inflames
My parents played allot of Shakin Stevens, CCR, ABBA and afrikaans music like David Kramer etc.
So I have to thank them for my strong Afrikaans bond with music!
Squonk
I was born in the early 60's, So i grew up on the The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Donovan,
I started very early and my Dad bought me "Pet Sounds" for my 6th Birthday(1969) Became a complete music nut and with the help of family in the UK absorbed the whole Glam Rock scene in the Early 70's ; Slade, Roxy Music, T-Rex, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, etc etc
My biggest musical discovery was this older boy next door who introduced me to The Who, Frank Zappa, Neil Young, Nektar, Pavlov's Dog, Yes, van der Graaf Generator, James Gang and plenty more, this was in 1973 (I was 10), So was a bit of a looney at school because no one understood my music taste at all. I do remember the girls all having a huge thing for David Cassidy!
In 1975 when my Dad moved to Hillbrow also opened up huge musical doors for me, I discovered the Hillbrow Record Center and I started buying Pink Floyd, Genesis, Incredible String band, Strawbs and as so much more.
The first song I have memory of is "Misery" The Beatles, whenever I got upset or angry, my Mom used to play it ?
Also have a strong memory of 16 tons, the Tom Jones Version.
Jack-Flash-Jr
My parents were musically illiterate, I had to steal my first Stones tape at 12. Before then it was Springbok Nude Girls and Movies that provided snippets of what music could be...
singemonkey
My parents are not dedicated music people like a lot of us, and were already scaling back listening to popular music when I was little. So, like Bob, I suspect, I recognise and can follow a lot of melodies from classical pieces that I couldn't actually name. I keep meaning to listen to more.
My Dad liked Paul Simon a lot. And I remember listening to a lot of that in the car on trips. Also some Abba mix tape ? There was a bit of Leonard Cohen to be heard on my old man's cassettes, most of Joni Mitchell's Blue, which remains a favourite to this day.
But what really knocked me out from when I was really little, was Elvis, and The Beatles. I've never lost the joy of those two sounds. Elvis, who could sing Twinkle twinkle little star and sound like he really freakin' meant it. And the Beatles who just couldn't do anything wrong. Every song was more exciting than the last.
There's one other standout who still kills me like he did when I was 5. Buddy Holly. They had a couple of cassettes. One was called, Golden Greats or something, and another had the soundtrack to American Graffiti - complete with Wolfman Jack coming in after every couple of tunes - and something (I think another soundtrack) called Let The Good Times Roll on the other side. These reminded them of their teenage years in the late fifties (my ma had her seventieth last Sunday).
Anyway, these tapes had things like Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, The Wanderer, Johnny B. Good, Teenangel (always used to skip that saccharine, but depressing little number), and Surfin' Safari. But what I was always waiting for was Buddy. Holy crap. That man could do no wrong. Some kind of genius. I recently got his complete works (Jeez, he was just a kid when he died. Ritchie Valens was 17 or something when he died in the same crash). His song-writing abilities almost seem supernatural.
Those were things I was grooving to before I knew anything at all. After we moved to Cape Town, my brother would listen to the top 40 and get tapes from my cousin, so I was exposed to most of the eighties pop sensations. There were some good ones too. Ah Ha was the Swedish band that really did something good. Any of you other fogeys remember Howard Jones? Madonna. Depeche Mode. Tears for Fears. But this was all my brother's music. And I kept up my little obsession with '50s and '60s music until meeting a guy in high school who also liked The Beatles. And he knew a couple of other things too. The Rolling Stones. Zeppelin. Sabbath...
chris77
My folks played mostly radio. One of my first memories of becoming musically aware is Walk of Life. Also had a lp of David Kramer named Bakgat Boogie IIRC. Loved that one.
singemonkey
Squonk wrote:
Roxy Music, T-Rex, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, etc etc
Have summa this:
singemonkey
chris77 wrote:
Also had a lp of David Kramer named Bakgat Boogie IIRC. Loved that one.
Well I'm a rooker,
I play snooker,
And ek smaaks my branderwyn,
And I've got me
Some chommies,
And they is jus' the same
I want to cover that one day.
Keira-WitherKay
anyone remember "record library's where just like book library's one could go become a member and take out vinyl LP's and keep em a week and bring em back ..... i listened to so much then ....... all the jazz , miles davis made an early impression .....so did herbie handcock..... frank zappa intuiged me , crosby stills,nash and young was my acoustic choice , i totally overplayed the woodstock (triple lp )if i recall till it was worn out by me...grea mix of acoustic and electric playing ..... joan baez's set at woodstock was incredible.... still saw the doccumentary of woodstock on old reel to reel ..and sat mezmerised the whole time and lastly i'm greatful for having access to the red and blue beatles lp's ( their greatest hits) ..all of this on vinyl of course........
and yeah don't you miss the record sleeves .that had fabulous photo's and a wealth of information .now days with cd's it's too small to be as "impressive" as a vinyl record sleeve . those sleeves are an art form in themselves....
but the jazz intruiged me the most ..despite my parents not being jazz fans'
Bob-Dubery
singemonkey wrote:
My parents are not dedicated music people like a lot of us, and were already scaling back listening to popular music when I was little. So, like Bob, I suspect, I recognise and can follow a lot of melodies from classical pieces that I couldn't actually name. I keep meaning to listen to more.
You have that too? I think I know zip about classical music, but it turns out that I know a lot of them tunes, I just don't know what they're called and who wrote 'em. Maybe some of that Reader's Digest collection did sink in. Some years ago I went to see the movie "Immortal Beloved" about Beethoven. What amazed me most was that I knew nearly all the music, just hadn't known that it was Beethoven.
singemonkey
Stratisfear wrote:
The Bee Gees: that yellow cassette with a compilation of their early stuff - I think '67 to '70, IIRC
I had this on heavy rotation when I was about 9. Knockout tunes. What's that tune, Something Mining Disaster? Just brilliant.
