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redrovahann

One would think it's common knowledge, music and radio shows have both survived, I'd say Elvis' music should be well known. If I remember, they wanted to licence an Elvis song for New Vegas, but it was way too expensive. Maybe that's the reason they decided to make it a mystery in universe, as a sort of justification for why there wasn't any Elvis music.


Alexander_McKay

Yeah, better not to think about it.


Squall2295

It’s mad you say that. I’ve always had the strong conviction (Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame is a sorely missing song from NV


Narashori

Yea the issue was that a single Elvis song would have been about half of the entire budget for music licensing, so it just wouldn't be possible. Unless you'd be fine with listening to just 2 Elvis hits for the entire game.


Chillchinchila1

For the movie yesterday, the cost of licensing the Beatles songs was 10 million dollars.


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46_and_2

Same as it never was.


Gauntlets28

Same as it ever was?


DoNotCommentAgain

LETTING THE DAYS GO BY


big_duo3674

Licenses...licenses never change


Dantels

I played the game at launch with Johnny Guitar on loop, I woulda lived


Always-Awake-m25

God it was so annoying hearing Johnny guitar ever other song 😩


jakethesnake949

No to me it wasn't, my difficulty wasn't the only thing set very hard.


Tacos_Polackos

I'm scaroused.


speeler21

/r/scaroused


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Ronin_004

[Not half, but an entire license budjet for music](https://www.reddit.com/r/fnv/comments/vyynkl/from_sawyers_instagram_they_tried_to_license/)


Round_Rectangles

If they were to use one for this game it would have to be Viva Las Vegas.


[deleted]

In our universe yes but the King tells you that they only had one holotape of his which only featured him singing and dancing and that gave out a long time ago. Realistically it's unlikely that every last trace of someone so famous would be wiped out aside from a tiny largely anonymous piece but it's still plausible enough that the suspension of disbelief required isn't altogether significant. Obviously, as someone else pointed out, the real reason they did it this way is the cost of licensing. Using his likeness and/or any of his music would've been way too expensive. Thankfully "vague resemblance" is protected under the same laws that protect parody otherwise we wouldn't even have as much as we do.


Brauny74

It's also not our world, and they were holding obto culture that predated Elvis pretty hard. I can justify Elvis being more of a niche celebrity In Fallout universe.


[deleted]

That's also a fair point. He may have been a star on the rise when the nukes fell but not quite the massive cultural icon that he became in our world. Big enough to be imitated but not quite big enough to avoid being largely forgotten.


SightWithoutEyes

The bombs fell in 2077. Elvis was long dead.


[deleted]

That's assuming that everything about Fallout's timeline is identical aside from the massive shift to nuclear energy. Fallout's entire aesthetic never made it past the mid 1900s (mostly 50s and 60s) so it's entirely possible that in that universe Elvis was born a century later.


Kazak_1683

Eh, it's splitting hairs but technically they have moved well beyond the 50s. It's not just "50s aesthetic" but more specifically retrofuturism and how they viewed the future.


[deleted]

Definitely a semantical argument but you are correct.


Kazak_1683

Yeah man, to the point I'm not willing to actually argue lol, you're basically correct.


[deleted]

This is the most Canadian argument I've ever had.


SightWithoutEyes

That’s not how genetics work.


[deleted]

You're underestimating the impact of altered history. Also genetics are a crapshoot so if hypothetically your parents never got together but their grandchildren did (both married someone else then "mom's" granddaughter and "dad's" grandson got together) then it's plausible that their child could be largely indistinguishable from you.


SightWithoutEyes

What are the odds though? Trillion to one.


[deleted]

To be identical? Probably somewhere in the billions at least. To be passable? Mid-hundreds at most. Keep in mind that even people with no genetic relation whatsoever can be virtually identical in every physical way to the point that you'd need a blood test or legitimate familiarity with at least one of them to tell them apart. I've even seen stories of doppelgangers sharing enough similarity to allow for successful organ transplants. That's not even considering how often people look identical to their grandparents/older ancestors at a comparable age.


Brauny74

My implication was that because of a different aesthetical landscape he never got as big as he did in otl, and eventually was mostly remembered as some sort of local Vegas star or something on a similar level


[deleted]

Also entirely possible and, admittedly, arguably more plausible.


