Evolution of your musical taste

[Jimi75]

Hey fellow fretters,

How did your musical taste develop?

I have an older brother and the whole day Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix and Deep purple records were played in our house. When he wasn't at home, my mom listened to classic music and some Elvis stuff besides all the Italian music my father listened to :)

This guitar oriented sound influenced me, but before I bought my first record I was more the radio and pop chart guy (08-12years).

Then with 12 I received a copy of Metallica's "Master Of Puppets" and I was totally into Metal, Metallica, Malmsteen, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer and so on.

With 15 I turned into alternative stuff like Pearl Jam which I really love. Through Pearl Jam I learned about classics like Neil young, Pink Floyd, Tom Petty and so I found out that beside solos there is something called "the song" and song structure.Almost at the same time I listened to quite a lot of Satriani and Vai and I was dreaming of goign to Berkeley college or the G.I.T. to study music. I was a hybrid between songwriter and shredder.

During that time I played the guitar intesively and my musical taste was a melting pot. I was more and more impressed by Jimi Hendrix and at one point with 17 I listened to Hendrix, Eric Gales and SRV only...from there on I discovered the blues (I guess all this started after seeing the Crossroad movie) in all its different forms, from Robert Johnson to BB King.
With the blues came some Jazz and I later focused on blues rock oriented music until today. I think that is what I like most because it gives me the most besides soundtrack music for which I discovered my passion some years ago - it was so relaxing to listen to music where no guitar is played.

I have never denied any type of music I once listened to, still love to blast some Metal when driving my car on the Autobahn....and still go to Metallica concerts. Old love never rusts :DR

I think I kind of missed the classic rock phase with Led Zeppelin and so on, although my bro' played all those records at home, but WHO care? :D

[Tone2TheBone]

When I was 13 I picked up playing the guitar. Back then I was in Junior High (not Middle School) and bands like AC/DC, Aerosmith, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Ted Nugent etc. were extremely popular. AC/DC was easy to play so I learned all my chords and timing from them. During high school I played trumpet and guitar in Jazz band so I picked up an appreciation for that type of music as well as progressive rock/jazz fusion. In college I majored in Fine Arts so I got heavily into classical music and especially loved music from the Baroque era. All my earlier influences never left me though. I guess I learned to appreciate many forms of music as long as it rocked or was melodic or had a catchy riff or phrase....or funny. Some college guys got me into Frank Zappa, The Talking Heads, King Crimson.... Blues has always been #1 in my heart though. It brings me home!

And I've always loved Rush yeahhhh!!!

[marnold]

Ahh yes. Back when I was growing up my Mom listened to a lot of well, crap, not to put too fine a point on it. A lot of Anne Murray, the Lettermen, and Barry Manilow. Occasionally, she's put on some 50s stuff. My Dad was into Big Band stuff. There was also Lutheran church music which got me interested particularly in Baroque-era music. I didn't have my own radio or cassette player until the end of my grade school years.

Then I became interested (through my uncle) in Queen. Influenced by my uncle's acoustic playing of 60s/70s stuff, I attempted to learn to play acoustic. I had a terrible one that made playing a nightmare. Plus my instructor wanted me to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (and no, not the SRV version) and stuff like that that sucked what little fun I was having right out of it.

When I was a freshman in high school, a classmate of mine with a sweet stereo played Dokken's "Tooth and Nail" and Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" for me. It was one of those epiphanies. From that point on I became a full-blown metalhead, much to the chagrin of some of my friends. To the chagrin of my metalhead friends, I also liked The Police and 80s New Wave stuff. My senior year I discovered the bass and taught myself to play. About that time I also discovered Yngwie whose fusion of Baroque and metal was right up my street.

When I got to college, I first heard about Stevie Ray Vaughan. That was my first foray into the blues. While in college I tried to get a metal band together. Failing that, I played bass in a bluegrass band (of all things) for a couple of years. After the Sem, I sold my bass--a move I've regretted ever since. About eight years ago, I got into electric guitar. I remembered a friend of mine in college becoming a pretty good guitarist from the Metal Method course. I picked it up and have been teaching myself ever since. The first full song I taught myself was Monty Python's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." The first "real" songs I taught myself were "Walk, Don't Run" by the Ventures and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" by Van Halen.

[duhvoodooman]

I was a couple of weeks shy of 13 years old when the Beatles made their US debut on the Ed Sullivan Show in Feb. '64. They were my (and the rest of America's) favorite rock act for a couple of years, until I first heard Fresh Cream and the guitar wizardry of Eric Clapton. "Wow, what the heck is that?", I remember thinking. I'd never heard the guitar played like that before! I also acquired the Bluesbreakers Beano album to hear more of EC, and that was my first real exposure to blues. Shortly after, I picked up a guitar for the first time. I quickly developed an interest in the work of the other "guitar gods" of the late 60's, notably Hendrix, Jeff Beck (Truth) and Jimmy Page, with the first LZ album, all of whom had heavy blues influences. The Stones, Santana and the Who were also favorites, and the first Allman Bros. album made a huge impression on me. I really liked the early Marshall Tucker stuff, too; Toy Caldwell was a very gifted and original sounding guitarist. And I've been a big Springsteen fan since hearing The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle in fall of '73. The Eagles and Steely Dan were mid-70's favorites.

Late in the 70's and into the early 80's, I was heavily into Mark Knofpler/Dire Straits, Steve Morse/Dixie Dregs, and (of course!!) SRV when he broke big in '83. As you can see, I'm definitely a classic rock/blues type of guy. Which is probably why I liked the Black Crowes so much when they hit the scene in the early 90's. Lately, I've developed an interest in vintage Van Halen, which I had pretty much ignored the first time around. I listen to a pretty wide variety of stuff these days, both old and newer, but still concentrated in those genres.

[marnold]

I almost forgot to add that when I was a bass player I also became interested in funk. FWIW, this is my favorite funk song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tgWS9c4kI8), although it is really a funk/disco hybrid as so many songs of that era were. Get down wich yo' bad self!

