Musical Influences

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movieman1957
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Musical Influences

Post by movieman1957 »

Wendy and I have been having a grand conversation* about The Beatles and how they influenced us and impacted our lives growing up when they were so popular.

At the risk of having too many music threads I wondered what music or artists have influenced any of you. It's not about just liking songs or what we're listening to at the moment but what has spoken to you and moved you impacted you.

Just curious.

(*It is from my side.)
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: Musical Influences

Post by Rita Hayworth »

Kingme is hard of hearing, and I'm almost deaf; and wears hearing aids to help me to carry on a hearing conversation just like the rest of us. There is one Song that has the most impact on my life that is Simon and Garfunkel ... "Sounds of Silence"

Concert at Madison Square Garden
[youtube][/youtube]

With Lyrics
[youtube][/youtube]

I went to their concert in Central Park (the famous one) and another concert back in 1995 or 1997 and when they sing this immortal song it's relates to my world of hard of hearing perfectly well. The Sounds of Silence is always be number 1 in my heart and they understand what I'm going through on a daily basis.

How, this became the number one song in my life; my two older brothers each had a tape deck with speakers and one day I walked in my older brother's bedroom (he was in college at that time) and this song came to play and I sat down on top of his bed and was moved by this song ... my brother was watching me and he instantly knew that I like it so much and I had a record player in my bedroom and for my 15th birthday he brought me this record at his College Music Store and mailed it home for me to enjoy! Boy, I did enjoyed it!

Exactly like this one pictured
I was happy to have it and still does ...It in our safety deposit box because it is a collector item now. This song is a winner!
Attachments
45 LPM Record that I have
45 LPM Record that I have
SOS Record.jpg (33.44 KiB) Viewed 13750 times
Last edited by Rita Hayworth on December 14th, 2011, 5:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ChiO
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Re: Musical Influences

Post by ChiO »

Tough one. Spoken to: Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan (The Freewheelin'... through Blonde on Blonde), Leonard Cohen, Tim Buckley and Tim Hardin. Changed the way I listened to music: Velvet Underground, Mothers of Invention, John Coltrane (the Impulse years), Miles Davis (In a Silent Way & Bitches Brew) and The Ramones).

But, changed my very being: These Are the Laws of My Administration as sung by Groucho Marx and Margaret Dumont in DUCK SOUP. More biting than anything Ochs and Dylan came up with later (maybe this song made me receptive to theirs) and much funnier. This is the moment I decided that Groucho is my comedy hero, and that was undoubtedly a life changing moment (much to Mrs. ChiO's chagrin, but to our younger daughter's delight).
Last edited by ChiO on December 14th, 2011, 6:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Dewey1960
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Re: Musical Influences

Post by Dewey1960 »

Being a product of the 1950s, it should come as no surprise that early rock and roll and
rhythm and blues music provided the sounds that would come to influence all forms and
phases of my tastes for years to come. By the time I was nine (in 1957), I was convinced
that doo-wop music was the answer to everything, regardless of the question. The very
first doo-wop 45 I bought with my own money was in the spring of '57 and it was the
Del Vikings monster hit “Come Go With Me.” I must have played it several thousand times
on my little victrola – much to the annoyance of my mom and dad. That music – the Devil's
Music to the older generation – was my own personal salvation, the only medicine I needed
to combat the Summertime Blues.
[youtube][/youtube]
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movieman1957
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Re: Musical Influences

Post by movieman1957 »

kingrat said:
Personal involvement with classical music is another story. I even had one friendship which mainly consisted of sitting around talking about which particular recording of a symphony we hoped to get. That may be a guy thing.

I love classical music too. I never really had anyone to talk to about it so it was mostly a self made discovery. Beethoven's Third Symphony put me on a path. (I'll share some Beatles thoughts as we go.)

ChiO said:
But, changed my very being: These Are the Laws of My Administration as sung by Groucho Marx and Margaret Dumont in DUCK SOUP. More biting than anything Ochs and Dylan came up with later (maybe this song made me receptive to theirs) and much funnier. This is the moment I decided that Groucho is my comedy hero, and that was undoubtedly a life changing moment (much to Mrs. ChiO's chagrin, but to our younger daughter's delight).

Things were similar for me with Groucho's song in "Horse Feathers." "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It." I could almost paste the rest of the paragraph for me.

Good stuff everyone.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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ChiO
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Re: Musical Influences

Post by ChiO »

Golly, gee whiz, Dewey, you brought back some primal memories. I don't remember the first 45 I bought. My great uncle in Indianapolis owned a record shop and juke boxes, so until the mid-'60s, I got the Big Hits of the day (ahhh...Patti Page, Perry Como, The McGuire Sisters) when they came off the juke boxes. On Saturday nights, on Grampa's lap, we'd listen to The Grand Ole Opry and other C&W shows on his huge radio (now in our bedroom). He especially liked that "nice young country boy", Elvis Presley. Although I'd heard rock'n'roll in its various '50s forms, I remember the precise moment when I decided that it was the music for me. It, too, was in 1957 and luckily some kindred soul has posted that very moment on YouTube.

