since my birthday’s coming up (TOMORROW YAAAAAAY), i’ve been thinking a lot about growing up and how i’ve changed since i was a wee one with a big head and red hair. in particular, with the memory of sxsw still sizzling in my brain, i’ve been wondering about how exactly my musical tastes were formed.
you might think that since i have (in my opinion) a pretty eclectic taste in music, particularly indie rock, i grew up listening to, say, david bowie or the talking heads, with maybe a dash of gang of four and the clash.
ahh, but you know what happens when you AssUMe things, don’t you? yes, you do.
i guess the key is that “eclectic” doesn’t necessarily mean “cool.” it also doesn’t necessarily mean “selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods, or styles” which is what the dictionary says. eclectic, in the case of my childhood musical taste, pretty much means that i loved a lot of random, kinda cray, maybe NOT the best of various stuff.
thank you, mom and dad!
no, seriously, my parents did listen to good music, like the beatles and the stones. but they do have to take responsibility for exposing me to what became my all time favorite, most requested on car rides (even short ones to the grocery store), #1 song of my childhood:
elvira by the oak ridge boys
OH how i WISH i had the mp3 of this song to share with you today. but i’ll do you one better. here’s a video!!!
if it’s any excuse (which it isn’t), i had NO idea that the oak ridge boys looked like that. in fact, i probably would have immediately begun to hate them, cos i had this whole “fear of bearded men” thing going on when i was little (don’t even ask about the santa claus at the mall). how was i to know that i was happily singing along with two mountain men, a member of the mafia and mr. macho pants?
anyway, the point is, this song ruled my universe. the part where the deep voiced guy goes, “ah boom bah, ah boom bah, ah bow wow”? total genius. not to mention that it’s super fun to lower yr voice as much as possible when you sing along.
my second favorite choice of cassette for car rides should give me a leeetle more cred: the big chill soundtrack!
come on, it’s motown!
for the record, i loved “i heard it through the grapevine” WAY before the california raisins came onto the scene. i didn’t need claymation to alert me to the fact that this song is one of the best grooves of all time.
little known fact: i have never seen this movie. nor do i want to.
moving on
just when you thought my musical tastes were looking a little more acceptable, along comes hooked on classics! ok, seriously, did ANYONE ELSE ever listen to these albums? anyone?
ok, in case you’re one of the FEW people who never enjoyed the phat beats of this tape, hooked on classics was basically an assortment of well known classical musical pieces dressed up with… disco.
now that i think about it, hooked on classics was like the world’s first mash-up!!!! holla!! see, i knew a good thing when i heard it. and that’s why, in my family, we not only had hooked on classics, we ALSO had hooked on classics volume two AND three!
the only bad thing about hooked on classics (well, assuming you like the marriage of classical and disco) was that it gave me a v. false impression of mozart, beethoven, etc. like, when i heard the original pieces, i was like, “uh, why is this soooo slooooow?” or “what happened to all of the hand claps?” or “when do the village people start singing?” (ok, that last one is a lie, cos the village people only WISHED they could appear on this album).
little known fact (to me, at age 5): louis clark did a lot of the arrangements for ELO. so SEE? my musical roots are awesome.
speaking of awesome… amy grant!!!!
i’m pretty sure my mom and i wore out the tape we had of her greatest hits, pre “baby baby” of course (i DO have standards).
plus there were lots of christian songs on this tape that we actually sang at church sometimes, and that made me feel really cool.
because you know there was nothing cooler than amy grant in 1986.
and last but not least, we have olivia newton john. i LOVED olivia newton john. mostly cos she was in “grease” which i watched about 800 times with my friend emily philips. my tape was recorded from tv, so we had to fast forward through the commercials, and some of the “dirty” parts were edited out, but we didn’t care. cos olivia newton john had perfect skin and big blue eyes and shiny blonde hair and she could sing and danny totally didn’t deserve her but then she got all hot and smoked a cigarette in spandex and OMG SHE IS THE BEST!
i don’t think we actually had the “physical” album, but it was some kind of collection, cos there were songs from “physical” PLUS her major songs from “grease.”
i wasn’t allowed to watch MTV when i was a kid, so i didn’t realize that there were actual *sexual innuendos* in the song. i just thought it was about exercising!* (*hey, i was only seven! give me a break).
so there you have it. my musical roots. if the dj directors at ktru had only known…
but you know what? i’m not ashamed! i *still* love all of these songs (ok, well, i’m not really familiar with the rest of the oak ridge boys’ catalog, but still). and i’d like to think that all of them have contributed, in some small way, to me being me.
like, maybe olivia is the reason i love jazzercise. and maybe the big chill is why i like black people.
