My son had a post about the Favorite Albums From Teenage Years trend. He gave his list, two per year plus also-rans, considering it a point of honor to be honest about this, not padding his resume by pretending he never liked some bands or was an early discoverer of others.
I decided I wasn't going to do it myself, but thoughts kept coming into my head, and once I had put "7th Grade - Mamas and Papas" I couldn't let it go. This is a purely personal exercise of no value to others. I think I will predate it to bury it back in the pack, actually. The main criterion is that I played the album incessantly for a time - couldn't get enough of it. What is interesting is that I had a difficulty narrowing the list to two in the early years, but trouble finding two in the later years. I imagine there is something about the early teen years that lends itself to such obsession.
Looking for reminders, I was hampered by the difference in organising the material: I remembered the albums by school year, and moved a summer favorite in either direction; online lists are by calendar year. Also, I didn't necessarily get obsessed with something when it first came out. I might not have discovered it until later. Fads came later to NH anyway. Not like those with-it people down in New York.
I listen to very little of anything now, and only when I'm alone.
I find it interesting how few of these trickled down to me and Ben by the time we were old enough to listen to music with you. Steeleeye Span, Kingston Trio, and the Beach boys. There are a few others that I recognize, but I don't recall us listening to very much.
ReplyDeleteI thought I had abandoned much of it after my conversion in 1975. But writing this out showed me that I had been coasting for some time before that. I had my music that I listened to. I added some contemporary Christian early on - Bob Bennett, Michael Card - but even that ended soon enough. I should add to the post how little I listen to anything now. Only when I'm by myself.
ReplyDeleteFads came later to NH anyway. Not like those with-it people down in New York.
ReplyDeleteNot just for NH. Which I discovered when I hitched to California and met my LA cousins for the first time. I had never heard of Jimi Hendrix before I met my cousins.
I was in 8th grade when the Beatles first played on Ed Sullivan, so the Beatles pretty well defined the music of my high school years. And Dylan. I loaned my copy of Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home to a classmate who played in a band. A half century later he is still playing in a band. Though he finally got himself a day job a couple of years ago.
Yet of the pop music from elementary school to age 25 that I most listen to nowadays is Doo-Wop, which I didn't listen to all that much when it was big, during my elementary and junior high years. Back then I devoted more attention to Gilbert & Sullivan and then folk music.
When I listen nowadays to some of the political stuff from back then, such as CSNY's [or was it CSN] Chicago, I shake my head. What fools we were.
WRT how little one winds up listening to: Somehow the kids wound up with different musical tastes than I, so the music playing on the radio or stereo was generally not from my top 10. Though Youngest Daughter likes opera. And during baseball season the evenings are often booked.
ReplyDeleteI didn't start buying albums until I was in college. Until then, I was satisfied to listen to my older brother's collection. Who's Next was one of the first albums in my collection, and I remember hearing Aqualung by Jethro Tull in the halls of my dorm sophomore year. In the 6th grade through sophomore year high school, listened to a lot of "top 40" radio, WRKO Boston, a local station in Lowell. But with older brother influencing me, I cringed at songs like "Sugar Sugar" making #1. In college, my tastes move to prog rock (Yes, Genesis, ELP) and I still enjoy listening to a lot of that. I never purged my old record collection. Actually saw Carl Palmer in Londonderry last year at Tupelo Music Hall. He is now the survivor of that trio.
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