What did you grow up on?

[Japhet]

My Mum was very good on the piano and could play most stuff by ear. She had perfect pitch too (but, alas, didn't pass it on to me). She liked some musicals too like West Side Story, South Pacific and Oklahoma. I couldn't stand them then and can't stand musicals now either. My Dad had zero musical interest apart from telling me that whatever I was listening to was rubbish.

[jezzaboy]

There was never much music in my house and dear daddy was a bit too fond of the old drinky poos and used to listen to James Last and Andy Williams when feeling no pain as they say . Mum didn`t listen to music much but I got a radiogram when my gran died and discovered some 45`s of Cliff and the Shadows. That was me till about 15 when I discovered AC/DC and it`s all been uphill since then.

 

Apart from that, it was mostly TOTP stuff that everyone of my generation watched so all the glam stuff.

[Crusoe]

I don't remember my parents playing many records in the house. There were some old albums there, like James Last and His Orchestra, or Frank Ifield, and the old dads' favourite, Jennifer Rush. My dad liked a bit of Status Quo and I still quite like some of their older stuff like Piledriver or Blue for You. My neighbours mum had been a big Beatles fan so I ended up liking them and I remember he had a 7" copy of Golden Brown by the Stranglers which remains my favourite song to this day. 

[NancyJohnson]

My mum was into old big band stuff, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin etc. and loved The Beatles, Kinks, Rolling Stones, Small Faces.  My dad wasn't really into music as such, but he did like Hall & Oates. The Carpenters and a bit of Philly soul.

 

[Edit]. My brother is ten years older than me.  Never connected with what he listened to other than it was rock (ELP, Yes, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin etc.); he did buy me singles...see next paragraph.

 

So, my first musical loves were off a diet of big-brother purchased 7" singles; Sweet, Sparks, Mott The Hoople, early Queen.  Oddly, we had an LP of the King & I soundtrack that I still adore to this day. 

 

Latched onto punk, primarily The Clash, Television and The Heartbreakers.  While there was always music in my life, there were bands that really took precedence.  Rich Kids, early Van Halen (pre-Hagar), early Japan (first three albums), The Alarm, Big Country, Living Colour, Jellyfish, Shudder To Think, NIN, The Wildhearts, 3 Colours Red, Sugar, Veruca Salt, Counting Crows, Fountains Of Wayne.

 

The only regret is not appreciating XTC until some time after they'd called it quits.  They have to be one of the greatest bands this country have produced.  Yeah, I know people will go, 'What about the Beatles?'  If you're interested, go and dip into the XTC catalogue and see how they grew from the angular angsty punk/powerpop of White Music (1978) through to their final album, 2000's Wasp Star (by which point they were essentially a duo comprised of Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding).  It's astounding.

 

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by NancyJohnson

[miles'tone]

I also, interestingly like a few others here, grew up in a house where music wasn't played.

I heard The Police on the top 40 which I would listen to in my bedroom and fell in love with them. Still listen to them now!

[Skin Lewis]

I grew up in the '50s hearing my Dad play Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Mugsy Spannier, Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne, Mozart, Beethoven, Hank Williams and Spike Jones. Meanwhile I was listening to Radio Luxemburg ("Your station of the stars") under the bed covers - Buddy Holly, Elvis etc, and it went on from there to Eddie Cochran, The Shadows, Tornados, and then came the Beatles and suddenly everything was in colour. 

 

39 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

The only regret is not appreciating XTC until some time after they'd called it quits.  They have to be one of the greatest bands this country have produced.  Yeah, I know people will go, 'What about the Beatles?'  If you're interested, go and dip into the XTC catalogue and see how they grew from the angular angsty punk/powerpop of White Music (1978) through to their final album, 2000's Wasp Star (by which point they were essentially a duo comprised of Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding).  It's astounding.

 

I'm still obsessed with XTC. Yes, I agree, definitely one of the greatest bands this country has produced. Magnificent.

