By Dan Epstein

This January 8th marks the 75th birthday of one Elvis Presley, the singer, actor and cultural force whose mid-'50s ascendance forever changed rock n' roll music and the way we relate to it. From Bob Dylan to the Beatles to Led Zeppelin to Motorhead and on and on and on, rock music as we know it would be a drastically different affair if Elvis hadn't waxed "That's All Right Mama" on the evening of June 27, 1954, at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee.
    By now, just about everyone is familiar with the basic touchstones of the real-life Elvis fairytale: The poor boy born in Tupelo, Mississippi who grew up to become the King of Rock n' Roll before dying on the "throne" of his Memphis palace. (Of course, there are many conspiracy theorists out there who think he faked his 1977 death in order to get away from the pressures of fame, his gambling debts and/or the mob, but we're not going to get into that here.) So in honor of the King's 75th b-day, we thought we'd dig up 75 interesting, amusing and bizarre factoids about Elvis that you probably didn't know. So pull up a fried peanut butter-and-banana sandwich and a tall glass of buttermilk — one of the King's favorite snacks — and read on...

1. Acid King
Yep, for real — Elvis dropped acid once. Though he often spoke of his hatred of illegal drugs, Elvis was fascinated by the idea of LSD , which was still legal at the time, and its allegedly mind-expanding properties. On December 28, 1965, he and future wife Priscilla dropped acid at Graceland, and spent the night staring (really staring) at the fish in Elvis's home aquarium. Freaked out by their maiden psychedelic voyage, the pair never ventured out in a lysergic fashion again.

2. "Your wife — is she a goer?"
During the 1970s, the King spent endless hours in the Graceland TV room watching and memorizing skits from the British TV series Monty Python's Flying Circus, and often amused/annoyed his friends, girlfriends and hangers-on with his imitations of various characters. The Eric Idle's "nudge nudge, wink wink" guy was apparently a particularl favorite.

3. The Elvis-Whitney Connection
Whitney Houston's aunt Cissy Houston was a member of the vocal group Sweet Inspirations, who backed Elvis on several of his tours during the 1970s. For reasons unknown to us, the King's pet name for Cissy was "Squirrelly."

4. Elvis says: "Eat more donuts!"
Here in the 21st century, a star of Elvis's magnitude and crossover appeal would be up to his sideburns in endorsement deals. But since manager Colonel Tom Parker thought such things were beneath his client's dignity, Elvis only actually made one commercial over the course of his entire career — a pre-Colonel 954 radio spot for Southern Maid Doughnuts in Garland, Texas.

5. "And third on tonight's bill..."
Elvis's first official paid billing was at a July 30, 1954 show in Memphis, where he was third on the bill to country yodeler Slim Whitman.

6. Before the Colonel
While the totally shady Colonel Tom Parker (mis)guided Elvis through most of his career, he wasn't the King's first manager; that honor actually went to legendary guitarist and Scotty Moore, who briefly managed the singer in 1954 while they were touring as the Blue Moon Boys.

7. Straight Outta the Strip Club
DJ Fontana, the Blue Moon Boys' drummer, had previously worked as a drummer in strip clubs. The skills he honed playing behind bump n' grind dancers enabled him to expertly accentuate Elvis's every leg wiggle and pelvis thrust.

8. "Hey, Elvis — nice package!"
Rumors about "trouser stuffing" abounded during the early stages of Elvis's career. One boyhood friend claimed that the King employed a cardboard toilet roll tube to make it "look to the girls up front like he had one helluva thing there inside his pants." TV host Ed Sullivan was also quoted as saying he believed Elvis enhanced his stage presence with the help of a well-placed Coke bottle.

9. No Booze for Elvis
Having seen many members of his family fall victim to alcoholism, Elvis was frightened of the same fate, and thus rarely touched the stuff.

10. Mama's Boy
Everyone knows that Elvis was deeply devoted to his doting mother, Gladys; but many don't know that the two actually shared a bed until Elvis was in his early teens. When she died in 1958, a  distraught Elvis carried her nightgown around with him for days afterwards, and even slept with it.

11. The Hillbilly Cat
Back before the terms "rockabilly" or "rock n' roll" were widely in use, people were at a loss how to describe Elvis's mixture of country and rhythm & blues. As such, he was often billed in his early days as Presley was variously billed and labeled in the media as "The King of Western Bop", "The Hillbilly Cat", and "The Memphis Flash."

