Your Earliest Memories of Music

[mr_mer]

I guess I was 4 or 5...listening to music with my mother... Miles, Coltrane, BB King, Cream, you name it.

[FUS44]

Lots of Moms had some damned good taste in music!

My Mom used to put on Help, Rubber Soul and Revolver when we were little. 3-4 years old. A little later, Hendrix, Janis, The Doors, LZ.

[BuzzHaze]

Both my parents were professional players. My dad played with "The Happy Wanderers" for decades and my mom was a piano player. She opted out first to have 5 kids while my dad kept playing. At one point, he had to stop and take a reg job (he was an engineer)

From the time I could remember to now, live music has always been a big part of my life. The rec-room was always full of equipment that I was allowed to touch!!! When I got to about 7yrs old, they would let me sit in and play rhythm guitar. I thought this was all pretty normal until I started hanging around friend's houses....oh, very different. I felt sorry for them since they had no music room....haha!!!!

My Dad and his Gretsch



My mom playing keys


Little did they know that they would create a family of players. Three of us went on to pro carrers in music while the other 2 came close. I have done the same with my grandson. He is allowed to play anything in the studio. He has his own 2001 LP Standard in red wine. He plays it for hours when he's here. Ryder just turned 4.

[Job-Job type Job]

My earliest memories of hearing music - as in, paying attention to it would have been The Beach Boys when I was in 1st grade. We had a record player and up to four kids could listen through headphones together. We had a blast with that.

Then it was Steely Dan on the radio, along with The Carpenters, Sedaka, Diamond, Manilow. I still love all that shit.

By the time I was 10/11 my brother went into the Army and left his record collection with my older sister. It was then that I discovered true rock music - Nugent, Aerosmith, Bad Company, Eagles, Skynyrd, Bowie, Neil Young, and more. My brother also played guitar. One night on a visit home he played Stairway on his acoustic for me. That's when I knew I wanted to play too.

[Engel]

I remember the first time I heard some good rock. My sister brought home some pink floyd and some led zep. I had a cassette of Lynyrd Skynyrd. That was my first love. I heard the floyd and zep and was blown away.

[X–Ray]

BIG BAD JOHN ~ Jimmy Dean 1961 - YouTube

BIG BAD JOHN ~ Jimmy Dean 1961 - YouTube

this is the song which first comes to mind in terms of memorable

[captain tightpants]

My mother's Niel Diamond records. Still know most of his pre-1980 stuff by heart whether i want to or not.

[crawlingkingsnake]

My Dad listened to alot of Rock & Roll when I was little. Dad spent half of his Navy career on Carriers, so he was gone 6 months out of the year. When Dad was home he enjoyed his music, family time and wrenching on cars. I remember a lot of music from when I was a little one. I would have to say one that really sticks out as being one of the earliest songs that I can remember is House of the Rising sun by The Animals. Dad listened to it a lot as-well as playing it on guitar and singing it.

[Roberteaux]

Earliest memory of pop music would be about 1963... the Beatles had a hit record in the form of She Loves You, and my two older sisters used to make me sing and dance to that song, along with I Wanna Hold Your Hand. I was 5 years old at the time...

--R

[Eric Smith]

I know that I was a KISS fan way back when I was 4, or so they tell me, but the first thing that I REMEBER is Rhinestone Cowboy when it first came out in 1975. My parents wouldn't let me actually own my own music until '76. My best friend was a country fan, actually his dad was the influence, and he had it on 8 track.

[deepblue]

My mom listening to 1050 CHUM and singing along as she was getting our breakfast. It was about 1968-69

I miss those days.

[matthew bear]

Was (Not Was) - Walk The Dinosaur - YouTube

Was (Not Was) - Walk The Dinosaur - YouTube

I remember Hearing this in the old subaru when I was 4 or 5... I liked dinosaurs...

My parents also like Elton John a lot.

[Job-Job type Job]

Originally Posted by Eric Smith

I know that I was a KISS fan way back when I was 4, or so they tell me, but the first thing that I REMEBER is Rhinestone Cowboy when it first came out in 1975. My parents wouldn't let me actually own my own music until '76. My best friend was a country fan, actually his dad was the influence, and he had it on 8 track.

Glen Campbell! I definitely knew a lot of KISS fans as a kid. I remember staring at those album covers and air-guitaring all of it with my friends. Still, I never truly loved that band, not until later in life anyway.

I clearly remember Foreigner's first album. I had it on eight track! That album was chockablock full of hits.

I also remember hearing Eddie and Eruption for the first time.

I guess none of those count as earliest memories but they were definite milestones for me.

The great thing about music is that there always seems to be great stuff out there that you never knew about. I once thought Aerosmith - Rocks and Toys were the absolute pinnacle of greatness. I didn't realize I had so much yet to discover!

Did I mention hearing Rush, Priest, Sabbath, Maiden, Cream, Hendrix, and Racer X for the first time? I better stop.

[basschick22]

I don't think I remember a time without music. My mom played all kinds of music (vinyl) when I was younger, and I also had an aunt who was very influential musically.

I can remember dancing to "Sir Duke" as a toddler. I also remember hearing Manhattan Transfer, Donna Summer, John Denver, The Carpenters, the BeeGees, Barry Manilow, Eddie Rabbit, Aerosmith, and lots of Motown.

