Music: Better Entertainer: Elvis Presley or Freddie Mercury?

[OzzyFan]

Saw a trailer for an Elvis Presley biopic coming out, so this question came to mind. Who was the better entertainer and why: Elvis Presley or Freddie Mercury?

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[Killer Orcas]

Man this is tough as love Elvis but Freddie put on a show and his ability with voice is second to none. Gotta go Freddie !

Edit; sorry just realized entertainer you said and then gotta add the movies. Switching my vote to Elvis he made a lot of movies they were no Oscar material but I loved them all.

 

[frisco]

Tie at #1.

My Best-Carey

 

[Jumptheshark]

the problem is we have lots of live performances from Queen to look at

and we only have 3 or 4 COMPLETE performances of Elvis to compare them to and they are towards the end of his live era. The three I saw were from 68/70/72 and in the last two he could barely hold it together

 

[kihei]

I'm kind of down on singers who are entertainers. Makes me think of Vegas. I saw Queen on three occasions and was impressed by Mercury but not blown away. More impressed by Jagger because he had way more better songs. So I'd go Presley for historical reasons.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Women were "entertained" by Elvis's lower half.

Gotta interview your mom or grandma to get REAL perspective.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Tie at #1.

My Best-Carey

Yeah, I'm not sure how to pick between these two. They were very different personalities, playing very different kinds of music, in very different contexts.

Everyone knows the argument for Freddie Mercury, so I won't spend a lot of time on it. He was probably the greatest stadium-rock front man of all time. The voice, the body dynamics, the sense of pageantry.

It's unfortunate that we don't have more film of a young Elvis in natural performance settings. His charisma was off the charts. His early music wasn't made with stadiums or TV in mind, it was small-venue party music. Elvis was a master of that environment.

He was well into his 30s here, and not very far from the Fat Elvis years. But he just has the audience in the palm of his hand the whole time. Little things like the patter with the band on a crowded stage, little mid-song smiles at people in the front row, the way he moves around in that tiny tight space. From 3:30-5:00, the range of expressions from goofy to self-deprecating to cool.

 

[NyQuil]

I freely admit to being biased but I voted for Freddie.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Yeah it’s Freddie for me, admittedly biased as a big Queen fan.

Above all else, I look at the Live Aid performance and how highly regarded it is.

 

[NyQuil]

Part of it is the fact that Queen was not a teeny-bopper phenomenon like early Elvis or the early Beatles.

They had to create that atmosphere more organically as opposed to having a thousand teenaged girls screaming their lungs out at whatever they did or said.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Elvis. Most of the great bands and singers who came after him acknowledged his huge influence as an entertainer.

 

[Jussi]

Can't separate these two so it's a tie for me.

 

[Neutrinos]

James Brown

 

[Jumptheshark]

I hated pressley's movies--all paint by numbers and boring

 

[VMBM]

Voted Elvis.

Actually Freddie Mercury was probably the more natural entertainer, but Elvis was just much better-looking and sexier. Much larger appeal.

 

[Voight]

Women were "entertained" by Elvis's lower half.

Gotta interview your mom or grandma to get REAL perspective.

Ironic part is he wasn't very promiscuous even though he could have had any just about any woman in America.

 

[reckoning]

I hated pressley's movies--all paint by numbers and boring

I love King Creole. Not an Oscar worthy film by any stretch, but it's got a strong cast that covers for his limitations as an actor, and they put the songs in spots where it made sense.

The problem was Blue Hawaii. It was such a huge hit that they tried to make each subsequent film follow the same formula as that one. They were all pretty bad, but they made money and that's what the Colonel wanted.

 

[VMBM]

Delete.

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Voted Elvis.

Actually Freddie Mercury was probably the more natural entertainer, but Elvis was just much better-looking and sexier. Much larger appeal.

Appearance and charisma wise I have to agree with this poster

With raw talent and just the ability to put on a show I’d say Freddy

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Freddie easily.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Ironic part is he wasn't very promiscuous even though he could have had any just about any woman in America.

Well, he pushed the limits via age instead.

I know my mom might not have seen his performances, but she certainly liked Elvis's look. She's a 1949 Chinese woman who grew up in China. (She had me late, hence my age is in the millennial generation).

 

[RobBrown4PM]

#1 - Freddie
#2 - Dave Brockie
#3 - Elvis