12. Bonus Baby
On November 21 1955, Parker and Phillips negotiated a deal with RCA Victor to acquire Presley's Sun Records contract for $40,000 — at that point, the largest amount ever paid by a major label for what we'd now call an "indie artist." $5,000 of that total was a "bonus" for Elvis, covering the back royalties still owed him by Sun.

13. Million Seller
1956's Elvis Presley LP, his first for RCA, was the first rock n’ roll album to sell a million copies in the US.

14. Landlocked
Despite his immense popularity worldwide, Elvis never toured England, Europe or anywhere else outside of North America. Colonel Tom claimed that the offers from promoters in other countries weren't generous enough, but many think the Colonel's shady past (he claimed to have been born in West Virginia, but was actually a Dutch citizen) might have had something to do with his reluctance to send Elvis abroad.

15. Cadillac Man
Elvis loved him some Cadillacs, and purchased over a hundred during his lifetime — for himself, Colonel Tom, friends, relatives, acquaintances, and even occasionally for strangers who just happened to be at the dealership at the time. His first Caddy was a used pink and white 1954 model, which he bought in 1955 for he and the Blue Moon Boys to tour in. When he died, his funeral procession consisted of a white Cadillac hearse, a silver Cadillac limousine, and 16 white Cadillac limousines.

16. Grammy Winner
Elvis won three Grammy Awards during his lifetime — but only for his gospel recordings. In typical Grammy fashion, the Academy voters stubbornly refused to acknowledge his contributions to rock n' roll.

17. Film Star
Elvis made 31 movies and two music documentaries during his lifetime. None of these were ever nominated for an Oscar in any category — a fact which, if you've ever seen such "gems" as Kissin' Cousins, The Trouble With Girls or Tickle Me, probably won't surprise you.

18. First Screen Kiss
Elvis shared kisses onscreen with dozens of co-stars, both well-known and obscure, but his first screen kiss (with actress Jana Lund) didn't come until his second movie — 1957's Loving You.

19. Ax Murderer
Nearly a decade before Pete Townshend smashed his first guitar, Elvis caused a riot at an October 1955 show in Cleveland when — frustrated over breaking two strings during a song — he slammed his acoustic guitar to the floor.

20. Monkey Man
As anyone who has seen Graceland's extensive collection of ceramic primates can attest, Elvis was fascinated by monkeys. In 1961, he acquired a real one, a trained chimp named Scatter. Scatter, who had previously belonged to a Memphis children’s entertainer, had a penchant for looking up women’s skirts as well as drinking booze straight from the bottle, both of which amused the King no end.

21. Blonde Ambition
Though Elvis sported black hair for most of his professional career, he was actually born a blonde, with his hair turning to light brown in his teens. He started dyeing it black in imitation of Dean Martin’s naturally dark locks, and later had his wife Priscilla dye her brown hair to match his.

22. No Fun In Acapulco
Elvis's 1963 film, Fun In Acapulco, was shot entirely in Los Angeles.

23. Saved By A Camel?
Colonel Tom was so appalled by the onscreen inanity of Elvis's 1965 film Harum Scarum, he suggested to the folks at MGM that the film should be narrated by a talking camel, so that audiences would think the movie was intentionally stupid. The studio declined his helpful suggestion.

24. Kiss My...What?
Elvis's 1968 film Live A Little, Love A Little may have had a less-than-inspiring title, but at least it was better than the original title, which was Kiss My Firm But Pliant Lips.

25. Popcorn Love
In his teens, Elvis worked at the Loews State Theater in Memphis, where he ushered patrons to their seats. He was eventually fired for spending more time flirting with girls than attending to the needs of the rest of the paying customers.

26. Midnight Movies
Once he became rich, Elvis would often rent out the Memphian Theater in Memphis so that he and his entourage could watch private late-night screenings of new films. His favorites included Patton, The French Connection, The Ten Commandments, Rebel Without A Cause, Dr. Strangelove, Peter Sellers' Pink Panther and Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies.

27. Twin Connection
Elvis's twin brother, Jesse Garon, died at birth. While Elvis often claimed to feel a deep connection with Jesse's spirit, he never transfered his body to the family plot at Graceland. His brother's unmarked grave still remains in Tupelo's Priceville Cemetery.

