Please share 10 Songs that MOST influenced your taste in Music

Chuz Life

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Just an idea for a fun thread.

I will try to list 10 songs that most influenced my interests in music. Some are the earliest songs that I can remember. So, I'll start with them.

1. Wipe Out (The Safaris) - An old 45 record that my Aunts used to play, so they could laugh at how we younger kids would try to dance to it. (about 4-6 yrs old.) Years later, they gave me the record.

2. Louie Louie (The Kingsmen) - First Riff I ever learned on a guitar (6-7 yrs old), taught to me on a toy guitar by my 10-11 year old uncle.

3. The Wild Wood Flower (Carter family) - It was actually only years later that I ever heard a recording of the WWF. My Grandfather taught me his version when I was 8-10 yrs old.

4. The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia (Viki Lawrence) - There was a burger place within walking distance of our home and they had a Juke Box there, my Aunt would take me so she could meet her boyfriend and she let me play some tunes. I guess I played it so many times they got tired of it.

5. Guitar Boogie (Arthur Smith) (father) I remember my father playing it as a child, off and on, and I would borrow my Grandfather's guitar to try to play it too. About this time, I was given a guitar of my own. Another one that I never heard a recording of until much later. This tune stuck TOO good. Really hard to break it as a habit, to learn new styles. During this age, my family was very religious, and they pushed me to learn a lot of religious tunes. Which I did. I think they grew tired of hearing me play the BOOGIE.

6. Green Onions (Booker T and the Mg's) This was a 45 record that was in a stack of many others that my Aunts gave to my brother and I, along with a small record player. There were several others by the Beetles (can't buy me love), Elvis (Hound Dog), Peter Paul and Mary. . . Green Onions and Wipeout were my favs.

6. Crazy Arms (Duane Eddie version) Another tune taught to me by my father that I never heard the recording of or words (Ray Price) until much later. This is when I first heard and fell in love with the sound of an electric guitar. (My other Grandfathers)

7. Convoy (C.W. Mccall) Not a song I ever tried to play, but it coincided with the movie "Smokey and the Bandit" and this was at a point where I was really getting interested in electronics as a kid. Walkie Talkies, T.V's, speakers, etc. Probably the thing that pushed me most into my electronics career. Just a song on the radio. :)

8. Leader of the Pack (Shan Gri Las) LOL, in my experimenting with electronics, i managed to hook an old 8 track tape player in my clubhouse with some car speakers, and Leader of the Pack was one of the first songs I listened to, repeatedly. It was my first real thoughts of having a girlfriend, beyond love notes.

9. Heard it Through the Grape Vine (CCR version) Another one of the 8 track tapes was this extended long version by CCR. A few years later, I installed this same 8 track player in my first car and played the song on my first real date.

10. Keep on Loving You (REO Speedwagon) First real love and Break Up Song.

First time ever writing it all down and looking back at it, this way. LOL

EDIT: In Hindsight, these are songs that affected more than just my taste in music. Obviously.
 
2. Louie Louie (The Kingsmen) - First Riff I ever learned on a guitar (6-7 yrs old), taught to me on a toy guitar by my 10-11 year old uncle.

Good god, I have the Kingsmen's LP with Louie Louie on it.
 
great balls of fire ~ jerry lee lewis

i want to hold your hand ~ the beatles

for what it's worth ~ buffalo springfield

the boxer ~ simon & garfield

sheena is a punk rocker ~ the ramones

death on two legs ~ queen

country roads ~ john denver

whole lotta love ~ led zeppelin

one of these days ~ pink floyd

american idiot ~ green day
 
1.) "Down To My Last Teardrop"-Tanya Tucker
2.) "Somewhere In The Vicinity of the Heart"-Shenandoah & Alison Krauss
3.) "Blue"-LeAnn Rimes
4.) "There's A Girl In Texas"-Trace Adkins
5.) "When You Need My Love"-Darryl Worley
6.) "Small Town Saturday Night"-Hal Ketchum (RIP)
7.) "Who Needs Pictures?"-Brad Paisley
8.) "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying"-Toby Keith (RIP) & Sting
9.) "How Forever Feels"-Kenny Chesney
10.) "Just Got Started Lovin' You"-James Otto

God bless you and my favorites who are still here always!!!

Holly (a day one fan of singers 3-7)
 
1. Ain't too Proud to Beg - Temptations
2. Kansas City Star - Roger Miller
3. Madman Across the Water - Elton John
4. Symphony 101 (The Clock) - Franz Joseph Haydn
5. Sunny Side of the Street -assorted artists
6. Any Chamber Music - Mozart
7. I Saw Christmas Candles - Guy Lombardo/Andrews Sisters
8. Mean to Me - Ella Fitzgerald/Nelson Riddle
9. Darling Corey - Bill Monroe
10. Water Music - George Frideric Handel

It was fun to put this list together. My taste in music has remained eclectic.
 
