First Songs You Remember Hearing

General music discussion.
matedog
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First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by matedog »

For various, not terribly interesting reasons, I pulled up FYC's "She Drives Me Crazy" and I realized that was one of the first contemporaneous popular songs I remember hearing. The other songs I remember hearing from my earliest "music memories" are Elton's "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That", "Straight Up" from Paula Abdul and "Paradise City." That places my earliest popular music awareness around late 88 or early 89 when I was 5, almost 6.

I'm curious what others first songs are and around what age.
Look, you have to establish context for these things. And I maintain that unless you appreciate the Fall of Constantinople, the Great Fire of London, and Mickey Mantle's fatalist alcoholism, live Freddy makes no sense. If you want to half-ass it, fine, go call Simon Schama to do the appendix.

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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by Dr. Medulla »

My siblings are much older than me—there's a 21-year gap between me and my oldest sister—and after they'd all moved out, they left behind a box of 45's, including Elvis ("Surrender"), The Beatles ("I Want to Hold Your Hand"), Dave Clark Five ("Anyway You Want It"), Lloyd Price ("Personality"), and the like. I discovered those records when I was around seven.
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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by matedog »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
17 Dec 2021, 11:57am
My siblings are much older than me—there's a 21-year gap between me and my oldest sister—and after they'd all moved out, they left behind a box of 45's, including Elvis ("Surrender"), The Beatles ("I Want to Hold Your Hand"), Dave Clark Five ("Anyway You Want It"), Lloyd Price ("Personality"), and the like. I discovered those records when I was around seven.
I have an older sister and I think that was a partial influence, though I think she generally didn't get into music as early as me. I believe it was babysitters watching MTV was the bulk of my exposure, because I have distinct memories of the videos.
Look, you have to establish context for these things. And I maintain that unless you appreciate the Fall of Constantinople, the Great Fire of London, and Mickey Mantle's fatalist alcoholism, live Freddy makes no sense. If you want to half-ass it, fine, go call Simon Schama to do the appendix.

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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by Low Down Low »

Earliest musical memory we had a record player, which came in a white suitcase type thingy, and a very small handful of records. The song that sticks out for me, that we always sang, was Perry Como "what did Delaware boys etc". The Wild Colonial Boy was another and my mother had a single that was in charts, Darlin by Frankie Miller which still has great sentimental value. I'm pretty certain the first record I actually purchased with my own dosh was Supertrouper.

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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by Dr. Medulla »

matedog wrote:
17 Dec 2021, 11:59am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
17 Dec 2021, 11:57am
My siblings are much older than me—there's a 21-year gap between me and my oldest sister—and after they'd all moved out, they left behind a box of 45's, including Elvis ("Surrender"), The Beatles ("I Want to Hold Your Hand"), Dave Clark Five ("Anyway You Want It"), Lloyd Price ("Personality"), and the like. I discovered those records when I was around seven.
I have an older sister and I think that was a partial influence, though I think she generally didn't get into music as early as me. I believe it was babysitters watching MTV was the bulk of my exposure, because I have distinct memories of the videos.
One of the things I return to in my rock class is to think about things outside of individuals—Elvis, the Beatles, etc—as being responsible for rock's success, to consider technology and law. For decades, the primary medium to encounter rock was radio. Then MTV changes things considerably, altering what we expect and where we'll encounter it (from the bedroom or car to the family room tv). And then the Internet turned things to the computer and then cell phone. These things have a huge influence in how and where we listen to music, what kind of music gets promoted, and what kind of attention it engenders.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by Wolter »

It’s not necessarily the first song I remember hearing (I'm not really 100% sure), but one of the earliest concrete music memories I have is sitting in the front seat of my mom’s car driving through Sullivan’s Island, SC on the way home to Isle Of Palms while Bob Seger’s “Against the Wind” was on the radio. So that was likely early 1980, when I was either 3 or had just turned 4.
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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by revbob »

Smoke on the Water, some old Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by Kimmelweck »