28. What, No Earplugs?
When Elvis joined the US Army in 1958, he was originally assigned to be a tank gunner — an activity that could have seriously damaged his hearing and had a negative effect on his singing career. After Elvis began complaining of a deafening ringing in his ears, Colonel Tom eventually convinced the Pentagon to reassign his client elsewhere.

29. Soldier Boy
While some have argued that Elvis's Army stint was little more than a glorified PR stunt designed to make the singer's image less threatening and more "All-American," he was apparently quite respected by his fellow combat troops in Germany. '[Elvis] pulled his weight," remarked retired US Army Colonel William J. Taylor, who served with him. "He used his head and did his job well. He was one of us. He cared about us. And he got back the respect and friendship he gave everyone else."

30. Mr. Speed
While on maneuvers in Germany, Elvis was introduced to amphetamines by a sergeant, kicking off an interest in pharmaceuticals that would last the rest of (and eventually end) his life.

31. Karate Boogaloo
Elvis was also introduced to martial arts while in the Army, where he earned his first black belt under the tutelage of Shotokan sensei Jürgen Seydal.

32. Ugly Steak
Elvis loved food, but had something less than a gourmand's palate. One of his favorite dinners was "Ugly Steak," which was essentially a garlic-rubbed chicken-fried steak chopped into cubes and served with mashed potatoes, green peas and gravy.

33. Pepsi Generation
Elvis's favorite soft drink was Pepsi Cola.

34. Hall of Famer
Along with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (to which he was inducted in 1986), Elvis has also been enshrined in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

35. Are You Ready For Some Football?
Football was Elvis's favorite team sport. When he was living LA and making films, he often blew off steam by organizing touch-football games with his entourage at De Neve Square Park near Bel Air.

36. Triple Play
Elvis had three television sets installed side-by-side in Graceland's TV room, so that he could watch three football games simultaneously.

37. Racqueteering
Next to football, Elvis's favorite sport was racquetball. In 1976, he actually drew up plans for a business involving a nationwide chain of racquetball courts that would bear his name, but lost interest before it came to fruition.

38. Pop Star
Elvis had 18 #1 pop singles in the US during his lifetime. The first one was “Heartbreak Hotel,” in 1956 — the last was “Suspicious Minds” in 1969.

39. Morbid Streak
Elvis was obsessed with death, and his obsession often led him to make visits to the Memphis morgue and coroner's office at odd hours of the night, so he could look at the corpses.

40. Close Shave
Elvis's favorite brand of aftershave was Brut.

41. How Swede It Was
Elvis had a brief affair with Swedish-American actress and singer, Ann-Margret, during the filming of 1964's Viva Las Vegas. Colonel Tom Parker (and Priscilla) demanded that the relationship end, but Elvis never lost his affection for her. Every time Ann-Margret opened a show in Las Vegas, he would send her flowers arranged in the shape of a guitar.

42. Don't Take It Impersonally
Elvis's favorite book was a spiritual self-help book by Joseph Benner called The Impersonal Life. The book was a gift from his hairdresser Larry Geller, who shared Elvis's interest in metaphysics, and eventually became his "spiritual advisor."

43. First Guitar
Elvis got his first six-string in 1946, as a gift from his parents on his 11th birthday, which they bought for $12.96 from the Tupelo Hardware Store. He was really hoping for a bicycle, but that was deemed too expensive.

44. Pearly Whites
Elvis's toothpaste of choice was Colgate.

45. Peacock Strut
In 2008, one Elvis's favorite performance costumes, the peacock jumpsuit made for him by LA designer Bill Belew, was auctioned off for $300,000, making it the most expensive piece of Elvis memorabilia ever sold at auction. Belew created all of The King's stagewear between 1968 and 1977; Elvis believed that peacocks were symbols of good luck and commissioned the jumpsuit at a cost of $10,000.

46. Hair Today, Sold Tomorrow
In 2009, a clump of hair believed to have been trimmed from Elvis's head when he joined the Army sold for $15,000 at a Chicago auction house.

47. Roll 'Em
Elvis's favorite game involved dice, but it was actually Yahtzee, not craps. The Yahtzee scoring pads he and Priscilla used to use were on display for several years at an Elvis-themed Memphis restaurant.

48. Bad Audition
In 1954, while still trying to get his own recording career going, Elvis auditioned for a Memphis vocal quartet called the Songfellows, only to be turned down — the 'fellows didn't think the King had much of an ear for harmony.

