The Downward Spiral

Elvis wanted out of his movie career. He had accepted the Colonel's business advice because he believed that the Colonel was his good-luck charm. Elvis knew that the entertainment industry was changing, and he wanted to change with it. Stay Away, Joe, made in 1968, had only three songs. It focused on Elvis's acting, and he hoped it would make the movie industry take him seriously as an actor.

Elvis began to reinvent his sound. Felton Jarvis, the Nashville producer of Elvis's Grammy-winning How Great Thou Art, kept Elvis inspired and on-track in the studio. Together, they recorded some fresh new singles, among them “Guitar Man,” which, although it didn't even hit the top ten on the music charts, did better on the charts than most of the other music he had done for years.

In early 1968, the Colonel wanted Elvis to do a Christmas special for television. It would be the first time Elvis had appeared on television since 1960 and the first time in years that he had appeared in front of a live audience. NBC had offered to pay Elvis half a million dollars for the special. More important than money was the question, Would this special reestablish Elvis as king of rock and roll?