[karkus30]

Now, having been on the prog archives and seeing the wildly different opinions of bands that are all in the same basic space it got me wondering. Is this all about the formative musical years of your youth.

Have a look through the hits from the year you were born until you bought your first album.

http://www.onlineweb.com/theones/1960_1964.htm

which stand out for you. Im not on about those you remember, but which ones give you a very strong emotional feeling.

Then list the first few albums and single that you bought. Just the very first few.

Then what were you listening to when you were in your most musically influencial years at school. You will know this because you were seriously into the music and tended to move in a smaller circle of like minded peers. Also list any music you were enjoying but did not really fit with your peer group at the time.


I will start:

Everley brothers -Walk right back
Beatles-from me to you
Beatles-She loves you
Beatles-I want to hold your hand
Searchers-Needles and pins
Beatles-Cant buy me Love
Beatles-hard days night
Honeycombes-Have I the Right
Roy Orbison-Oh Pretty Woman
Beatles-Ticket to Ride
Byrds-Hey Mr tambourine man
Beatles-Help
Rolling Stones-Paint it Black
Beatles-Eleanor Rigby
Beach Boys-Good Vibrations
Tremeloes-Silence is Golden
Procul Harum-Whiter Shade of Pale
Scott McKenzie-San Francisco
Beatles-Hello/Goodbye
Manfred mann-The Mighty Quinn
Dave,Dee,Dozy etc-Xanadu
Union Gap-Young Girl
Mary Hopkins-Those were the days
Marmalade-Obladi
Move-Blackberry Way
Amen Corner-If Paradise
Zagger and Evans-The year 2525
Mungo Jerry-In the Summertime
TRex-Hot Love
TRex-Get it On
New Seekers-Id like to teach the world
T Rex-Telegram Sam
Nillson-Without You
Trex-Metal Guru
Don Maclean-Vincent
Alice Cooper-Schools Out
Rod Stewart-You wear it well
Slade-Mama were all crazy now
Sweet-Blockbuster.

I stop here because it was about the date I bought my very first albums and singles.

Slade-Slayed
Sweet-Ballroom Blitz
Focus-Sylvia

Then aged 14/16-Hawkwind, Wishbone Ash, ELP, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator, Gentle giant, Yes, PFM, Amon Duul, Genesis.

At the same time I was secretly listening to virtually everything by David Bowie (up unti Diamond Dogs) and some early Elton John and Roxy Music.

I see a pattern when I look at this list and compare and contrast with later bands that I like. One thing becomes obvious, there is very little blues music in this list. Although much later on I began listening to Led Zep, blues has never been a major influence. The Beatles were obviously a massive influence yet I never bought anything by them until a few years ago.

There is pop, melody, melancholy, metal, jazz, folk. This ties up nicely with bands like Nirvana that fit all those categories.

Anyway, see if you can do your own and see a pattern. Nothing better to do on a cold wet easter