Great lists!

I tried to give details on why each song affected me.

Hope some of you do that too. Maybe not for all 10 songs but the ones that hit the hardest, influenced you the most etc.

Sidebar, I wonder why I don't get notifications when someone posts here. Yet. So, sorry for late response.
 
Great lists!

I tried to give details on why each song affected me.

Hope some of you do that too. Maybe not for all 10 songs but the ones that hit the hardest, influenced you the most etc.

Sidebar, I wonder why I don't get notifications when someone posts here. Yet. So, sorry for late response.
I started giving details, but it was becoming a treatise, and I had stuff to do. LOL

Regarding #1: When I was a kid, I had a transiter radio tuned to CKLW in Detroit. I liked Motown a lot and The Temptations the most. (As with many of my top ten choices, that song was just one favorite from a particular artist.) The Temptations impressed me by the way they blended their voices. I can remember being blown away by how beautiful that was. (My parents had some records of The Mills Brothers who also blew me away.)

Maybe my love of classical music sprouted from that admiration of blended voices, for instruments are voices too....
 
1.

The beauty of what was and yet will be; Freedom never dies.

2,

REAL Justice long denied and still largely the case.

3.

Just a hope filled tune that always brightened my day; not deep until you've experienced a pommy winter. lol

4.

Broken hearts can be mended...really.

5.

The world IS too big to fight, but we do anyway.

6. - YouTube In the Ghetto Awareness of "the street" when I was doing a two year break from Uni and saw it first hand. Not the US though, but where the "ragged people" go...akin to "The Boxer" in many ways.

7. - YouTube Skye Boat Song History and commitment. Just a fine song.

8. - YouTube Song of the Volga Boatman

9. - YouTube The Minstrel Boy Freedom NEVER dies; it's always in our souls.

9b. - YouTube First of May Yes; people do move on.

10. - YouTube The Marseilles Just damn soul stirring; LIBERTE!!

10b. - YouTubeb Bridge over Troubled waters Set your love free and be there if wanted.

10C. - YouTube The Sounds of Silence But don't give up trying. The message is LOVE!!! UNSELFISH LOVE!! It may just plant a seed, but one day.....

A selection of many.

Greg
 
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The Beatles: Rubber Soul
Led Zeppelin II
Deep Purple Made in Japan
 
Not in any particular order of importance:

1. Lyin Eyes Eagles. I think it was the first song I learned to play be ear

2. Fire and Rain James Taylor. First song I learned to play and sing

3. & 4. Christmas Time is here, Linus n Lucy Vinci Guaraldi
Both Great Christmas songs

5. Clair de Lune Debussy Mom's favorite song, she taught it to me

6. Lush Life Billy Strayhorn Favorite (and hardest) piano jazz piece

7. Nessun Dorma Puccini My Dad's favorite song he sang the heck out of it

8. Misty Errol Garner Great old jazz standard

9. & 10. Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas and Let it Snow!

Fun songs to play at parties and open mics.
 
1. Simon & Garfunkel. I forget which I heard first, but I did eventually buy all the albums.
2. Richard & Mimi Farina. Again, any of their songs.
3. Nirvana. In Utero was my favorite Nirvana album when I was young, so Heart Shaped Box could be on this list, but now I think MTV Unplugged is their best. Where Did You Sleep Last Night is my favorite song there.
4. Nena's 99 Luftballons.
5. Iron Butterfly's In A Gatta Da Vita
6. Portishead's Sour Times, or their complete works.
7. PJ Harvey's Down by the Water, or her complete works.
8. Morphine, complete works.
9. Patti Smith's Horses
10. Linda Thompson's Many Dreams Must Fly Away

Honorable Mention: two women in a bar doing karaoke of Whole Lotta Love over 20 years ago. I'm still not much of a Zeppelin fan, but I remember that performance.
 
Rock around the clock - Bill Haley & the Comets
Hound dog - Elvis Presley
Big hunk o'love --/--
Baby lets play house ---/---
She loves you - Who else?!
I want to hold your hand - Same bunch
Can't buy me love - Still the ones
Help! - Yes, they are
Girl - There one and only
Satisfaction - Different ones.
 
15th post
Rock around the clock - Bill Haley & the Comets
Hound dog - Elvis Presley
Big hunk o'love --/--
Baby lets play house ---/---
She loves you - Who else?!
I want to hold your hand - Same bunch
Can't buy me love - Still the ones
Help! - Yes, they are
Girl - There one and only
Satisfaction - Different ones.

if i can indulge myself & add in 11 .. it would this song that has become my bestest favorite song by my bestest favorite band:



:hyper:
 
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