How did you get into rock music?

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Hepcat

Active Member
Joined
May 9, 2012
Messages
85
Location
Toronto
How did you get into rock music? Here's my story:

It was August of 1967 and I was fifteen years old. I had my first summer job - on a tobacco farm near Delhi in southern Ontario. This meant of course that for the first time in my life I'd have a real wad of disposable income - and my plan was to get some of those records to which I had been grooving on the radio. Some of the tunes that stood out in my mind from 1966-67 were "Paperback Writer", "Eleanor Rigby", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" by the Beatles, "Paint It Black" and "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" by the Rolling Stones, "California Dreamin'" and "Monday, Monday" by the Mamas and Papas, "These Boots Are Made for Walking" by Nancy Sinatra, "Sounds of Silence" and "Hazy Shade of Winter" by Simon and Garfunkel, "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire, "Time Won't Let Me" by the Outsiders, "I Fought the Law" by the Bobby Fuller Four, "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night" by the Electric Prunes, "Pied Piper" by Crispian St. Peters, "96 Tears" by ? & the Mysterians, "Come on Down to My Boat Baby" by Every Mother's Son, "Red Rubber Ball" by the Cyrkle and "Let's Live for Today" by the Grassroots. I was quite familiar with the music from earlier in the decade since the radio station to which I had been listening was CHLO in St. Thomas which played an oldie every second number on a Souvenir Safari program every weekend.

Having fulfilled our quota relatively early one Saturday afternoon, some of the older fellows (very cool twenty year olds from Montreal!) were given permission to take the farmer's car into the big town, that being Simcoe, and the even bigger metropolis of Brantford! At the 100 plus mile per hour speed at which they drove the car (no, no seat belts), it didn't take us very long to get to those places.

Of course we stopped at a record shop. The new exotic Beatles' album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", was on prominent display and I decided to make it my first purchase when I got back home in September.

BeatlesS.jpg


The other album that I remember catching my eye was "Flowers". The cover picture featured a more decadent and vaguely threatening looking group of young fellows. "Are these the Rolling Stones?" I wondered. I hadn't yet seen the Stones on TV but my guess was of course correct.

RollingStonesF.jpg


The new psychedelic sounding Rolling Stones single "We Love You" was just hitting the airwaves when I returned home just before Labour Day. I listened raptly and marveled at the sound I was hearing.

I went through with my plans and made "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" my first record purchase. I quickly followed up this purchase by acquiring the Beatles' first three Canadian albums in order, "Beatlemania", "Twist and Shout" and "Long Tall Sally".

I then stepped outside the box in October and bought "Big Hits - High Tide and Green Grass" by the Rolling Stones. I was floored! I found the Stones' record far edgier than the comparatively tame Beatles' albums. Then of course there was the innovative for the time booklet of their pictures included within the double sleeve.

RollingStonesH.jpg


I wasn't entirely sure which Stone was which at the time but the brooding, mysterious Stones appealed to me in a way the Beatles did not. I went out and added "Flowers" to my swiftly growing record collection within a couple of weeks.

I think the "Best of the Animals" may have been the first non-Beatle or Stone album I bought. "We Gotta Get out of This Place" had been a popular chant at the boarding school I had attended in Kennebunkport, Maine for grade nine although my favourite Animals' tune at the time was "It's My Life". The "Kinks' Greatest Hits" may have been the next.

I took to reading the record/music review sections of "Time" magazine to which we had a subscription and "Stereo Review" which I could find at the library to get an idea for new, cutting edge bands that weren't necessarily being played on top forty radio.

My musical horizons were further altered when the Doors released their signature hit, "Light My Fire". When I heard the dark melodic strains on the kitchen radio for the first time I was fascinated. I loved it! It was like nothing I'd heard on the radio to that time. I knew that the boundaries encompassing rock had just been dramatically expanded and that rock had left its period of youthful innocence behind.

