Musical Journeys

[Figglyduff]

So, I was wondering- and pardon for the lameness of this, but what are people's musical journeys? What was the first song you ever loved, and did the music you were exposed to as a child influence your taste today?

For me, the first song I ever loved was 'Fire' by the Crazy world of Arthur Brown. I had it on tape for my 'My First Walkman' (not actually a Walkman because it wasn't Sony, I think it was Fisher Price- it was yellow with big rubber buttons- beautiful!) and I used to really love that song, as well as others on the same compilation like 'Blackberry Way' by the Moves and 'Mellow Yellow' by Donovan. I still really love all that stuff because it reminds me of family holidays, although there was a period of about 10 years when I stopped listening to it. There are some more embarassing things which I enjoyed too, such as Meatloaf and musical/ Disney soundtracks, but we won't go into that... when I reached my teens I was just into Britpop bands like Blur and Pulp, so really my taste just seems kind of boring and similar, and it doesn't feel like my music taste has changed much since I was 5 :D

I'd be interested to hear about other people's musical histories!

[DrinkTeaEatBooks]

My first musical memories are of being in my mother's car listening to Rubber Soul, which to this day has always been my favourite Beatles album. I was a huge fan of the Beatles pretty much exclusively as a kid. Especially as, in my juvenile mind, I had exhausted the possibilities of the radio - as they had started to play the same songs again. I have also since loved the way that the world makes sense to a child. I also started having piano lessons at around age 4 or so, which I remember vividly.

When I was about 10 I bought Different Class, and fell in love, and I have to say that still carries on to this day. I was also into Oasis and the Verve. That doesn't. I also began to learn the accordion when I was about 9, which at the time wasn't exactly too hot, but I'm really glad of it now.

I listened to 80's Metallica, Nirvana and Dookie, primarily through peer pressure, when I hit 13, and at 14 I got my first guitar. I shifted to the Sex Pistols, the Dead Kennedys and the first Clash album, and then to the early Manic Street Preachers, My Vitriol, the Dandy Warhols, The White Stripes (a bit before White Blood Cells hit.), the Wildhearts, Ash, Placebo and others at this age.

I started listening to 80's R.E.M., at about age 15, by my reckoning (HAH.), and, crucially, bought the Kinks' (and less crucially, the Who's) greatest hits. This continued for a couple of years, until easyworld found me, and later, on a whim, I happened across the Apples in Stereo. Beulah followed, as did Dressy Bessy, and I can only assume everybody else here has had a similar awakening. This was when I was about 16. My musical tastes changed very fast in those 3 years, but in the last 3, it barely seems to have changed at all, merely deepened.

There are still some bands from varying stages of my teenage years that I openly love - Black Sabbath, the Dead Kennedys, My Vitriol, and a few more, but most of my old albums sit collecting dust at home, or have been given to friends. I can't say I'm that embarrased of any of it, mind.

Oh, and I think one of my first CDs was the Aladdin soundtrack.

[Figglyduff]

Wow, that's really similar to me, Aladdin was one of my first CDs too! :P I also had a time of listening to the Sex Pistols and The Clash and stuff like that, but I just can't listen to it anymore, I don't know why. I was also a huge Manics fan but I haven't listened to them in years, its so sad :(

[gwilym]

I used to listen to The Beatles a lot. I had the anthologies and listened to them quite frequently, along with a Stereophonics CD, and the wallflowers. I loved the stereophonics because I thought it was amazing that they were Welsh too. I was a dumb kid. I would always listen to the Beatles while in Wales and now pretty much every time I listen to them it reminds me of that.

Then I listened to a lot of shittu nu metal and pop punk.

From there I started listening to bands like AFI and Bad Religion, and Anti-Flag, and then I got really into anarcho punk in like 8th/9th grade with Crass and Aus-Rotten. Then I got out of that and started listening to stuff like GYBE! and NMH and a bunch of indie bands, and screamo/emo and hardcore in 9th-10th grade.

Now I listen to a lot of indian music, jazz, experimental stuff and psych and folk.

[Edited on 2-5-2006 by gwilym]

[DrinkTeaEatBooks]

Originally posted by Figglyduff
Wow, that's really similar to me, Aladdin was one of my first CDs too! :P I also had a time of listening to the Sex Pistols and The Clash and stuff like that, but I just can't listen to it anymore, I don't know why. I was also a huge Manics fan but I haven't listened to them in years, its so sad :(

It's really surprising how many people you know actually had the Aladdin soundtrack as a kid. As far as I'm aware, everybody that I remember talking about it to seems to have owned a copy. It was my girlfriend's first CD, and a lot of friends have it. Hallmark of our generation, I guess. I just remember a rainy trip to Skegness, being holed up in a tiny bedroom listening to 'You Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me' on repeat. For several hours. Good times.

I'm also rather glad that I haven't listened to the Manic Street Preachers in years.

[sandocho]

When I was like 5 or 6, I said my favorite band was The Beach Boys. I didn't really know much about them other than that my dad owned the Pet Sounds LP. I even improvised my own Beach Boys-inspired song called "Horse in the Water" on a little tape recorder.

I didn't really have much musical taste for my childhood, but my two older brothers went through stages which I heard--The Beatles, then gangster rap, then ska, and so on.

When I was about twelve, I heard Tom Waits on NPR and loved him. I forget which song it was now, though. My dad bought his newest album, Real Gone, for me on my birthday, my first CD. He pretty much became my favorite artist--I listened to him almost exclusively. He got my into other alternative artists like Captain Beefheart, John Zorn, Sun Ra, Pere Ubu, etc.

From John Zorn, I started listened to lots of more avantgarde stuff--Merzbow, John Cage, Melt Banana, etc.

I was thirteen when my friend turned me on to some modern indie music like Sufjan Stevens, and that became the next strand of my musical addiction... guys like Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire, The Fiery Furnaces, and The Decemberists.

A magical record named In An Aeroplane Over the Sea turned me onto Elephant 6, and I now devour music from the collective.

I still love acts like Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits, but it's strange... I started out with a naive interest in The Beach Boys, veered off into the extremes of experiment music, and came out listening to Elephant 6 bands that made pop music like The Beach Boys. It's like I rediscovered them at the opposite end of the spectrum.

And that's my story.