[t_ross33]

I grew up in a household filled with music. Country music. Lots and lots of country music. My Dad was a musician and played in bands from the time he was a teenager, so there was always jammin' at the Ross house.

Lots of folks in our community played an instrument of some sort, so any social gathering was always good for a jam. Lots of old-timey country, a little rock and roll (in the classic sense of the term), and dance band type music around.

Picked up bass and a little acoustic guitar around 11 yrs old and played with my Dad and other local bands throughout my teen years - mostly country stuff.

Favorites to this day include Johnny Cash, Waylon, Willie, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens...

I had some older cousins who were very much into classic rock. I got Ace Frehley's solo album, and Supertramp's Breakfast in America for my 10th birthday - my first rock albums!

Along the way, I picked up on southern rock, more classic rock, punk, new-wave, metal and, of all things, zydego.

SRV introduced me to the blues - which I love to this day.

And then there was RUSH! Rush was (is) my all time favorite! A guitar playing buddy tweaked me on to them when I was about 14 and I couldn't get enough. New album coming out this year!! Can't wait!!

I'm a music sponge. I soak it all up.

That's my story.

Trev

[Iago]

I listened to a lot of Iron Maiden, Dio, Uriah Heep stuff when I was about 10 (1994). That's all I had at home (my grandma's actually, where I would stay for the afternoon till mom or dad came back from work).. It was the kind of stuff my uncle used to hear (I remember being 3 or 4 and seeing him lock himself in his room and turn the music really loud heheh) and all that was available at the time. At my house my dad had brazilian popular music albums and bossa nova.. but that never called me attention back then.

beetween that I would listen to pop-ish like Aerosmith, Tears For Fears some really mixed stuff.. you can even throw The Pet Shop Boys in the soup!

Then Kurt Cobain from Nirvana died.. and there was all that repercussion.. So I listened to a lot of Nirvana.. almost everyday for a whole year.. (I didn't had a guitar by this time, lets say.. 95-1996).

Nirvana made me turn to noisy-punkish-indie music.. so in those years my favorite bands became The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, Pavement, Placebo, Superchunk among others.. I would listen to a couple songs by Led Zeppelin, Hendrix and Clapton too at that time.

Then I started playing guitar (feb. 2001) and for 1 more year that was all I listened to.. when I started researching about my favorite bands influences. Billy Corgan would say that Black Sabbath's Master of Reality changed his life, somebody else would talk about Hendrix and Clapton.. thats when I started looking for the older stuff and really digging it. Black Sabbath was the first 70's rock band that I can say I really dug.. Hendrix was just too progressive for me at the time, Zeppelin almost the same. Sabbath's first album made me comprehend what was the "bluesier" kind of rock soloing. From there I could understand the more "complicated" (to me) stuff and I started to look for "guitar heroes" albums, getting crazy about guitar tones and discovered the beauty of the old blues.

And the story keeps going :)

[sunvalleylaw]

Earliest memories: (the next three periods cover the later 60s through early to mid 70s)

Lawrence Welk
Ray Conniff Singers
Andy Williams
Herp Albert and the tijuana brass
The Carpenters
Glenn Campbell show
EDIT: Kid's versions of Puff the Magic Dragaon, Tie me Kangaroo down and the like.
EDIT: The Catholic Nuns at my grade school leading us in "Blowing in the Wind". :p
Bing Crosby
Burt Bacharach
(some of the artists were my parents 8 track music, the rest radio and tv)

First things I liked independent of my parents:
Jackson 5
Yellow Submarine era Beatles
Schoolhouse Rock
Monkees
John Denver

Then I listened to radio in the car my folks were driving, as we travelled to go skiing, mostly AM. Cat in the Cradle (can't remember artist), Moody Blues, Jim Croce, Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Raindrops (can't remember artist), Steppenwolf, America, Eagles, James Taylor, 10CC I am sure there are more. Also liked Beach Boys

First stuff I owned (mid 70s):

Bachman Turner Overdrive, Not Fragile
Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Greatest Hits
Chicago, a whole bunch. 25 or 6 to 4 was my football warm up song (I liked the earlier stuff's piano and brass, remember, I was taking piano at the time, Especially loved syncopated piano and anything honkey tonkish), Kiss
Frampton Comes Alive
Also, began to hear things like:
Steve Miller, Fly like an Eagle
Deep Purple

Then (1976 or so through 1979) a big shift into:
VanHalen, first album
Boston, First album
Kansas
Zeppelin
EDIT: forgot to mention Pink Floyd, a big influence at the time.
Lynyrd Skynrd
Foghat
Fleetwood Mac
Foreigner
Queen
Yes
I'll admit to some Styx and such too.

Then (1980-81) changed again and focused on:
Early Beatles (primarily red album, some blue album)
Early Stones (Hotrocks)
Jazz, primarily fusion, such as Jeff Lorber Fusion. John Klemmer, Spyro Gyra, Silk (a fusion of some fusion artists)
George Benson
Earth Wind and Fire, a whole lot.

College, at University of Washington in Seattle 1981-1985, got there and listened mostly to:

Elvis Costello
Clash
U2
Kingbees (rockabilly before Stray Cats)
Stray Cats
EDIT: FORGOT TO MENTION THE ROMANTICS, I really liked them!
Head East
Springsteen (before Born in the USA, emphasize The River, and Born to Run)
AC/DC
Def Leppard
B52s
EDIT: HOW COULD I FORGET DEVO AND JOE JACKSON!
EDIT: UB40 and similar reggae, Jimmy Cliff, and Peter Tosh
Specials
English Beat, the Beat
Police
The Pretenders
Some Jimmy Buffet
Violent Femmes, (a lot!)
Talking Heads
Much, but not all of what was on the first 2-3 years of MTV, kind of got away from Van Halen, etc. and any concert/arena oriented rock
Emphasis on uptempo, 4/4 time songs that are over in about 2 minutes. Very few guitar solo songs.
Still, the Beatles and Stones, fusion jazz and EWF and Benson
Classical, and other instrumental (George Winston for example) for study tunes.
I am sure there is more.

