What was your "Musical Epiphany"?

became a Beatles fan at the age of 5, asking my older sister over and over to play my parents 45 of "lady madonna." growing up though, i wasn't interested much in music. i was born in '71, and what was being played on the radio i found actively repellent in the late '70's and '80's. then i picked up a copy of elvis costello's "get happy," years after it was released, and it blew me away. i became obsessed. eventually discovered the talking heads, the clash, squeeze, the specials, and eventually even some then-contemporary bands like the Pixies.

 

Radiohead's Kid A is still probably my favorite album ever. It was an album I didn't click for a while and demanded both time and multiple listens to really sink in. It's also been a fun ride with experimental hop hop over the last decade or so in what has been a golden age with top tier releases from artists like Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Frank Ocean and Death Grips. Kanye and Kendrick, in particular, could both be contenders for the Mount Rushmore of hip hop among greats like 2pac, Biggie, Nas and Jay Z.

 

August 5th, 1965, somewhere between 10 PM and midnight, the evening of my 14 birthday, lying in bed with the new transistor radio my folks gave me that day with the earpiece plugged in and inserted into one ear. Suddenly this song starts off with a snare shot, some keyboards, a very strange voice and some oddly poetic lyrics to this rather lengthy piece. "Like a Rolling Stone", the song that blew the doors wide open for me.

 

'Stairway to Heaven'... yes, really...

My friend had I-IV on vinyl - this is, IIRC, around 1989 (I had seen the LP sleeve for Houses of the Holy a year or two prior, and was suitably entranced by it's overall otherworldly mystique, so the Zeppelin seeds had already been planted) - and put them on for me in his room... was intrigued by the mysterious and oblique sleeve artwork, thought 'Livin' Lovin' Maid' was a groovy little tune (and still do to this day)... but when he put on 'Stairway...' the hairs on my entire body (what hairs I had at twelve years old!) stood to attention, I got chills... wow, what is this... I immediately asked him to play it again... and again after that!!!

Unfortunately, I got into heavy metal around that same time and moved on from Zeppelin... my biggest musical regret (other than not seeing Judas Priest on the Painkiller tour in Belfast in 1991, still couldn't tell you how/why I missed that, what was I thinking???) was not buying those Zep albums on vinyl back then; AAA, dirt cheap, brand new... and worth a small fortune now (not that I would part with them for the world if I had them)!!!

Ah, the naiivety - or stupidity - of youth...

 

I was 11 in the summer of 1979 and tagged along with my older brother and his friends when they went to see The Kids Are Alright in the local movie theater. I planned on slipping out of the theater and sneaking into another which was showing the new James Bond movie. From the opening scene of The Who on The Smother’s Brothers Show I became captivated. I had never heard The Who before and my musical tastes were dictated by what my parents were listening to, which was a lot of the Grease and Saturday Night Live soundtracks. I left that movie theater a changed person.

 

Switching from AM to FM in 1967 in San Francisco.

jerol

 

Hearing The Rolling Stones Route 66 from Radio Caroline or Radio Luxembourg in 1965? on a crystal set, by mistake, (I was TRYING to tune into a cricket Test Match!) in my house in Perth Western Australia. After MONTHS and months of my parents TRYING to get me into Slim Whitman, Doris Day, the Seekers, Perry Como and Mantovani!

Then buying Springsteen's Born to Run in 1975 during a lunch break at the office, having heard no Springsteen songs before but just having read about how great this record was, taking it home to play and never getting back to work that day!

BOTH were my musical epiphanies!

 

I hate to be that guy, but the first one was Beatles. McCartney. Let It Be. I was about 5, borrowed the 45 from an uncle and played it over and over.

 

Minor threat was a revelation to me, too.
I never took drugs, I hate them. I don't drink either. It makes me feel horribly bad.

 

I remember staying with my grandmother on weekends. She would play old country and gospel records. She soon learned that putting on a stack of 45 records would keep me quite entertained and content. Then my uncle let me listen to his records and tapes which were heavy into Little Richard and Chuck Berry type stuff. One day I discovered my mom and dad's old records and tapes in a closet. They had pretty much quit listening to anything that wasn't new and on the radio (mid 1970's). They had some awesome stuff like Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Jim Croce, Buddy Holly, The Supremes, etc.. I loved the variation of musical tastes from all of my family members. In my early teens, I "discovered" Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and contemporary stuff by Alan Parsons Project, Foreigner, John Mellencamp, etc. Each new time in my life was a new musical epiphany. Still love it all for different reasons and I've been down a thousand musical "rabbit holes" to hear great music from as many artists as I can.

