Hulk is absolutely right; context is everything. And everything is relative. My own musical background is a chaotic soup that reflected the times.
I'm from that suburban boomer generation that grew up with just about everything on the radio/TV. As a kid I can even remember Patti Page singing "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?" and my parents watching Perry Como on TV. And of course my parents didn't want me to listen to subversive stuff like Elvis.
I was coerced by my mom into taking classical piano lessons and, even though I was pretty good, I hated playing that 200-yr-old stuff note-for-note for my stuffy old teacher -- until one day I arrived early and Lloyd, the clerk at the piano store where I had my lessons, blew me away playing the bluesy theme riff from "77 Sunset Strip." Inspired, I came back the next week and showed Lloyd how I had figured out the theme songs from "Maverick," "Rifleman," etc -- "Now you're finally learning how to play the instrument," he grinned.
And then all hell broke loose with a rush. Folk music took center stage and all of a sudden lyrics were meaningful. Suddenly music took on a whole new dimension. Dylan came along and we all picked up guitars and croaked out "The Times They are a-Changin" and "Blowing in the Wind."
And just as quickly the Beatles and Stones led the British Invasion, while Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys literally defined modern harmony. Turn around again and all of a sudden so many great, danceable tunes starting coming out of Motown.
Now toss in the psychedelic era (The Dead, The Airplane, etc) and some groundbreaking jazz (Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, etc) to make your head spin.
Then add "new" genres such as country-flavored rock and it's all a lot to absorb before your early 20's. (And I did get to see both Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks play on-campus parties at Stanford in the late 60's!)
I played in a pretty hot cover band from '71-'74 and by then we referred to our Dylan, Motown and Stones tunes as oldies -- things were moving that fast!
Looking back, before I hit the ripe old age of 25, here are some fave songs:
Wild Horses (Stones). A beautiful chord structure, just a really fun song to arrange and play.
Lodi (Creedence). Ever spent any time in Lodi? 'Nuff said, LOL.
Just My Imagination (Temps). Captures that angst of unrequited love so well....
She's Gone (Hall&Oates) a really nice fusion of pop and soul. In later years, "Live at Daryl's House" was a true revelation into how great a musician Daryl Hall was/is.
Long, Long Time (Linda). Yeah, what a voice. She did so many great tunes but this one was the door-opener.
Honorable mention: I Will Always Love You (Dolly 1974/Whitney1992) -- An underrated love song IMHO. Both versions are fantastic.
But then disco came along in the late 70's and ruined everything. It took me a while to recover from that, and then I spent 9 years overseas in the 90's and that pretty much guaranteed I would stay in the Jurassic Age.
I'm from that suburban boomer generation that grew up with just about everything on the radio/TV. As a kid I can even remember Patti Page singing "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?" and my parents watching Perry Como on TV. And of course my parents didn't want me to listen to subversive stuff like Elvis.
I was coerced by my mom into taking classical piano lessons and, even though I was pretty good, I hated playing that 200-yr-old stuff note-for-note for my stuffy old teacher -- until one day I arrived early and Lloyd, the clerk at the piano store where I had my lessons, blew me away playing the bluesy theme riff from "77 Sunset Strip." Inspired, I came back the next week and showed Lloyd how I had figured out the theme songs from "Maverick," "Rifleman," etc -- "Now you're finally learning how to play the instrument," he grinned.
And then all hell broke loose with a rush. Folk music took center stage and all of a sudden lyrics were meaningful. Suddenly music took on a whole new dimension. Dylan came along and we all picked up guitars and croaked out "The Times They are a-Changin" and "Blowing in the Wind."
And just as quickly the Beatles and Stones led the British Invasion, while Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys literally defined modern harmony. Turn around again and all of a sudden so many great, danceable tunes starting coming out of Motown.
Now toss in the psychedelic era (The Dead, The Airplane, etc) and some groundbreaking jazz (Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, etc) to make your head spin.
Then add "new" genres such as country-flavored rock and it's all a lot to absorb before your early 20's. (And I did get to see both Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks play on-campus parties at Stanford in the late 60's!)
I played in a pretty hot cover band from '71-'74 and by then we referred to our Dylan, Motown and Stones tunes as oldies -- things were moving that fast!
Looking back, before I hit the ripe old age of 25, here are some fave songs:
Wild Horses (Stones). A beautiful chord structure, just a really fun song to arrange and play.
Lodi (Creedence). Ever spent any time in Lodi? 'Nuff said, LOL.
Just My Imagination (Temps). Captures that angst of unrequited love so well....
She's Gone (Hall&Oates) a really nice fusion of pop and soul. In later years, "Live at Daryl's House" was a true revelation into how great a musician Daryl Hall was/is.
Long, Long Time (Linda). Yeah, what a voice. She did so many great tunes but this one was the door-opener.
Honorable mention: I Will Always Love You (Dolly 1974/Whitney1992) -- An underrated love song IMHO. Both versions are fantastic.
But then disco came along in the late 70's and ruined everything. It took me a while to recover from that, and then I spent 9 years overseas in the 90's and that pretty much guaranteed I would stay in the Jurassic Age.