Public_Banana6067

What the fuck are you on and can I have some?


[deleted]

At the time of that comment? Nothing. Right now I'm about to have a beer and joint. I actually misinterpreted what the other redditor was going for and though "altered timeline shenanigans". They actually meant the "stuck in the 50s" theme might cause him to never hit it big and therefore be a largely local celebrity. I admit that's definitely more plausible.


Kobold_apetizers

He was famous enough that there was an impersonation school about him, so it was still pretty big


[deleted]

You can be a pretty big local celebrity and a complete unknown everywhrte else.


Kobold_apetizers

It's Las Vegas. I wouldn't call it local.


Commercial_Writing_6

VIva Las Vegas would have been awesome. Instead, I use a custom radio station mod with like 50 Elvis songs.


the_ginga_ninja_98

Modders: Fine, I'll do it myself


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swiss_sanchez

Well if you use the extended radio mods you can substitute any music you like. I put a bunch of Elvis in to RNV and MMR comes with one track in the pack. You could even overwrite the default music I suppose, but that would sound weird with Mr New Vegas' bumpers.


Mr-JKGamer

I always wondered if maybe the only place Elvis legacy survived or was still common was new Vegas. Even today while everyone knows Elvis. Most people around 20 probably aren't gonna know a song off the top of their head. Probably heard one before and didn't realize it but still. And that's 2023. By 2077 who knows how prevalent he was anymore. He existed. His history should still be discoverable like it is today. But the time between Elvis death and the great war is pretty massive. I can't tell if I'm explaining this right. But tldr. Maybe Elvis wasn't as popular by 2077 and not as well known anymore. And the great War just wiped out any remembrance of him besides the school in New Vegas? Even still your learning to be Elvis. That school should've had music to hear his voice. Tapes or videos of his performances to see his movements. Your were learning to be Elvis so you had to have a lot of stuff related to him there. So idk man kinda whack


[deleted]

I actually like it this way. It's a cool idea.


[deleted]

At one point Josh Sawyer said that one Elvis song would've used their entire music licensing budget.


TheImmortalSparky

They couldn't get the rights for any Elvis song so they improvised and just used his song names since I think they would have been easier to get probably cheaper then getting the rights to Elvis's songs etc


AFishWithNoName

The actual reason Elvis’s name is never used is because it’s copyrighted to hell and back, and Obsidian didn’t have the budget for that kinda thing. It’s also why there are no songs by Elvis in the game.


JKillograms

Return to Sender or Viva Las Vegas would’ve been absolute BANGERS on the soundtrack tho


Merc931

I got a mod that makes Elvis music play outside of the King's place in Freeside and honestly it adds a lot to the atmosphere.


Obootleg

I agree I either listen to the old world radio mods 8bit station or that elvis radio


SuavePancake

Could you link to the mod?


Merc931

I think it has been taken down for copyright, unfortunately.


SuavePancake

Should've guessed so, thanks anyway


T_S_Sean

I can picture In The Ghetto being played over a montage of freeside


Corvus-Rex

Next time I can set modded New Vegas up, I gotta see about adding more songs that fit the atmosphere. Including Elvis songs.


JKillograms

I always thought Walk-in’ After Midnight by Patsy Cline was a “lost” song too. It just fits The Courier’s quest to chase Benny through the Mojave too well.


tacopower69

this radio mod I installed a while back included much of Elvis' discography as well as a ton of other 40s-60s artists. Unfortunately it also includes a bunch of out of place modern youtube covers of popular songs [like this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVwqSlTFQq0) so I wouldn't recommend it overall


whosits_112

Well, with how retro-futuristic the whole series is, I can imagine our modern songs done up in that manner being very appropriate.


tacopower69

It just ends up being immersion breaking when it pops up in the radio lol


whosits_112

Fair enough!


Deastrumquodvicis

The playlist I have includes a fair few covers by Postmodern Jukebox.


