What was the FIRST song you heard by your favorite bands? Beatles, Queen, Beach Boys, up to now?

Beatles - All My Lovin' on the TV, Queen - whatever they played first with Mott the Hoople, might have been Great King Rat, Beach Boys - can't remember it was a long time ago, The Who - overture from Tommy, The Ramones - Beat on the Brat, the Fall - Fiery Jack, Neil Young - Helpless, Patti Smith - Gloria, Slits - Instant Hit, Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' for my Darlin', Germs - Manimal, Banshees - Pure, Mingus - Jump Monk, Joy Division - Transmission, Neil Diamond - Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show, ABBA - Waterloo, Negro Problem - Birdcage - that's what I can remember for now!

 

Queen - Liar (radio)
Jethro Tull - Teacher (radio)
Strawbs - Hero And Heroine (radio)
Sparks - Propaganda/At Home At Work At Play (friends house)
X - Nausea (friends house)
City Boy - Mammas Boy (friends house)
Yes - I've Seen All Good People (radio)
Alice Cooper - I'm Eighteen (radio)
Sex Pistols - Holiday In The Sun (bought the album without ever hearing anything from it before)
Patti Smith - Till Victory (same as Sex Pistols)
Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop (same as Pistols and Patti)

 

Elvis Costello is the clearest because it was a game-changing revelation. My father, Jeff Barry, is one of the most successful non-performing pop songwriter/producers of all time and I grew up mostly listening to his Phil Spector stuff, the Archies, The Monkees, Bobby Bloom (my favorite), etc. Then I was home sick from school one day in 1979 (I was about 8) and Los Angeles' first cable network (the Z Channel) would play music "promos" in between movies occasionally (in the days before MTV) and they played Costello's "(What's So Funny Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding" video. I was completely transfixed and stunned. I had seen clips of and some articles about "punk rock" and, honestly, even at that age, it felt like impotent rage to me. Costello, on the other hand, had this whole other image - with the glasses and tie - like some really angry, sneering scientist who is secretly building dangerous weapons in his lab - BUT he was singing about how peace and love were a good thing - or was he? The question felt rhetorical or ironic - or like he's resolved himself to the idea that these positive things were never going to be coming and he's gonna make the world pay for its mistakes. He felt dangerous to me. I mean, going from "Sugar Sugar" to THAT was pretty dramatic. I was instantly converted and "Armed Forces" was the first album that I asked for myself, that wasn't my parent's music - that was MINE.

It was also, ironically, the first time I realized that some artists wrote their own songs. I just assumed that people like my father wrote songs for everybody (it's ironic, of course, because "Peace/Love" is a Nick Lowe cover), but I remember asking my father to write a song for Elvis Costello and he told me to look at the name under the songs on the LP and tell him what they were. I was, like, "Uh, Costello, Costello. Costello...." He said, "Yeah, he writes his own songs." Whoa, and they allow this guy to just walk the streets freely?!

 

Strawberry Fields Forever on Dutch tv in '77. Of course I must have heard the Beatles before, but now I was really Listening to these strange, defiant sounds.
The same goes for Talk Talk; already a well-known band but the first sounds from Spirit Of Eden were a revelation.
And Paco de Lucia first as member of the Super Guitar Trio, trading licks and runs at lightning speed on Dutch TV when they were broadcasting Meeting of the Spirits: I was around 17 or 18 at the time and I loved this mixture of macho guitar playing and virtuosity!

 

Beatles - strawberry fields forever
Rolling Stones - satisfaction
Radiohead - Creep
Beach boys - wouldn't it be nice
The Who - my generation
Led Zeppelin - Stairway to heaven
Queen - We will rock you
Elvis - i can't help falling in love with you

 

Stones - Satisfaction, Bowie - Space Oddity ( round time of Apollo 11), XTC - Making Plans For Nigel, Robert Palmer - Best Of Both Worlds, all on radio. Most impressive was 10cc > first audio cassette.

