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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!
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robelvick's avatar
robelvick
619 posts
 
Christmas, when I was in 5th grade, I received a Sony Discman and a copy of Beck's ODELAY.  It was the only CD I owned for about a month, so naturally it was overplayed.  

I remember writing down all the songs' lyrics and trying to figure out their meanings.  A little too much for a 5th grader, but nonetheless it was very fun.

I still love & cherish that record today, 23 years later.
audiosaurusrex's avatar
audiosaurusrex
320 posts
 
Great posts! My choir teacher at church would give out records for those of us that would do the scales acapella or solo in church. My first two were Sgt Peppers and Zeppelin II. My other experience from my childhood was being in Munich for the 72 Olympics and going record shopping coming back with Golden Earring Moontan with that provocative cover and Bad Company’s debut. Cherish those times and my Great Great  Choir teacher Ruth Lansche RIP!!
thaluza's avatar
thaluza
285 posts
 
When I was 5 years old my father had a party for his friends in his squadron. One of them left behind the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour LP. A few days later, he and 30 others were killed in action when their plane was shot down by a North Korean MIG during a recon mission, and I ended up with the album. It was my only record, and I played it a lot for the next several years on my sister's Fisher Price record player. When I was a young teen, after the record became unplayable, I took the inserts out and made "posters" out of them. To make a long story short, I have been a Beatles fan, and a rock music fan, since the age of 5 because of that record.
ericsch
752 posts
 
Touching story thaluza.
I was about 8 years old with a Sears Silvertone record player. I had been playing those multi colored kiddie records. One day I asked my mother to buy whatever record was number one on the charts. She came back with Hound Dog/Don’t Be Cruel. I was a happy camper.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 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.

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