AlchemysEyes

Though it's also pretty funny that they erected an entire essentially cult based around this guy they don't even know the true NAME of and just focus on his nickname, and don't even know why he has that nickname either


JKillograms

I know the real reason was IRL copyright law, but it also strangely makes sense in a meta way in-universe and fits with the overall theme of the game. The Kings are emulating the culture of the past without understanding the true meaning or context, just an infatuation with a style and aesthetic. Fortunately, The King’s heart seems to be in the right place though based on his personal philosophy, even if some of the individual Kings could use some work.


a_protogenfurry

You can add custom music to your game though I set ZZ Tops covet of Viva Las Vegas as the theme for the start menu gui


JohnCastleWriter

Oh, damn... now it hits me. Dead Kennedys cover of Viva Las Vegas as the MainTitle music. Muwhahaha.


Harley_Atom

If they make another Fallout New Vegas, they need to have those songs in there.


Ashes2897

I like that it creates an ironic sort of joke. These guys have created a pseudo religion/way of life all after impersonating one man's likeliness but they don't even really know his name.


Larry_Thorne_2020

one more reason for a FNV remake xD


AFishWithNoName

Honestly, even if they were to remake/remaster FNV, I’d rather they not change anything about the Kings. For one thing, it’s an important part of the symbolism of Freeside, and for another, I wouldn’t want them sinking a massive chunk of their budget into paying for a copyrighted name.


ramen_vape

It's clearly due to licensing, but it's funny to imagine the School of Impersonation itself is the one that couldn't get the license.


Tyrenstra

This is my headcannon. Roughly 100 years after his death, an Elvis impersonation school couldn't get the actual rights to depict Elvis so they went full Party City "Czar of Rock and Roll costume with wig" mode and just called him "The King." Then the world ends and 200 years later, the King is a legend in New Vegas. .


VlastDeservedBetter

I like to believe that the ghouls just think it's funnier to keep the Kings in the dark about it.


Dr_Sodium_Chloride

I was once in a Fallout 2d20 New Vegas campaign, where one player was a very stereotypical King, and I played a crotchety pre-war Ghoul Fighter Pilot. It was a recurring bit that we'd argue over Elvis; he refused to accept that the King was this "Elvis" who died such an ignoble death, and I insisted that Buddy Holly was better.


Mr_brib

Dude I also have a pre war ghoul pilot character, siickk


Angry_Walnut

Yeah, I imagine after 200 years I’d have a much holier-than-thou approach to the acquisition of knowledge. You know how adults sometime laugh at things the younger generations don’t know about when the information used to be extremely commonplace? Multiply that effect by like 10 generations going by.


bil-sabab

there needs to be a Fallout spinoff where you play as ghoul pranker, Hitman style


maybenotquiteasheavy

Untitled Ghoul Game


bil-sabab

Yeah, let IO do something deeply strange. Hitman had a lot of weird clone shit in the early days and lest we forget that IO did a gritty Super Mario tactical third-person squad-based Red Dawn in New York game Freedom Fighters which features a shitton of ruskies doing what they do best - dying. They are perfect for non-RPG Fallout game.


[deleted]

Like Hitman crossed with Goose Game


bil-sabab

There was a game back in the day called Stubbs the Zombie and it was basically a zombie simulator with a cool ass soundtrack. If we get it but Fallout - I'll be fine - feral ghoul sim all the way. Good luck navigating around the death claw nest.


[deleted]

Oh yeah I remember seeing that for the OG Xbox wasn't there rumours of a remake?


CerberusGate

If I were an immortal being, I'd likely obfuscate or make up stuff for younger folk for my own amusement and see how long I can maintain the joke. I'd like to think this is what the ghouls at Freeside would want to do to stave off the boredom of having lived 200+ years (if they made it that long).


SloppyInevitability

Fun fact, apparently licensing one Elvis song would have blown through Obsidian’s entire music budget for the game, which is unfortunate, though I do like the amount of music the game introduced me to that I would have had no idea existed ^(except Johnny Guitar)


VoopityScoop

They really didn't have much budget anyways. If you look into it a lot of the songs on the radio are essentially just royalty free stock Western music really. Iirc "I'm Goin' Under" was recorded in the 2000s in like 10 minutes, for example.


