I was reminded this week of a track that, when I first heard it, made me stop and just listen. 1984 - I was, by then, a confirmed Beatles/60's/Jam/Zep/Purple/Stones/Kinks/Quo/Motown fan/discoverer and I was also a budding guitarist with an unresolved hankering for the drums. So, my friend likes Emerson, Lake and Palmer. He plays me Tarkus (long) and Brain Salad Surgery (quirky and obscure). So I give them the chance and buy the first (self titled) album because it was cheap. Track 1 - The Barbarian - by the time Carl Palmer is hammering his drums about 4 minutes in, I had to stand still and listen. The first time I wanted to be a drummer (I ended up a bass player first). I have never since been drawn to anything deeply prog rock since (because, at heart, most songs are done by 3 minutes 30 in my book) but "The Barbarian", and "Knife Edge" as support, from that first LP...well the sheer musical ability and dynamics made me listen. What was the first track that literally (or figuratively if we're grammatically correct) stopped you in your tracks?
Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows. I was but a lad and it was the weirdest sounding thing I had heard up to that time in my young life.
Ramones - don't remember the track. It was 1977, I was at a college house party. The music was the usual for that time - Queen, Aerosmith, Elton, Zep etc. Then, pow, WTF is that?? I was all in after that
1988. Was late at night and MTV 120 Minutes was on the tube. Jane’s Addiction’s Mountain Song – the bass and then guitars kicked in and then Perry’s scream. Alternative music at this point was very far away from anything like grunge. But that song literally stopped me and I became a huge fan at that instant. It crushed it for me. Plus the swirl of the video and Perry’s crazy Iggy Pop inspired dancing—just took music to a new level at that point in history. If you’ve read on the Seattle scene any you’ll know how much Jane’s Addiction influenced that entire scene from the little tours they’d go on back in 86-87.
George P, I'm in the UK and, unfortunately, can't play the video. What's the track that did it for you?
Timothy by The Buoys (written by Rupert Holmes). I couldn't believe my local radio station was playing a song about cannibalism, but as a Monster Kid, I loved it.
Led Zep: Good times bad times I'm drummer up until that time it was either Charlie Watts or Ringo Star after hearing Bonzo for the first I wanted to play like him
Satisfaction, She Said She Said, Are You Experienced, Oh, Well....these pieces I heard very early in life...when they came out....stunning pieces of music for me!!!
Yes. There's a good few Queen tracks that I'd mark as favourites for me. My own along the same lines would be Brighton Rock from Sheer Heart Attack.
I can associate with that in that my record player wasn't the best but you know when it's something special.
A Day in the Life. Heard those opening chords as a teenager in the backseat of a car going down the interstate and instantly, I was like that guy on Seinfeld when he hears Desperado. I was stunned into silence. What the hell is that? I wondered. It was mesmerizing.
I was watching the Toronto UHF channel, TV Ontario one night in 1976. The show was Nightmusic and two music critics were raving about a new album by a band named Ramones. They played bits and pieces of it and I was dumbfounded, in the best possible way. Everything changed that night.
