The Dark Reason Elvis Would Bring His Guns On Stage

Artists have their traditions, customs and habits. Some, like Broadway Direct, might even call them superstitions, though that seems a harsh way to talk about how you aren't supposed to mention the play Macbeth in a theater, whistle in a theater or have brown M&Ms in the M&M stash in Van Halen's dressing room in a theater. They might range from the quirky (that glockenspiel player in orchestra class who wore the same lucky underwear for concerts) to the guy who just doesn't feel quite secure in front of all those people unless he's packing heat. And that guy would have been Elvis.

By the 1970s, Elvis was fighting to stay relevant and marketable. His weight yo-yoed drastically, and he had an undeniable addiction to various prescription drugs to deal with pain, insomnia, exhaustion, and constipation. He was big enough that his entourage — and it was quite a group, frequently referred to as the Memphis Mafia — would go along with whatever he wanted, whether that was food binges or buying sprees. He probably purchased 100 Cadillacs in his time, some for himself, but many for others, says How Stuff Works; he liked to buy jewelry, which he wore himself — the bigger and flashier, the better — but also to give away to friends and associates.