Law School (Salem, OR, near Portland), add to college list:
SRV
REM
the Untouchables
The Replacements
Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper
Crazy 8s (ska based Portland, OR band)
More Reggae, Bob Marley, Wailers, others.
Warren Zevon
I think I bought Bon Jovi's Slippery when Wet too.

Post school, adult life, add to the above:

Most of the 90s were Grunge (Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, etc., some Pearl Jam, like Crazy Mary) and neo punk (Greenday, Offspring) oriented, living at the time in Tacoma, near Seattle. Also, add in things like Blues Traveler, Paul Westerberg, EDIT: NEIL YOUNG, starting with Harvest Moon and Unplugged, Tom Petty, post Clash projects.
Essentially two playlists (I have both on my iPod), adult contemp. and alternative (like Cowboy Junkies, Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Raitt, REM and post REM, Michelle Shocked, etc.) and end of the dial "harder" alternative playlists (like Seattle's 107.7 the End), including all the punky stuff above, the grunge stuff, and things like Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Jane's Addiction, etc.

Since then, continue to add artists to the above two type of playlists. Got a little stagnant out here in Idaho, and after having kids. Returned to classic rock and started learning more about earlier stuff I had heard but not really listened to, like earlier Neil Young, Hendrix, influences of SRV, people influenced by SRV, I added a lot to my blues and jazz playlists, going back in time. (Albert King, Coltrane, etc.)
Spud and others here have turned me onto a whole bunch of new stuff, and my taking up guitar has renewed my interest in guitar oriented music in general. More blues, more jazz, more classic rock. And the list continues! :DR :R :D


EDIT: Sorry for being so long winded. It was a fun exercise to try to remember back and track forward for myself!

[ted s]

My earliest memory.. I was maybe 5 or 6 when I got my first record player for Christmas, one of those Mickey Face and arm things, listened to those Disney records. Early one Sat. morning I found my parents old 45's. I can remember playing The Beatles Revolution over and over. There was some Animals and Canned Heat in there as well. I draw a blank after that until the mid late 70's, Styx, Aerosmith etc. I guess the 80's were VanHalen, Rush, Tom Petty, The Cult, Neil Young, Pink Floyd and some metal. I guess it wasn't until the late 80's I discovered SRV and Robert Cray. All those flavours pretty much stick with me today with a new found appreciation for some old Bluesmen like BB King, Buddy Guy, Muddy and the like.

What a great topic ! Thanks Jimi !

[Spudman]

Earliest memories: (the next three periods cover the later 60s through early to mid 70s)

EDIT: Sorry for being so long winded. It was a fun exercise to try to remember back and track forward for myself!

As long as you don't charge us by the word it's OK.:D

[Spudman]

1964 I was living in Germany and for my fourth birthday I got a portable record player and 3 45's. One was the Statler Brothers - Counting Flowers On The Wall, another was Roger Miller - Dang Me/Trailers For Sale Or Rent and the third was the Beatles - I Wanna Hold Your Hand. I was hooked totally by the Beatles.

From then on I turned to radio for my salvation until 1970. At that point I moved to Montana and radio was a moot point. Luckily a couple of years later my brother came back from the military in Germany and brought his album collection. He made 8 track tapes of Yes, Doobie Bros., Tower Of Power, Fleetwood Mac. Yes held the power over me at that point and I also started buying my own music. The Beatles, Mahogany Rush, Ten Years After, Jimi Hendrix, Nektar, Foghat, Return To Forever.

In Jr. High I spent the night at a friends house and they played something that totally blew me away Deep Purple - Who Do We Think We Are. Now I felt like I had been whisked away to another planet. Robbin Trower followed shortly after.

Then I started playing in bands. We covered Fleetwood Mac, Frampton, Aerosmith, Styx, Eagles. In high school it became Zep, Budgie, Reggie Knighton, Original music, Thin Lizzy, Boston, Queen, Rainbow, Deep Purple.

Out on the road after high school it became Y&T, Sprigsteen, Scorpions, Judas Priest, Van Halen, Whitesnake and whatever top 40 crap it took to keep eating.

The early 1990's became the blues awareness phase. Luther Allison, Stevie Vaughn, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Lonnie Mack.

After all that I've come back to the music that I found the most soul stirring for me, progressive. The Flower Kings, Karmakanic, The Tangent, Spock's Beard, Porcupine Tree, Marillion or anyone else who falls under that banner.

Throughout all these phases I listened to almost everybody you could think of and played a wide variety of their music. You name it, Jazz, Swing, Ska, Reggae, Pop, Metal, Rock, Funk. I just love music!

[tot_Ou_tard]

Earliest memories: (the next three periods cover the later 60s through early to mid 70s)

Lawrence Welk
Ray Conniff Singers
Andy Williams
Herp Albert and the tijuana brass
The Carpenters
Glenn Campbell show
EDIT: Kid's versions of Puff the Magic Dragaon, Tie me Kangaroo down and the like.
EDIT: The Catholic Nuns at my grade school leading us in "Blowing in the Wind". :p
Bing Crosby
Burt Bacharach
(some of the artists were my parents 8 track music, the rest radio and tv)

First things I liked independent of my parents:
Jackson 5
Yellow Submarine era Beatles
Schoolhouse Rock
Monkees
John Denver

Then I listened to radio in the car my folks were driving, as we travelled to go skiing, mostly AM. Cat in the Cradle (can't remember artist), Moody Blues, Jim Croce, Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Raindrops (can't remember artist), Steppenwolf, America, Eagles, James Taylor, 10CC I am sure there are more. Also liked Beach Boys

First stuff I owned (mid 70s):

Bachman Turner Overdrive, Not Fragile
Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Greatest Hits
Chicago, a whole bunch. 25 or 6 to 4 was my football warm up song (I liked the earlier stuff's piano and brass, remember, I was taking piano at the time, Especially loved syncopated piano and anything honkey tonkish), Kiss

Then (1976 or so through 1979) a big shift into:
VanHalen, first album
Boston, First album
Kansas
Zeppelin
EDIT: forgot to mention Pink Floyd, a big influence at the time.
Lynyrd Skynrd
Foghat
Fleetwood Mac
Foreigner
Queen
Yes
I'll admit to some Styx and such too.