It was the Doors' performance of "Light My Fire" on the Ed Sullivan Show that established them as the cultural icons they remain today. Jim appeared wearing tight black leather pants which must have caused appalled parents' jaws to drop across every single living room in North America. I certainly expected expressions of horrified disgust in as many as two languages from my very old school father. He must have been too shocked though, or maybe he too was hypnotized by the seductive organ riff behind Jim's throaty vocals. Much to my surprise he just sat there in silence. All I know is that I watched the performance intently in almost rapt disbelief. These fellows made the Beatles look like innocent schoolboys! They were a step above and beyond whatever else was happening in rock at the time. Here's the video:

[video=youtube;2euBN3gbKc8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2euBN3gbKc8[/video]

Interesting too is that Ed Sullivan had demanded that the Doors change the words of the song from "Girl we coudn't get much higher" to "Girl we coudn't get much better" as a condition of performing. You see it was actually illegal to use the word "higher" as a drug reference on American TV at the time. The Doors had agreed but when it came time to sing the line, Jim clearly enunciated the word "higher". Ed Sullivan was understandably furious and banned the Doors from any further appearances on his show. When told that the rest of the band's five scheduled appearances on the show had been cancelled, Jim reportedly said "Hey man, so what? We just did the Ed Sullivan Show!"

I just love that type of insolence. Stick it to the straights I still say! I may be a stockbroker and a "respectable" member of society these days, but I still take delight in offending those more straightlaced than myself. And woe to any bureaucrat or corporate suit who annoys me and finds himself in my company!

I bought their debut album a couple of months later - and let me tell you I was well and truly hooked on the Doors within a couple of plays. The music just drew me in.

Doors.jpg


When I played it for one of my buddies, he stayed uncharacteristically silent - but bought his own copy a few weeks later. He later confessed to me that the Doors sounded so moody and Satanic to him the first time I played the record that he never thought he'd be able to like them! He's remained every bit as much of a Doors fan as I am to this very day.

By the end of 1968 I had progressed to buying albums by the Doors, Who, Yardbirds, Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin. All these I played on the Seabreeze suitcase stereo with detachable speakers that I had bought to replace the family record player. My father condemned my purchase as shamelessly profligate since the existing mono record player that we'd purchased used some years back was still perfectly serviceable!

Now of course I have hundreds of record albums and 45s as well as a steadily growing collection of CDs which I play on a very nice stereo sound system indeed. (My father would be aghast I suppose.) My musical tastes are many and varied - but, nevertheless, after all these years I'm still very much a Stones and Doors fan.

AStyxstereo2.jpg


Arecord3.jpg


:smokin
 
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Although I'm two years younger than Hepcat, my love of rock and and began about 11 years earlier! I'll quantify it as age 2. Clearly, I've been into R&R since the beginning, and practically since birth. We lived downstairs of my Grandparents, and I had two teenage aunts. Elvis, Haley, Berry, Holly, Domino and Little Richard were people I listened to from a very early age. Doo wop was also an early love, and I regularly listen to it to this day. I remember my Aunt bringing home Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel by Elvis. We played it over and over. My first record purchase was actually a 78. It wasn't a children's record, but Cindy, Oh Cindy by Vince Martin & the Tarriers, a folk/calypso record. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYGJvuserZQ It wasn't what most two year olds were getting into. I vividly recall watching the first national telecast of American Bandstand on ABC. My first 45 was a beatnick rocker: House of Bamboo by Andy Williams!!! from 1958: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4T5wGnoCzM It was later played on the '80's Mod Rallys. #54, the house with the bamboo door.

Solidifying things, when I was five, we moved. My new best friend in our new house was the child of a man in the juke box business. Records abounded, and he had jukeboxes in his garage. One of them was always loaded with our favorite 45's. At the same time, one of my Aunts gave me a table radio, which I listened to daily. I also had a transister radio, smaller than a pack of cigarettes. So that I wouldn't buy so many records, my Dad gave me a Bell & Howell 7" reel-to-reel machine. "Tape 'em off the radio." I became a tape maniac at 6! Today, I own 6 tape decks, and have owned perhaps a dozen more over the years.

The British Invasion kicked it up a notch. My first rock album was Something New by the Beatles. "I Got Every Reason on Earth to Be Mad" blared from my stereo after the needle touched down. If there was a possibility of ever escaping R&R's grip, this killed it for sure. It wasn't my first album, the Chipmunks predated it.