 

The ones I do remember:

Beatles - She Loves You
Rolling Stones - Tell Me
Beach Boys - Surfer Girl *
Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love *
Hendrix - Purple Haze *
Hollies - Look Through Any Window
The Who - My Generation
Doors - Light My Fire
Van Morrison - Here Comes The Night
Moody Blues - Go Now


All heard on the radio except * someones record.

 

Has he covered one of your dad's songs since?

Strangely, there's an almost reverse story in the autobiography of the author/DJ Stuart Maconie, who was such a fan of Elvis Costello that he ended up following Ross McManus's father around on tour!

 

Sands Of Time - Fleetwood Mac
Yellow Submarine - Beatles
Honky Tonk Woman - Stones
Break On Through - Doors
Do It Again - Steely Dan
Sorry Suzanne - Hollies
Rock & Roll Woman - Buffalo Springfield
I Need A Lover - John
Mellencamp
Sisters Of Mercy - Leonard Cohen
A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash
Blowin' In The Wind - Dylan
Boppin' On Sunset - Wes Montgomery
Take 5 - Dave Brubeck
Summer Wind - Frank Sinatra
Is That All There Is - Peggy Lee
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
Sounds Of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
Mother And Child Reunion - Paul Simon
Ain't Nobody's Business - Eileen Jewell

 

Kate Bush - Oh To Be In Love

I heard this before Wuthering Heights. The track is in my top 20 favourite songs of all time.

 

Bands and artists I discovered for myself on LP, 45 or cassette:

• Genesis - "Behind the Lines"
• Peter Gabriel - "The Rhythm of the Heat"
• Radiohead - "Airbag"
• Santana - "Waiting"
• Talking Heads - "Life During Wartime"
• Los Lobos - "Don’t Worry Baby"
• Portishead - "Cowboys"
• R.E.M. - "Feeling Gravitys Pull"
• The Clash - "London Calling"
• The Beatles - "I Should Have Known Better"

Bands and artists I first heard on the radio:

• Led Zeppelin - "Stairway to Heaven"
• Pink Floyd - "Money"
• Prince - "I Wanna Be Your Lover"
• Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody"

Discovered via TV:

• Kate Bush - "Wow"

That's a very incomplete list; I simply don't remember the others.

 

Rolling Stones: I think Satisfaction
Van Halen: Jump
Led Zeppelin: Immigrant Song
Primus: The South Park Theme
AC/DC: Highway to Hell
The Who: Who Are You
KISS: Calling Dr. Love
The Stooges: I Wanna Be Your Dog
Pearl Jam: Black
Prince: Purple Brain
Ramones: Blitzkrieg Bop
Megadeth: Symphony of Destruction
The Beatles: Love Me Do
Faith No More: Epic
Faces: Stay with Me
The Replacements: Here Comes a Regular
Aerosmith: Dude Looks Like a Lady (unfortunately)
Big Star: The Ballad of El Goodo
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Voodoo Child
Cheap Trick: I Want You to Want Me

 

If I Could Only Remember My Name!
All I can remember is:
Neil Young: Heart of Gold (on the radio I dunno when)
Stones: Satisfaction (from a worn out 45' on my parents' record player)
Bob Dylan: Blowing In The Wind
Kinks: You Really Got Me
Sonic Youth: Youth Against Fascicsm (in a bed of somedody whose name I`ve forgotten in the early 90s)

 

