Whatever the age that you felt that transition, what were you listening to at that time? What music, albums, bands, singers were on constant play? This is the Sound and the Fury after all! So whether you feel your life changing coming-of-age was at 15,16 17 or 22... what were you listening to?
This has been a rather musical week at BitBA and we have more fun around the corner, but indulge me with your favorite tunes of that important era and what they meant to you.
Here are some key examples of what I was listening to at the time. Am I still listening to this music now? Well that can be some of the discussion we have later today! So get us started, what were your tunes of transition, and do they hold true to this day? Cheers!
11 comments:
I turned 17 in the summer of 1985, just before my senior year of HS. I liked a lot of the stuff you were into, like the Who, Rush, Pretenders, Stranglers, etc. Of course, I started liking many of those 'older' bands, like the Who and Rush, but also the Beatles, Stones, Doors, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, etc., when I was still in elementary school (and still like most of them now). I wasn't into King Crimson at that point, but (again since elementary school) I was a huge fan of Yes.
Other stuff I was into then included U2 and the Police and Sting (who had just released his first solo album). I *really* liked them all through college as well, but I don't like either as much any more.
Also, my senior year of HS was when a few buddies and I had our (apparently obligatory) reggae phase, which lasted for a bit after I graduated and started college. Obviously, I liked all of the big reggae stars, like Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, etc., but also more obscure guys like Mutabaruka. That eventually led me to some of the better known Afrobeat and African pop musicians, like Fela Kuti (still love that stuff) and King Sunny Ade.
Marti - you show some prime stuff up there!
I'm a lot like Edo - all over the map so nothing unique to the time jumps out. I do recall being 17 in 1978-9 and listening a fair bit to Robin Trower's Bridge of Sighs though a few years old by then.
It wasn't until 1982ish with the explosion of Britain's New Wave that I really identify a time period, with a genre of music, being at a certain age, that I listened to a lot.
O/wise, like Edo, it was a lot of this, that, and the other thing in 1978-9, though I think PUNK was debuting at the time?
I knew I was an adult when, early one Saturday afternoon when I was 20, I was leafing through the local newspaper and came across an advertisement for an unpainted furniture sale.
And I thought to myself:
"Hmm, that might be interesting."
RIP childhood.
I guess it was late 80s for me and I was a confirmed metalhead. Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Motorhead Anthrax, WASP, Slayer ... plus all the hair bands that were big then (Motley Crue, Poison, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Cinderella, etc.)
I kind of lost interest in music just as the whole grunge thing was coming in, so I missed out on Nivana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, et al.
I'm still waiting for the moment to arrive when I feel like a grown-up but, when I was 17, I was mostly into Elvis Costello, Wings, the Beatles, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Jam, Dire Straits, Graham Parker, ELO and Squeeze.
Like Steve D.C., I'm still waiting for that grown-up feeling. Probably isn't going to happen. Nevertheless, when I was 17 (back in the hazy days of 1977-78), I felt changes looming. I knew high school was ending and college was upcoming, and part-time jobs to help pay for it ate into my youthful freedom. And I had my first serious romantic relationship, and looking back on it: boy, was I naive...
Anyway, music was quite important to me then, accompanying most of my various activities. Among my favorites were Wings, ABBA, the Beatles, Motown, ELO and Steely Dan. Most of my friends had other tastes than mine, and often quizzed me on my choices. "Why do you listen to that old stuff?" they would inquire. The answer then, as now, is "good music is good music, whether it's old or new"...
Thanks all for sharing your thoughts and history.
Like Edo my musical tastes leaned toward thee classic bands - The Who, Stones, Beatles etc in my early teens. As I got older some of that drifted away and I experimented more with new bands and styles. I think you can see that transition in the above photos. I still liked some of the “old” stuff while tasting some of the new.
It made me a little verklempt to realize I don’t really listen to any of it anymore. If it came on the radio I’d enjoy the memory but I don’t seek it out the same way anymore. Out of all of the above - the Pretenders and Echo & the Bunnymen standout. But for some I couldn’t even tell you what songs are on the album anymore.
I find music to be meaningful in a time, but not necessarily holding that power. I am sure some of you would disagree vehemently. I recapture feelings more through things I’ve read than things I’ve heard. What was once “so great” to listen to is almost grating now. Not sure why that is. I hope I’m not getting “old” in the traditionally negative sense.
marti I am same. Though I do have an ongoing interest in Beatles, contemporary music is just entertainment to me anymore. I can appreciate folks really enjoying a new group / concert but like anything in this digital age there is too much of it to pay attention to any of it. So, I turn on the radio, occasionally to music, and let chance take it's course, or ask the kids what song it was they were playing. But I stopped seeking out pop music when I hit 30ish.
At 17 I was really into the following bands:
Pink Floyd (I even wrote a college application essay about my deep identification with the band's music), Prince (something that would never change, except to become deeper and more complex appreciation), The Police (a band I have come to feel lukewarm about, even if Regatta D'Blanc is still a fantastic album), and the Grateful Dead. . . esp. bootlegs of their concerts.
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