[youtube][/youtube]
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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Dewey1960
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Re: Musical Influences

Post by Dewey1960 »

COME GO WITH ME may have been the first doo-wop 45 I bought back in '57,
but the very first 45 of any kind I ever bought was Nervous Norvus' novelty hit
TRANSFUSION from the year before. Wotta record!! At some point my mom
issued the waring that if I played it one more time it would go straight into the
trash can. So I flipped it over and discovered my new favorite song…DIG! The
subversive influence of this dopey record set the stage for much future dopiness.
NERVOUS NORVUS "Transfusion"
[youtube][/youtube]
NERVOUS NORVUS "Dig"
[youtube][/youtube]
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Musical Influences

Post by charliechaplinfan »

All the music I really like was made before I was born, so it didn't influence my formative years, it's not like I picked it up off my parents either because their taste is definetly not mine. As a teen I liked what every other teenage girl likes but when I turned 18 I started by discovering Sinatra and The Beatles properly, this developed my two main musical interests, that for crooners and early jazz, Sinatra developed to Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and my favourite Bille Holliday and artists and albums of the sixties, Dylan, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Joplin, near enough in that order.

I'm kind of envious of every one that grew up in the fifties and sixties, you had much better music than I did, a teen in the 80s. The only advantage I have is that I'm 20 years younger :wink: :lol:
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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movieman1957
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Re: Musical Influences

Post by movieman1957 »

I have a few Williams pieces that I really enjoy. The usual popular works and his symphonies are good listening.
My favorite piece by an English composer is Elgar's Cello Concerto. I saw Yo Yo Ma perform it. That was amazing.

80s? It is all what they are exposed to. One time my daughter who after hearing America's "Ventura Highway" on the radio one day at work proclaimed her affection for the group. "I love America," she said to where her coworkers responded that they did do. They thought she was making a patriotic statement rather than the group. She grew up listening to what I did so she knows about 60's and 70's music. She still likes The Beatles best.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: Musical Influences

Post by Rita Hayworth »

Another Great Artist
Drummer Buddy Rich :D

Here's Why! :)

[youtube][/youtube] :D
[youtube][/youtube] :D

Squaring off with Comedian Jerry Lewis - Unreal :)
[youtube][/youtube]

Squaring off with the Legendary Gene Krupa on the Sammy Davis Show in the Sixties :)
[youtube][/youtube]

Buddy Rich on the Muppet Show :D
[youtube][/youtube]

He is one of the Legendary Musician that I grown to love; I went to couple of his (came away speechless) performances in the late sixties and early seventies when I was boy growing up and I was mesmerized by his ability to play the drums. He was truly amazing and a joy to watch! I was greatly influenced by his talent as a drummer!

P.S. I watch these on a monthly basis just for fun :!:
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Musical Influences

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Pop music passed my parents by and my mother doesn't like classical music so my Dad didn't get chance to play it. I do remember borrowing his records when I was little and playing Rhapsody in Blue and Bolero over and over again, this was only because they were two pieces of music mentioned in music lessons at school. My dad really likes Beethoven and tried to nudge me along from Tchaikovsky of who I had a fondness for his ballet music when I was young. At the moment I've been listening to Mozart and enjoying him, particularly Requiem, he's such a huge subject, it is difficult to find my way. I'm fond of operas but find it's difficult to listen to one all the way through without interuption. I do have a tendency to like noisy classical music not the more subtle variety.

I always marvel how my parents could have passed through the sixties and remained untouched by some of the fabulous bands, in my Dad's defence, he did really like Elvis, Mum isn't bothered at all by any music. Then I met my husband's parents, his mother does appreciate the music of her youth whereas his Dad thinks the Beatles started OK and really went downhill. Sometimes I think that my lack of interest in the music of the last ten years will mean that my kids will feel the same about me, ignoring recent music like my parents missed the Beatles then I can't really hear them saying ' Mum how can you not have been into Lady Gaga, The Spice Girls, various X Factor winners' with the same disbelief I feel about my parents missing the Beatles.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
RedRiver
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Re: Musical Influences

Post by RedRiver »

"Shoot the juice to me, Bruce!" If TRANSFUSION was from the 1950's, our local station liked it as an oldie a decade later. I heard a number of car songs from that era. HOT ROD LINCOLN. Can't remember the others.

The Beatles were pretty much everything to 1960's rock. Love THE WHITE ALBUM. ABBEY ROAD is my favorite. And the early sound is cute. It came from out of nowhere, ad changed everything. I like Paul Revere and The Raiders. Wouldn't say it changed my life. But the thumping beat and precise harmony was almost addictive. Big Dylan fan. Johnny Cash was untouchable.

One of the best records I ever owned is a recent purchase. DEAN MARTIN'S GREATEST HITS. Every note is priceless. My mom used to say, "It's not just that he sings well. He picks such darn good songs!"

It's odd that I've focused on mainstream music. I'm really a jazz fan. But jazz is so hard to describe. You either like it or you don't!
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Musical Influences

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Jazz is so complicated, I love what I term as early jazz, Louis Armstrong (West End Blues especially), Duke Ellington, Billie Holliday but don't like the later artists like Miles Davis who has a huge following, to my untrained ear there is a vast difference between these two different eras but to more knowledgeable ears their must be a common thread. I love, love, love early jazz.

Dean Martin, I'm not sure he picked any better than others, I got the impression that the crooners all sang the same songs but he has such a way with a song, although Sinatra is lauded as being the best, perhaps this is because he was the most professional, employed the best arrangers and musicians or could really ring the emotions out, like in his albums In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning and Only the Lonely, Dean has a depth and a sexier tone, for want of a better word, in the more romantic songs. He sounds like he's hardly trying, I think he put this image about but I guess he was putting his all into it.

I love Abbey Road, it's my favourite Beatles album, closely followed by the White album, it has to be listened to end to end.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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