Music from your childhood

[Spitfire]

My father made a trip to US in 1956 - and came back with this record.
Since then, there was no looking back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5fsqYctXgM

 

[Edward]

The earliest record I can specifically remember - now in my posssession (though at my parents' house, I've not managed to get it back to London yet) is a vinyl lp of nursery rhymes and traditional kids' songs. It was bought for me I think in about 1975 by my paternal grandparents, and it lived at their house. My parents, who married in 1971, had given up vinyl in favour of cassettes by the time I came along in '74. Until maybe 1984 or so, I remember precious few of their tapes being, as we called them, "originals" - mostly thy were copies run off from friends. My mother, a teacher, left work at the end of the 73/74 school year, I was born in the following September, and she didn't go back to work until little brother was into school in 81/82 or thereabouts. New albums were one of the things, I suspect (one of the many) my folks did without to make sure that little brother and I never wanted for anything we needed. Anyhoo.... this beig the case, the record at my grandparents' house was a source of facination.... I enjoyed it for its on sake, I think as much as the content - that big, black shiny disc with a picture sleeve, and its symbiotic relationship with the arcane record player to make sound... certainly kept me quiet at a lot of mealtimes, which I'm sure was the desired effect.

Mainly, my folks' taste in music was..... inoffensive. My dad had been into Jim Reeves, my mother went to see the Beatles in Belfast in 63 and 64, as she put it, "to scream". lol She'd gone off them when they went experimental, though she's really taken to the remixed "Love" (soundtrack to the Vegas show) and the "Let it Be Naked" CDs I bought for her in the last few years. Most of my memories of my folks listening to music are based in the car.... the radio was often on, and in 1983, we were the first folks among my peer group to have a car with a cassette player installed in it - pretty flash in those days. I'm sure my folks were thoroughly sick of my Beatrix Potter story cassette by the end of that Summer.... (Jemimia Puddleduck, Squirrel Nutkin, and .....can't remember the third story, I *think* there was one... maybe not). There were song on that, woven into the stories.... our favourite was Take one mole, the Owl in Nutkin's song as he prepared to cook the mole offered him as a present by the squirrels (never struck me as odd at the time that the mole was just prey, no anthropomorphised like the others!). Mostly, my folks listened to James Galway, Phil Coulter, James Last.... also The Shadows, and the Beach Boys. From about 1986, our tastes started to diverge wildly, and I got into what Dad would still term "noise". Then it was less about what they were listening to, and more about what was on in my headphones at the time.

In terms of what I listen to nowadays, my tastes are very much my own. Some of it I share.... somehow or other, between my folks and my music teacher at school, I absorbed an interest in classical music by the time I was 17 or so. That, though, and probably everything else I'm into, from Glen Miller to Elvis, ultimately in some way, shape or form links back to punk rock, which if it taught me anything taught me to be my own person and to make my own decisions about what I liked to listen to. In particular, punk rock was my gateway to vintage more generally. Via punk, I "discovered" leather jackets, military surplus clothing, caring about what I wore (as badge of identity, as much as anything), hats (yeah.... all the Clash boys at on time and another wore fifties-style fedoras), Bob Dylan.... looking to Dylan's roots, Joe Strummer's roots, in rock and roll.... Elvis..... The ral turning point, though, was the realisation a couple of years ago that I'd gotten a bit too old for bondage trousers and the othr obvious stuff, and, like many old punks, looking towards the notion of rockabilly as a virtual 'retirement home' for old pinheads.... lol. These days, my favourite new artist is Imelda May, a very fifites oriented sound, and I'm listening to a lot of old school rock and roll, Elvis, that kind of stuff. Oh, and more classical, some opera.... and I recently picked up a CD of Marlene Dietrich's best. Amusingly enough, the cats appear to like listening to Dietrich... Marlene herself (my girls are dubbed Marlene and Greta, after the obvious...) does appear to enjoy relaxing to the sound of her namesake.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I've been amusic freak my whole life and still actively listen to music I did when I was a child like it never went away lol

 

[High Pockets]

The "childhood" I remember ran from aprox 1955 thru 1965.

Family members and what they listened to:

Dad.............swing
Mom............showtunes
Grandpa.......orchestral
Grandma.......whatever grandpa put on.
Uncle Herb....folk

Me,.....whatever WHLI and WNEW played on my little transistor radio.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Oh man, the music of my childhood? Well, let’s see here… I remember running around the house while my dad would spin his LP of Harry Nilsson and laughing at the words to “Coconut”. Also, my folks listened to MATTHEW WILDER and they always played “Break my stride”.

