Tell us about a song that blew you away on first listen

...and why.

One for me:

"Valotte" Julian Lennon (1984) - this came on my car radio one night as I was going to work and my thoughts were, "wow! Is this some lost John Lennon recording?!" And then the dj identified the artist and I got the album, and the song continues to move me today. Can't believe Julian is so low profile with talent like that.


What's one tune in particular you remember flooring you on first listen?

 

Blackest Eyes, Porcupine Tree

 

"London Calling". An older girl gave me the album as a 17th birthday present. I was mainly into classical music until age 16, and I had never heard of this band. She said, "it's great, you'll like it," and went on to rave about the album for a while. I thought, "OK". I took it home and put it on the stereo. Those first chords hit me like a ton of bricks. I had never heard anything like it before. A goosebump moment I'll never forget.

 

Lots of music blows me away at first listen

 

"Sunset Grill" by Don Henley

The horn part at the end blew me away! The mix is full and lush with lots of intricate detail, and sounds gloomy and pessimistic with a faint glimmer of hop that plays to the lyrics.

 

I also liked London Calling, the opening clash, and like Brad, thousands of others.

Another was Radio GaGa. It captured my thoughts.

One that still gets me is "Twist in my sobriety", though the lyric still somewhat baffles me. Its opening is so simple.

 

Free As A Bird - The Beatles. I was sat listening to Virgin Radio on the medium wave on an ancient wireless with huge Osram valves in my old terraced house in Halifax, resplendent with its stone flagged flooring. I'd no idea what to expect, but as soon as I heard the first note I knew that it was something special.

 

A song/album that REALLY blew me away was my first exposure to Social Distortion. "So Far Away," was the first track of their self-titled album -- and I was not prepared.

 

Like others, there are many songs that blew me away on first listen, but here is (to me) the ultimate:

I was playing cards (Hearts, I believe), following finals week during my freshman year in college (1965). A song came on the AM radio and I was immediately taken by it. I leaned back in my chair to try and catch more of its sounds. It wasn't the vocals but the instrumental backing that grabbed me. Naturally I lost the hand, but no matter. The record was the Stones' "Satisfaction," which even today remains my ultimate rock and roll record of all time.

Then again, don't get me started on Bobby Darin's "Mack The Knife."

 

There have been many for me (I'm an old geezer), but the first one to come to mind was that wonderful day in 1962 on our little AM radio when I first heard Ray Charles sing "I Can't Stop Loving You." That's one of those where you just sort of sit there dazed for a minute or two when it's over. Still does that for me today, 42 years later!

 

Walk Dont Run...The Ventures...that song blew me away, and still does...Think about this...have you ever heard "Rimshot Drumming" like that anywhere else, other then an early Ventures record?

 

A lot of song's blew me away at first listen. Here's a few:
Led Zeppelin - "Black Dog" and "Good Times Bad Times"
Stones - "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
Beatles - "Lady Madonna"
Dylan - "Like A Rolling Stone"
Mountain - "Mississippi Queen"

 

Rain - the Beatles. It just does something for me.

 

more from the 80's:

"Wouldn't It Be Good" Nik Kershaw
"Who's Behind The Door" Zebra

 

I Want To Hold Your Hand - Beatles - Life took on new meaning. AM radio ruled. Then more and more Beatles songs were on the radio. It was/is definitely feel good music.

Purple Haze - Jimi - Life took on new meaning. FM stations ruled. Whoa, what is that music? I've never heard anything like that before. Then more and more meaningful songs were on the radio. It was/is defiantly feel good music.

Sgt Pepper .... I.B.I.D. with variations

 

Never Ending Story-Limahl
Over the Rainbow-Eva Cassidy
Nowhere Man-The Beatles, which directly led to my obsession with then in '81. I listened to nothing else that year.
This sort of counts as first time: Last night, I saw the very original and enormously touching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet (who I have a soft spot for), who play the lovers. Not only did the movie blow me away, but the song choice for the beginning and end really clicked. It was Beck's version of a song I hadn't heard for years, a morose and resultingly effective version of the Korgis' 1980 one-hit wonder Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime. I nearly lost it in the context of what I had just seen. If you haven't seen this movie, BTW, RENT IT!