I think this is why I love all kinds of music to this day.

[Eric Smith]

Originally Posted by Job-Job type Job

Did I mention hearing Rush, Priest, Sabbath, Maiden, Cream, Hendrix, and Racer X for the first time? I better stop.

Love all of them, but especially the Rush and Racer X references.

[LesLuvva]

Riding around in a convertible with a family friend; I was 4 or 5. Steely Dan was on, and they've been playing in my mind ever since.

[tazzboy]

My mom playing Classic Rock 'n' Roll like Elvis, Bill Haley and others.

[FLICKOFLASH]

Elvis Presley - Are You Lonesome Tonight w/lyrics - YouTube

Elvis Presley - Are You Lonesome Tonight w/lyrics - YouTube

You Tube

You Tube

[LPSGME]

Elvis arrived on the scene in '56 but it was in mid to late '57 when things started to get exciting. With hits from the likes of the Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly etc. Rock n Roll started to take off in interesting ways.

[Thumpalumpacus]

It's cool you mentioned Tapestry, Yawny. That was my mom's favorite album when I was five or so. We had an 8-track in the glove box of our Pontiac and Mom always had Carole, or the Carpenters, or Fire and Rain from James Taylor going. I still love Carole King and James Taylor, and still hate the fvcking Carpenters with a passion. Mom also liked the Beatles, I found out later, but Dad wouldn't let her bring any of their albums home. I never did learn why.

Dad would put up with mom's light pop, but mostly he loved his country. He loved the Outlaw movement with Willie and Waylon, Merle, Johnny Paycheck, or Tompall Glaser. We also got an earful of Hank Sr, Bob Wills's country swing, Johnny Cash, Charley Pride, and the like.

I didn't really become aware of music as music until I was eight or nine, but once I realized that distorted guitars sounded great, I was hooked. I started with Kiss and ELO, then moved on to Ted Nugent and Boston, and then once I actually started playing, I started stealing my sister's Hendrix and Zep records. The ensuing thirty-two years have been one hell of a journey. But at the root of all my music is a concern for melody, and keeping it real, that I think I got pretty much directly from my parents and their tastes in music, even if how it's laid out is a little outside their tastes.

[TheWelder]

And the first thing I remember, I was lying in my bed
Well I couldn't've been no more than one or two
And I remember there was a radio, coming from the room next door
My mother laughed the way some ladies do
Well it's late in the evening
And all the music is seeping through


This Paul Simon tune sums up my first experiences with music pretty well -

[emptyisvarah]

Puff the magic dragon was my earliest memory of music. Yep, my parents were hippies back in the day

[Dr.Distortion]

My cousin David came to live with us in 1964. We shared a room. He listened to Motown as I was falling asleep

[RichardH]

Listening/Watching my dad turn on the turntable and listening to Chick Corea & Bob James in the early nineties (I was born in late 88) . So yeah, I DO know what an LP record is lol!

[zontar]

I don't remember a time without music.

My Dad had a lot of albums and he played them or listened to music.
My Mom sand nursery rhymes and silly kids' songs, and we also always had our own music from the youngest age.

Neither parent plays an instrument--but they were into music--mostly country or older rock n roll.

I'm sure that had something to do with my interest in music.

[Backstage]

My mom always listened to a common radio station with news and contemporary pop music, my dad was deeply into classical jazz and swing. So I grew up with pop music during the day, jazz in the evening and weekends .

[chazza]

Six-hour drives in one of these bad boys



with only 3 cassettes for the tape player.

One was 'Rocky Mountain High' by John Denver, the other two were by The Spinners and Neil Diamond but I don't remember the album titles.

[DLChance]

Earliest memories of music as music?

Sitting on the front porch of my grandparents' Alabama farm at sundown in the summertime, smelling the fresh-mowed grass and mimosa blossoms, while my grandpa played the guitar or banjo and my grandma sang old gospel and bluegrass songs with my mom and my aunts. This was the mid-60s, but my grandparents still didn't own a TV. Of course, if my family happened to be visiting the farm on Friday and Saturday nights, we'd sit on the porch and listen to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio just inside the parlor window, instead of making our own music.

At around 3 or 4, that was about the only time I'd rather just sit and listen instead of wanting to go play with my brothers and cousins in the yard.

They sold the farm years ago, but fortunately I can still visit it anytime I want on GoogleEarth, and play banjo the way my grandpa used to do.

Thanks for the memories!

THE ROAD TO EMMITT'S FARM by D.L. Chance - YouTube

THE ROAD TO EMMITT'S FARM by D.L. Chance - YouTube

[blues_n_cues]

mom was into stuff like the monkees,jim croce,early santana-8tracks in the car.
dad listened to the ventures,jan & dean,buddy holly,duane eddy,elvis.
the grandparents were into nat king cole,frank sinatra,perry como,herb albert
but when KISS came out-holy crap!!!
I still have a lot of those albums around.

[Electroman67]

Mom playing George Jones & Conway Twitty through her 8 track or her Elvis x-mas albums on Dad's record player.
Dad's 45s: Tears of a Clown, Monday Monday, Summer in the City, My Sweet Lord etc. & his albums too.
Sunday nights watchin Hee Haw.
My kindergarden report card says 'Michael really enjoys playing records' Thanks Dad !