My mother was a huge Jackson fan… we’d listen to the “Thriller” album in the car most of the time. And then there was always the Pointer Sisters… My brother and I always enjoyed “Jump”… I confess, there are a few tracks of that era that I enjoyed.

Not to mention WHAM! Was always playing on the radio… “Wake me up, before you go, go” was another I can recall liking.

Oh the 80s… I do think one reason why I crossed over to the older music can be found in my liking of "Taco" singing "Putin' on the Ritz". lol Always enjoyed that song... Both my brother and I would go nuts when that would come on the radio!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Oh man, the music of my childhood? Well, let’s see here… I remember running around the house while my dad would spin his LP of Harry Nilsson and laughing at the words to “Coconut”.

Another Nilsson album well worth listening to...is The Point circa 1971

Its a complete story and the LP came with a comic book insert that led you through the plot..with stops for songs and narration along with way.

There was a movie too...but the album is one of the huge things of my childhood. I still have it on LP and I also have the cd so that I could mp3 it.

"The Point! is a fable by American songwriter and musician Harry Nilsson about a boy named Oblio, the only round-headed person in the Pointed Village, where by law everyone and everything had to have a point."


Its where the "more famous then the rest of album" song "Me and My Arrow" comes from.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Point!

 

[kamikat]

My dad is still, to this day, a rocker. His favorites were The Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd. Mom is more into folk, The Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary. Since the whole family are sailors, we grew up with Jimmy Buffet, as well. My first concert was the Jackson 5 reunion tour. I went with my BFF, who is black. I was exposed to lots of funk and R&B at her house, George Clinton and P-Funk, Earth Wind and Fire, Rick James. My sister, 5 years older, always played lots of the early rap, Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow. The stuff I love the most is from the 80's, Mission UK, Sisters of Mercy, Ministry, Siousxie and the Banshees.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

I grew up on Folk Music, bluegrass, Classical (not classic rock!) and Glenn Miller. Unusual for my age I guess.

 

[Lady Day]

I grew up on Motown, Jazz, and blues. My mother wouldnt allow ragtime in the house, she felt it too 'minstrel' for her tastes.

I remember in 6th grade knowing who Smokey Robinson was, but not the cool new band TLC

LD

 

[Widebrim]

My father made a trip to US in 1956 - and came back with this record.
Since then, there was no looking back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5fsqYctXgM

"Rock Around the Clock" was the one that set it all off!

 

[HadleyH]

Music from my childhood?

Classical almost all the time.... that's what my father liked....classical... 90% of the time.

And... sometimes bossa nova ....and sometimes Charlie Parker.

That's what was my childhood was, music like.

 

[Widebrim]

My father played Big Band music, especially Glenn Miller, and was also into Sinatra and Elvis. Via my mother, we listened to musical soundtracks like "Hello Dolly!" (Channing and Streisand) and "Funny Girl." The first rock song that I can actually remember hearing was "Surfer Joe," which was the B side of "Wipeout" by the Surfaris (still have the 45). My sister played a lot of the Beatles and other mid-'60s rock, and I recall listening to the Mamas and Papas, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Sonny and Cher, the Beach Boys, and the Royal Guardsmen on KHJ. I also remember watcing Sonny and Cher on (I think) Boss City, and the Supremes and the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. As an early teen, I "discovered" early rock 'n' roll (besides Elvis), and almost wore out the hi-fi with Bill Haley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Dion (DiMucci) and the Belmonts, Johnny Maestro and the Crests, and other groups. Later, I went through a hard-core Jan and Dean/Beach Boys phase, and then also got into Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, and Ricky Nelson, followed by the Stray Cats and Ray Campi.

 

[Chas]

My Mum and Dad had diverse musical interests. They both loved Carmen. I have fond memories of both of them singing Toreador from Carmen. In French. Crazy. Gosh, how I miss them.

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I grew up in the 60's and 70's, in small-town British Columbia. If there was ever a movie about that experience, this would be on the soundtrack.

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Mum & Dad loved this album.

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When I was 17 one of my best friends committed suicide. 'Twas the end of my childhood. They played this at his funeral.
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[Widebrim]

I grew up in the 60's and 70's, in small-town British Columbia. If there was ever a movie about that experience, this would be on the soundtrack.