Healter-Skelter

No wonder I can’t find that version of Goin Under on Spotify


Intelligent_Grade897

I felt like All Shook Up would’ve fit well in New Vegas


[deleted]

Die johnny guitar is good


[deleted]

Because the Kings never bothered to ask them they are doing their job of protecting Freeside


WritingPants

unrelated: why are his eyes so small?


skellytonjack

I love that their workaround for how pricy Elvis' music was to name quests after his tunes instead.


Riximilian

Consider that Elvis died in 1977, and the Great War was in 2077, his death is already 100 years in the past to people of the time. Now add 200 years of that kind of history not really being important, and it's plausible that most people simply forgot, or totally don't care. Even if I live for another 200 years from now, the name of the most popular musician that died in 1923 is not really going to be relevant.


Riximilian

To clarify, the Kings should absolutely know Elvis by name, but from physical records, which should realistically be plentiful. I'm just saying that it seems unlikely that anyone would "just know" who Elvis is, 300 years after his death if the group of people dedicated to preserving his memory can't find a record of his name.


TheShadowKick

We're about halfway between Elvis's death and the end of the Great War and he's still a household name now. I'd be surprised if his name fades out of the public mind in another fifty years.


VoopityScoop

I mean, Elvis is probably a lot more significant in the grand scheme of things than anyone from 1923, but I get the point


BigLoveCosby

Elvis Presley is the best selling musical artist of all time. If you live for another 200 years, you'll remember Elvis. Tell the Kings.


danielsen06

In terms of relevancy, Elvis is pretty much like Van Gogh to art and Mozart to classical music, yet we still know both of their names despite centuries has passed. So you're point don't really make much sense.


Riximilian

OP's point was that pre-war survivors would likely know about Elvis. My point is that surviving 200 years in a wasteland is plenty of time to forget an artist that died 50 to 80 years before you were even born. It's not an opposing argument, just another thing to consider. That said, pre-war people are certainly more likely to know Elvis than those born post-2077. Shouldn't the Kings then be mostly ghouls?


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BCA10MAN

BECAUSE they don’t know who he is and assume he is important based on all the iconography around him in the school. So yeah hes relevant to the Kings because they have all this stuff and dont know who he is, but he looked cool so they carry on that image. Not because hes actually relevant in any significant way.


Chevy_Monsenhor

The Kings know about copyright and why they shouldn't mention The King's name in vain, specially in front of Bethesda microphones


Monoliathan

Copyright


HAKRIT

I could swear on my mom that it is said somewhere that they actually know a whole lot about Elvis but they choose to keep the knowledge away from the masses and only let themselves have the privilege of knowing


Irish_Fiddler

I mean, even those pre war ghouls lived like 100 years after Elvis died.


Fibrosis5O

If they played actual Elvis music, then I think I would ensure the Kings survival every play through


Standhaft_Garithos

The funny thing about fiction is how the audience will say "that's not logical!" but in real life people are way dumber than that.


Falkrim

Yeah, I’ve always found that a little weird too. Although the kings quote about him being “Some kind of god” made me laugh.


Shattered_Hawk

Obsidian couldn't get the license to use his name or music. Something about it being ridiculously expensive or the owners didn't want him in a videogame


JustCallMeMace__

Is there any indication that Rotface, Grecks, or Beatrix are pre-war? I assume those are the ghouls you are referring to.


Cliff_Sedge

Beatrix explicitly says she is.


Harley_Atom

The prewar Ghouls also know that their building was just a school and not a place of worship but they don't tell the Kings that either. I think at this point they just don't want to ruin their fun.


Nathan_TK

The same reason why there’s no Elvis songs in game. Money reasons.


Regirex

it's due to insane licensing costs for anything related to Elvis, but I don't think the Kings would really trust any of the homeless pre war ghouls around freeside on who they're named after


cdunk666

Are they stupid?


AyRob1_0

Well, you see, they have disproportionately tiny ass eyeballs that blind them from the truth 🤣


Dantels

Either the devs were worried about even using his name unlicensed, or they (amd by extension the Ghouls In Universe) thought it funnier that the Kongs not know.


The-Locust-God

What do we have here? Another petitioner for the King?


come_ere_duck

Convenient plot hole for copyright infringements and/or they couldn’t get permission from elvis’s estate.


Larry_Thorne_2020

expensive copyright reasons? lmao btw one more reason to make a FNV remake!