Come Together – Beatles (1969)
Without You – Harry Nilsson (1971)
Horse With No Name – America (1971)
Crocodile Rock - Elton John (1973)
30,000 Pounds of Bananas – Harry Chapin (1974)
Miss You – Rolling Stones (1978)

Born in 1972 and these are probably the earliest songs I remember from about age 4-6. “Horse with No Name” and “Without You” were number 1 in the charts the week I was born and I loved them as a little kid. “Without You” haunted my dreams around age 4. The Beatles and Stones songs were my favorites and if they came on the radio I’d make everyone shut up until they were over. I distinctly remember seeing Elton John perform "Crocodile Rock" on the Muppet Show in 1978. My parents were huge Harry Chapin fans so I heard “30,000 Pounds of Bananas” a ton as they had the vinyl. Probably haven’t heard it in around 40 years. My parents had tickets to see him when he died in 1981, and I remember they were super bummed by his passing (car accident I think) and had to get their tickets refunded. By age 10 I had discovered the Clash, who became my favorite group and then promptly disbanded. :mrgreen:

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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by gkbill »

Hello,

I think I listened to a lot of AM top 40 stuff (it was a while back). The first album/collective group of tracks I can recall was Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. I was really excited about some of the different tracks: the pseudo-Caribbean Jamaica Jerk-Off, the starkness of Daniel Bailey, the plaintiveness of the title track, the rock and roll of Saturday Night and who doesn't love Bennie and the Jets? The first album I bought and brought home was Edgar Winter's They Only Come Out at Night. My parents were a bit concerned considering the cover.

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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by Heston »

Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep. I must have been 2 going on 3. That "where's ya mama gone" chorus frightened the crap outta me.
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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by Dr. Medulla »

gkbill wrote:
18 Dec 2021, 12:29am
The first album I bought and brought home was Edgar Winter's They Only Come Out at Night. My parents were a bit concerned considering the cover.
I'm with your parents!
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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by ArmagideonTim »

gkbill wrote:
18 Dec 2021, 12:29am
Hello,

I think I listened to a lot of AM top 40 stuff (it was a while back). The first album/collective group of tracks I can recall was Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. I was really excited about some of the different tracks: the pseudo-Caribbean Jamaica Jerk-Off, the starkness of Daniel Bailey, the plaintiveness of the title track, the rock and roll of Saturday Night and who doesn't love Bennie and the Jets? The first album I bought and brought home was Edgar Winter's They Only Come Out at Night. My parents were a bit concerned considering the cover.
GYBR was the first album I properly remember too. My brother had it on yellow vinyl. Along with the music I loved the gatefold and the drawings. Before that I used to endlessly play 78s of the Peter Pan soundtrack that had the story in it. I liked how fast it moved on the turntable. Makes me sound like I'm about 102 though.

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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by JoseUnidos »

This is the first record I remember listening to in 1968 (I was 4). It included "Snoopy vs the Red Baron" and "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter", performed by the Peter Pan Pop Band & Singers. I still really like "Mrs Brown" (the Herman's Hermits version):
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The first song I remember hearing on the radio that I liked was probably "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies.
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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by weller259 »

the first song I remember was Ticket To Ride, when I was 3. My mother bought the 45 for me as I read the word "records" off the wall in the department store we were in. Not bad for a 3 year old. I also remember that every year during the holidays, the parents would pull out a bunch of records (some 78's) which we would listen to as my parents sung, the one I remember was "16 Tons", love that song. The first record I paid for with my own money was Abbey Road in 1969. My Beethoven-loving father would not just buy the record for me, I had to pay him for it in order for him to go to the store and buy a "beatles" record. It was 5 dollars which was a lot for a poor kid of 7, lol. The first record I actually went to the record store, bought with my own money and brought home to immediately listen to was Black Sabbath's Sabotage in 1975 when I was 13.
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Re: First Songs You Remember Hearing

Post by sonnyburnit »

Gloria gaynor “I will survive” is probably the first I can distinctly remember. Lots of disco/funk/soul and county around my house in the mid-late 70s.

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