[Guest]

Some things have come and gone and come again, some things have just come and gone, but some things walked straight into me and have never left.....

 

....especially Rio, Queen II, Rubber Soul, The White Album, Pornography, Disintegration, ...And Justice For All, House of Love Creation LP, various bits of the JAMC, early Sisters Of Mercy, Doolittle, Pills Thrills and Bellyaches, Rid of Me, the first Elastica album and Definitely Maybe (though by that age, I really ought to have been grown up)

 

I quote liked Brothers In Arms, up until hearing Aces High for the first time

[casapete]

My brother ( 4 years older than me ) had a big effect on my musical taste when we were growing

up in the 60’s. We both loved The Stones and The Beatles as they were everywhere, but then he

got into Motown and soul music which was always playing for a few years. Then (inexplicably)

he veered off into folk / rock stuff like The Strawbs and Lindisfarne, and I found Chuck Berry,

all the main blues / r’n’b stuff along with the great pop music of the time, which have never

left me. Through older friends I found country and country rock, and thanks to my boss at the

record store where I worked I discovered some great soul and funk music which would

otherwise have been hard to find. Around this time I also discovered Springsteen too, who

I still admire. 

 

My parents didn’t like pop music, so I was restricted to things I heard on the BBC Light

Programme ( R2) and classical music - Chopin being my Dad’s thing. When I went round

to friend’s houses, I heard Sinatra and Tony Bennett etc for the first time being played by

their parents. Learned to appreciate them many years later.

[Paul S]

I was born in '57 so probably aware of music from the early to mid 60s onwards.  My parents listened to a lot of 'foreign' stuff which, even at the time, seemed a little odd.  I'm sure there was more to it than this, but these stuck in my mind - Los Paraguayos, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass , Nana Mouskouri.  And, not quite the same, a lot of Bert Kaempfert (maybe that is why I like the plink of a pick on flats?) They did travel abroad a bit before it was fashionable, so maybe that was what it was about.  More exotic than Southend    Anyway, I had a sister who was 5 years older than me and she used to listen to lots of pop chart songs, played them to death.  She got into Mowtown, played them to death.  Heard it Through the Grapevine, over and over and over and over and... Not so much Beatles or Stones although she did have Sgt Peppers and played it over and over and over and...  Then at senior school I got to listen to blues and heavy rock.  Caught up with what I'd missed and enjoyed what was contemporary, discovered live music and that was that    I like most stuff these days but blues/rock is where my heart is.

[StickyDBRmf]

Strange. Brought up as Catholic so Latin Mass was a first musical sensory imbed. Then switched to English and my Dad was in the choir and I got to sit up in the balcony (with the organ also). We would go home after church and listen to Happy Bernie's Polka Party (he was the band@ my sister's wedding reception years later) and Hungarian Melody Hour. (Mum-Polish. Dad-Hungarian). But in the 60's in the US a lot of TV was Variety Shows. So a lot of...variety. Sis is 7yrs. older than me so heard a lot of Top 40. Four Seasons Beatles (not a fan) Beach Boys (wrong coast, but dug it). THINGS stuck in my head that I didn't understand but blew me away. WHAT IS THAT? Pet Sounds. West Side Story. Handel's Messiah. Wichita Lineman. The King and I. Mary Poppins. The Monkees. Mammas& Pappas (The Wrecking Crew!)

Fast forward to me taking acoustic guitar lessons at age 11 (1969) and my sister coming home from The Jersey Shore with a bunch of 8-track tapes of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Best of Cream, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vidda, Nazz (Todd Rundgren), Sly and the Family Stone - Stand!, and CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY (thank you Pete Cetera) and I PLEADED for an electric guitar - couldn't afford a Strat, got a Fender Mustang! With the Racing Stripe! Orange/Red! And I didn't sound like Hendrix, so traded it in for a Jazz Bass...

Believe me all that still shows up in one way or another. 