Then (1980-81) changed again and focused on:
Early Beatles (primarily red album, some blue album)
Early Stones (Hotrocks)
Jazz, primarily fusion, such as Jeff Lorber Fusion. John Klemmer, Spyro Gyra, Silk (a fusion of some fusion artists)
George Benson
Earth Wind and Fire, a whole lot.

College, at University of Washington in Seattle 1981-1985, got there and listened mostly to:

Elvis Costello
Clash
U2
Kingbees (rockabilly before Stray Cats)
Stray Cats
EDIT: FORGOT TO MENTION THE ROMANTICS, I really liked them!
Head East
Springsteen (before Born in the USA, emphasize The River, and Born to Run)
AC/DC
Def Leppard
B52s
EDIT: UB40 and similar reggae, Jimmy Cliff, and Peter Tosh
Specials
English Beat, the Beat
Police
The Pretenders
Some Jimmy Buffet
Violent Femmes, (a lot!)
Talking Heads
Much, but not all of what was on the first 2-3 years of MTV, kind of got away from Van Halen, etc. and any concert/arena oriented rock
Emphasis on uptempo, 4/4 time songs that are over in about 2 minutes. Very few guitar solo songs.
Still, the Beatles and Stones, fusion jazz and EWF and Benson
Classical, and other instrumental (George Winston for example) for study tunes.
I am sure there is more.

Law School (Salem, OR, near Portland), add to college list:
SRV
REM
the Untouchables
The Replacements
Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper
Crazy 8s (ska based Portland, OR band)
More Reggae, Bob Marley, Wailers, others.
Warren Zevon
I think I bought Bon Jovi's Slippery when Wet too.

Post school, adult life, add to the above:

Most of the 90s were Grunge (Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, etc., some Pearl Jam, like Crazy Mary) and neo punk (Greenday, Offspring) oriented, living at the time in Tacoma, near Seattle. Also, add in things like Blues Traveler, Paul Westerberg, EDIT: NEIL YOUNG, starting with Harvest Moon and Unplugged, Tom Petty, post Clash projects, essentially two playlists, adult contemp. and alternative (like Cowboy Junkies, Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Raitt, REM and post REM, Michelle Shocked, etc.) and end of the dial "harder" alternative playlists (like Seattle's 107.7 the End), including all the punky stuff above, the grunge stuff, and things like Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Jane's Addiction, etc.

Since then, continue to add artists to the above two type of playlists. Got a little stagnant out here in Idaho, and after having kids. Returned to classic rock and started learning more about earlier stuff I had heard but not really listened to, like earlier Neil Young, Hendrix, influences of SRV, people influenced by SRV, I added a lot to my blues and jazz playlists, going back in time. (Albert King, Coltrane, etc.)
Spud and others here have turned me onto a whole bunch of new stuff, and my taking up guitar has renewed my interest in guitar oriented music in general. More blues, more jazz, more classic rock. And the list continues! :DR :R :D


EDIT: Sorry for being so long winded. It was a fun exercise to try to remember back and track forward for myself!

Man Sunvalley!! I gotta love you for putting the Jackson 5 down in your youth. I loved 'em too when I was very young...& Michelle Shocked! Yes, great story & nice choices all.

[Lev]

As the youngest in the family I grew up listening to some pretty dodgy UK pop records that my sisters/brother had. My older sister was also a big Elvis and Buddy Holly fan, she even bought me my first guitar. The first record I remember buying myself was 'Under a Blood Red Sky' by U2 and The Edge has been a huge musical influence on me ever since. Continuing the Irish theme in my teen years I became a big Thin Lizzy fan, especially the Live and Dangerous record. Another band that I became heavily influenced by during that era was Queen.

Around this time (late 80's) I started getting guitar lessons from a neighbor of mine who introduced me to Randy Rhodes, Van Halen, Satriani & Vai. I also started playing in a blues band so BB King, Hendrix & Clapton were on my horizon also. The next 5 years were the Hair Metal years for me with Richie Sambora being a big influence - I even got his signature Strat - this was very uncool in Dublin in the 1990's and I got alot of stick from my friends who were listening to the Pixies, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins etc. I then moved into an apartment with wafer thin walls which put pay to me playing electric guitar for a while, so I concentrated on acoustic and went to see an amazing artist Leo Kottke play a tiny gig in Dublin which is still my favorite gig of all time.

I guess in the last 5 or 6 years I've started taking the electric guitar more seriously again and gone back to blues influenced stuff, recently finding artists like Joe Bonamassa & John Mayer. I've also rediscovered bands that I kind of missed in my youth such as the Eagles, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, the Stones. The Fret has also opened my eyes to artists like Tommy Emmanuelle and I hope to discover more great music in the years to come.

[sunvalleylaw]

Man Sunvalley!! I gotta love you for putting the Jackson 5 down in your youth. I loved 'em too when I was very young...& Michelle Shocked! Yes, great story & nice choices all.

Interesting thing, I saw Michele Shocked (she played a local watering hole that gets in decent acts) a year or two ago. She had long dark hair instead of the shaved blonde look she had when I first saw her as a solo act with an acoustic guitar back in Seattle in 90 or so. She played with a full band, and it was a soulful, blues oriented rock show. She absolutely rocked. The English Beat (Dave Wakeling and supporting musicians) has played here twice lately, but I missed both times. :(

I also left off that I got into Celtic music of late, both more traditional, like Joanie Madden, Irish Whistle stuff, and Celtic rock, like the Electrics. According to the mags, I can claim being a late Boomer, or a GenXer. Musically, I have been more of an Xer.