 

I only listened to country or easy listening radio, like my parents did until I went over to a friends house in 1981 and heard Van Halen's Fair Warning. After that I wanted all rock all the time.

 

Tragical History Tour!

 

Too many.......

Inheriting some 45's in the mid 70's including Elvis.

Around 77' I saw an advert on TV about a Stones LP & heard Satisfaction.
Visited a neighbor with much older kids and was fascinated to flip through 60's pressings of Beatles, Who & Kinks lp's.

Buying an acoustic at 10 in 1978 and getting lessons from my cute hippie grade 4 teacher Mrs Borlace.

Seeing Ladies & Gentleman The Rolling Stones film (in a theatre in 82/3) of them live in 1972 with Mr Mick Taylor.
The film broke down several times and was a very poor high generation b&w copy but it was a big rush. (My friends little brother fell asleep)
Next i was forever destroyed by hearing Midnight Rambler from Ya Ya's!

The following year i just had to find out their motivations, attitudes and agenda on the world at large and began with David Dalton's "The First 20 Years" Coffee table book.
Now i have over 100 Rolling Stones books!

Later i was blown away by; Hendrix, Clapton, Beck, Zep, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Albert King, Free, Dylan, Bob Marley, Sly Stone, Buddy Guy, Santana, The Who & The Kinks.

(Could not stand most of the early-mid 80's music i grew up with, a real low point of 20th century popular music for mine!)

I became an electric blues guitarist ever wanting to jam near or far with little fear.
Played in bands on and off between 1987 & 2009, would probably still be doing it now but for a wife and young kids.

The Kicker.... My Rolling Stones Record Collection is out of control 1,400+ x vinyl and counting!

 

Kicked the door in. I was thirteen; it was a whole new world. Thanks, Johnny.

 

I've always enjoyed music, had a radio since I was a kid. But my choices as to what to listen to were self-limited. Then while watching 2001: A Space Odyssey I discovered Ligeti's music. Learned I could appreciate classical music, then jazz, reggae and especially electronic/avant-garde, which I took a big liking to. I'll still delve into the Top 40 of my youth occasionally but it's a smaller part of the big picture.

 

When I was a kid, maybe 10 or 11 yrs old, the dad of one of my friends was into hi-fi. One day I was over at his house and his dad had a Marty Robbins album playing. When “El Paso” came on he cranked it up. Holy crap! The Spanish guitar was in the room and Robbins’ voice was clear as a bell! It blew my little kid mind. Until then I didn’t knew how good recorded music could sound.

 

Fall of 1981. I was eleven years old, in sixth grade and just starting to discover "popular" music. A new "radio with pictures" channel called "MTV" had just been added to our cable lineup. I watched for about an hour after school. When I saw the videos for Judas Priest's "Heading Out To the Highway" and Ramones' "Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio?" I was instantly hooked.

 

No, I do not. Curly cord, closed back, leatherette ear pads. I know my mom paid around 125$ for them from a specialty stereo shop in San Diego, as headphones were still kind of a 'specialty' item where I lived. I find it funny that they bought them more for their sanity (I liked my music loud), and apparently they were oblivious to the potential dangers of cranking headphones. But then again, they bought me Lemon scented airplane/model glue........ yes the toxic type

 

Going further off topic, I bet I'm one of the few other readers here that's knows Smiths Station, AL. My brothers and I used to own the post office building in that town (many P.O. properties are privately owned) and I spent a day there once. I recall a tiny lunch place run by an older black woman that had great food and sweets. Wonder if it's still there. I like the Deep South.

Back on topic, some powerful musical memories that left a lasting impression:

Age 3 or so I'd sit rapt in a chair listening to Disney records, children's stories, and sometimes classical music on a small record player. I still remember listening to Peter And The Wolf, Alladin and His Magic Lamp (with its haunting background music) and Casey Jones. My parents took a photo of me in that mode, it hangs in my hallway.

Mid 60's when the Beatles hit, watching them in astonishment on Ed Sullivan and buying Meet The Beatles. You just new they were different, special and important...and exciting.

Hearing Bitches Brew by Miles Davis late one night as a teenager. It blew my mind that night, and still does.

In my late teens, coming across Mahler and falling in love with his First Symphony. I felt it took me full circle on some kind of journey, like no other music had ever done. I still love it and have seen it performed in concert many times.

In my late teens and twenties, discovering Joni Mitchell, and then following her through her amazing career. Her music spoke to me more personally and directly than any other artist ever had.

There are many many more, but those are the first ones that come to mind tonight.

 

Hearing “I Want To Hold Your Hand” on my Dad’s car radio in January 1964!

 

Seeing them actually move for the first time;

 

Progressive rock. Until then, everything else was just music.