Jack-Flash-Jr
singemonkey wrote:
Squonk wrote:
Roxy Music, T-Rex, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, etc etc
Have summa this:
My son Jack's favourite song is 20th Century Boy, he calls it the "heavy one"... he's just turned 3. Wait... what thread am I in? it's confusing when the parent thread is the one about kids. Wait... whatever.
Bob-Dubery
singemonkey wrote:
Stratisfear wrote:
The Bee Gees: that yellow cassette with a compilation of their early stuff - I think '67 to '70, IIRC
I had this on heavy rotation when I was about 9. Knockout tunes. What's that tune, Something Mining Disaster? Just brilliant.
New York Mining Disaster 1941. Great song. I play that one and I always enjoy playing it. Early on the Bee Gees had some good songs - much better than the disco-era stuff.
dee
"Liewe Heksie en die helikopter."
I kid you not. This thing was on permanent rotation on the LP player. Don't blame me. I was young and impressionable.
My first real exposure to music was my brothers CD's. Green Day, Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden. I did not really pay much attention before that.
singemonkey
Jack Flash Jr wrote:
My son Jack's favourite song is 20th Century Boy, he calls it the "heavy one"... he's just turned 3.
I think Marc Bolan invented the rock and roll star. You just need to see Zeppelin before and after T-rex. Jimmy Page is night and day. Every guitar player saw that and though, "Hell, so that's what you've gotta do to look the part?" and went to the mirror to practise pouting.
Jack-Flash-Jr
singemonkey wrote:
Jack Flash Jr wrote:
My son Jack's favourite song is 20th Century Boy, he calls it the "heavy one"... he's just turned 3.
I think
Marc Bolan Elvis Presley invented the rock and roll star. You just need to see Zeppelin before and after T-rex. Jimmy Page is night and day. Every guitar player saw that and though, "Hell, so that's what you've gotta do to look the part?" and went to the mirror to practise pouting.
FTFY
Bolan used to play seated in hippy drag, I wonder who influenced him?
Jack-Flash-Jr
There's a feather boa:
According to wiki:
Bolan and his producer Tony Visconti sorted out the session for "Ride a White Swan" and the single changed Bolan's career almost overnight. Recorded on 1 July 1970 and released later that year, making slow progress in the UK Top 40, it finally peaked in early 1971 at No. 2. Bolan and Visconti largely (and, in many ways, unwittingly) invented the style that would become glam rock and helped restore a brash and exciting feel, when rock bands had grown increasingly self-important.
Bolan took to wearing top hats and feather boas on stage as well as putting drops of glitter on each of his cheekbones. Stories are conflicting about his inspiration for this—some say it was initially introduced by his personal assistant, the late Chelita Secunda, although Bolan told John Pidgeon in a 1974 interview on Radio 1 that he noticed the glitter on his wife's dressing table prior to a photo session and just casually daubed some on his face there and then. Other performers—and their fans—soon took up variations on the idea.
The glam era also saw the rise of Bolan's friend David Bowie, whom Bolan had come to know in the underground days (Bolan had played guitar on Bowie's 1970 single "Prettiest Star"). Before long, even Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart and Grand Funk Railroad dabbed on a little glitter.
Squonk
singemonkey wrote:
Jack Flash Jr wrote:
My son Jack's favourite song is 20th Century Boy, he calls it the "heavy one"... he's just turned 3.
I think Marc Bolan invented the rock and roll star. You just need to see Zeppelin before and after T-rex. Jimmy Page is night and day. Every guitar player saw that and though, "Hell, so that's what you've gotta do to look the part?" and went to the mirror to practise pouting.
Seriously, Bolan must have been a huge influence on many musicians at that time and even now. I even hear bits of Bolan in Prince's best work!
I was a huge fan ?
PeteM
I took to music at a very early age, 3 years' old, and would sit for hours on end in front of my parent's record player listening to a variety of music from Bizet’s Farandole and Gilbert and Sullivan to Glen Miller, George Formby and Noel Coward. On my 4th birthday, I can distinctly remember getting a ukulele and a 78RPM record with “Pop Goes the Weasel” on one side and “My Banjo On My Knee” on the other. So the first song I ever learned to play on my uke was “My Banjo”. I'm told that at the same age I was highly fascinated by the local school's bugle band, and would insist on going to their practices.
As a 9 year old I had to catch 2 buses to get to school and the terminal for changing buses was outside the Durban City Hall where the city orchestra used to have their practices. I would skip the connecting bus and go to their practices sitting all on my own at the back of the hall fascinated by the sound of the different instruments. I would then catch a bus home an hour later.
From about age 10, I was exposed to LM Radio and became hooked on artists like Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Bill Haley and the Comets and of course Elvis. I would work the songs out on my uke. I remember going to a concert around that time at the Durban Ice Rink featuring a guitarist by the name of Duane Eddy and was hooked on the guitar. But all the while I still enjoyed listening to classical music and trad Jazz... Louis Armstrong in particular. I finally acquired a guitar at about age 11 and having those bass notes was a revelation. Then came Buddy Holly, The Shadows and of course the Beatles... also Peter Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, The Rolling Stones and all of the Mersey Beat Bands of the 60s... and so at age 12 it was time to form a band.... and the rest is history.
I believe that being exposed to and embracing a variety of music at an early age has been enormously beneficial particularly regarding the writing and arranging of music.
NOTE: Verbosity is the prerogative of a 64 year old.
