When did first get music?

Hello Nic

First single was "Poetry in Motion" by Johnny Tillotson, but being an anorak at an early age, I bought it (had it bought for me) for the "B" side which I preferred.

"With the Beatles" was 1st album and then pretty much beatboom 60's pop until The Who made a big impression. Then I heard "Arnold Layne" "Emily" and "White Rabbit" on Luxembourg and things never were the same again.

If I had left my interests to those of my parents, it would have been a heavy diet of Gene Pitney and Cliff Richard.]

I was one of the lucky ones.

Have a good day

Ron

My parents never really played much music so don't really remember how i got into it. Was never one for buyings singles.

First record i got was Zenyatta Mondatta by the Police. I was 6, so thought that wasn;t a bad start. First record I bought for myself was Complete Madness by Madness. I think I was 12 or something like that.

Ryan

First single Elton John Island Girl (urgh). Album Dark side of the moon (precocious 10 year old)I'm still listening to one of them!

The first single I bought was Johnny Remember Me, by John Leyton; the first album I bought was either Five Live Yardbirds, or the 1st Kinks, can remember which came first.

My parents had a "radiogram" with a mains driven 78 only TT with removable needles. I remember hearing the Nutcracker Suite on it.
We then had a "new" stereo set the lid was one speaker and the base came off with the second speaker(about 5 ") if memory serves.
It also came with as I later found out, expert knowledge that was crap " in stereo you get bass out of one speaker and treble out of the other, I spent a lot of time trying to get it "right" until a more corect answer was given.
My first 2 singles 7" were Little White Bull by Tommy Steele and Stagger Lee by Lloyd Price (I think).
First album was either 1st Rolling Stones or 1st Kinks.I still have them and they play (badly).

Howard

Hi Nic
My parents were into music and if the record player wasn't spinning the records then there was the radio in the kitchen singing the latest tunes.My old man was constantly playing Perry Como,Jim Reeves,Bing Crosby and the like.
In the early 1970's he walked into Currys and purchased a Grundig Radio in the sale.Those were the days when Grundig made top class products unlike today.The record player was rarely used after he bought the radio and the sound was sublime.I've got an old Grundig Radio myself and it still sounds supberb.
The first records I bought were by 10cc- Sheet Music and Wings-Venus & Mars.My Kids have their own music these days but I do catch them on the odd occasion pinching The Eagles or U2
cds from my collection.However,they do not admit this when asked as parents music these days is considered old fashioned ,out of vogue and very detrimental to Street Cred as I'm constantly being told.

Toby

My first album was definitely Folk Roots, New Roots by Shirley Collins and Davy Graham; I think my first single was Paperback Writer by the Beatles, but it may have been My Mind's Eye by the Small Faces.

My first record was The Pearl Fishers opera by Bizet when I was 9 or so followed by Handel's Water and Fireworks suites. My first non-classical LP was a double album live concert recording by er...this is embarrassing...John Denver. I also had American Pie very early in my teens.

Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" was the first album that really got me. I can still remember my amazement that such music existed, having been exposed to nothing but top 40 singles on Radio 1 before then. The drama of the closing minutes of side 1, and the intonation of "Tubular Bells" at the very end - all very exciting for a boy of 11.

I haven't heard it for ages - dunno what I'd make of it now, with many years of musical exploration under my belt. The one band I still listen to and enjoy from that period of my life is Steely Dan - can't see myself ever tiring of them.

My first record was "Abbey Road". The only single I can remember buying was "Hey Jude".

Larry

If my memory serves me well. My first 4 discs were

A Track Records compilation of Hendrix and The Who.
Sly and the Family Stone- Dance to the Music.
Otis Redding- 6345789 on Stax
Amen Corner- Bend Me Shape Me

Hi, great topic - but I'm a little "out of the ordinary (mainstream)" with my tastes.

My parents always loved music - especially my father who had a collection of jazz, some C&W and several of the R&H soundtrack albums, etc. My mother simply had a good memory and could sing many of the songs of the 40s and 50s.

I've loved music since I can remember: I transcribed and could recite (not sing) the lyrics of songs such as The World We Knew (Frank Sinatra), From Russia With Love (Matt Monro) and Possess Me (Doris Day) - even before I understood just what the lyrics meant!

