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MUSIC THAT CHANGED YOUR LIFE

I bought a couple of remastered CD's this week that brought a flood of memories back to me and well I knew I wouldn't be alone in having pieces of music that shaped or echoed various era's of my life.
It's also the reason I got into this hobby....
At 13 I got seriously into music,me amd my friends who sit around for hours picking tracks and blasting out music,this was my intial golden era.
However some 8 years later in '85 I'd moved on a bit,I was semi-grown up,been made redundant from my first job,worked in retail for a while and was back studying at college.
My interest in music had diminished a little,the 80's seemed a little facile,a lot of the music raved about somehow didn't do it for me.
I was pretty broke too,staying at home and well a little down and self obsessed as a 21 year tends to be.
One day I came across a new record just released,I liked the cover,the titles of the songs and I'd seen the band on TV a few times.
It was This Is The Sea by The Waterboys.
I was blown away,a big rock sound,epic but not overblown,a great lyricist and songwriter in Mike Scott and the music became my beacon in a gloomy time.
I followed up the previous releases by them,the live tapes,all the stuff you do.
Now I wouldn't claim this record was the greatest ever made but I wore that vinyl out,even today I could probably write you down the lyric of every song on that record,I doubt I've ever listened to any record more than that one.
It might be saying too much that it saved my life but Mike Scott's music reflected the bleakness of Britain at that time but it also uplifted me.
That winter was tough but that record kept my spirits up.
It started too a search for those who had influenced him and opened up my mind to Dylan,Van Morrison and made me realise the importance of early Blues,Country and Gospel music.
Simply put it restarted my love affair for music.
So when I listened to the first two Waterboys albums this week I was transported back to that time and despite some of the music having dated the essence of Scott's positve message still seemed as powerful some 17 years later.
The subsequent releases by The Waterboys were never as strong to me but that record had such an important impact on my life that I'll never forget it nor the times it got me through.
That's part of my story,now tell me yours.............
ben_campbell
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
I've got my first jazz motivation from the album of Chick Corea "Mad Hatter" 10 years ago.
Recently German progressive/krautrock had become a part of my life. There is NO listening session without Roedelius or CAN period.
garfish
1,840 posts
 
Ben; nothing to compare to your story, but music didn't mean much to me until Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Rick Nelson, The Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins and many others invented ROCK and ROLL (of course it grew out of Blues). There weren't many women Rock performers in those days, but a year or so later, Wanda Jackson's "Let's Have A party" was fantastic.

I was 13 years old in 1956; raging hormone storm going on too, and saw Elvis perform on the Ed Sullivan TV show--waist up only of course-- he was great. And my two year older sister pretty much wore out a 45 record by Gene Vincent-- "Be Bop A Lula", on our parents Zenith portable record player (it had tubes:)--and I helped. I KNEW I had to have a guitar-- specifically electric, as a result of all this. Well, many guitars later I still love early R&R music and its progeny;>) I play my stereo system much better than I ever played guitar though-- but still, a life-long love affair with R&R. Cheers. Craig.
rosstaman
455 posts
 
Good thread, Ben. I think one of the LP's that changed my life musically was, East West by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Prior to its release in the mid-60's, I was listening to all the top 10 music on the radio, most of which was known as the "British Invasion" and some great Motown tunes. East West introduced me to the blues. Actually, I was hanging out in Greenwich Village and attended the Battle of the Bands concerts in Thompson Square Park. The Blues Project (Al Kooper's original band) vs. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, Mark Naftalin, etc.) After that I was hooked on the blues. Then came the John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat (Hooker-n-Heat) concert at Carnegie Hall. It was the first "rock" concert at Carnegie Hall. I became hooked on boogie woogie. Then there was the Earth Day Festival at UC Davis in the late 70's and Bob Marley and the Wailers played. My life has never been the same! Multiple addictions!
klhender
43 posts
 
Ben-this is a hard one and I may change my mind but Chicago VI comes to mind right away. I'll never forget seeing Brian Auger at Ohio State spring of 74'. I was walking in the mall when I heard one song from "Born to Run", had no idea who the band was but 3 minutes later the guy in the record store knew...end of story.
georgemartinjr
3 posts
 
I LOVED THE CALIFORNIA SOUND: JAN & DEAN, TURTLES ETC AS A YOUNG MAN IN THE 60'S' BUT THE BEACH BOYS SHAPED MY LIFE AND MOVED ME THE MOST; SUMMER CONCERTS ON THE BEACH OR A MARCH CONCERT TO GET ME LOOKING FORWARD TO THE WARM SUNNY SUMMER WEATHER WITH BEAUTIFUL GIRLS IN BAKINI SUITS!!
I MET DENNIS WILSON IN NY ABOUT 1977. I SAW CARL WILSON GIVE HIS HEART TO HIS MUSIC EVEN WHEN HE KNEW HE WAS SOON GOING TO DIE. CARL WILSON WAS MY MOST FAVORITE MUSIC PERFORMER OF ALL TIMES- I SAW HIM OVER 100 TIMES IN CONCERT.
DUE TO THE HEARTBREAK OF LOOSING CARL, I GRAVITATE TO ALL FORMS OF JAZZ TO SOOTH MY SOUL; OLD MAC TUBE TUNERS AND VAC AMPS ETC, I LIVE FOR THE MUSICAL PERSWASIONS OF BLACK ARTISTS: THE SOOTHING SOUND OF THE FLAMINGO'S, THE SOULFUL SOUNDS OF CURTIS MAYFIELD AND THE IMPRESSIONS, TO NATALY COLE; AND FINALLY GRADUATING TO CLASSICAL MUSIC.
I DO LOVE MUSIC AND NOW HAVE ELIVATED MY SOUNDS SYSTEMS TO ACCOMODATE MY LISTENING TOLERANCE.
THANKS FOR AUDIOGON AND THE GREAT PEOPLE I HAVE DONE BUSINESS WITH HERE ON AUDIOGON, I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LEARN AND CONFIDENTLY PURCHASE WONDERFUL EQUIPMENT BEYOND MY DREAMS. THANKS TO THE AUDIOPHYLES IN AUDIOGON, I HAVE INFINITELY EXPANDED MY MUSIC APPRECIATION.
GEORGE MARTIN JR
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