49. Bungle In The Jungle (Room)
Vernon Presley, Elvis's father, once visited Graceland after a shopping expedition in Memphis, and told his son that he'd just seen the "most ugliest" furniture imaginable at a store downtown. When Elvis went to see the stuff for himself, he promptly fell in love with it and bought the entire set for his "Jungle Room" at Graceland. The furniture was actually made by Witco, a carver whose designs are now highly sought-after by tiki enthusiasts.

50. John Who?
Elvis frequently used the alias "John Burrows" when checking into hotels.

51. Christmas Spirit
Elvis gave generous donations to local Memphis charities every Christmas, usually to the tune of around $50,000 a year.

52. "Are you there, God? It's me, Elvis."
While Elvis was raised a devout Christian, his interest in spirituality and metaphysics caused him to search for the meaning of life far beyond the boundaries of the Christian faith. In 1965, Elvis joined the Self-Realization Fellowship, a spiritual organization founded in 1920 by Paramahansa Yogananda, and would retain ties to the Fellowship for the rest of his life. "People don't know my life or that I sometimes cry myself to sleep because I don't know God," Elvis told another SFR initiate.

53. Fool's Gold
Elvis's most exciting (and gut-busting) culinary adventure occurred in February 1976, when he flew several friends and members of his entourage to Denver just so that they could all enjoy the "Fool's Gold Loaf." The sandwich, a specialty of a restaurant called the Colorado Mine Company, consisted of a hollowed-out and toasted Italian loaf slathered in butter, then stuffed with a whole jar of creamy peanut butter, a whole jar of grape jelly, and an entire pound of crispy bacon.

54. Missed Opportunities
Elvis often complained about the banality of his film roles, but he (or rather the Colonel) turned down the starring roles in the 1960s hits West Side Story and Midnight Cowboy. In 1974, Barbra Streisand approached the King about co-starring with her in the remake of A Star Is Born; Elvis reportedly wanted to do it, but the Colonel quashed the deal by demanding that Presley receive 50 percent of the film's profits.

55. TLC, Baby!
While Elvis's penchant for handing out bejeweled "TCB" ("Take Care of Business") pendants to his friends is well known, he also had numerous "TLC" ("Tender Loving Care") pendants made for the women in his life.

56. Dissing The Beatles
The photo of Elvis with Richard Nixon is one of the most iconic pop cultural photos of the 20th century. Less well-known, however, is that Elvis told the President that he believed the Beatles to be "a real force for anti-American spirit," and were spearheading the current trend of drug abuse in popular culture — a trend that Elvis would battle, of course, if only Nixon would grant him a Bureau of Narcotics badge. "I felt a bit betrayed," said major Elvis fan Paul McCartney, after learning of the meeting.

57. Taking The Mickey
If his one summit meeting with the Beatles was, by all accounts, fairly awkward, Elvis's 1973 encounter with Led Zeppelin was considerably more convivial. Robert Plant and John Paul Jones met the King in Los Angeles, where Elvis broke the ice by swapping his $5,000 gold and diamond watch for Jones’s Mickey Mouse watch.

58. The Greatest 
The same year he met Led Zep, Elvis gave boxer Muhammad Ali a $10,000 white robe with the words “People’s Champion” emblazoned across the back. The Heavyweight champ wore the robe for his first fight against Ken Norton; Norton broke Ali’s jaw in the second round on his way to winning a 12-round decision, and Ali vowed never to wear the robe again.

59. Don't Mess With The King!
During a show in Vegas on February 18, 1973, Four men climbed on stage during Elvis's performance and attempted to shake his hand. Fearing a more malevolent purpose behind their stage invasion, Elvis and bassist Jerry Scheff immobilized the men using karate moves. "I'm sorry, ladies and gentleme," Elvis announced after the men were dragged away by security. "I'm sorry I didn't break his goddamned neck, is what I'm sorry about." No charges were filed.

60. The New Gladiators
In 1974, Elvis began telling the press that he'd like to make a karate film called The New Gladiators. This was his description of how he envisioned the film's final scene: "On a remote hill the camera is on a close-up of Elvis as he stands in fighting stance. The camera zooms back...and we see what looks like [an army of fellow martial artists] doing the moves with him. He then does the Lord's Prayer in Indian sign language as a soft wind gently blows around him. The picture ends with 'The Beginning' written across the screen." The film was never made.

61. Favorite Dessert
For all of Elvis's affection for grotesque Southern dishes like congealed Pepsi salad, his dessert of choice was pretty unremarkable: Plain 'ol pound cake.