ABBA: "Waterloo," on the radio in 1974
The Beach Boys: No later than 1973, when I heard "Good Vibrations" on a 45, but I must have heard something before then
The Beatles: Probably "Hey Jude," on the radio in 1968
Bee Gees: Probably "First of May," on the radio in 1969
Garth Brooks: "The Dance," on CMT or The Nashville Network in 1991
Johnny Cash: Probably "A Boy Named Sue," on the radio in 1969
Nat King Cole: Sometime in the 1960s, on the radio, and it would have been one of four: "Ramblin' Rose," "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer," "L-O-V-E," or "The Christmas Song"
Jim Croce: Probably "Operator," on the radio in 1972
Crosby, Stills and Nash: "Marrakesh Express," on the radio in 1969
Crowded House: "Don't Dream It's Over," on the radio in 1987
The Doors: Probably "Riders on the Storm," on the radio in 1971
Fleetwood Mac: "Tell Me All the Things You Do," while listening to the album Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies in 1974
The Guess Who: "Undun," on the radio in 1969
Daryl Hall & John Oates: "She's Gone," on the radio in 1974
Jimi Hendrix: "Foxey Lady," while listening to the album Superstars of the 70s in 1974
Buddy Holly: "Peggy Sue," from a 45 I found in 1973
Billy Joel: "Piano Man," on the radio in 1974
Elton John: Probably "Your Song," on the radio in 1970
John Lennon solo: "Instant Karma," on the radio in 1970
Madonna: "Holiday," on the radio in 1983
Paul McCartney solo: Probably "Another Day," on the radio in 1971
Roy Orbison: Probably "Crying," from a 45 I found in 1974
Elvis Presley: Sometime in the 1960s, on the radio, and it could have been "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Memories," "In the Ghetto," or "Suspicious Minds"
Prince: "I Wanna Be Your Lover," probably on American Top 40 in 1979
Queen: "Killer Queen," on the radio in 1975 (though I heard the proto-Queen single "I Can Hear Music" by Larry Lurex on the radio in 1973)
R.E.M.: "Fall on Me," on MTV in 1986
The Rolling Stones: Probably "Brown Sugar," on the radio in 1971
Frank Sinatra: No later than 1969, on the radio, and it could have been any of his popular singles in that era. I have memories of at least "Strangers in the Night," "Rain in My Heart," "Cycles," "My Way," and "Somethin' Stupid."
Simon & Garfunkel: Probably "Mrs. Robinson," on the radio in 1968
Bruce Springsteen: "Born to Run," on the radio in 1975
Three Dog Night: Probably "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)," on the radio in 1970
Stevie Wonder: Probably "My Cherie Amour," on the radio in 1969

 

Costello has not, to my knowledge, ever covered one of my father's songs.

 

Ghost - "Cirice" on YouTube after I saw they won the Grammy for best metal performance and I had to find out what was up with those guys.

 

I grew up listening to great songs like this:

 

How do remember these??

 

ELO - Livin' Thing
Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Pink Floyd - Unsure, probably "Money"
Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven

 

Was this the same comp that started with Tony Sheridan & The Beatles My Bonnie? The Kinks were the second song I think. My brother had this. Black background with a blue and red guitar on the cover?

 

Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale
Beatles - I Want to Hold Your Hand
Kinks - Well Respected Man
Doors- Light My Fire
Yes - All Good People
Cream - Sunshine of Your Love
Focus - Hocus Pocus
Elvis Costello - Lip Service
Steely Dan - Reeling in the Years
Jethro Tull - Aqualung

Most of these were on the radio. I think the last 3 were someone playing the record.

 

Haha. Yep. So did I. My father actually got his start at age 19 meeting with a distant cousin who was an old school music publishing guy in New York because my father wanted to be a singer. He'd always just written songs because (as most songwriters know), if you're a songwriter - you're just compelled to write songs - there is no "why?" So the songs he played the guy to show him his singing were songs he'd written. The guy was like, "Yeah, you don't sing so bad, but what were those SONGS?" My father said they were songs he'd written, which were the only ones he knew how to play. He got signed to a publishing deal on the spot. I believe one of those songs was "Tell Laura I Love Her," his first number one hit. He and Ellie did The Raindrops as a goof, but they just wrote great songs - "Doo Wah Diddy" and "Hanky Panky" were Raindrop songs first.

 

Beatles - I Want To Hold Your hand
Stones - Satisfaction
Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone
King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King

and it just goes on, and on, and on...