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Oh, yes, that sums up the Canadian attitude towards the U.S. at that time. I'm a Yank, but that song kicks!

 

[1*Cool*Kitten]

Eclectic

Our household went the gambit from Lawerance Welk on Saturday nights to HeeHaw later on!!
We listened toSpike Jones & his city slickers to Ray Stevens!!!SHSHSHSHSSSS!Paul Harvey's coming on BE Q U I E T!!!!:rage:
On Sunday nights if i was in bed alone without my bothersome little brother claiming he was cold[huh] ~I'd listen to Dr.Demento on KMET!(KMET it's the place to be!)but if he was cold I'd tell him he could stay & listen with me if he "only talked during the breaks"!I heard Weird Al Yankovick when he would drive to LA to be "LIVE" on the Dr D show!
Mostly though I was a hard core BEACH BOYS fan! any self respecting Southern California girl would be!
I only bought beach boys albums!never "anyone else"
When I was "hanging out cool" with my two greaser uncles in the garage we listen to 50's we wore white t's & rolled up jeans!they wore engineer boots I whatever mom put on my feet that day because no matter what she DID put on they wouldn't stay(long)! I wore red bell bottoms hips huggers that my grandma made for me & my aunt kathy wore her white ones!she wore her red bowling shirt I wore the white one!(we matched) we would walk around the streets of Norwalk or paramount or bellflower to go get "something" grandma needed from the grocery store!with a transister in aunt kathys pocket! ON....KHJ of course! the only HIP radio station worth listening to!!!
later in college I found out that Rock Around the Clock with Bill Haley & the Comets was "sold" to the american population as a FOXTROT! because they didn't know how else to bill it & there were no actuall steps to the dance because of the tempo!so Foxtrot becomes Rock n' Roll!
anyway, mom listened to opera,Dad whatever. But I rember very vividly the day I was really MAD at my mom for not letting me listen to the group out of England named the Rolling Stones! the radio announcer said "here's the rolling stones with their newest recording:eusa_clap "I can't get no satisfaction!" mom let me listen to about 1.5 bars & gave the knob a flick! i never found the song [huh] till it was well over! oh I was so mad at her!I never did get to hear that siong till i was about 20!!UGH!:rage: Parental Controls!

 

[lolly_loisides]

I have Dennis Potter to thank for my interest in all things 1930's and 1940's.

I remember watching the BBC version of Pennies from Heaven when I was 8 or 9 I loved the music & my parents bought me the soundtrack. It was played over and over.

The Singing Detective was broadcast in Australia in 1987 (correct me if I'm wrong) I was 16 a the time. I thought it was even better than Pennies from Heaven. Have a look at the soundtrack - it's wonderful. Anyway, that's why I have a soft spot for English dance bands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singing_Detective

 

[Widebrim]

Mostly though I was a hard core BEACH BOYS fan! any self respecting Southern California girl would be!with a transister in aunt kathys pocket! ON....KHJ of course! the only HIP radio station worth listening to!!!

That's right! The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean were routinely played over loudspeakers during lunch when I was in high school (and this was in the '70s). And KHJ over on Santa Monica Blvd. ("93 KHJ!") was the station, after the demise of "KFWB, Channel 98!" I remember when KHJ first became a rock station, with Bobby Tripp, Charlie Tuna, Sam Riddle, and Humble Harv. Later on it was Charley Van Dyke and Machine Gun Kelly (Machine Guuuunnnnnnn!) Sorry for being a bit fftopic: .

 

[Bustercat]

Early on, I was raised on vivaldi, tschaikovsky, pete seeger, simon and garfunkle, and john denver. Bob marley and michael jackson were the first artists I ever actually owned myself on record.
I think my first cd might have actually have been by MC hammer lol

 

[HadleyH]

^


well( vivaldi, tschaikovsky ) we must be must be freaks

were we the only humanoids in here that were raised on classical music?


i honestly want to know! [huh]

 

[Bustercat]

Me too!
I'm also curious where people's parents are from, and if that makes a difference. Mine are both imports, most of my US friends didn't listen to classical as kids.

I remember,there was a bit of Mozart in there too when I was really little, but it didn't take the same way. I think Chopin was the first composer I heard that I asked my folks to explore further. Strangely, not alot of Beethoven was played, until later.

Dad always had the classical station on, as well, so it was always around. That meant, unfortunately, so was alot of opera.