When did you become musically aware?

In otherwards, while growing up, when did you start listening to music that you wouldn't see advertised on TV or that was all the rage?

For example, when I was growing up, my family only listened to comtemporary Christian music. Stuff like Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Champman, and Audio Adrenaline were the norm in my house for awhile. Plus, boy bands and Britney Spears were dominated the airwaves, so that and being homeschooled till the sixth grade, I never really was influenced by other kids' music. It really wasn't till my freshmen year that my friends introduced me to my first metal band, Metallica. I must say it was a drastic change from what I listened to before. From there, my tasted expanded to the music I listen to today.

1979. I danced to my Mom's Bee Gees records on a bed and got my brother got his first 45, Kiss' I Was made For Lovin You.

8th grade for me. My family was the same way as yours xyz, I think Primus was my first band outside of the comercialism circle.

when i first heard Vio-lence - Eternal nightmare at a friends house in jr high. I was like Whoa!! I really didnt listen to much music up to that point except stuff on the radio and that Vio-lence really kicks the stuffing out the Bangles anyday!!

I was dimly aware of bands like KISS and the Ramones as a kid in the late 70s (KISS were inescapable at the time, they were plastered everywhere the way Hannah Montana is today, and I had an older cousin who was a punk rocker into the Ramones) but I didn't start getting into music on my own till I was in fifth or sixth grade, circa 1981. MTV went on the air and I was immediately hooked on that, which introduced me to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, AC/DC and literally dozens of others. The rest is history as they say.

It was a long, winding process with no sure line of demarcation.

I started VERY early. Was into music from the time I started talking. I used to make my Grandmother put music on all the time. I really didn't care what it was as long as it was music. (she had mostly big band jazz and classical).

By the time I was 4 years old my Mother taught me how to operate the turntable and I was playing all of her old 45's and LP's. The Beatles, The Doors, Steppenwolf, The Rolling Stones, etc.

She took me to my first concert when I was 5 years old, The Doobie Brothers.

In 1976 I started buying my own records (with allowance money), first thing I bought was a single of Magic Man by Heart. Later that year I got my first Kiss album...Rock & Roll Over.

By the time 1978 rolled around I was already collecting albums by Kiss, Queen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, etc.

It's been a long strange trip ever since....

Actually for me it came from these 2 dudes I met by accident. We met and they introduced me to bands like Budgie, Captain Beyond, Crack The Sky, White Witch, Trapeze, Blue Cheer......

That was back in 1973 so my awarness for music was back then and it has never stopped in fact it has been a huge influence on me!

Wargod48

Hard to say. Like every other kid growing up in the seventies, I idolized KISS.
Queen and Foghat were other early favorites.

10th grade, when I strated driving I finally had the freedom to lisen to what I wanted.

In 1984 i got the Hall and Oats album Big, Bam, Boom. I think it was the first album that i asked for because it was melodic and catchy. I also remember getting Dead Man's Party by Oingo Boingo in 1986 which i was really into until i discovered Kiss (smashes, thrashes and hits) from my cousin which then led to Bullet Boys and Winger in 1988 and the rest is history.

very very young. i remember my dad playing his records when i was just a pup. i still have them. bands like ZZ Top, Sabbath, Molly Hatchet, Zeppelin, Blue Cheer, Lynard Skynard, Van Halen, Scorpions, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, 38 Special, Boston, Kiss, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, B.O.C., Rush, The Alman Brothers, Nazareth, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Genesis... lots more. he loved rock n roll.

mc666 wrote:

very very young. i remember my dad playing his records when i was just a pup. i still have them. bands like ZZ Top, Sabbath, Molly Hatchet, Zeppelin, Blue Cheer, Lynard Skynard, Van Halen, Scorpions, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, 38 Special, Boston, Kiss, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, B.O.C., Rush, The Alman Brothers, Nazareth, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Genesis... lots more. he loved rock n roll.