EDIT: As I re-read this thread, I was struck by how I "missed" what I termed Woodstock era and following music. I was the oldest kid, my parents were a little older given the time's standards, and a little conservative. My Dad liked and played swing and Bix Beiderbecke oriented jazz on sax, but with the exception of Lonely Heart's Club, did not engage in any 60s or 70s rock. Therefore, my rock awareness really started with BTO, Van Halen, Zeppelin, Boston and the like. I did not really tear into Hendrix, Cream, etc. until much later, after wave and punk. According to the mags, I can claim being a late Boomer, or a GenXer. Musically, I have been more of an Xer. My wife has been more of a Boomer musically, as she had older brothers and was influenced more by the really long hair stuff.

I have been listening on-line to training seminars, so that is why I am spending so much time tapping away at this thread. :p

[sunvalleylaw]

[QUOTE=Lev]. The first record I remember buying myself was 'Under a Blood Red Sky' by U2 and The Edge has been a huge musical influence on me ever since. [QUOTE=LEV]

That was and is probably my favorite U2 as well, though I really like it all, except for maybe "Pop" era stuff. It seems I often like a band or musician's earlier release efforts best. John Mayer is an exception. Did not get into him until recently. I really have fun with this thread!

[tot_Ou_tard]

I also left off that I got into Celtic music of late, both more traditional, like Joanie Madden, Irish Whistle stuff, and Celtic rock, like the Electrics. According to the mags, I can claim being a late Boomer, or a GenXer. Musically, I have been more of an Xer.

Have you heard Solas?


EDIT: As I re-read this thread, I was struck by how I "missed" what I termed Woodstock era and following music. I was the oldest kid, my parents were a little older given the time's standards, and a little conservative. My Dad liked and played swing and Bix Beiderbecke oriented jazz on sax, but with the exception of Lonely Heart's Club, did not engage in any 60s or 70s rock.
I have been listening on-line to training seminars, so that is why I am spending so much time tapping away at this thread. :p
Bix Beiderbecke!!!!

I'm on the Boomer/X line too & I love both as well as earlier stuff & more recent stuff. I know that others around here will cringe, but I've *always* loved the Dead.

[duhvoodooman]

EDIT: Sorry for being so long winded. It was a fun exercise to try to remember back and track forward for myself!
Wow, with that gift of gab and attention to detail, you oughta be a lawyer! Oh, wait a minute.... :eek: ;) :D

[sunvalleylaw]

Wow, with that gift of gab and attention to detail, you oughta be a lawyer! Oh, wait a minute.... :eek: ;) :D

My old joke, what do you get when you cross a lawyer and a ski instructor . . . :p


EDIT: tot, no I have not heard Solas. I will research.

[NPauly]

Thank God for radio, friend's older siblings, and carnival workers (who play the coolest music on all their death trap rides) otherwise I might not have known about half this stuff at such an early age ... :cool:

- 1990 (11 yrs old)
Guns N Roses, Metallica, R.E.M.

- 1991 (12 yrs old)
Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, MC Hammer, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince

- 1992 (13 yrs old - Jr. High)
Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soul Asylum, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Social Distortion, Sonic Youth

- 1993 (14 yrs old - Jr. High)
Flaming Lips, Porno for Pyros, Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, Temple of the Dog, Queen

- 1994 (15 yrs old - High School)
Blind Melon, Bush, Green Day, Hole, Live, Nine Inch Nails, The Offspring, Rage Against the Machine, Toadies, Weezer, Cranberries

- 1995 (16 yrs old - High School)
Alanis Morissette, Foo Fighters, Garbage, No Doubt, Oasis, Our Lady Peace, Primus, Silverchair, Sublime, Bob Marley, Jimmy Buffett, Beastie Boys

- 1996 (17 yrs old - High School)
Beck, Butthole Surfers, Dave Matthews Band, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, 311, The Ramones

- 1997 (18 yrs old - High School)
Radiohead, Everclear, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Steve Miller Band, The Who, Eric Clapton, John Lennon

- 1998 (19 yrs old - College)
The Doors, Journey, Boston, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers Band, Peter Frampton, ELO, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane

- 1999 (20 yrs old - College)
George Clinton, Prince, Wyclef Jean, The Fugees, Phish, Moe, Disco Biscuits, Grateful Dead ... dirty hippie :DR

I'm positive I forgot a few along the way, but that is the best I could do off the top of my head and with a little help from wikipedia. :D

[tot_Ou_tard]

NPauly, I hope each year you *added* those groups to your musical pallette & didn't drop the old to go with the new.

[sunvalleylaw]

NPauly: Great List! You caught a bunch of others I listened to back then, and sometimes still do, that I forgot to mention. I started with the Ramones late 80s, and also got into Weezer. Good list!

[tot_Ou_tard]

1964 I was living in Germany and for my fourth birthday I got a portable record player and 3 45's. One was the Statler Brothers - Counting Flowers On The Wall, another was Roger Miller - Dang Me/Trailers For Sale Or Rent and the third was the Beatles - I Wanna Hold Your Hand. I was hooked totally by the Beatles.


My family listened to absolutely NO music when I was growing up. We didn't have radios or tuntables, nuttin! I begged for a turntable when I was in third (?) grade & got a little portable one for my birthday. It was fire engine red & the speakers attatched to the sides. The whole thing closed up & looked like a little fire engine red suitcase. The trouble is, they didn't give me any music. The next weekend, I rode my bike trying to find garage sales with music (I didn't have enough money to go to a store). I didn't care what it was so long as it was music! What did I find?

Two 45's:

"Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"by BJ Thomas.

&

"Impossible Dream"



I loved the hell out of them because I was like a man in a musical desert.

That set a lifetime pattern for me. I tend to like most music I hear, rather than dislike it because it beats the hell outta *no* music.

Roger Miller "Trailers for Sale & Rent" was my next purchase & then
Jerry Reed "Preacher & the Bear".

That turntable put in many years of good service.