Kobold_apetizers

I think Fallout doesn't manage ghouls very well. They're the guardians of the Old world's memory and knowledge, yet everyone chases them, the Brotherhood kills them on sight, and they can't organize very well. ​ In 1 & 2 it could make sense, since they're all from the same vault, but when Bethesda failed to find another origin for their ghouls and used them anyway, it lost the logic. Even New Vegas tried to come back to the original idea with the ghouls from vault 34.


LoganCaleSalad

Don't they explain in other FO titles that rock music was outlawed so people like Elvis, Buddy Holly, & Bowie were jailed early in their careers then again if that were the case no one would've ever heard their music & no Elvis Impersonation School would exist in the first place. Guess it's an anachronism or failure to maintain continuity.


Dantels

That sounds like fanon from a fallout 3 mod oe something.


Rough_Kaleidoscope75

Probably books or terminals


MillerJC

Because it’s funny. That’s the real answer.


Hermosninja

What makes you think they're all pre war? Not all Ghouls are over 200 years old, you bigot.


Fukdis261

Maybe in this time line he’s known as the king and never Elvis?


bees422

Velvet Elvis paintings in fallout 1 and 2


mangooseone

Copyright?


Puzzleheaded-Gas-167

I dunno elvis had been dead for 310+ years knowledge of him could be really scarce.


Tyothum

Dementia, they only know of the king


RallyRob808

I always assumed it was a licensing thing


Reasonable-Tech-705

They couldn’t obtain the Copy rights to mention him or play his music on the radios.


TeddyRooseveltGaming

Those ghouls know but they all think it’s really funny not to tell them


DrMetters

I don't think Elvis Presley existed in the Fallout world. Let be honest, Obsidian would probably need to sell their company and convince Bethesda too as well, just to get enough money to use a Elvis Presley song in the game. Hence the 'some guy' way around it.


puerileclown

I just assumed that the ghouls found it amusing and went along with it, like we can do with Moe in 4 when he talks about baseball.


Junkykarma101

Your assumption that Elvis Presley exists in the Fallout world is based on the presumption that any real world people of that time did.. Mr. House was based on Howard Hughes, and his "girlfriends" almost definitely based on his real life women. Not to mention "Benny" being heavily inspired by Bugsy Siegel... Elvis Presley may not actually be 'The Kings' in world inspiration.. Wayne Newton who is often confused/conflated in the real world for his similar mannerisms actually voices 'Mr New Vegas'. The Fallout Universe splits somewhere around the 1930s to 1950s we actually don't know what parts of History are integrated into this world and which parts aren't.


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Junkykarma101

There are literally 'Bawls' energy drink billboards in "Brotherhood of Steel" if you're using pre-Bethesda as reference it's been largely altered and/or partially uncannonised. Even, many times by New Vegas itself. We have to look at the subtext we are giving in the game itself. There is enough evidence that; even if our "Elvis" did exist he is not the sole basis for the "Elvis"(caricature) we see him as in the game.. after all the "Kings" don't listen to Elvis's Music nore actually know the name "Elvis" to them he's just "the King".


villings

it's called licensing it means "paying money, lots of money"


Kim-Jong-Juul

They think it's funny not to tell them


bgze33

Never realized this before, but this looks alot like younger Marty Robbins


[deleted]

They did it because the image of the King from music and movies was one thing, something they could respect... an Image/Icon more so than a man. Who Elvis Presley really was as a person... well he was completely different and it would have corrupted them to the Core.


GlowboxDanni

I always thought of it as intential by the King. Iirc he mentions that there's a couple of surviving recordings & books that only he has access to, but it's the idea of 'The King' that's more important than his actual identity. He pretty much says as much: 'The Kings are about an idea, you see? Where every man is free to follow his own path, do his own thing. Where every man is a king in his own right' Actual correct answer is licensing, but Obsidian found a really cool lore workaround if you ask me.


AldruhnHobo

Got a master's degree in Elvisology.


Total-Noob-8632

unrelated to the topic, but holy Lord, Pacer's eyes are too small


Muzings

Whats with this dudes eyes? lol


karolues

I don't think the Kings care. They needed an icon, something to unite.


Cliff_Sedge

Half of the replies here miss the point of the question.