You heard Elvis First Where and When?

MauriceinIreland · #217534

Hearing Elvis sing "I'm Playing for Keeps", and, "Too Much", on a jukebox back in early 1957, in Birmingham England, changed my life.

I began playing for keeps and it's all been far too much.

When did you first hear Elvis? Was it on radio, a recording, at the movies, on TV, or LIVE?

How come I never heard him in 1956?

#217535

I first heard the On Stage album at our local woolworths being played in 1970 when I was 11, that's when it all started. My second album was Elvis from Memphis, I only purchased it because of the awesome cover. Little did I how great it was until I got home and listened.

#217536

My aunt was about to clean the house. So she decided to listen to a vinyl. There was only one Elvis LP. And she put a Brazilian release.

The first song was Suspicious Minds. I was only 4 (this was 1989) and I was amazed with Elvis voice.

Then it all began.

#217538

First heard on radio - Girl Of My Best Friend 1976 or 1977 - loved it, but didn't pick up the "fanhood" until after August 1977.

First album was Madison Square Garden bought the week Elvis died by my father (I was just 12). Haven't looked back since

Luuk · #217540

At the local youthclub they played "Telephone baby" by Johnny Otis & Marci Lee back to back with Elvis' "A big hunk o' love".
This was way back in 1959 and they were 78's.
My life would never be the same again. Also it encouraged me to learn English so I would know what Elvis was singing about.
I heard Elvis music at the weirdest places, like on a radiostation called Radio Luxemburg which had the sound "floating" on and off, or from someone passing by with a portable radio.
Dutch radio only played about 1 or 2 Elvis song(s) per week on friday from 16 to 17 o'clock in a show called "Tijd voor teenagers" which started in september 1959! If your parents let you listen to it!!!!!!

#217541

I have absolutely no idea. Elvis was just always there. I've been wracking my brains, but no first impressions are coming to mind. I remember that I didn't "get" Elvis until much later, but I really can't say what I heard first. I probably saw one of his 60s movies. Maybe that's why I was slow to warm to him! Heh.

Jules

#217542

Elvis music was always around and it's difficult to remember my exact age when I first heard him. I do recall the Jailhouse Rock EP having a big impact on me as a young kid though. Those are the songs that made me want to hear more. I still think those tracks are among the finest he ever recorded.

#217574

My parents used to own a country music radio station in the 60's and they played a ton of Elvis and not just the well-known stuff. They also had a live country music show every Saturday night and had guests like Hank Snow, Bill Anderson, The Wilburn Brothers, Eddy Arnold, George Hamilton IV (my first cousin), and Chet Atkins. They tried and tried to get Elvis to perform but of course he didn't thanks to the Colonel. My mom says that she still has all the letters from the Colonel somewhere, but can't remember where. Not to worry, I've tried bamboo under the fingernails, and battery acid, but no luck so far. Anyone know where I can get a Pirhana and a blow torch???

Tom

#217575

Christmas 1960, heard Wooden Heart on Radio Malaya for the first time in my life. Then my dad took this 9 years old boy to see GI Blues and then Flaming Star, got hook for life.

ELVIS Presley - King Of The Whole Wide World

#217624

The first time I heard Elvis, was on a juke-box in a place where you could buy a bottle of Coke for 20 or 25 ct. The record was Don`t be cruel / Hound dog. The same year, on my 15th birthday, I got my first brandnew Elvis record: An EP called Good rockin` tonight. I still have that record!
You couldn`t play it no more, though, it`s completely worn out .
The year was 1957.

Wim

#217637

I'm not quite sure of when I heard Elvis for the first time...

But I know it was on a record at home.
What I'm not certain of is if it was my brothers or my parents record.
I fairly sure that it was Hound Dog and I completely loved it!

I can't have been very old. I can't really say how old I was, but I was definetly under ten...

#217647

Heartbreak Hotel on the radio !

Don't know how you missed that one, Maurice.

#217665

I must have been about 5 years old or so ('80-'81) and I was flippin through my dads old rAcords and I come across a few with this guy on it who looks really cool. The LP's Elvis and For LP Fans Only Stick out in my mind, but my dad had all of his early LP's. So I put the Elvis LP on the turntable and I hear a few beats on a closed hi-hat cymbal and then a voice suddenly breaks in--"Well it's Saturday night and I just got paid!"
That was it. I was hooked from then on out. I remember my dad buying me the This Is Elvis LP shortly after.

MauriceinIreland · #217670

Colin, I missed "Heartbreak Hotel" on radio because it was only played on Radio Luxemberg. or American Forces Radio. I did not stay in at night to listen. Girls were parading our streets:-)

BBC radio did not play Rock 'n ' Roll in 1956.....at least I never heard Elvis on it? Strangely none of the guys at school in Salford were aware of Elvis in 1956, at least there was no mention of him. Except I did hear a school friend singing, "Blue Suede Shoes".

If I had heard "Heartbreak Hotel", I would have definitely bought the record. I had my own income from delivering Groceries on a bike. 14 shillings and tips. Lots of tips:-) Not bad for a 14 year old school boy.

My first Elvis record was, "Hound Dog", early summer 1957. Then my money just got eaten up trying to catch up with all those HMV 78s released all at once!

Talk about, from a Famine to a Feast!

Thanks guys, some neat tales unfolding. Maurice.

Jig-Saw for our Grandchildren:-)

#217696

THe first I remember was the movie ROUSTABOUT. I had probably heard him on the radio, or maybe seen a movie or two, but the first I really remember was the movie ROUSTABOUT. 1964 or 65, the FEDERATION Theatre,Dayton Ohio I would have been about 6. I went out and bought the album almost as soon as I left the theatre.