My parents still don't listen to music, although my dad went through a Neil Diamond period after his divorce in the 70s.

[jpfeifer]

Interesting posts on this thread. As I've observed over the years, I think that a lot of us become musicians because were already the biggest music fans on the planet. We might as well make music of our own too!

I grew up in a household with older brothers who listened to cool music that my parents wouldn't allow us to listen to outside of their bedroom Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Yes, ... My dad hated this stuff with a passion so he had a short patience for having my brother's stereo turned up too loud with this kind of music.

My Dad was a big country music fan, so he would listen to a lot of Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, various Bluegrass groups, and was a avid fan of the Hee Haw show.

When I first started getting interested in music (about the 5th grade) my best friend would invite me over to his house where he had the complete collection of his older brother's Beatle records. We would listen to the Beatles every day after school and pretend that we were playing guitars. This is where I got my appreciation for their music.

Then in High School I heard the Steely Dan album "Aja" and became facinated with these new weird chord progressions I'd never heard before, and that started my interest in fusion and Jazz. I was a big fan of all the guys who played on these Steely Dan records like Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Robben Ford, etc, as well as other guys like Pat Metheny.

During the early 80's one of my friends was living in Austin and he sent me a cassette tape of a guy who was playing around Austin named Stevie Ray Vaughn. I had never heard anyone play blues like that before. That started my interest in Blues players like Stevie, and also got me into Jimi Hendrix for a while too.

I still listen to a lot of these various groups that I've liked in my early years. However these days I think that there are very few styles of music that I don't like (other than Hip Hop and Rap), as long as the music is done well. I can appreciate just about anything if the musicians are playing from the heart.

-- Jim

[sunvalleylaw]

Man, I forgot about Aja. I was a high school freshman when that came out and I listened to it a lot, and even did a silk screen art project based on the album art at school. It helped lead me into my jazz fusion phase. I am with you that I like most styles of music, as long as it is well done.

[tot_Ou_tard]

One of my first album purchases was a (K-Tel style) 6 Album collection of Motown's greatest hits. I rode my bike to the local 5 & dime & bought it.

Killer stuff! Not only the standard stuff, but the Jackson 5, & even Edwin Starr singing "War, UH_HUH! What is it good for?" I used to belt that sucker out!

My little plastic portable player would allow you to stack up about four albums & would drop them one after the other. (Remember that?) I'd stack those Motown discs up & play 'em in my room, one right after the other all day long.


Damn! I wish I still had those discs.

"....ain't worth nuthin' 'cept to the undertake-ah..."

"Whoa-Ooo whoa-Ooo whoa-Oo whoa-Ooo!"

"Uh-Huh!"

[Tone2TheBone]

I remember those K-Tel records. Records <<<< what a word. heh

[sunvalleylaw]

I remember those K-Tel records. Records <<<< what a word. heh
I remember those too! It is amazing the stuff I have forgotten. Many of my first records I received through one of those Columbia Records and tapes deals where you got like 10 free and paid a little for the 11th. Then I wasn't very good about sending the monthly "no" cards back and ended up with some random stuff. Don't remember what now. :p

[Spudman]

So how come no one talks about Lobo, The Captain and Tenille, Neil Sedaka, Bread, Eddie Rabbit, Rupert Holmes, Paper Chase, Bay City Rollers, Leo Sayer or Rex Smith in their musical tastes? :D

[jpfeifer]

Spudman, some of those groups you mentioned had me laughing. I remember all of those guys.

My wife really likes a lot of those Top40 favorites from the 70s. But she hates my Blues records, who would have guessed? (I also find that most women also hate the 3 Stooges for some odd reason. I guess its a guy thing) One time she made me buy this best-of Abba CD for one of our road trips. By the end of the road trip I loved that CD. ( guilty as charged! ) I'm a closet Abba fan. What's the world turning to. Dang, I won't be able to hold my head high at the "He-man woman hater's club" anymore.

-- Jim

[t_ross33]

Man, I loved those old K-Tel records. One in particular was "Canadian Mint" with 22 biggest hits from all Canuck artists - Stampeders, BTO, The Poppy Family etc. Talking with some of my close friends here the last couple of years and that particular album was in almost everyone's collection. I've been trying to compile copies of the tracks to do up a CD, but some are REALLY obscure now :R

I'm also a closet ABBA fan. Say what you want, they sure knew about crafting catchy toonz. Besides, any 10 or 12 yr old boy can tell you how much fun it is trying to figure out if you like blondes or brunettes better :D Now it's blondes or three tone sunburst :R

[tot_Ou_tard]

I remember those too! It is amazing the stuff I have forgotten. Many of my first records I received through one of those Columbia Records and tapes deals where you got like 10 free and paid a little for the 11th. Then I wasn't very good about sending the monthly "no" cards back and ended up with some random stuff. Don't remember what now. :p
Me too !


So how come no one talks about Lobo, The Captain and Tenille, Neil Sedaka, Bread, Eddie Rabbit, Rupert Holmes, Paper Chase, Bay City Rollers, Leo Sayer or Rex Smith in their musical tastes?

Man O man!! Muskrat Love :D :eek: :D

I went to Disneyland as a kid & unbeknownest to my family & I, it was Bay City Roller Day. Tons & tons of chicks dressed in plaid.

D-I-S-N-E-Y LAND!

[t_ross33]

So how come no one talks about Lobo, The Captain and Tenille, Neil Sedaka, Bread, Eddie Rabbit, Rupert Holmes, Paper Chase, Bay City Rollers, Leo Sayer or Rex Smith in their musical tastes? :D

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!!

Where's my plaid?

[tot_Ou_tard]

A few years later my Mom was nice enough to buy a stereo system for our living room for when we had friends over. I lived in that living room (the rest of the family was in the family room on the other end of the house). My older sister fell in with some friends with great musical taste & all of a sudden there was

The Beatles: Red & Blue double albums.
Rolling Stones: Get Yer Ya Yas Out

& a few more. I was into Creedence and others at the time, but had *never* heard the Beatles! Yowza!!! Those albums ended up being mine (my sister still didn't really listen to music. She bought them to be cool)! I couldn't believe that I hadn't heard this stuff before.