Oh, and another thing. Dad bought a Roberts Reel-to-Reel tape recorder with sound-on-sound that had built-in speakers and 3-watt tube amps that became became my first amplifier. And we had a grandfather clock with Westminster chimes that I recorded and slowed down so they sounded like THE WESTMINSTER CHIMES.

That theme became the basis for a song I wrote years later called Space Fusion Jokebook.

And my sister had a boyfriend in Vietnam (he came back) that sent her a reel-to-reel tape of the "White Album" (the only Beatles album I liked) that I listened to w/ headphones. Over. And. Over.

I could run one of the inputs of the Roberts out to the other input for THE BEST FUZZTONE EVER. 

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by StickyDBRmf
More stuff.

[martin8708]

My mother is my major influence , early Stones , Beach Boys , Neil Diamond , Dave Brubeck , Gerry Mulligan .

 

My Dad , James Last .

My brother : Status Quo.

Apparently my Grandad was a saxophone player in a trad jazz band that gigged around the Cider festivals , but he came home inebriated one night and Grandma took a hammer to his sax .

[lowdown]

4 hours ago, BassTractor said:

Bach, Kaempfert 

 

You certainly have the 'Knack' for spotting good Basslines.

 

 

[Linus27]

I was lucky as my house was a constant noise of music from my mum, dad and two older sisters. My dad was also a huge hifi fan and when I was a teenager would drag me around all the major hifi shows.

 

My dad loved big band Jazz like Ted Heath as well various organ music.

My mum loved The Carpenters, Barry Manilow, Val Doonican and Nana Mouskouri. 

My oldest sister loved 80's pop, had a crush on Sting but loved The Police, Duran Duran, A-ha, Culture Club, Paul Young and most 80's pop.

My other older sister also loved 80's pop, had a crush on Mark King so loved Level 42, Depeche Mode, Spandau Ballet, Abba, Adam Ant and most 80's pop.

 

So my love of Jazz came from my dad and my love of 80's pop came from my two sisters. I also love The Carpenters.

[lidl e]

7 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

My eldest is the same, he likes his reggae but also slipknot, I learned one of their basslines to show him, bit heavy for me 😁

I learned some MF Doom to impress my boy 

[Reggaebass]

25 minutes ago, lidl e said:

I learned some MF Doom to impress my boy 

I’m used to heavy bass with reggae and dub but after listening to slipknot through headphones I needed a few paracetamol 😁

[cetera]

13 hours ago, StickyDBRmf said:

CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY (thank you Pete Cetera)

 

Now we're talking!

 

[nilorius]

When i was a kid, i listened to different bands and genres, as i do now. Someone will say that i am still a kid, but that is what i do. Cheers.

[SH73]

My parents would have various AM stations on. My dad would also listen to Radio Free Europe, forbidden station during Cold War.

He had a collection of Elvis Presley, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Buddy Holly and various 50s and 60s rock and roll played on a reel to reel valve player.

We used to listen the usual rock/pop hits in very early 80s when I quickly got influenced by metal, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Scorpions, Anthrax, Annihilator, AC/DC, Kreator, Sepultura and likes. 

[bartelby]

Under the age of 10 I was mainly exposed to Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell.
 

My own taste in music started by seeing Kate Bush's Withering Heights on ToTP and the Two Tone scene growing in Coventry

 

My elder sister started getting me into The Damned, The Cure and Dead Kennedys. Then Iron Maiden came along.
Teen years were mainly Thrash, Goth, US punk and Grebo.

[chris_b]

Ours wasn't a particularly musical household. I started with Uncle Mac on the Light Program and the Billy Cotton Band Show on BBC. Then moved on to Ready Steady Go and Top of the Pops. Then I discovered clubs and switched to the likes of John Mayall, Geno Washington etc. I didn't grow up on any particular band, label or style of music, it was a melting pot of everything.