KIDDING KIDDING. obviously the real reason is “the cosby show.” duh.
i’m pretty sure that everyone has a cherished childhood song by a band that maybe didn’t make it into pitchfork’s “100 best bands of all time” list (yeah right, it’d be more like, “ten bands that are pretty good, for now, until people like them!”).
and now it’s confession time! what was yr favorite song as a kid? don’t be ashamed. i mean, i almost, just now, bought “hooked on classics” from itunes. cos, to be honest, mozart has never sounded as good without that disco beat.
LINKS
i meant to post this yesterday but i forgot: giant pink bunny on a mountain!!!! ROAD TRIP!!
matt has found my new favorite book. supposedly it’s for kids so they can “learn the alphabet” but whatever. this book is totally so i can play with lots of fun pop-ups!
have you guys heard about this powder that helps you to regrow limbs? I AM NOT KIDDING (although doesn’t it sound like something that madam pomfrey would use?).
there’s an interesting piece in the times today that asks “why do certain kids get picked on?” it’s interesting, not to mention really, really sad.
i really want to read this new (serious) book about competitive cheerleading. it’s like someone from the new yorker had written, “bring it on.”
there’s this game (for kids) online called miss bimbo and… CAN’T WE ALL JUST PLAY CHUTES AND LADDERS?
So, didn’t it bother anyone else that Olivia Newton John sluts herself up in Grease to get with an ignorant ape? I mean, this film was made at the peak of feminism, right?
My dad used to make us listen to Don McLean a lot. There was also a ton of James Taylor and some John Denver.
Personally, I loved for Queen. Let me amend that. I lived for Queen. And then Radiohead. But before all that…
I had Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits on my dad’s hi-fi constantly. And lots of Irish trad stuff. I think ‘True Blue’ by Madonna however, is the most embarrassing song I was really into as a kid. There it is.
I used to sing Tina Turner’s “Private Dancer.” Outloud.
To strangers.
At church.
I was four.
First cassette tapes I owned were True Blue by Madonna and Whitney by Whitney Houston, and they are probably still in a box in the closet. We always listened to the Thriller album on LP though…
Of course, you know my true musical passion…
Are you kidding? I totally own CD copies of Hooked on Classics AND Hooked on Swing. They are the best! As I child I oft rocked out to our record versions of Hooked on Classics 1, 2 and 3. Oh yes-we were big time.
Erin, you win!!
My family had a weird bonding ritual when I was twelve that I think I blocked out until now. My dad would put on Tina Turner’s ‘Simply the Best’ and kind of dance and point at himself while myself and my two sisters jumped up and down on the sofa. I think my mum just collapsed into laughter.
dude! that ABC book is amazing. I love pop up books, they’re such amazing pieces of little architecture.. too bad that most of them are made in sweat shops. Your field day sounds like it was amazing fun.
I don’t think I ever owned that Amy Grant album, but there was a time where I was really obsessed with Stryper… that, and I used to love anything that the animatronic figures at Chuck E Cheese and Showbiz Pizza would play.
I grew up on classic country (Alabama, Kenny Rogers, The Judds, etc), but my dad also loved Laura Branigan so I listened to the album (yep, actual vinyl) to Self Control and Gloria.
Of course Thriller was a classic as was Gold and Platinum’s Hits of the 80’s made in like 1985.
There is a reason many of these songs are on my ipod.
I, too, had Hooked On Classics, at least volumes 1 and 2 (well, my parents bought them — for themselves or to teach me some culture, I don’t know). I think Hooked on Swing as well. The main problem I have with this education is that, to this day, when I hear various classical pieces my mind will segue to some completely unrelated other piece as soon as the Hooked On pull-quote finishes.
I also loved Elvira, and yes, everyone in elementary school lived for the “giddyup” section. I had no idea it was that slick dude who sang it, though. Would’ve guessed the big bearded one. And isn’t that the guy from Hall and Oates singing the first verse?
I’m pretty certain the first record I bought (or had bought for me, really) was Duran Duran. Either a 45 of The Reflex or Seven and the Ragged Tiger. Or was it their live album, Arena? Reaaaaal clear memories, obviously.
If that seems unnecessarily cool, I should also point out that the first “rock” concert my parents took me to was the Monkees 20th anniversary reunion tour. Weird Al opened. And that was several years after I was into Duran Duran. Progress? No.
I was cooler when I was in first grade than I was in seventh grade.
First cassette tape purchased with allowance = Thriller. I literally wore it out, so when CDs came along, I was happy to hear that this “digital” technology would mean that I couldn’t do that.
First CD I bought? It was a twofer of lameness = the soundtrack to Ghost and the original Jekyll & Hyde musical cast recording.
Sigh.
Immediately after that I started listening to XTC, REM and any other bands with only three letters in their name, though.
I remember listening to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack a lot as a kid. That was one of my favorites. As was the Ghostbusters soundtrack and I listened to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince and even some Poison. My first album I remember owning had the Monster Mash on it. I also listened to a lot of country as a child. ORB included. Hiyo Silver away. Wow I have always seemed to like a big range of music.