I first bought a John Sousa bandstand EP (4 tracks) - I think my father was horrified. First "pop" single was The Banks Of The Ohio (Olivia Newton-John) ... 1970 or 71. But it was my sister who really started me off: Christmas 1970 I received Geoff Love's Big Western Film Themes and within a year or two I was listening to John Barry (first the 007 movie scores and then expanding), Ron Goodwin, Jerry Goldsmith, Francis Lai ... and a host of others. Ennio Morrcone was still a relatively unknown name in the UK and for years I had only a few of his scores. How things change: I now have 300+ scores by EM, everything I can get hold of by John Barry (always the best) and a CD collection of well in excess of 1,000 (despite selling some to finance new purchases).

I even re-purchased several of my father's albums on CD such as Gunfighter Ballads (Marty Robbins), Carnegie Hall Concert 1938 (Benny Goodman) and the OSTs for High Society, South Pacific, etc. Oh, and I have over 1,000 recordings by the greatest vocalist (IMHO): Frank Sinatra.

As for droodzilla's Tubular Bells - I quite enjoyed this in the early 70s as it was music amongst the noise (for me) that most of my school friends were pushing in those days; I bought the remastered album on CD a few years ago ... it really is rubbish. I find I'm longing for the Bells just to bring something to it.

And as for Toby's Grundig - same here. I still have the portable G. radio from about 1980 sitting on my desk - it still gives good performance. In those early days the names of Grundig (too expensive), Decca, Philips, Goldring, Wharfdale were the brands I knew of. Then my father inherited the Dynatron music centre from his late brother-in-law and this really was the "crown jewels".

I moved into Pioneer for many years and it is only in the last 3 years that I found Naim. I'm converted ... I just can't afford to upgrade all in one go!

Read below...

I was trying to remember what the first LP's would have been.
One that's for sure is the CD I bought yesterday: KISS - Alive II. It was a hype in those days in The Netherlands...
Some Van Halen albums should be logical.

And come to think of it:

A Dutch New Wave-ish band
(got this from my father)

As I can remember my parents liked playing Santana (Abraxas/Caravanserai/Borboletta), Ry Cooder (Ry Cooder/Chicken Skin Music/Bob Till You Drop), The Peddlers (Greatest Hits), SuperTramp (Crime of the Century/Crisis? What Crisis?) to name but a few. I mentioned these, because I ended up collection all those albums too. Nostalgia and sheer appreciation of real music

quote:

Originally posted by Musicmad:
Oh, and I have over 1,000 recordings by the greatest vocalist

I didn't know Shirley Collins had made over 1,000 recordings

Great post BTW - fascinating reading indeed - there is a lot of great music of all types.

First single I bought with my pocket money was "Rhythm of the Rain By The Cascades"

My parents music was mainly classical with a smattering of Cliff and possibly a Jmaes Last in there somewhere.
My first LP was ABBA Arrival (don't laugh!) and then my uncle let me have a few of his old LPs one of them being Paranoid by Black Sabbath.....no loooking back I now have every CD by the Sabs some bought twice over as the re mastered serei came out!! So I am a bit of a metalhead realy altough I am more into classical music now especially more modern stuff and esp guitar and cello. My parents don't like the metal (obviuasly) and they don't like my choice of classical music , so I am in no danger of turning in to them musically!!! My Son is a chip of the old block musically - metal head in training!!! And my daughter likes her alternative rock so I am keeping them on the straight and narrow musically!

Whilst I am happy that my first few purchases aged 10/11 were pretty cool, and I am not embarassed by any of them, it then all went a bit Pete Tong as I got into Garry Glitter!

You win some you lose some!

Regards

Nic

A trip to Stiff Records office in 1979 saw the introduction of 'new wave' in to the family home, with my very first record, Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Armed Forces. This and other Elvis goodies were given to me by my Aunt's friend who worked for Stiff. Unfortunately at 8 years old, record care was not a skill I possessed, so you can imagine what happened to these original vinyl treasures!

It made a welcome change from my mum's Nana Miskouri, however Floyd & Mac still reigned supreme in the house.

I still have a copy on CD, but it doesn't do justice to that magnificent fold out sleeve the vinyl was contained within.

...My parents didn't even own a record player! ...my dad finally bought my sister and me a 2nd hand "Dansette" when I was 11 yrs old.
Left inside the player was a copy of "Let's Twist Again" by Chubby Checker on the Cameo Parkway label.