62. The Christmas Comeback?
Rightly regarded as one of the high points of Elvis's career, his televised '68 Comeback Special would have been far less special had Colonel Tom Parker retained creative control. Since the show was scheduled to be broadcast during the holiday season, Parker insisted that Elvis don a Santa suit and sing Christmas carols. Producer Steve Binder, however, had other ideas; and in a rare instance of flouting the Colonel's authority, Elvis told Parker he wanted to do it "Binder's way."

63. "Mike Stone Must Die!"
In 1973, consumed by jealous rage over Priscilla's affair with his former bodyguard and martial arts instructor Mike Stone — and undoubtedly under the influence of a far amount of pharmaceuticals — Elvis decided that he wanted his "Memphis Mafia" entourage to put out a mob-style hit on Stone. "Mike Stone must die.He must die," Elvis kept repeating to "Mafia" member Red West, who believed the King was trying to hypnotize him. "He has no right to live. Red, find someone, somebody to wipe him out." Though steadfastly loyal to the King, West bought time by pretending to have difficulties finding "the right guy for the job," until Elvis finally came to his senses several days later.

64. The Drug Dealer Plot
One night in 1976, Elvis called Red West and his brother Sonny to his bedroom at Graceland to discuss his plan to murder all of the drug dealers in Memphis. Elvis reasoned that they'd have the perfect alibi, since he already had a recording session scheduled for the same night. The plan, however, went nowhere.

65. Worst Elvis Album — Official
In 1974, RCA released an LP called Having Fun With Elvis On Stage. Helpfully billed as "a talking album only," the record contains no music — only rambling in-jokes and gibberish recorded between songs at various concert dates. It is still widely considered to be the worst record ever officially released by a major artist.

66. Worst Elvis Album — Unofficial
Six years after his death, a bootleg LP called Elvis's Greatest Shit was released, containing mostly unreleased outtakes from his film soundtracks. Tracks like "Song of the Shrimp," "Dominic the Impotent Bull" and "Yoga is a Yoga Does" make the listener wonder how Elvis refrained from jabbing his own eyes out with a fork while recording them.

67. Final Recording
The last recording Elvis made was nearly a year before his death: A vocal overdub on "He'll Have To Go," done on October 31st, 1976 in the "Jungle Room" at Graceland, where recording equipment was often set up to facilitate the King's erratic personal schedule.

68. Final Concert
The King's last concert was held on June 26, 1977 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana, in front of a crowd of 18,000. The final song of the night was his usual set-list closer, "Can't Help Falling In Love."

69. Final Performance
The last song anyone heard Elvis perform was a private rendition of "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain," which he sang while playing his Graceland piano hours before his death.

70. Final Read
The book Elvis was reading when he died of a heart attack in his bathroom at Graceland was Frank Adams' The Scientific Search For The Face Of Jesus a tome supposedly proving that the Shroud of Turn was the actual burial wrapping of Jesus Christ.

71. A Big Hunk O' Sick
At the time of his death, Elvis was suffereing from multiple ailments — glaucoma, high blood pressure, liver damage, and an enlarged colon — each of which were aggravated, and possibly caused, by the King's prescription drug abuse. A re-examination of his X-rays in the '90s revealed that he was probably also suffering from degenerative arthritis, which certainly would have fueled his addiction to painkillers.

72. The Final Cocktail
Though Elvis's death was originally listed as cardiac arrhythmia, it was later revealed that his death was caused by a cocktail of anywhere from 10 to 14 drugs, including doses of the painkillers Morphine and Demerol — and the tranquilizers Valium and Placidyl — in dosages much higher than would have legally been prescribed. Codeine, Quaaludes and "sleeping pills" were also part of the equation.

73. Classy Cousin
After the King's death, his cousin Billy Mann accepted $18,000 from the National Enquirer to secretly photograph Elvis's corpse. The picture appeared on the cover of the tabloid's biggest-selling issue ever.

74. High Finance
Elvis was worth an estimated $10 million at the time of his death. His estate made over $52 million in 2008 alone.

75. It's Good To Be King
Many years after Elvis died, Sonny Bono wrote about visiting Elvis in his Las Vegas hotel suite in the early '70s, and encountering a long line of groupies outside who were waiting to "service" the singer. When Bono asked Elvis how he managed to keep up with all the demanding girls, Elvis just laughed and said, "Hell, Sonny — I'm the King!"