#217719

Like everyone else I first heard Elvis on a jukebox. But even better, it was on a juke box on the beach in Malaysia.

No idea what the song was, but I have been fascinated by 45rpms, jukeboxes, Elvis and I live by the beach in Sydney now - so I guess it truly changed my life.

Sadly I don't own my own jukebox, but I will one day (When I'm rich or I don't have to by FTDs every 3 months!)

Cheers
Piers

#217745

Don't Laugh, my Dad went to prison in 1966 and I took over his record collection..ran a needle thru every Elvis record he owned at seven years old. At my 8th birthday party I have a picture of me holding my first bought '45, Indescribably Blue.

#217807

i became a fan with the number 1 hits cd
i got home from school, mum was playing 'crying in the chapel', 'in the ghetto', and 'suspicious minds', i heard those and decided to take it to my room to listen to. i started with 'heartbreak hotel', and i'd never heard anything like it before, so eerie and strange. then went through the whole cd and wore it out, lemme tell u. i was 12 back then, am 15 now.

Rob · #217811

Tom in North Carolina wrote:Anyone know where I can get a Pirhana and a blow torch???

Don't they sell things like that on Kate Bush's website?

#217823

Rob wrote:
Tom in North Carolina wrote:Anyone know where I can get a Pirhana and a blow torch???
Don't they sell things like that on Kate Bush's website?

Yes they do Rob.........apparently they are to be used to coerce people to listen to her drivel.

As for my first Elvis listening experience, it began in August 1964. I wasn't due to be born until October of that year, so I was safely sequestered in my mother's womb at the time.

Mom was a lumberjack in the deserts of Arizona. As you can imagine.......times were hard.

Dad made a meager living selling bootleg Tommy James and the Shondelles tapes.

Mom, being a huge Elvis fan, had to sneak around to hear Elvis records and tapes because Pop thought it was bad business to have customers drive up and hear actual talent while he tried to peddle Tommy James.

So, mom would hide her portable tape player and Elvis tapes under the front seat of the pickup truck as she made her way through the desert looking for a tree to cut down.

One day while very pregnant, she spotted a far off tree and raced toward it before the stiff competition could beat her there.

She put her player on the ground, put on a tape of Elvis' Greatest Hits Vol 1, and began hacking away at the mighty sapling.

Suddenly........as the tree bagan to sway under the ferocity of her repeated axing........a sandstorm swept through and toppled the tree, pinning my mother between the tree trunk and the tape recorder on the ground.

For 3 days and 3 nights I was trapped there in my mother's womb with the tape recorder pressed against her belly. With the weight of the tree pressing me close to the speaker (coupled with the fluid-filled environment in which I dwelt), it was a unique and indelible listening experience.

Pop finally found us and resued us from our harrowing ordeal, and Mom and baby were none the worse for wear, as the time fairly flew by with Elvis to entertain us.

MauriceinIreland · #217874

Scatter, Well done. That's really really funny, isn't it guys ...well isn't it?

I didn't bring up Kate Bush on this thread so I guess we may as well use the opportunity Rob afforded us all:-)

Kate is on BBC Radio 2 tonight. An Interview about her highly aclaimed new Album.
"King of the Mountain" her "Ode to Elvis", the first track.

I wonder when Kate Bush first heard Elvis? Hmmnn........ I'll write and ask her, seeing as how she replied to a letter from me before:-)

But on the same time tonight BBC radio 3 there is also Ludwig Van Beethoven's beautiful Opera, "Fidelio". Decisions decisions!!!

I first listened to Beethoven's only Opera, "Fidelio", in 1966.

But I digress:-)

Hearing Elvis that 1957 morning on a jukebox in a cafe where I had popped in to buy cigarettes was one of those moments that are unforgettable. At the time,I had a crush on a raven haired beautiful girl and Elvis's "Playing for Keeps" just swept me along that romantic road.

Madeline was her name she attended Cardinal Wiseman RC school. The girls had seperate classrooms to the boys back then. The classroom she attended was adjacent to mine. I was too shy to approach her but slipped a note in her overcoat pocket, and it did the trick:-)

She was my first date in Birmingham. I took her, and her friend, to see, "Don't Knock the Rock", starring Bill Haley.

I could go on, but it's all just Too Much:-)

#217897

...The very first time, my aunt was taking me somewhere in the car when heartbreak hotel came on the radio, and she was always a chatter..but when the man started singing..welll since my baby left me, she got quite and we both didnt say another word till it was over she replyed ..dont know who that Elvis guy is but that song is gonna be a huge hit

Even his name was even different to us .. aww the year was 1956 , i was ten and went to search in the local woolsworth for anything else i could fine only to discover, hound dog, dont be cruel ( the best r n r song to come outta of the 50's) .
bought everything from that day forward that came out...Much like the fans of today do with ftd's....

later Elton

#217974

In the summer of '64 I had a record player but didn't have any real good music to play on it so my friend and I went through his mother's old record collection. I saw one by some guy with the same last name as mine so I borrowed it (and still have it) and I was hooked for life. That song was Hound Dog. The following spring I saved up and bought my first Elvis record and that was Do The Clam.

Juan Luis · #217980

On TV in 1974 selling the blue/yellow special products album ELVIS and Hound Dog was one of the songs used in the ad. That also became my first album 4-6 weeks after C.O.D. came.

#217989

Heartbreak Hotel all over the radio.
I Want You, I need You , I love You was a disapointment at the time.
Starting buying and back buying from Hound Dog on.