'67 was when my record collecting began to get out of control. By late '68, I had over 100 albums. Moby Grape, Beatles, Super Session, Cream, Electric Flag, Sly, Hendrix, Dylan, B,S&T, Simon & Garfunkel, Big Brother, Chuck Berry, Country Joe, Chambers Bros, Byrds, Phil Ochs, Steve Miller, Taj Mahal, Quicksilver, and Spirit were in my collection, and are still among my very favorites. To me, R&R never surpassed this era, even though a wealth of great music followed.

In '70 or '71, two FM stations simulcast a Quad broadcast, one with the fronts, the other with the rears. I combined my stereo with my parents' and heard Quad for the first time, in my house!! I frequented Allied Radio and Olson Electronics. In '73, I began acquiring both Quad hardware and software. I also entered the hi-fi business, my first job being Asst Mgr. at Stereo City, which was a former Allied location. In my interview, I was asked "what qualifies you to sell hifi?" "I'm an audiophile" was the reply that got me hired. I lived and breathed music and gear. My slogan: drop your wad on Quad!

I've continued to be a rabid collector, amassing nearly 20,000 titles, nearly 1000 of which are Quad or 5.1. In the late '70's, I switched to separates (preamp/power amp(s) and moving coil phono cartridge, and have continued on that trend for over 30 years. I bought one of the first CD players in the US, Sony CDP-101, and began a CD obsession. I got into DVD-A at the beginning, with Brain Salad in a standard jewel box. I resisted SACD until they became MC, and I've immersed myself in that, with over 600 titles in my collection.

I used to shoot up with a phonograph needle. 30 years ago, I began doing it with a laser.
 
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My new best friend in our new house was the child of a man in the juke box business. Records abounded, and he had jukeboxes in his garage. One of them was always loaded with our favorite 45's.

Oh wow! Wurlitzer or Seeburg? Do you ever want to add a jukebox to the sound equipment you've amassed?

'67 was when my record collecting began to get out of control. By late '68, I had over 100 albums. Moby Grape, Beatles, Super Session, Cream, Electric Flag, Sly, Hendrix, Dylan, B,S&T, Simon & Garfunkel, Big Brother, Chuck Berry, Country Joe, Chambers Bros, Byrds, Phil Ochs, Steve Miller, Taj Mahal, Quicksilver, and Spirit were in my collection, and are still among my very favorites. To me, R&R never surpassed this era, even though a wealth of great music followed.

I agree. The 1965-67 years are still my favourite when it comes to rock music.

I used to shoot up with a phonograph needle. 30 years ago, I began doing it with a laser.

Me I'm reluctant to put aside my phonograph needle. I still love turntables.

:smokin
 
I still play vinyl and own over 4,000 LP's. Over 500 of those are Quad. For some of my favorites, check out the "Listening to Now (in surround) thread." I also have dozens of dbx encoded LP's and a decoder. If you've never heard one, you're missing something great. Better signal to noise ratio and sound than a CD. several classical dbx titles are also QS Quad encoded.

Since my friend Louie's Dad fixed jukeboxes, there were every conceivable brand and model, from the '40's through the early '60's. "Our jukebox" where we had our faves loaded was an old AMI: http://www.jukebox.nl/gallery/ami/ami_e80.html Although it's a 1953 vintage, it played 45's. I've always been in search of excellent sound reproduction. Although jukeboxes are retro fun, they are a compromise in fidelity. So, no I don't have an urge to get a jukebox. No offense to those who collect these beautiful machines.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's '65-'69 I Want to Take You Higher exhibit.
Oh wow! Wurlitzer or Seeburg? Do you ever want to add a jukebox to the sound equipment you've amassed?



I agree. The 1965-67 years are still my favourite when it comes to rock music.



Me I'm reluctant to put aside my phonograph needle. I still love turntables.

:smokin
 
I listened to it. hahahahahaha! probably about the same way as you hepcat. I was around the same age as you, and in 64 -5had stones/Kinks/etc. I think the 1st "hard type" was Sgt Peppers. I have to admit hearing it in my best friends room that day stuck. I even remember how we reacted. Then it was of course chasing that "certain style." I remember vividly the episode on Ed Sullivan with the Doors and the Stones. The Stones were to sing "lets spend some time together, and did the same thing the Doors did. Spend the nite together. Animals, Doors, mamas and pappas etc. The Stones album I think you ref. was titled "Through the past darkly" with 19th nerv. breakdown/ Paint it Black,etc. with them on the cover. I'd have to say we pretty much had the same experience's. Being in the school band was a help. You got turned on to all this by AM radio. There was no FM then. It was there, but there were no FM stations. We had an FM radio, I remember looking and finding nothing. But they played this back then, snippets of songs, or cut down for AM. It did it's job. The biggest geek in out HS gave me my 1st Kinks album. Never knew who they were until then. I must have worn it out, with the old GE suitcase. Donavan/John Sabastion/ all were there. It was the Beatles who started it. All the others just follwed.
 