I liked the Red album a lot, but I lived with the Blue!

[Spudman]

Spudman, some of those groups you mentioned had me laughing. I remember all of those guys.

My wife really likes a lot of those Top40 favorites from the 70s. But she hates my Blues records, who would have guessed? (I also find that most women also hate the 3 Stooges for some odd reason. I guess its a guy thing) One time she made me buy this best-of Abba CD for one of our road trips. By the end of the road trip I loved that CD. ( guilty as charged! ) I'm a closet Abba fan. What's the world turning to. Dang, I won't be able to hold my head high at the "He-man woman hater's club" anymore.

-- Jim

If you notice...I left Abba off my list. Now I'm not admitting anything here, but they are Swedish, so...:) Momma Mia

[sunvalleylaw]

The Beatles: Red & Blue double albums.
Rolling Stones: Get Yer Ya Yas Out


I liked both the Red album a lot, but I lived with the Blue! I was the same, but more the reverse of liking blue a lot but living with red. The start of my really enjoying up tempo, 4/4 songs over in 2 min or less. I also really got into the Stone's Hot Rocks double album, also focusing on the earlier stuff. P.S. Somehow, I also like Abba. ;)

[tot_Ou_tard]

I was the same, but more the reverse of liking blue a lot but living with red. The start of my really enjoying up tempo, 4/4 songs over in 2 min or less. I also really got into the Stone's Hot Rocks double album, also focusing on the earlier stuff. P.S. Somehow, I also like Abba. ;)
I still prefer late Beatles to early Beatles. I lean toward freaky stuff.


Hot Rocks! Yes! Since then every d@mn stones album in existence.

Some Girls in high school!!! Yowza!!!

[Tone2TheBone]

So how come no one talks about Lobo, The Captain and Tenille, Neil Sedaka, Bread, Eddie Rabbit, Rupert Holmes, Paper Chase, Bay City Rollers, Leo Sayer or Rex Smith in their musical tastes? :D

Spud - I have the entire collection of the Midnight Special DVDs and my teenager and I are watching them as I type. Practically all the artists you've mentioned are on these disks. Talk about a retro fix. :R

I've enjoyed reading this thread and everyone's musical experiences!

[just strum]

Since Steve brought this to my attention, I read it and feel it's worth a bump. Some really good/interesting stuff here.

DVM, your reference to Feb 64 was a flash back to a great moment in my musical past (actually 3 consecutive weeks). I vividly remember the place I was and the smells in the air. That moment and when my cousin brought this album up from Columbus Oh called Axis: Bold as Love - I can remember that moment as clear as if it happen yesterday.

Anyway, this is a great thread and the newer members might want to add to it.

[Katastrophe]

I grew up listening to country music, particularly "Outlaw" country - Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Jeff Walker and others. Some of my best memories growing up were listening to those songs with my Dad in his Chevy truck.

I learned my first chords on a loaner acoustic from a friend of my Dad's, who had a really good country band, and ended up driving George Strait's bus for a while. He still plays one man shows in the Austin area, and has a fantastic voice.

Around 15, the bug to get serious about playing bit when another student in my karate class played a blues number on my beat up old Hondo acoustic. From then on, I wanted to learn the blues, and listened to all the blues music I could. I progressed from there to blues based rock (Zeppelin, Hendrix) and southern rock (Skynyrd, Allman Bros.) before finding 80's metal.

I took lessons for a couple of years from some great players and practiced like a fool, getting into Racer X and Yngwie.

So, now I'm 35, and love playing any time of guitar based music I can, with anybody who'll play!

[tunghaichuan]

When I was in grade school, I listened to what ever my parents listened to at the time: John Denver, Roger Miller, Peter, Paul & Mary, the Irish Rovers.

My first year in high school I discovered Led Zep. By my sophomore year (1981-1982) I got into Black Sabbath and Ozzy. In fact the first two concerts I attended were Ozzy and Black Sabbath. I also became a metal head: Iron Maiden, Tygers of Pang Tang, Scorpions, Judas Priest but I also liked Pink Floyd. I never was a big Van Halen or AC/DC fan until later.

After I graduated high school and started going to college (circa 1984) I found David Lindley's El Rayo X album at the library. I immediated bought every CD I could find by David Lindley. He is a great combintation of massive chops and quirky sensibilities; he just seemed like he was having a lot of fun on his albums. I've seen him live about 6 times, mostly as a solo act. I would have liked to seen him with his band, EL Rayo X.

I got into blues about the time the movie Crosroads came out. I had a college professor who was a Mississippi Delta style player and I took lessons from him for a while. I gravitated towards the electric styles and eventually found Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter.

It was bout this time that I started to get into Jason & the Scorchers, a kind of metal/country/hybrid. From there I found Albert Lee, Lyle Lovett, and Webb Wilder. I also got into Steve Morse, and particularly his country-tinged tunes.

In the early 90s after I finished grad school and moved to Colorado, I found an article in Guitar Player bout a weirdo, psycho shred guitar player named Buckethead. Soon after, I picked up a copy of Praxis: Transmuatation and it forever changed me. It was so alien, so utterly unlike anything that I'd ever heard that it changed the way I wanted to hear the guitar.

About this time I heard of a microtonalist guitar player named Neil Haverstick. He plays music on 19 and 31 tone per octave guitars. I've met Neil in person, he came over to play a few of the amps I've built. He is known for the microtonal playing, but he is a monster jazz and blues player.

I guess I've always gravitated towards the the left-of-center types of guitar players: Sonny Sharrock, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Marc Ribot, Janet Feder, Fred Frith, Nicky Skopelitis, Shawn Lane, plus a whole lot of others. Since I been listening to a lot of experimental/avant-garde guitar, I really don't listen to much classic rock or blues anymore.