A week later I bought my first record "Save Me" by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich ..followed a couple of weeks later by "Night Of Fear" by The Move.

...First album? "Nice Enough To Eat" the famous Island label sampler which cost 14s/6p

....Swiftly followed by "Stonedhenge" by Ten Years After (in Mono)

By then the die was cast ...and music just about took over my life .....

..And I still love The Move....

My Grandfather played cornet in a colliery brass band, but my Father had no musical ability at all. When a radiogram first found its way into our house, it was fed a steady diet of brass band music - The Brighouse and Rastrick brass band, CWS Manchester Band, Black Dyke Mills and the Grimethorpe Colliery bands spring to mind. A track that I have never forgotten from those day was called Facilita. It was a complex test piece for the cornet and I could not believe that so many notes could be played so quickly over such a range.

My first single was Ride a White Swan by T Rex, and my first album was Creedence Clearwater Revival's Pendulum.

This was music that my Father definitely did not get.

I don't know what was first as it all started with 45rpm singles ... I can remember listening to Elvis, Fabian, Franki Avalon, Otis Redding, Bobby Rydell, Carla Thomas and many others on a small self-contained mono player that only played 45's. First album I bought for the console Zenith hi-fi was the Beach Boys "Little Duece Coupe" and an audio sound effects record called "The Sound of The Drags", just engine/tire/announcer noise from a drag strip.

Jeff A

Beatles had just caught on when I was six. The older generation was very wound up about their hair style and the very "loud" music (through a cheap transistor radio).

Their attitude really just made us young ones digging it even more!

JohanR

I was about eight when I found a broken miniature transistor radio. I got the big [put it in the fire, and wait till it got hot, huge copper ended] soldering iron and put the one speaker terminal back on. It went on one of those small nine volt PP3 batteries.

I soon discovered this amazing station on 464 metres, medium wave, which was then the newly styled Radio Three as I subsequently found out. I took the little thing under the covers every night, but it ran the batttery down very fast.

There was no music in the house at all. The Home Service was almost all talking in those days!

As nine year old I was despatched to boarding school - some very good things and some very bad too - but the delight for me was the Saturday 12.15 lesson called Music Appreciation. I hated the Music Master, but loved the Music. The first lesson started with the great opening moto from Elgar's First Symphony [Boult LPO HMV 1949 recording on 1951 LP release]. I have this on CD even now and only Elgar's own November 1930 recording matches it.

Within six months I knew every recording in the LP library [about 90 LPs] which we allowed to use without supervision once a certain competence had been demonstrated taking records on and off, and ranging from Bach to Britten. I loved Bach and thought Britten ugly. Somethings never change...

Over the next five years I learned to read scores, and also rambled through a good 2000 shelac 78 discs as well! I don'e ever think I equated replay with prefection, especially as I was taken to three or for concerts a year by the headmaster, who though he did not care for music, at least understood that I did. can you imagine that sort of thing nowadays? How times change, and not for the better...

For my tenth birthday, I got my first four LPs. Schubert Great C Major, Halle, Barbirolli, Unfinished, RLPO, Groves, Elgar One, Philharmonia, Barbirolli, and Beethoven Pastoral, Philharmonia, Klemperer. All HMV at 2/1/0, two pounds and a shilling [£2.05] for those unable to remember such quaint Englishness, as it seems now. By 14 I had about 80 LPs, all paid for by saving any birthday or Christamas money. I was easy to please.

The rest is history! Fredrik

quote:

Originally posted by Fredrik_Fiske:
I was about eight when I found a broken miniature transistor radio. I got the big [put it in the fire, and wait till it got hot, huge copper ended] soldering iron and put the one speaker terminal back on. It went on one of those small nine volt PP3 batteries.

I soon discovered this amazing station on 464 metres, medium wave, which was then the newly styled Radio Three as I subsequently found out. I took the little thing under the covers every night, but it ran the batttery down very fast.
....

This brought back memories of a tiny, tinny, red transistor radio my Dad brought back from one of his trips to the US circa 1970, which I too smuggled under the covers every night. Searching the air waves for exotic foreign noisy stations and funny languages at age 10 was exciting. And trying to pick up Radio Luxembourg was 'life in the edge' stuff.

Ian