Great stories.

I know you guys are more talking about "rock" as opposed to "rock and roll" but for me, it was a continuous evolution. As soon as I heard Elvis, The Everly Brothers (Specifically "Wake Up Little Susie"), Jimmie Rodgers (specifically "Honeycomb"), Little Richard, and several others when I was a little kid, that was IT!

Doug
 
Doug, I'm not offended, but you need to (re)read my post. I mentioned getting inro rock and doo wop in '56, which predates all the progressive stuff I mentioned by 11 years.

Bop-bop-aluma-a-bim-bam-boom!

Great stories.

I know you guys are more talking about "rock" as opposed to "rock and roll" but for me, it was a continuous evolution. As soon as I heard Elvis, The Everly Brothers (Specifically "Wake Up Little Susie"), Jimmie Rodgers (specifically "Honeycomb"), Little Richard, and several others when I was a little kid, that was IT!

Doug
 
Hi Linda,

I should apologize because I didn't read your post closely enough the first time and I realize you were turned on to rock and roll as a little kid just like me. Just magic stuff coming out of those speakers. Those speakers referring to different record players, not stereo speakers at that time!

BTW, my favorite Elvis song has ended up being "Little Sister" but my friend and I had a similar thing going with "Hound Dog" back then. Over and over again. Same with the somgs I mentioned above.

An interesting story I have is when The Vees (Bobby's boys) were playing here once at a local watering hole and they were taking requests. It was a very small place and I was standing right near the drummer and yelled, "Little Sister!" He said, "Oooo that's good one but we don't really know it. We'll try it anyway." And they proceeded to tear the place down.

Doug
 
No, no. It's:

Womp Bomp a Lu Bomp a Lomp Bomp Bomp!

Until the end. Then it's:

Womp Bomp a Lu Bomp a Lomp Bam Boom!

:D

And my favorite Little Richard lyric (from "The Girl Can't help It"):

"If she winks an eye, a bread slice turns to toast."

Doug
 
No, no. It's:

Womp Bomp a Lu Bomp a Lomp Bomp Bomp!

Until the end. Then it's:

Womp Bomp a Lu Bomp a Lomp Bam Boom!

:D

And my favorite Little Richard lyric (from "The Girl Can't help It"):

"If she winks an eye, a bread slice turns to toast."

Doug

yeh you got it! I was close- no cigar
 
My parents played early Rock & Roll, I recall a few Elvis 45s around the house, "Hound Dog" was the first along with some Pat Boone music in the mid to late '50s but I didn't really pay any attention at such a young age. When The Beatles hit in the US, dad brought home "Meet the Beatles" for me almost immediately after its release which was the first album I owned. I had heard mention of the group at school but really hadn't heard any songs before receiving the album so that would have to be the beginning of my interest in R&R.
 
My father always considered me to be too 'hyper,' I guess, so one day he brought home a big box of 45's he'd bought from a jukebox op he knew, a cheap turntable (I mean, really cheap--one little speaker in front, crappy everything else) and said, 'Have fun!' Many years later, when he saw just how vast my collection had become, he just shook his head, heh. Ah well, it DID keep me in my bedroom and away from everything else, so he must have been happy about that (I know my mother wasn't so keen on the noise--or the bass when my equipment started getting better).

From small beginnings....

ED :)
 
No one should be embarrassed over who they listened to that got them into music. What matters is that you listen to, enjoy and appreciate music. The same goes for the gear. Sure, some pieces offer better fidelity, are better styled or are more reliable. The reason that QQ exists is that we all love the music and the gear.

So, what the hell is wrong with Bongiovi? Not a damn thing!!

We didn't have a Led Zepellin on the radio when I was turning 12. This is where a lot of us got started if we were born in the 70's.
 
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