Around 2000, I picked up a Steve Earle album called "Transcendental Blues" and proceded to buy most of his catalog.

Recently I've started listening to Dwight Yoakam. I'm not a big country fan, in fact most of what passes for country these days just doesn't appeal to me.

My memory isn't what it used to be, but I think I've hit most of the highlights.

tung

[sunvalleylaw]

BUMP!

Holy Thread Resurrection!

This thread was fun, and we have many new members. Maybe some want to add their musical histories!?

[deeaa]

I can't remember if I posted already to this...in short:

- Started with classical music, motown/jazz
- first real my own love affair with music was to british heavy metal; Judas, Maiden etc. and later Accept and whatever...early Metallica was HUGE for me too
- then listened to stuff like Swing and Buddy Holly, Grateful Dead and Dire Straits for a few years
- Then found Grunge, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden etc...
- Shortly dug 70's bands like Fleetwood etc, CCR...
- Got back into more punky stuff, Ramones, ACDC
- past my 30's gotten more back to basic rock/heavy
- in my 40's mostly listening to aggressive new rock bands, not metal...from Foo Fighters to Djerv and Fair to Midland etc...anything that rocks well, also some 'Emo' bands like Billy Talent
- My own music making diversed to on one hand making pop ballads & songs to wanting mostly to play and sing aggressive Motörhead-feeling garagapunk-metal whatever. As long as I get to scream in it, it's fine!
- Been thinking in the next decade I'd like to start as a singer/frontman for some band that would play bluesy etc. stuff, like, I dunno, Al Green, Otis Redding etc. kind of stuff. But for now, more metallic stuff!

[Tig]

Hello, my name is Tig, and I'm a music slut. :D
The scary part is, I'll be leaving many bands and musicians off of the list!

As a kid, the Beatles were big at home. Growing up in the 60's was cool. My brother's best friend was really into Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, so I was exposed so some great humor and diversity. My first LP was Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/Mike_oldfield_tubular_bells_album_cover.jpg

Since my Dad was once a jazz singer, jazz was always playing at home. I remember his Klipsch speakered cabinet he made and his turntable, before stereo. Miles, Brubeck, Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Kenton, Lena Horn, Art Tatum, and Charlie Parker were my guides. Later, Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, BB King, Clapton, Santana, Hendrix, Jeff Beck (fusion era), Otis Redding, and Al Green worked their way into our ears.

Then, 70's rock entered the picture for me. Early Aerosmith, Queen, Chicago, The Who, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, Rush, ZZ Top, Frank Marino, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, and Van Halen. Frank Zappa re-entered as well, followed by Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Ozzy (Randy Rhoads, mostly) and The Scorpions. Somehow, outlaw country also grabbed me, with Willie Nelson leading the pack. I met a Cajun fiddler named Doug Kershaw, so Cajun Zydeco also got into the mix. As my interest in guitar grew, Al Di Meola and Pat Martino gained ground.

In high school, us surfers were drawn towards new wave, punk and other related new music, like The Cars, REM, The Police, U2, Devo, Kraftwerk, Ramones, Talking Heads, The Jam, The Clash, Stray Cats, The Beat, Elvis Costello, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Cure.

In college, hardcore punk was strong. I hung out with the guys in NOTA while I lived in Tulsa. Watched and listened to touring bands like Husker Du, The Minutemen, Agent Orange, T.S.O.L., Jodie Foster's Army, Suicidal Tendencies, Social Distortion, Flipper, Whipping Boy, and the Meat Puppets.

Post college, thrash metal blossomed from the hardcore roots. Early Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Flotsam and Jetsam. Guns N Roses, LA Guns, etc., filled in after that, but music was going through a weak spell. I returned to Elvis Costello and other quality music, including jazz.

The grunge era was OK, and I enjoyed Alice In Chains, Nirvana, STP, Pearl Jam, and Sound Garden.

Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Rage Against The Machine came along, and my interest in music returned a little. I later dabbled in modern metal, Lamb of God, Gojira, Opeth, Mastodon, Meshuggah, and High on Fire.

The last few years as I've returned to playing guitar, I'm now enjoying pretty much everything that I've ever listened to in the past.

Recently, I'm loving Americana, alt country, and roots, including Steve Earle, Jason Isbell, Drive-By Truckers, Lyle Lovett, Gillian Welch, Moreland & Arbuckle, Dr. John, Tom Waits, and Carolina Chocolate Drops.

[hubberjub]

Mine's been all over the board. I listened to what my parents did when I was a kid. They were both music teachers and they were mostly into classical and folk (James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, etc.). I was born in 1978 and my tastes changed with what was popular on the radio. Late 80's, I loved metal. Everything from hair metal to thrash. I also enjoyed the rawness of the grunge scene. That continued until the end of high school. In college (as a music major), my appreciation for music grew. I started listening to a lot of bluegrass and (gasp!) jambands. The bands I played in ranged from small acoustic ensembles to large funk bands with a horn section. At 33 (currently), I pretty much listen to everything. The bands I play in have a decidedly more rootsy sound to them.

[R_of_G]

Like most kids, it began with listening to music with my parents, mostly in the car. With my dad it was 50s doo-wop/60s girl groups, Stax/Motown soul, early rock and roll (Elvis, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran) or classic rock (Beatles, Stones, CCR, Doobie Brothers). My mom was all about the popular singer/songwriters of the day (Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Kenny Rogers, Barbara Streisand, etc.) and like all good people, she also loved the Beatles.

As a teenager I was mostly into the Ramones, Clash, Stooges, Dolls, and then all the SST punk bands as well as the old-school NY hip hop (Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, et al). In college I found Miles Davis and then listened pretty heavily to jazz (mostly hard-bop, free jazz, and fusion). In my 20s I got heavily into the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers Band, then a bit later Phish. Then I found Tom Waits. That led me to Ribot. That led me to John Zorn and Frisell and that whole cadre of insanely talented musicians. You guys have seen my current musical tastes. I'm pretty much all over the place. If done well, there's not a style of music I don't enjoy.