Your Early Influences

[donald]

I was just reloading my Franklin Planner for the summer months and put in May, June July and August.

June, July, and August.  Hmmmmmm.....lets see, that was the B side of Palisades Park by Freddy Cannon.
I remember it clearly.  I had precious few really good 45's  so I listened to all of the B sides.

And I remembered hearing Palisades park for the first time and how good it sounded.   Almost a Spector like sound with the mishmash of sax, other instruments, and echo.   That sound excited like no other I had heard.  Had a little "edge" to it, and the perfect juvenille lyrics for my tastes at the time.  I finally acquired a copy second hand from a jukebox/pinball supplier down the street.  Payed 25 cents for it, a full weeks allowance,  and  played the grooves off both sides. 

I had other favorites before that and for sure after that but that record  was the one that pulled the trigger on my lifelong obsession with pop music.

Add that to my discovery of Da Do Ron Ron on a jukebox at the corner deli, mix well with the early Four Season and BeachBoys, and you have my musical roots.

What great memories.  And I STILL get a kick when the oldies stations play these particular songs.

How about YOUR early influences....what first really stirred your musical soul?

[8o8o]

The song that first made me aware of the power of music, and how great it can be was Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody". I must've been six years old when I put on a compilation of (mainly) old R&R hits my parents had in their collection, and Eddie's tune was the opening track. The intro blew me away, I must've played it ten times in a row, and I still love it. The other artists on that record weren't bad either: Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Chuck Berry, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, etc. etc.

I can safely say that that song (and the album as a whole) put me on the right track. Thanks Eddie!! 

[mikee]

The song that first made me aware of the power of music, and how great it can be was Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody".

"Something Else" by Cochran had a similar effect on me.  I recently aquired a 50's box set called 'Loud Fast and Out of Control - The Wild Sounds of 50's Rock'   I'm not crazy about the title or the cartoonish artwork but the musical content is great as is the sound quality!  There are 3 Cochran songs and there are multiple songs by his close buddys Johnny Burnette and Gene Vincent.  Incidently when Burnette moved out to L.A. he lived nearby Eddie in Bell Gardens.  Cochran's home (his parent's home) was, I believe, razed for a freeway (the 605) just as the Wilson's would be.  His memorial plaque, near the entrance of Forest Lawn Cypress, has his image and that of his orange, single cutaway, Chet Atkins, 6120 Gretsch on it.   

[pixletwin]

I had 4 major influences as a little boy: Mozart, Boy George, KISS, and Debbie Boone. 

[the captain]

Before I had the wherewithal to buy my own music, the most important music to me were my dad's vocal-harmony folk and gospel records (Chad Mitchell Trio, Blackwood Brothers, Statler Brothers, Kingston Trio and many others); my dad's early rock 'n' roll records, mostly Buddy Holly; my oldest brother's Beatles cassettes (the red and blue compilation tapes, then later Sgt. Pepper); and some other records that were around the house, including a Monkees album, a Beatles record that basically had what is now known as "Past Masters Vol II," the Beach Boys "Endless Summer," and some of my oldest sister's sh*t, like Eagles' "The Long Run." Then once I began buying my own music, things went to hell. Europe, Dokken, KISS, Poison, etc.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I listened to a lot of late 1960's AM radio as a kid; a great, eclectic period. All I needed was a cheap $7.00 transistor radio and a new battery, and I was in heaven.

When I first started buying albums it was The Doors (just as Morrison died), Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Sparks, New York Dolls, and Slade.

[lance]

The first record I bought was a-ha, Hunting High and Low. Then I started getting into Wham! No joke. Then it was Prince and the Cure and then suddenly the Beatles hit me upside the hid with a two by four called 20 Best or something like that.
Then it was eighties rock and the Clash(U2, REM, the Smiths, the Cure, Husker Du, etc.) then, late seventies punk, then Split Enz/Crowded House then it was Beach Boys which brings me up to now

[brianc]

As a kid in the early to mid '80s, I listened to Michael Jackson's "Thriller," and wore a glittery glove around the house. My babysitter Dawn liked Cindy Lauper, INXS, Madonna, Blondie and maybe a few weird things, like the Cure. I had very little opinion, and early '80s radio seemed to hit the spot enormously, especially Duran Duran singles. My mom and her twin sister listened to tons of what I now know as Philly Soul, because that was the music of their time and place, being from Philadelphia. Stuff like the Stylistics, the Delphonics, Harold Melvin, the O'Jays, and things from earlier in Philly, like Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell, Dee Dee Sharp, Fabian, the Orlons and Frankie Avalon. I don't need hindsight to tell me that those records were in my life. We listened to them a lot. My parents listened to the Carpenters, Chicago and Redbone a lot together. My dad's favorite music was unequivically Jimi Hendrix, the Beach Boys and Creedence Clearwater Revival, and we literary burned compilations by those three acts out on our two trips across country in 1982 and 1987. Most of the time, I just played baseball and skateboarded, and didn't take music seriosuly whatsoever. It effected me subconsciously at best.