My parents didn’t really listen to music unless it was on the radio in the car. That being said, I do remember a couple of tapes I had that I liked to listen to, A LOT. The Judds, definitely, George Strait and Randy Travis. And the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, I listened to that a lot as well.
The first tape I bought by myself? New Kids on the Block. Yes, I’ll admit it!
The first CD I bought? I think it was Garth Brooks or something. I went through a country phase when I was in middle school.
Sigh.
That’s okay, Michelle. I think at one point I’d told my mom the New Kids were going to be bigger than the Beatles. Without a trace of irony. To be fair, did you see a bunch of Beatles’ sleeping bags going around?
My first tape was Thriller as well. I had a shirt of Michael Jackson that went with it (I got it for free? I don’t remember) which I wore the shit out of. It was one of those articles of clothing that your mom eventually just throws away while you’re at school one day, and then tries to convince you that you never had in the first place. And after school at daycare, I’d make up little routines to the songs on the tape. They were never going to be as good as the actual, official Thriller choreography (which I of course immediately learned after the video aired on MTV), but I like to think they captured the gothic horror and commercial success of the mid-80s.
Oh, Sarah, I meant to say: I wore out my Big Chill soundtrack when I was a kid. I stole it from my parents and put it in my walkman and listened to it every night.
1. Motown is awesome. I have always been obsessed with it.
2. It’s good to know someone else thought Amy Grant was cool. Don’t ask about the rest of the Christian music tapes (yes, tapes) I loved as a child, tho, because they’re decidedly uncool. But, hey, it was all I had!
3. I hated Olivia Newton John–not because of her music (I wasn’t allowed to listen to it, altho I did love her in Grease, natch) but because when I was a kid, every time I was introduced to someone, they said, “Olivia? Like Olivia Newton-John!” and then would laugh for a really long time, as if (a) it was funny, and (b) I had never heard it before. I was really bitter about this by age 8, but it seems to happen far less now. Now I wish people would say, “Olivia? Oh, like Olivia the Pig–the children’s books that start with ‘This is Olivia. She is good at lots of things.’”
My first favorite song when I was allowed to start listening to “secular” music in, like, 6th grade or something, unfortunately, was “Rumpshaker,” which (I still claim) is an awesome song. I have it on my little mp3 player. All I wanted to listen to was the hip-hop/rap station. This freaked my parents out very quickly.
Sarah, I think you forgot the “most played tape” in the car—ANNIE!!
mom, i cannot BELIEVE i forgot about annie!!!!! esp. all of my choreographed (in the car, no less) moves to “it’s a hard knock life,” which amber and i later created… in our dorm room… in college. cos i had the cd by then. obviously.
Favorite song as a kid? EASY! Uptown Girl by the master himself. Although a very close second was Stand By Me by Ben E. King, which I used to sing into a hairbrush for my parents’ entertainment. Lucky them, right?
But the first CDs I bought were the Lion King soundtrack (holla!) and the Immaculate Collection by Madonna.
Oh man…too many favorite songs to mention. I have Hooked on Swing somewhere at home :). So, I grew up with a sister that was 9 years older than me but liked to hang out with her little sis so I know all the 80s songs. We would choreograph dances together to Madonna songs like True Blue, etc. I also loved Culture Club, Wham, Madonna, etc. I used to have super long hair and my sister would spend all night braiding it in little braids, put a hat on me and I would be Boy George! Ok, so obvs. my sister thought I was her little doll but it was fun! I went to concerts when I was a kid cuz my parents liked to go to cheezy shows like Boney M (we lived in Kuwait and Americans don’t know them as well) Check out this awesomeness! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c-M8mHsFEY.
Then when I was in 10 and in Spain I whined until my sister took me to see Prince in concert….I was traumatized for life
I had the Thriller album too, even though the actual song kind of scared me a little. “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by Wham, “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder, The Judds, The Beach Boys, Amy Grant and most definitely, Madonna. And my favorite movie from the ages of 4-6 was Annie. I made my mom take me to see the musical like 3 times and then the movie like 8 times. I was obsessed! I get teary just thinking about it. The first tapes I bought was New Kids on the Block and yes, Paula Abdul’s Forever Your Girl. I couldn’t get enough of “Straight Up” and “Cold Hearted Snake.” I can’t believe I just admitted that.
Honest to God, I owned two 7″ singles when I was really little - like 5 or 6 years old, and I would play them on endless repeat on my parents’ record player.
Those records were “Coming to America” by Neil Diamond and “Cum On Feel The Noiz” by Quiet Riot. I was a very musically advanced, and confused, child.
I think it is also important to note that this musical heritage is what made all those amazing mix tapes possible-you know the ones you would play in the car as you drove us to high school?