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Post by Kapitan on Apr 11, 2019 21:22:27 GMT
We've done a bazillion "how I got into the Beach Boys" threads, but what about music overall? What got you into music, either as a listener or player or whatever? A musical family? A certain artist? Let's hear it. I'll chime in, but want someone else (er, KDS and SJS) to kick things off.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 11, 2019 23:27:58 GMT
In the spring of 1964, my Mom came home from a shopping trip to the local "Five And Dime" store - known today as a dollar store. I was sitting on the living room floor watching our black and white TV, when she said, laughingly "Look at what bought! It's a record by a group called The Beatles. They're really popular. And look at their hair." I was just a little guy but I still remember her showing the picture sleeve and chuckling about the length of their hair.
The record was "I Want To Hold Your Hand"/"I Saw Her Standing There". I took the 45 and put in on our record player, a very nice, tan RCA floor model record changer. And I was hooked. Big time. Soon "A Hard Day's Night", "I Should've Known Better", "Twist And Shout", and a few others followed. Our record player was one of those record changers, so I would stack four or five 45's at a time, listen to them, and then turn them over and listen to the other sides. I didn't care which side was the A-side or the B-side. I didn't know any better.
My Mom and Dad were not musicians (neither played any instrument), but they liked music, especially my Dad, who I now realize had very good taste in music. My parents were just starting to raise a young family (I have three sisters) and we didn't have a lot, but little by little, records started to accumulate at the house. The artists were mostly Top 40, but very diversified. I specifically remember "Hello Dolly" by Louis Armstrong, "Cotton Candy" by Al Hirt, "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" by Dusty Springfield, and "Everybody Loves Somebody" by Dean Martin. My Dad had a lot of Frank Sinatra albums; I remember seeing them, but he never seemed to get around to playing them. We were a 45 house.
So, to specifically answer Kapitan's question - What got you into music? - it was playing those records in the living room. I would literally sit in front of the record player for hours with my ear to the speaker, just this little kid enjoying the music. "When I'm home, everything seems to be right. When I'm home, feeling you holding me tight, yeah!" I can still remember it. It literally sent chills up my spine.
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Post by kds on Apr 12, 2019 13:38:28 GMT
I've loved music as long as I can remember (born in 1980). Growing up, we always had music in the house or the car. I still remember my mother playing 8 tracks in the car of The Beatles and Ricky Nelson.
I used to fall asleep listening to the radio. Usually Top 40, so I remember hearing hits by Tears for Fears, Paul Young, Steve Perry, etc. My father would buy me 45s of songs that I liked.
As I got older, we listened to a mix of Top 40, Oldies, and active rock on the radio. I don't think "Classic Rock" was really a thing yet, as the active rock station still played plenty of what is now referred to as "classic rock." By the late 80s, glam metal was all the rage, so I remember hearing big hits by Bon Jovi, Kix, Cinderella, Motley Crue, etc on the radio along with the likes of Def Leppard and more polished late 80s gems from veteran bands like Van Halen and Aerosmith.
Up until I was probably 12, I only really knew the songs on the radio, and whatever my folks played at the house. But, in the summer of 1992, I became aware of Queen since the song Bohemian Rhapsody had become a hit again due to its use in Wayne's World. I started to explore their catalog a bit, and became borderline obsessed with Queen. I'd always loved music, but that was really the start of my geekdom.
As I got into my teens, I started collecting CDs of my own, and I entered my socially awkward years, which kinda ran into my late 20s. Friends and girls were hard to come by, but music was always there.
When I met my wife, we bonded over music.
Now, I'm 38 with a wife and small son. I try my best to fill the house with music. I no longer have the time to devote to listening to music like I used to (which is why I pretty much gave up trying to find newer artists to listen to), but I still love it, and always will.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 12, 2019 14:06:34 GMT
Very cool. The common thread seems to be exposure, which makes sense. I was born in 1976, and I recall that my house was also full of music: my dad especially had a large record collection ranging from 50s rock and roll to late 50s and early 60s folk (Peter Paul and Mary, the Chad Mitchell Trio, the Kingston Trio, etc.) to 1970s country and folk (John Denver) to gospel of various eras, with a little Beatles, Monkees, and Beach Boys in the mix as well.
As the youngest of five kids, I also remember my oldest siblings' records and cassettes: Styx, the Eagles, and such.
Actually I also really liked church music, though I hated sitting through services. Our traditional Lutheran church followed a liturgy that meant while the hymns would be different, there were other musical aspects that were the same week to week, so I learned those snippets. (They were the call and response bits of a service, basically: the things that introduce and respond to the standard prayers and rituals like communion, etc.) In fact, when I was very young and we were camping once, I amused and delighted the family when I responded to my dad's request for songs--he was leading singalongs on guitar--with "Page 5." Nobody knew what I was talking about, but it turned out to be the liturgy.
I didn't understand the differences in different styles or contexts, so "Page 5" was the same as the Monkees, which were the same as Buddy Holly, which was the same as Air Supply.
I remember also going to a friend's house and asking his favorite songs, and he had no idea what to say: they didn't play music in his house. It was odd to me.
SJS's recollections of sitting on the floor listening also ring true for me. I remember sitting on our living room floor in front of the large speakers getting excited to hear little details. When I realized different things could be found in one speaker from the other (thanks to stereo recording and panning), I was amazed, not to mention proud of myself for figuring out what must be a secret. From then on I'd move from speaker to speaker, or even unplug one or the other, to try to find differences or otherwise hidden parts.
As I got older I started choosing my own favorites, first from among my family's collection or prominent radio hits, then through cassettes bought mostly via BMG or Columbia House deals. I was forced into a year of piano in third grade, then school band in fifth. I had to sing in church with my brothers (in harmony: another amazing discovery!). By seventh, I started guitar, and things got really serious then: guitar-hero music, blues, classic rock, jazz, avant garde.
