2. music
  3. 149320-90127

Do you have a defining musical moment from your early years?

Let me explain.

I grew up in England, mother bringing up 2 unruly louts as a single working mother. Not too common in rural England in 60/70,s and somewhat frowned upon.

Money was not bountiful although we never went without staples and no way mom would let her kids go to school in worn or threadbare clothing so I have no complaints.

So imagine my surprise when I got up on the morning of my 13th birthday to find a bright yellow Decca record player wrapped in a bow with a card on the kitchen table.

Even more of a surprise when I lifted the lid to find 4 singles loaded up in the multi play changer. These were my very first vinyl I could call my own!
Think years of listening to my mom’s albums like Perry Como, Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra etc. It’s a wonder I was not scarred for life!

So the singles.... These although long gone I will never ever forget.

Pinball Wizard ... The Who/ Elton John.
In the year 2525 ... Zager & Evans.
Teenagers Mother .... Bill Haley & the Comets.
Purple Haze ... Jimi Hendrix.


Bit of a strange brew but later my mom told me she had no clue and had enlisted the help of a fellow parent who donated these to help her out.

Probably a good thing I do not have them,now as fairly sure they would be worn out as they were played to death.
That was it though, I was hooked and got a Saturday job ( child labour eh?) to feed my addiction. Our local swapshop ( think English equivalent to Pawn shop) always had loads of cheap singles for sale. No idea where they all ended up though tbh.

So that’s my story and my wayward start down the road of rock,n,roll!
128x128uberwaltz
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,422 posts
 

Wow, great stories that will make mine sound superficial. It was the Summer of 1964, and The Beach Boys were coming to The San Jose Civic Auditorium. My 8th grade girlfriend and three of her friends made a cake for one of the boys (I don’t recall which of them), as they knew it was close to his birthday. We got to the Auditorium early, and went to the back door and knocked. A security guard opened the door and the girls told him why we were there. He said just a minute, and closed the door. He was back in a flash and ushered in the four 14-year old girls, but put out his hand and stopped me, closing the door in my face. Well!

The girls were back outside about five minutes later, weak in the knees and excitedly recounting the events that had just occurred inside. It was nothing more than sitting on the laps of four of The Beach Boys (all but Brian Wilson) and kissing; those were innocent times, at least in the world of The Beach Boys.

We went inside, and I saw my first live Rock ’n’ Roll group. Actually, two of them---Local (Santa Cruz) Surf group The Tikis opened the show (the group, which included future Warner Brothers producer Ted Templeman, changed their musical genre in ’67, and their name to Harpers Bizarre). So in 1964 I got to see Brian Wilson playing bass and singing on his last tour as a Beach Boys for many, many years (he quit the road later in ’64, replaced first by Glen Campbell). But it was when I saw the reaction from the girls in the audience to Brian singing "...and she makes love to me..." in "Don’t Worry Baby" that I decided I wanted to be in a group myself. ;-) About six months later I was, and that following Summer saw The Beatles at The Cow Palace in S. San Francisco. I was on John’s side of the stage, and when the crush occurred (all the folding chairs collapsed when the girls stormed forward), I was about thirty feet from him, and realized he was a living, breathing human being, just like everyone else. Well, not JUST like. ;-)

Only two years later I saw The Dead and The Airplane in the Panhandle in Golden Gate Park, and Cream and Hendrix at The Fillmore. Change was occurring at light speed in those days.

ericsch
751 posts
 
My first concert was The Beach Boys at the Cow Palace. It must have been '65 because Brian wasn't there, at the time, we didn't know why. Many more concerts followed at the Filmore and Winterland.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,422 posts
 

Hey @ericsch, we probably "inhaled the same smoke" at some Fillmore and Winterland shows (and don't forget The Carousel Ballroom, where I saw The Who perform the "A Quick One" Suite in '68). The Bay Area was a great place to be a music lover in the 60's and 70's, and remains so (Slim's is a great club in SF). The Keystone in SF, Berkeley, and Palo Alto (lots of Blues), The Mabuhay in the Punk era, lots of small clubs and bars with stages and live music every night. I saw Quicksilver in one such in Sunnyvale in '68.

It was (and is) the same in L.A. of course, and NYC, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Austin, Tulsa, Seattle and Portland, dozens of other big cities and hundreds if not thousands of smaller towns. It's great to be an American!

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
One day in grade school, probably 3rd grade, violinist from the Seattle Symphony Orchestra came to our class room. We would be going on a field trip to hear them and he came to tell us all about concert etiquette.

Well, he did a lot more than that. He showed us his violin, talked about how its made and shaped and held and played. Every time he would say something he would tap or pluck or bow a string so we would get it and every time he did it was insane magic how good that thing sounded.

He talked about how expressive and versatile an instrument it is. Then he did something I will never forget. He said, "Everyone close your eyes. Now you are going to hear one violin." And he played this little phrase, sweet solo notes, which all these years later no way I remember what it was, only that it was so achingly beautiful I still get choked up just thinking about it. I mean think of it, third grade, sitting maybe ten feet from a concert violinist. Damn.

Then he said, "Now you're going to hear four violins." And he played another little bit, only this time chords, and damned if it didn't sound like there were four of him.

And then for the next however long it was he let loose. Whatever he played, I don't know, but it was awesome. That close up in a class room, everyone sitting dead quiet, you can imagine the detail, the incredible dynamic range. A well-played violin can tug at your heart strings or make you dance at a hoe down, and this one was doing it all.

Been a close your eyes see with your ears listener ever since.


drmemory62
37 posts
 
When I purchased "The Rolling Stone Record Guide" back in 1978.
I had gotten into heavily into The Beatles when Capital started reissuing their catalog back in the mid-seventies, but TRSRG showed me there was so much more out there which encompassed "Rock Music".  It was the guide that had pictures of the 5-star albums spread throughout the book, so it made easy to find great albums like Love's "Forever Changes" or The Velvet Underground and Nico out on the shelfs.
More to discover