For me, it was around age 10. I was enjoying my elementary school's annual games, activities, and food fest (it was called "Mardi Gras," even though it had virtually no New Orleans flavor), and one of the junk prizes in a big box at the side of one of the activities had an Elvis 45rpm record in it. It was "Hound Dog" on the black RCA label, with Nipper the Dog pictured in front of that victrola, and the grooves were scratched to hell.
I just thought that the prize was so funny, such a relic. Because Elvis was a joke.
Well, that's just because I was really young and a Beatlemaniac, and if the Fab Four ever said anything great about Elvis in a teen mag (and they did), that part wasn't registering with me. I thought back instead to Elvis' constant stream of silly movies. They looked silly anyway; I didn't watch them.
It would only be a few years before Elvis was making first rate records again, back on the charts, and this time, I was listening. By the time I got to college, my friend Myra lent me some early Elvis 45s that weren't scratched up (even a Sun single of "Good Rockin' Tonight") and I was astounded. How could I have turned up my nose at this stuff? It was mesmerizing.
Now I've got tons of Elvis favorites, including "Mystery Train" and a lot of other Sun-era recordings, plus "All Shook Up," "A Big Hunk O'Love," "Anyway You Want Me (That's How I Will Be)," "Little Sister," "Such a Night," "If I Can Dream," "Promised Land" (his stratospheric Chuck Berry cover, cut in 1973), and yes, even "Hound Dog" (Elvis reportedly demanded 30 takes of that, until he was happy with his performance).
Tremendous Rock'n'Roll. Sorry I missed it at first. Happy 75th, Elvis.
I'll quote my favorite Elvis review, which came from J.R. Young in Rolling Stone in the late '60s, when so many were re-discovering truly honest and focused music from the 1950s. Contemporary '60s artists like The Band, Solomon Burke, Dusty Springfield, Creedence Clearwater Revival (not to mention the return of Johnny Cash) and others were certainly helping to forge that sensibility. I outgrew pompous stuff like The Doors pretty quickly after that.
Anyway, J.R. Young (I'm paraphrasing): "If you've pooh-poohed Elvis lately, I suggest that you go to the bottom drawer and get out those early, dusty records, put them on and turn them way, way up. 'Cause it's like the best Rock'n'Roll ever made. It isn't even nostalgic. It just rocks your ass off."