Friday OT #2 - Defining Acts

[Angie]

I know we've had a lot of music Friday OTs lately, so I'm sorry for doing another one - it was just super-timely.

Chris Cornell's passing yesterday hit a lot of people hard. I heard a lot of people mentioning about how his music is one of the voices they remember most from their formative years - maybe the pre-teen to teen era when they were just finding the type of music they liked, rather than what their parents had forced them to hear.

Who are some of the defining artists of your "musical awakening?" They might be good OR bad - I mean, if you grew up in 1982, there was definitely good and bad music available.

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For me, I started listening to music at a really young age. I would listen to (then) KKEZ in Ft. Dodge, which at the time played a really varied mix of current and classic rock. I had loved the Who for as long as I remember (even though Keith Moon had died before I was born), but in those early years, I loved everything from The Cars to The Police to Wang Chung.

In my teen years, probably my most played artists were REM, Dr. Dre, Boyz II Men, Soundgarden, Alanis Morrisette when she was still slightly edgy, Beastie Boys, Nirvana.

 

[NWICY]

Johnny Cash, REO Speedwagon, Bob Seger, Rolling Stones, the Who, BB King, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr. Yeah I wasn't very finicky about what I listened to, still not I listen to a pretty wide variety of stuff still today.

 

[Cyclonepride]

HS was the late 80's for me, so the main bands I listened to in that era were hair bands. Cannot stand them now as the music seems fairly stupid and shallow (perhaps because that fit my description in my teen years and I don't like to think of myself that way). Almost all the older music that I like are either from the 60's, 70's or 90's, with some other genre's of the 80's that I missed while listening to other stupid ****.

 

[Farnsworth]

Sublime, 311, Blink 182, Green Day, RHCP, old Linkin Park, Dr. Dre, Eminem.

 

[MeanDean]

Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks, Zombies, Yardbirds.

Later, Elvis Costello, Blondie, Nick Lowe - most any New Wave group of the late 70's early 80's

 

[madguy30]

Limp Bizkit because I thought I was angry...looking back, I was just being really stupid and spiteful/whiny about typical teenaged relationship things, which I suppose fit the description for Limp Bizkit's music quite well.

 

[3GenClone]

Rivers Cuomo/Weezer & Billie Joe Armstrong/Green Day

 

[Farnsworth]

Limp Bizkit because I thought I was angry...looking back, I was just being really stupid and spiteful/whiny about typical teenaged relationship things, which I suppose fit the description for Limp Bizkit's music quite well.

Definitely one of the biggest CDs at the time of my youth. I still give Significant Other a listen from time to time, more for nostalgia.

Found my lucky coin in Des Moines!

 

[Buster28]

I've discovered different types of music over the years. Some were current at the time and some I had to revisit years later because my ears were occupied by something else. Country was the first genre I loved as a kid. Late 80s I really was into freestyle. When that faded, it was hair bands. I trended with the Seattle sound for a while in the early 90s, but was still listening to other stuff like the rebirth of country after the 80s doldrums that nearly killed it. At the music store I worked at, my look (grunge-lite) and my music tastes (country) confused many a customer, to say the least. Really started listening to club music and remixes around 2007, which lasted a few years. I haven't found anything that's blown me away since then, so I mostly listen to older stuff (new wave, dance, 80s and 90s era country) mixed with the (rare) occasional new act that I really enjoy like Maren Morris. Hard to pin down a single genre that is "defining" for me, but it all started with country in the 70s.

 

[oldman]

My first five albums (yes, albums) were Alice Cooper Killer, Black Sabbath Paranoid, Jethro Tull Living In The Past, Kiss (1st album), and Led Zeppelin Zoso. Four of those five are still among my favorites.

 

[Rabbuk]

Wu Tang and the grateful dead

 

[Farnsworth]

My first five albums (yes, albums) were Alice Cooper Killer, Black Sabbath Paranoid, Jethro Tull Living In The Past, Kiss (1st album), and Led Zeppelin Zoso. Four of those five are still among my favorites.

I think this would be a great future topic. Just list the first 5 albums you ever owned, without trying to lie to make your early years sound cooler than they were.

 

[Al_4_State]

A lot of differing paths and phases for me.

Music has been something I've loved my entire life. My mom says when I was a baby, their Sunday entertainment was to throw me in the back seat and drive around looking at crops with a 6 pack of Old Mil and the tunes cranked up. Steely Dan ("Aja"), Tom Petty ("Full Moon Fever"), GNR (Appetite), Aerosmith (Toys in the Attic), Jackson Browne (Running on Empty), and The Stones (Let it Bleed) were some of the stuff my old man was really into in those days (late 80's) that I really liked. I got in trouble at pre-school for singing "Free Falling" on Nursery Rhyme Day. Full Moon Fever would be the first alum I bought on my own.

I started getting into my own music around 5th grade (early to mid 90's). Oasis, Beck, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Sublime were all really big for me.

In the late 90's, I heard blink-182 for the first time, and it really blew my doors off. I spent most of high school going down the rabbit hole of punk. Poppier stuff like blink, Green Day, New Found Glory, Rancid, Offspring, Alkaline Trio, Weezer as well classics like the Sex Pistols, Ramones, Descendents, and Misfits. The punk thing gave me my first exposure to the Velvet Underground as well.

Late in high school, punk (along with the help of some new found hobbies) lead me into reggae (as punk was heavily influenced by it) and jam bands (OAR, Bob Marley, Phish, Dispatch, DMB). I really got into O.A.R. and they would remain one of my favorite bands through college. The jam band thing lead me right back into classic rock in a big way during college. The Stones, The Who, Zeppelin in particular. I also got my first taste of alt-country with Old 97's and Whiskeytown. I got back into 90's rock as well as RHCP, Pearl Jam, and Tool all put out some great albums during my college years.