Your dad had good taste.

yeah, he hated what he called heavy metal though. which was the faster
bands & the NWOBHM scene. along with everything after that. he preferred to call his music rock n
roll. he considered post Sad Wings era Priest & Motorhead metal, which sucked & bands like Deep Purple totally different. he refused to acknowledge any similarities.

I raided my mom's collection for rock albums as well. She had a '79 Warner Bros. sampler that had Van Halen, The Ramones, Jimi Hendrix, etc..... good stuff.

I heard all kinds of rock back in the early 70's but 1975 was probably the first year I really became interested. My two sisters were 15 and 13 and they were heavily into Aerosmith, Rush, The Eagles, Montrose, Kiss, Nazareth, Bad Company, and such and that year they let me spin their records while they drank and hung out with their boyfriends; in a sense I was their DJ. The music saturated my mind and soul and that started my lifetime love for rock and metal music.

I was seven years old, and my mom drove me down Bourbon Street at night. The jazz coming out of those buildings mesmerized me.

I pretty much have to thank K-Tel records for making me musically aware. Those things were always cheap and had a lot of good things on them. May sound strange today, but MTV also made me aware of different types of music out there. They had such a varied playlist in those early years.

About a week ago.

On my 7th birthday, my father gave me three records...

A Batman story record complete w/ book
Allman Brothers Band-At Fillmore East
Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen-Hot Licks, Cold
Steel and Other Trucker Favorites

Still have them too

in 1976, for my birthday, I got KISS Destroyer - my first record. Previosu to that, my dad had album and the one I remember listening to most was Jimi Hendrix.

I was always into music since I was a young lad. I believe the first song I was into was Def Leppards Bringing on a heart break. I always remember watching that video on MTV. Shortly they became my favorite band. Then I got into the monkees and then it was tied between them and Def Leppard. Def Leppard eventually ended on the winning end though. Then for some reason I got into MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice thank god that didnt last long. Around 6th grade a friend of mine told me about King Diamond and how he sang all these songs about the devil and burning witches and his mom made him throw it out cause she hated it. That album ended up being The Eye. So for the hell of it I wanted to see what this kid was talking about and I bought the tape. I liked it but wasnt really crazy about it until a friend of mine gave me this mix tape with all sorts of bands on it like King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest, Testament and then I started getting into metal. It just grew from there. Another from of mine gave me a Helloween tape Keepers pt. II and once I heard that I was hooked they have been my favorite band ever since.

Crap I forgot too somewhere in the middle I used to listen to my moms Zepplin records. They were another big thing for me too.

DenimAndLeather wrote:

I was seven years old, and my mom drove me down Bourbon Street at night. The jazz coming out of those buildings mesmerized me.

Cool story! I wish I could time travel back to the early 40's and check out all the great Bebop bands playing on 52nd Street or at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem.

detuned wrote:

DenimAndLeather wrote:

I was seven years old, and my mom drove me down Bourbon Street at night. The jazz coming out of those buildings mesmerized me.

Cool story! I wish I could time travel back to the early 40's and check out all the great Bebop bands playing on 52nd Street or at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem.

Me and her still talk about it to this day. i still visit there often, and the music isn't the same since Hurricane Katrina.

My parents are latin, so rock music wasn't something that heard around
the house, my sister was into top 40 music and my brother liked rock
music but I didn't pay attention, every Sunday my mom would send me to
Sunday and one day when I was 12 the Rev Billy Mayo came to town to do
an anti rock rally, and he told us about the evils of rock music. They
did the backward masking demonstrations and read song lyrics of various
bands, etc. Than he played AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" over the loud
speaker and something stirred in my 12 year soul. Hearing Bon Scott'
voice dripping with attitude and that music spoke to me, I bought
his pamplet and went out an bought AC/DC's " If You Want Blood" the
next day and slowly bought albums from his list of rock's most evil
bands, little did I know that at that moment my life had changed
forever.