things that formed the bent of your ear
some of the things that played a major role in the evolution of my musical tastes ( rough chronological order):
My dads Ventures records- my introduction to the wonders of brightly jacketed 12 inch black plastic tickets that took you some place different each time you hopped on the bus. it was the concept more than the music at this point, although the tunes did cause my unfledged tail feathers to shake with clumsy glee.
British invasion - almost every memory I can still conjure from 1964-65 is tied to a song by one of the many British bands ruling the airwaves at this time.
The movie Help- after seeing this, Hermans Hermits were over for me.
High Tides and Green Grass- the point of no return
First pubic hair- hormonal chaos, an important first step in my appreciation of rock and roll.
First electric guitar
Large groups of LPs gathered together in one place to entice and taunt my young penniless soul- flipping through albums .lured by the artwork, the band appearance and the song titles/length.
KSHE FM radio out of St. Louis - when I wasnt listening to it, I was taping it.
Natural herbs- smoke also gets in your ears
Circus magazine-early 70s; Creem magazine -mid to later 70s
My dads Ventures records- my introduction to the wonders of brightly jacketed 12 inch black plastic tickets that took you some place different each time you hopped on the bus. it was the concept more than the music at this point, although the tunes did cause my unfledged tail feathers to shake with clumsy glee.
British invasion - almost every memory I can still conjure from 1964-65 is tied to a song by one of the many British bands ruling the airwaves at this time.
The movie Help- after seeing this, Hermans Hermits were over for me.
High Tides and Green Grass- the point of no return
First pubic hair- hormonal chaos, an important first step in my appreciation of rock and roll.
First electric guitar
Large groups of LPs gathered together in one place to entice and taunt my young penniless soul- flipping through albums .lured by the artwork, the band appearance and the song titles/length.
KSHE FM radio out of St. Louis - when I wasnt listening to it, I was taping it.
Natural herbs- smoke also gets in your ears
Circus magazine-early 70s; Creem magazine -mid to later 70s
Comments
Then the old turntable broke and I went through a 'Top 40' stage (we won't dwell on that).
Then, aged 17, I moved into a shared house with 5 others. 3 were in separate bands, one played a mean guitar and the fifth owned the fiercest hi-fi
this side of Mars - the speakers only just fit through the doors! Boy, was I impressed. All records were pooled and kept in the living room.
And what a collection: Aretha Franklin, Bowie, Bob Marley, Clash, Cream, the Cramps.... right through to Zappa.
The 'Top 40' went right out of the window after that.
edited - typo
When I was about 10 or so, we had Billy Joel's Greatest Hits and we listened to that on long vacation car rides over and over again.
Thereafter I got into Top 40 to some extent, but still didn't listen all that much.
Then came Siamese Dream, and here we are.
Craig
i think bowie's "young americans" played when the neighbor girl + her newfound boobies were occurring in a tucked away side room.
certainly tripping across nick cave's stuff ("sad waters" is - unknowingly - written about me + mary...) is monumental.
gun club's first two records.
stage diving at a naked raygun's show - lol!
cramps as well.
husker du.
90s were abandoned.
i think moving out of my prescriptive turf at emusic was critical. (blues/lo-fi/garage). truly hitting stride to explore...
While Michael Jackson's Thriller and Paul Simon's Graceland got me going as a kid in the 80s, most of musical upbringing was shaped by my sisters. It was not until joining a certain CD club and ordering Pearl Jam's Ten and Blind Melon's debut that I began to explore things on my own and started a collection that would take over my life for the next couple of decades.
I had once planned a blog post that would include the 10 most influential albums on my musical nature, but never finished it. Let me see if I can recreate the list at least:
Paul Simon - Graceland
Pearl Jam - Ten
Yo La Tengo - Electro-Pur-A
Orbital - Snivilization
New Order - Substance
Sloan - Navy Blues
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Suba - Sao Paulo Confessions
Stan Getz & Jo
martyna - Recently I have hardly been able to listen to Siamese Dream. Not sure why, and it makes me sad, but regardless of how I feel about the album at a given time it will always be THE album as far as I'm concerned.
Craig
A Band of BeesFree The Bees
Amon TobinPermutation
Arcade FireFuneral
Bebel GilbertoTanto Tempo
Black UhuruSinsemilla
Boards of CanadaChildren Have The Right To Music
Burning SpearCreation Rebel: The Original Classic Recordings From Studio One
Count BasieListen My Children And You Shall Hear
Dave BrubeckTime Out
DJ ShadowEntroducing
Don CaballeroAmerican Don
Duke EllingtonLatin American Suite
FugaziRepeater + 3 Songs
Jaga JazzistWhat We Must
John ColtraneOle Coltrane
Led ZeppelinHouses of the Holy
Miles DavisKind of Blue
Nati Canos Mariachi Los CamperosLlegaron Los Camperos!: Nati Canos Mariachi Los Camperos
Nick DrakePink Moon
Nitin SawhneyBeyond Skin
Paris ComboMotifs
The Future Sound of LondonLifeforms
YesTales from Topographic Oceans
Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Isaac SternShostakovich: Trio, Op.67/Sonata, Op.40
Each of these albums, at the time, challenged me to listen a little further afield and to think a little more about what preconceived notions I might be holding.
If I were to think some more I'm sure it would change and get a lot longer so I'll post it now:
Misty in Roots - Live at Counter Eurovision 79
Led Zeppelin - any of the first 5 albums, I got to hear them all at once
Bowie - any of the first 6 albums
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
The Clash - London Calling
Taj Mahal - Taj Mahal
Linton Kwesi Johnson - In Dub Vol. 2
The Coasters - All Time Greatest Hits
Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones
Portishead - Dummy
Underworld - (take your pick)
Apart from whole albums there have been individual tracks which stand out
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Car Wash - Rose Royce
Waterfalls - TLC
Can't we Live - Jestofunk
Brown Paper Bag - Roni Size/Reprazent
Raining Again (Steve Angello's vocal mix) - Moby
I Can't Give You Up - Smoove & Turrell
"seasons of geezer,
an argument of organs.
music fills the cracks."