 

The Beatlesque tune If You Leave Me Now by Chicago (from Chicago X) -1976

Back then in the early to mid 70's, Chicago was more popularly known for its double albums and long suites and also for their signature brass rock numbers such as "Beginnings", "25 Or 6 To 4", "Make Me Smile", "Saturday In The Park", "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?", "Feelin' Stronger Everyday", "Dialogue", "Old Days" and "Questions 67 & 68" until they release an all new studio album Chicago X (famous for its Hershey chocolate album cover) following the multi-paltinum Chicago IX-Greatest Hits album.
The second hit single from that album IFYLMN sounds more like a Paul Mccartney ballad and I really thought it was his follow-up song to "Silly Love Songs" which hit no.1 a few weeks earlier.
I was blew away when I first heard it on the radio and more so when I later found out that it was a new Chicago song because it is so mellow and it has French horns instead of the signature Chicago's trombone/flugelhorn/tenor sax horn arrangement they they usually incorporate with their earlier 70's songs.
I said "WOW" this band is really very versatile.

 

"Fast Enough For You" by Phish (1993). I had heard of Phish (or saw their poster in the window of a bar) but I think this was my first exposure. I heard it on the car radio in February 1993 while driving in a snowstorm. I was so knocked out, I had to turn around and drive 20 miles to the nearest music store so I could buy it. The lyrics, the beauty and subtleness of Gordon Stone's pedal steel, Trey's otherworldly guitar tone...it all adds up to a song that can still stop me in my tracks when I hear it.

 

Lots, but more recently:
"Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder" and "Call Any Vegetable" - Mothers

 

The Jesus and Mary Chain - You Trip Me Up.
My music-formative years were spent on overseas military bases listening to the Armed Forces network (top 40). I went to finish my college degree at the University of Kansas where I was lucky enough to catch KJHK in its heyday. This song came on and sounded for all the world like my radio melting down, but in a hauntingly beautiful way. I bought the album as soon as it came out and have listened to it regularly ever since. The way it stripped the songs to the bare essentials and cranked them to eleven...


Cody

 

I can remember my first visit to London in Spring of 1997. I heard Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" on the radio and just sat there transfixed. I thought it was very similar to Queen's "The Prophet Song", but for some reason I knew it was Radiohead. After returning home, I told everyone about this great new song, but it didn't come out in the States until July. My friends wondered if this mystery song sounded like "Creep".

 

Boy I can think of so many - here's one:

Gimme Shelter - Rolling Stones

I was a latecomer to rock/pop music also, having studied classical music composition from an early age. Around the time I was 17 I started to branch out a bit more, and most of the rock I was drawn to at first was 70's prog-rock (Yes, ELP, King Crimson, Pink Floyd). I didn't get the Stones' music at all, and was kind of disdainful about it. At some point (I think I was about 19) someone told me I didn't know what I was talking about, put out the lights, and put on "Let It Bleed," followed soon after by selected tracks off "Some Girls" and "Exile on Main Street." This not only introduced me to the Stones, but I believe it changed the way I listened to music.

 

Sir Winston and the Commons We're Gonna Love on Soma Records. My all-time fave garage band rave, this buncha Hoosier hoodlums have a fuzz bustin' blast going from from start to finish, and the guitar man has a screaming sizzler of a solo partway through. I first heard this on a Back From the Grave lp, and spent quite awhile pestering Bob Irwin at Sundazed to reissue it. Imagine my dee-lite when I got a copy of their reissue 45 in the mail with my name on the back in the credits - I still get a buzz whenever I see the sleeve!

 

So many, it's hard to know where to begin! A triple-shot:

MC5 - Kick Out The Jams
King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man
Frank Zappa - Waka Jawaka