[tauzero]

Dad was the one who did most music listening - it was almost all classical. I was born in 1957, and in my early teens I listened to Radio 1 and some Radio Luxembourg, and by my late teens liked Focus, T Rex (and Tyrannosaurus Rex), Queen, Yes, and Pink Floyd, all of which I still like. The main legacy of dad's collection is Flanders and Swann.

[Ralf1e]

What did you grow up on?

Mostly scrambled egg on toast.

[Frank Blank]

On 13/02/2023 at 12:57, alyctes said:

Shostakovich, 5th Symphony.

 

That's a killer.

[Frank Blank]

Mum *spits into fire* - Sinatra, Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, Duke Ellington, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, John Denver, Julian Bream, Prokofiev, Mahler.

Dad *eats broken glass* -  Neil Diamond, Bread, Eagles, Dr Hook, Glen Campbell, Linda Ronstadt.

Brother - (huge amount of influences so I'll only put the ones that remain on my playlists) David Bowie, Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Tubular Bells, Roxy Music, Sparks, Steely Dan.

 

Then Punk came along and I decided it was my time, my music and as Punk was, actually, quite narrow minded and intolerant of anything outside of itself, I stopped listening to anything outside of the genre. Also, in that self-obsessed, belligerent, way of the first wave of Punk, I also dismissed anything before punk as boring irrelevant hippy nonsense, it wasn't until New Wave came along and freed me up again that I started broadening (albeit only slightly) my musical horizons. It wasn't really until my forties I started turning some of those bands green again and realised how much great stuff I'd missed out on. As much as the revolution of Punk was absolutely necessary and, eventually, in the shape of New Wave led to some utterly amazing music, it was initially a severely applied tourniquet from which only a few truly interesting bands emerged. It took me decades to recover from the total reboot of Punk, I'd not have wanted to be a teenager at any other time but I also wish I'd gone through it with a tad more wisdom. It's difficult to appreciate music played by your parents when they were abusive and, essentially, a pair of horrible bastards, because that music always remains kind of tainted but I'm learning to appreciate some of it more and more in spite of them.

 

I am, as ever, rambling. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by Frank Blank

[obbm]

This is a very difficult question to answer because as a child there was no pop/rock music as we know it today.

 

Up to the age of 11, i.e. 1946 to 1957 all I heard was:-

 

Summer – Hotel Dance Band

Winter - BBC Light Programme - Two Way Family Favourites, Billy Cotton Bandshow, Uncle Mac’s Childrens Favourites, etc.

 

In 1957 we moved, my parents bought a radiogram and had some LPs of Gilbert and Sullivan and some Musicals but nothing that interested me.  (Note: I eventually modified the radiogram to became the basis of my first bass amp)

 

I started to listen to Radio Luxembourg.

 

By the 3rd year at school one of the form used to bring his Dansette and play records at break time - Duane Eddy, Johnny and the Hurricanes, Buddy Holly, Del Shannon, The Ventures, etc.

 

There was a slow growth of, what was starting to be called, “pop music” on

BBC Light Programme - Saturday Club

BBC TV - Juke Box Jury

ITV - Thank Your Lucky Stars

But that was about it so it so a tape recorder was essential.

 

Early 60s it was Cliff, The Shadows, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, Gene Vincent and The Blue Caps, Helen Shapiro, John Leyton, Billy Fury, etc.

 

The weekly NME was a great source of information, new artists/band and tour dates. Went to see Little Richard in concert and was converted by the Fender Precision in Sounds Incorporated.  I had to have a bass.

 

At the end of 1962 everything changed with the rise of The Beatles and the other Mersey groups.  Compared to what had come before it was a revelation.

 

By 1965 the broadcasters had eventually got their act together with “Top of the Pops” and the wonderful “Ready, Steady Go”.

 

Yes I go back, listen to and play along with music from my youth but not my childhood, and I’m not embarrassed to admit that I like a lot of early Cliff and The Drifters/Shadows.  There is just something about that early British Rock ‘N’ Roll that gets me.  Given the opportunity I would just love to get out and play it again.