I bought a Drive-By Truckers album in 2007 on a whim and went off the deep end into alt-country. That brought more classic country (music that had always been in the periphery in my youth) into the fold and over the past decade my favorite music has tended to be stuff that drew from classic rock or classic country (or both - even better) and expounded on it. Wilco, The Hold Steady, Queens of the Stone Age, Lucero, Son Volt, anything Ryan Adams, Sturgill Simpson, Todd Snider, Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine, Natural Child, Turnpike Troubadours are all artists I've really come onto in the past decade.

I realized I typed a whole ton of **** and barely scratched the surface. There are few things I like more than music.

 

[Al_4_State]

I think this would be a great future topic. Just list the first 5 albums you ever owned, without trying to lie to make your early years sound cooler than they were.

Tom Petty "Full Moon Fever"
Garth Brooks "The Hits"
Oasis "What's the Story Morning Glory"
Beck "Odelay"
Nirvana "From the Banks of the Muddy Wishkah"

Ironically, the only one of those albums that was "cool" in my class was Garth Brooks. Full Moon Fever seemed old already (it was 5 years old at most) and the other 3 got constant radio play. I think everyone forgets that through the mid 90's, it was still common to hear really good music on terrestrial radio AND it was wildly popular.

 

[JHUNSY]

Sublime, 311, Blink 182, Green Day, RHCP, old Linkin Park, Dr. Dre, Eminem.

Is this your yearbook photo:

 

[Angie]

A lot of differing paths and phases for me.

Music has been something I've loved my entire life. My mom says when I was a baby, their Sunday entertainment was to throw me in the back seat and drive around looking at crops with a 6 pack of Old Mil and the tunes cranked up. Steely Dan ("Aja"), Tom Petty ("Full Moon Fever"), GNR (Appetite), Aerosmith (Toys in the Attic), Jackson Browne (Running on Empty), and The Stones (Let it Bleed) were some of the stuff my old man was really into in those days (late 80's) that I really liked. I got in trouble at pre-school for singing "Free Falling" on Nursery Rhyme Day. Full Moon Fever would be the first alum I bought on my own.

I started getting into my own music around 5th grade (early to mid 90's). Oasis, Beck, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Sublime were all really big for me.

In the late 90's, I heard blink-182 for the first time, and it really blew my doors off. I spent most of high school going down the rabbit hole of punk. Poppier stuff like blink, Green Day, New Found Glory, Rancid, Offspring, Alkaline Trio, Weezer as well classics like the Sex Pistols, Ramones, Descendents, and Misfits. The punk thing gave me my first exposure to the Velvet Underground as well.

Late in high school, punk (along with the help of some new found hobbies) lead me into reggae (as punk was heavily influenced by it) and jam bands (OAR, Bob Marley, Phish, Dispatch, DMB). I really got into O.A.R. and they would remain one of my favorite bands through college. The jam band thing lead me right back into classic rock in a big way during college. The Stones, The Who, Zeppelin in particular. I also got my first taste of alt-country with Old 97's and Whiskeytown. I got back into 90's rock as well as RHCP, Pearl Jam, and Tool all put out some great albums during my college years.

I bought a Drive-By Truckers album in 2007 on a whim and went off the deep end into alt-country. That brought more classic country (music that had always been in the periphery in my youth) into the fold and over the past decade my favorite music has tended to be stuff that drew from classic rock or classic country (or both - even better) and expounded on it. Wilco, The Hold Steady, Queens of the Stone Age, Lucero, Son Volt, anything Ryan Adams, Sturgill Simpson, Todd Snider, Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine, Natural Child, Turnpike Troubadours are all artists I've really come onto in the past decade.

I realized I typed a whole ton of **** and barely scratched the surface. There are few things I like more than music.

Did you see that Son Volt is going to be at Wooly's? http://www.woolysdm.com/event/1438774-son-volt-des-moines/

I really wanted to go to that show, but we've got Tom Petty earlier in the week, and I've got both the Son Volt show and Electric Six that same week that I'm debating. It might be hard lining up babysitting for that many nights.

 

[jcyclonee]

REM, Night Ranger, U2, Elvis, The Cars, Bryan Adams (before he became wedding music guy), Van Halen (1984 specifically) and the Beatles. Billy Joel's music from before he met Christie Brinkley had lyrics that blew me away and Tom Petty's stuff prior to Full Moon Fever did the same.

Also, Boston's delayed release of their 3rd album was really important to me. I still can't decide if the fact that it was delayed because the flying guitar on the original cover wouldn't have actually been able to fly was really cool or really stupid.

Did I name enough? I can name more.

 

[Angie]

I think this would be a great future topic. Just list the first 5 albums you ever owned, without trying to lie to make your early years sound cooler than they were.

I wrote this down for about a month out!

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Rolling Stones & the Beach Boys.

Rolling Stones because I loved the driving force.
Beach Boys because I could sing along, and because my father wouldn't let us play the Stones (but we did anyway).

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I grew up in such a music void. The Rock in Sioux City played the same Zeppelin, Seger and Steve Miller songs all the damn time (have they changed at all?), so it really limited what I was exposed to. My older brothers listened to Boston and CCR (good) but my sisters listened to some horrible crap in the early 80's (bad). Unfortunately, I was subjected to mostly my sisters' music since they were closer in age.

I suffered through the horrible hair bands of the 80's but some bands that helped me turn the corner were the Pixies, Beastie Boys and GNR. I'm not a huge GNR fan, but Appetite for Destruction, along with Nirvana, help stomp out the hair bands at the time.