | Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller | September 6, 1957 | 47-7150 | January 7, 1958 | 1 | 2:48 |
| 3. | 0"Wear My Ring Around Your Neck" | Bert Carroll and Moody Russell | February 1, 1958 | 47-7240 | April 1, 1958 | 2 | 2:13 |
| 4. | 0"My Wish Came True" | Ivory Joe Hunter | September 6, 1957 | 47-7600b | June 23, 1959 | 12 | 2:33 |
| 5. | 0"I Got Stung" | David Hill and Aaron Schroeder | June 11, 1958 | 47-7410b | October 21, 1958 | 8 | 1:49 |
| Side two | |||||||
| No. | Song title | Writer(s) | Recorded | Catalogue | Release date | Chart peak | Time |
| 1. | 0"One Night" | Dave Bartholomew, Pearl King, Anita Steiman | February 23, 1957 | 47-7410 | October 21, 1958 | 4 | 2:29 |
| 2. | 0"A Big Hunk O' Love" | Aaron Schroeder and Sidney Wyche | June 10, 1958 | 47-7600 | June 23, 1959 | 1 | 2:12 |
| 3. | 0"I Beg of You" | Rose Marie McCoy and Cliff Owens | February 23, 1957 | 47-7150b | January 7, 1958 | 8 | 1:50 |
| 4. | 0"(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such As I" | Bill Trader | June 10, 1958 | 47-7506 | March 10, 1959 | 2 | 2:36 |
| 5. | 0"Doncha' Think It's Time" | Luther Dixon and Clyde Otis | February 1, 1958 | 47-7240b | April 1, 1958 | 15 | 1:54 |
1997 reissue with bonus tracks
| No. | Song title | Writer(s) | Recorded | Catalogue | Release date | Chart peak | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 0"A Big Hunk O' Love" | Aaron Schroeder and Sidney Wyche | June 10, 1958 | 47-7600 | June 23, 1959 | 1 | 2:12 |
| 2. | 0"My Wish Came True" | Ivory Joe Hunter | September 6, 1957 | 47-7600b | June 23, 1959 | 12 | 2:33 |
| 3. | 0"(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such As I" | Bill Trader | June 10, 1958 | 47-7506 | March 10, 1959 | 2 | 2:36 |
| 4. | 0"I Need Your Love Tonight" | Bix Reichner and Sid Wayne | June 10, 1958 | 47-7506b | March 10, 1959 | 4 | 2:04 |
| 5. | 0"Don't" | Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller | September 6, 1957 | 47-7150 | January 7, 1958 | 1 | 2:48 |
| 6. | 0"I Beg of You" | Rose Marie McCoy and Cliff Owens | February 23, 1957 | 47-7150b | January 7, 1958 | 8 | 1:50 |
| 7. | 0"Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)" | Aaron Schroeder and Claude DeMetrius | September 7, 1957 | LOC 1035 | October 15, 1957 | 1 | 1:54 |
| 8. | 0"Santa Claus Is Back In Town" | Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller | September 7, 1957 | LOC 1035 | October 15, 1957 | 1 | 2:22 |
| 9. | 0"Party" | Jessie Mae Robinson | January 21, 1957 | LPM 1515 | July 1, 1957 | 1 | 1:26 |
| 10. | 0"Paralyzed" | Otis Blackwell and Elvis Presley | September 2, 1956 | LPM 1382 | October 19, 1956 | 1 | 2:23 |
| 11. | 0"One Night" | Dave Bartholomew, Pearl King | February 23, 1957 | 47-7410 | October 21, 1958 | 4 | 2:29 |
| 12. | 0"I Got Stung" | David Hill and Aaron Schroeder | June 11, 1958 | 47-7410b | October 21, 1958 | 8 | 1:49 |
| 13. | 0"King Creole" | Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller | January 23, 1958 | LPM 1884 | September 19, 1958 | 2 | 2:08 |
| 14. | 0"Wear My Ring Around Your Neck" | Bert Carroll and Moody Russell | February 1, 1958 | 47-7240 | April 1, 1958 | 2 | 2:13 |
| 15. | 0"Don'cha Think It's Time" | Luther Dixon and Clyde Otis | February 1, 1958 | 47-7240b | April 1, 1958 | 15 | 1:54 |
| 16. | 0"Mean Woman Blues" | Claude DeMetrius | January 13, 1957 | LPM 1515 | July 1, 1957 | 1 | 2:15 |
| 17. | 0"Playing for Keeps" | Stan Kesler | September 1, 1956 | 47-6800b | January 4, 1957 | 21 | 2:50 |
| 18. | 0"Hard Headed Woman" | Claude DeMetrius | January 15, 1958 | 47-7280 | June 10, 1958 | 1 | 1:53 |
| 19. | 0"Got a Lot o' Livin' to Do" | Aaron Schroeder and Ben Weisman | January 12, 1957 | LPM 1515 | July 1, 1957 | 1 | 2:31 |
| 20. | 0"(There'll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me)" | Thomas A. Dorsey | January 13, 1957 | EPA 4054 | April 1, 1957 | 3 | 3:22 |
Follow That Dream re-issue
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References
- ^ "Elvis Presley: Awards". allmusic. Rovi Corp. 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
- ^ "Searchable datebase". RIAA. 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2013. Note: Enter search for "Presley, Elvis"
- ^ Beard, Tyler. (2001). 100 Years of Western Wear, p. 72. Gibbs Smith, Salt Lake City. ISBN 0-87905-591-X.
- ^ Manson, Marilyn (1998). The Long Hard Road Out of Hell. ReganBooks. ISBN 978-0060987466.
- ^ "50,000 Middle Fingers Can't Be Wrong". Supersuckers. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
- ^ "Can Fifty Million Americans Be Wrong," Les Brown, Down Beat, September 19, 1956, p. 41
External links
- LPM-2075 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong, Elvis' Gold Records, Volume 2 Guide part of the The Elvis Presley Record Research Database