Until my second babysitter, John Levan, who was also the area's best skateboarder, turned us onto the Cramps, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and '50s rockabilly. The film "La Bamba" came out at the same time, and I wanted my hair like Ritchie Valens's, and I wished I was Mexican, because he looked so cool. I was too old for a babysitter in 1988, but my brother was too young for me to watch him. I would say I was at that perfect age of impressionable, and the next summer (1989), we went to Hollywood, and I listened to KROQ constantly on my walkman. It was the first time that I ever heard bands like Primus, Lush, the Pixies and Sonic Youth. 1991, my life was as filled with R.E.M.'s "Out of Time" and U2's "Acthung Baby" as it was with Suede, the Charlatans UK and Butthole Surfers. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana was as much of a wake up call for me as for anyone else, even IF I was already listening to similar music. Nothing I had been playing approached the directness of that single. I was also in high school and starting to have an opinion. It might not have been a direct political message, but I knew I had that same feeling of rage, just held it in enjoying the Reagan '80s and all that it afforded a white kid of privelidge.

1993 was marijuana and a screening of "Magical Mystery Tour"/"Yelllow Submarine" at the TLA Theatre on South Street... 1994 was the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack... 1995 was the B&W Brian Wilson film... from 1996 on, I can't remember a time when I didn't constantly want to discover something new, like "Forever Changes," Roky Erikson, the Stooges, Esquivel, "Smile," Louis Armostrong and on and on and on.

[the captain]

As a kid in the early to mid '80s, I listened to Michael Jackson's "Thriller," and wore a glittery glove around the house.

In 1983 or '84, Trent H----- and I put on blackface (I am not kidding; in a small, rural Minnesota town, we had no idea what the implications were) in tribute, practiced our dance moves and singing and "performed" Thriller on his front stoop, boombox providing the soundtrack. An older kid, Lou H----, rode by on his bike and said we were gay. I had no idea what gay meant. Then he said--and I quote--"what are you gonna be next, The Boy George?" "We had no idea how Boy George was in any way related to us doing Michael Jackson songs, and tried to ignore him as we went on with the show. (P.S., we had to pick who got to "be" Michael. I lost. I chose to be Tito, not quite understanding that a) Tito had nothing to do with Thriller, and b) who the f*** wants to be Tito? Not even Tito, probably!)

[Wilsonista]

It was seeing Elton John on the Muppet Show when I was 3.  The first rock and roll that I remember hearing.

Crocodile Rock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-36u4xUCF0&feature=related

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctLE5QOuclM

Bennie and the Jets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzn1BP8d3Ic

Don't Go Breaking My Heart (w/ Miss Piggy!!!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OX2WErOvD4&feature=related

[Wilsonista]

As a kid in the early to mid '80s, I listened to Michael Jackson's "Thriller," and wore a glittery glove around the house.

In 1983 or '84, Trent H----- and I put on blackface (I am not kidding; in a small, rural Minnesota town, we had no idea what the implications were) in tribute, practiced our dance moves and singing and "performed" Thriller on his front stoop, boombox providing the soundtrack. An older kid, Lou H----, rode by on his bike and said we were gay. I had no idea what gay meant. Then he said--and I quote--"what are you gonna be next, The Boy George?" "We had no idea how Boy George was in any way related to us doing Michael Jackson songs, and tried to ignore him as we went on with the show. (P.S., we had to pick who got to "be" Michael. I lost. I chose to be Tito, not quite understanding that a) Tito had nothing to do with Thriller, and b) who the foda wants to be Tito? Not even Tito, probably!)

LOL!!!!!

When I was 10, my halloween costume was Michael circa the Beat It video. And I, too went in blackface!!!!

[brianc]

Hilarious, Luther. Always enjoy your writing.

[phirnis]

Here's what I grew up with in eighties Germany:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9vW6sl2CNCo
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wPh_cql54r0&NR=1

[Rocker]

Here's what I grew up with in eighties Germany:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9vW6sl2CNCo
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wPh_cql54r0&NR=1

Oh yeah, I remember those too ! 
Luckily my father had a very soft spot for the old time country music from the USA and Rock'n'Roll. I think the first song I can vividly remember hearing was "Desparados waiting for a train" by the Highwaymen (Cash, Nelson, Kristofferson, Jennings) and after I heard "All shook up" and "Hound dog" by Elvis the road was open for me to discover all that great stuff. Rock'n'Roll, Country, Blues, Pop, etc. .... It's still the music I listen to the most and that inspires me with my own music...