ironyengine wrote:For you guys who can remember such a time, what was it that changed you? What's your big "musical awakening" story like? What was the first record that "made sense" to you? I'm sure there's got to be some good stories.

growing up driving around, my mom would always listen to soundtracks to disney movies and barry manilow. the first cd i ever bought was that metallica disc because i heard "sandman" on the radio. i thought it was good but it sounded like alot of the other stuff that you could hear on the radio at the time.

then one day i was driving around with my dad, about 13 or so, and he always listened to oldies. so i heard them play "elanor rigby" on the radio and if i would have known the word "fuck" at that point in my life i would have said "what the fuck is that?" (in an excited way, of course.) that was when i realized that there might be more to this music thing.

first time i wanted to play guitar was after hearing "polly" off nevermind. i was like "i can do that." overshot there, started by trying to learn "spanish fly" because it was tabbed out in a mag...

For you guys who can remember such a time, what was it that changed you? What's your big "musical awakening" story like? What was the first record that "made sense" to you?

my first three favorite bands were:

abba (age 11-12)
journey (age 13)
the police (age 13-14)

then i heard _the velvet underground and nico_ when i was 14

that pretty much did it

i still like some abba, though

My parents were degenerate punks. They used to listen to bands with names like 'The Bleedin' Cunts' and 'One Day I Will Rape You'. My mum occasionally tells me that it's more likely that I grew up on a diet of punk spit and extra-strength lager rather than her breast milk.
When I was old enough to realise that watching hepatitis-infected crack monkeys was NOT cool I went on a very personal musical journey. It was early summer 1984 and my good friend Steven J Malkamus gave me a copy of Yngwie J Malmsteen's Rising Force. My world was promptly turned oops upside it head. If it wasn't for this album - NAY, for this MAN, I would never have picked up an axe. I owe my chops, my licks and my shreds to him.

I was 12 or so, and I put on my uncle's copy of Abbey Road on our shitty Sanyo vinyl player and started listening to it on headphones that were probably just like Mayfair's.

Up until that point, I hadn't thought Five Star to be too offensive.

I never got to the second side, because I just wanted to play "I Want You" over and over again. That song blew my mind. Within two years I was listening to The Jesus Lizard, and was a very happy teenager.

Two words...SPIN...DOCTORS.

What the hell was I thinking?!? Sure, I was 11 (1991)...but looking back, that's no excuse for being into a bunch of hippies that play blues/rock. I thank god that Nevermind came out that year...although I almost hate to admit that that was my "gateway" album. Of course, I moved on and within a year or two I was listening to Melvins, Big Black, Jesus Lizard, Ramones, Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Black Flag, etc. etc. etc.

I now look at it as my sworn duty to make sure my nieces and nephews don't fall into the same snare. They'll thank me some day.

My mom was really into Fleetwood Mac when I was 4ish. We would listen to the "Rumors" album at top volume and do 80's style exercises in the living room. That's my first memory of what music could do to your brain, seeing my mom keep turning the volume up and up and UP to be taken to a shinier, happy place where the crap can't reach you. Some nice young man on my paper route turned me on to the Misfits when I was 12 and I found the sound that did it for me.

As for the main question, I still feel naive as heck every time I stroll into a record store, after 16 years of record-buying. I really hope that never goes away.

I still am.

It used to be far worse, but there were two eras of revelation. The first involved lots of INXS, The Cure, and Depeche Mode, and then two somewhat punk rock kids freshman year of high school that got me into all the Wax Trax stuff. This was followed by a bout with grunge.

The second started one night, falling asleep on the couch during 120 Minutes on Mtv with a clip for Arcwelder's Pull album. They were my gateway drug later on when I moved to Minneapolis, and I heard Jawbox's "FF=66" and then "Savory" at a Northern Lights record store.

Little did I know, that a couple years later I'd be riding in a van with members of both bands through the remains of Cabrini Green in Chicago. Someone was telling stories about smelly socks, and someone else was yelling profanities out the window.

During that time when I was 21/22, through people and musicians far more intelligent than I am, I learned of Polvo, and Shellac, and Jesus Lizard and the Cows. The friend that turned me on to Suicide, and Psychic TV, and Can, and Brian Eno got me believing I could play bass. I can't. Can't play drums either. Musicians are the best people to learn about music from, I am not one of them.

itchy mcgoo wrote:As for the main question, I still feel naive as heck every time I stroll into a record store, after 16 years of record-buying. I really hope that never goes away.

I'm with you, Itchy, if I read your meaning right. I might know a helluva lot about music, records, whatnot, but I'm glad that I'm never going to know everything. I'm glad there are always going to be millions of records I've never heard, thousands I'll end up loving, and it's never going to stop.

When I was 5, I bought Quiet Riot's Metal Health and loved the Oak Ridge Boys and the Statler Brothers.

When I was 10, I loved Chuck Berry, Del Shannon, and Sam & Dave.

When I was 11, I loved the Monkees.

When I was 12, I heard Double Nickels on the Dime. Every subsequent listen is just as magical as the first.

mb

I was going through my naive box last night. That's where I keep CD's of shame or no consequence, soundtracks, comps, various burned things. I pulled out Siamese Dream, and it reminded me of the time back in 6th-9th grade when I thought the Pumpkins were pretty cool. Even then, I thought it should've been trimmed of the fat. That album's like a fucking hour long! They just weren't as cool as Nirvana. It's funny how even when you're a kid, it's easy to spot the fakers.

My time of awakening was the summer of '97, when a girl I was really into made me a tape that had a couple of Pavement songs on it.

In addition, my cousin (who knew that my favorite band in 8th grade was Green Day) made me tapes of:

Husker Du- Zen Arcade, various
Big Black- Songs About Fucking, various
Silkworm- Developer b/w Guided by Voices' Mag Earwhig!
Shellac- At Action Park
Brainiac- Electroshock For President EP
The Jesus Lizard- Down
June of 44- Tropics and Meridians, Sharks and Sailors EP

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