Probably nothing else--not literature, not movies or TV, not sports--has had the impact on me that music has. My tastes change, my favorites come and go, but the underlying well of joy that is music is always there.
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Post by kds on Apr 12, 2019 14:15:04 GMT
Oh yeah, BMG and Columbia House both helped me build up my CD collection in the late 90s / early 00s.
Speaking of tastes, other than a rap phase I went through in the early 90s, and a couple groups I liked in my early 20s, none of my favorites have really dropped off. But, even though I've given up on trying to find new bands, I do find myself digging deeper into catalogs that I had only casual interest before. In recent years, I've done that with Genesis, UFO, and Uriah Heep. I'm currently doing that with Journey.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 12, 2019 14:20:13 GMT
none of my favorites have really dropped off. Mine definitely do, but don't get me wrong: it's not that I'm ashamed of anything I've ever liked. And even though I don't necessarily return to certain things often, I still can say what it was I enjoyed about them (and still enjoy those same things). But as I've gotten excited about this or that thing, it almost necessarily pushes other things out of the core of my listening.
For example, it was all about "hair metal" in the mid to late 80s for me; in the early 90s it was more the classic rock of the 60s-70s; then I got into blues and jazz pretty heavily from the early to mid 90s; in the mid-90s to later I dug into things like Zappa and Beefheart; then the Beach Boys and Velvet Underground (oddly simultaneously and with similar zeal, despite them being very different); then Elephant 6 / twee indie pop and other indie rock/pop; then more into mainstream pop; and so on. I still like all of it.
These days I can't say I'm really into anything specific. I mostly just graze, spending a lot of time on my favorites of each year's current music, but going back to various touchstones of my previous favorites, too.
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Post by kds on Apr 12, 2019 14:27:44 GMT
none of my favorites have really dropped off. Mine definitely do, but don't get me wrong: it's not that I'm ashamed of anything I've ever liked. And even though I don't necessarily return to certain things often, I still can say what it was I enjoyed about them (and still enjoy those same things). But as I've gotten excited about this or that thing, it almost necessarily pushes other things out of the core of my listening.
For example, it was all about "hair metal" in the mid to late 80s for me; in the early 90s it was more the classic rock of the 60s-70s; then I got into blues and jazz pretty heavily from the early to mid 90s; in the mid-90s to later I dug into things like Zappa and Beefheart; then the Beach Boys and Velvet Underground (oddly simultaneously and with similar zeal, despite them being very different); then Elephant 6 / twee indie pop and other indie rock/pop; then more into mainstream pop; and so on. I still like all of it.
These days I can't say I'm really into anything specific. I mostly just graze, spending a lot of time on my favorites of each year's current music, but going back to various touchstones of my previous favorites, too.
Ah, that makes a little more sense. I do in spurts like that too at times. I'm finding that my listening habits are starting to become seasonal in recent years, where I listen to more heavy music in the colder months, and more upbeat stuff when it's warmer.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 12, 2019 14:33:56 GMT
Got anything to recommend for Day Three of a mid-April blizzard?
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 12, 2019 15:41:09 GMT
Got anything to recommend for Day Three of a mid-April blizzard? I do!
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Post by kds on Apr 12, 2019 15:52:16 GMT
Got anything to recommend for Day Three of a mid-April blizzard? Snowblind - Black Sabbath Snowman - Rainbow Cold as Ice - Foreigner Snowblind - Styx Hazy Shade of Winter - S&G Wintertime Love - The Doors Trapped Under Ice - Metallica A Winter's Tale - Queen
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 12, 2019 15:54:30 GMT
Got anything to recommend for Day Three of a mid-April blizzard? Snowblind - Black Sabbath Snowman - Rainbow Cold as Ice - Foreigner Snowblind - Styx Hazy Shade of Winter - S&G Wintertime Love - The Doors Trapped Under Ice - Metallica A Winter's Tale - Queen A Winter's Tale is too positive about things. Trapped Under Ice feels more like it...
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 12, 2019 16:19:24 GMT
Got anything to recommend for Day Three of a mid-April blizzard? Snowblind - Black Sabbath Snowman - Rainbow Cold as Ice - Foreigner Snowblind - Styx Hazy Shade of Winter - S&G Wintertime Love - The Doors Trapped Under Ice - Metallica A Winter's Tale - Queen kds, you keep giving me ideas for comps!
"Winter Symphony" - The Beach Boys ... Cuddle up in a cozy nook, with a warm drink and a book "By-tor And The Snow Dog" - Rush "Baby Ice Dog" - Blue Oyster Cult "December Snow" - The Moody Blues "Snow Blind" - Black Sabbath ... I know, I know "Snow Blind" - Ace Frehley
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Post by kds on Apr 12, 2019 16:40:19 GMT
Snowblind - Black Sabbath Snowman - Rainbow Cold as Ice - Foreigner Snowblind - Styx Hazy Shade of Winter - S&G Wintertime Love - The Doors Trapped Under Ice - Metallica A Winter's Tale - Queen kds, you keep giving me ideas for comps!
"Winter Symphony" - The Beach Boys ... Cuddle up in a cozy nook, with a warm drink and a book "By-tor And The Snow Dog" - Rush "Baby Ice Dog" - Blue Oyster Cult "December Snow" - The Moody Blues "Snow Blind" - Black Sabbath ... I know, I know "Snow Blind" - Ace Frehley
Running on Ice - Billy Joel Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day - Jethro Tull The Thin Ice - Pink Floyd Ice - Crack the Sky
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