Your Musical Enlightenment

[Poster Boy]

Yeah, the title to this thread sucks. Deal with it.

Anyways, I'm talking about when you reeeally began to notice music for real. For example, the first CD I ever owned was Tom Petty's Wildflowers. And while I enjoy it (OMG he said "roll another joint"!), the second CD I owned was Beck's Odelay. Which fucking blew my 12 year old mind. It probably influenced my music taste forever. My mind was similarly blown 2 years later with the Beastie's Hello Nasty. Both these albums showed me that music, in fact, has no boundaries.

[DroppinScience]

My "enlightenment" probably started with The Beatles' entire catalogue and -- to a lesser extent -- Nirvana.

Other groups that "enlightened" for various reasons would be The Clash, Beck, Beastie Boys, Ryan Adams, Depeche Mode... among others.

[Miho Mingu]

When I was in the age range 10-12, I listened to the music my brother would play, like Metallica, White Snake, Firehouse, and Ugly Kid Joe. I remember first hearing the UKJ song, 'Cat's in the Cradle', and being fascinated by it.

Overall, my brother listened to a lot of glam rock, and some metal, and now I consider it to be full circle, as I have turned into a metalhead.

[ET]

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...
Chemical Brother - Exit Planet Dust

It's like where I got off on rock/hip hop/and electronic stuff. I would have said Fugees - The Score or Aphex Twin's Come to Daddy EP but I listened to those other ones more.

Then later on...
UNKLE - Psyence Fiction
I played the fuck out of it and bought the Japanese release.

[Caribou]

Queens Greatest Hits vol.1

[Lex Diamonds]

Oasis - Definitely Maybe

[abcdefz]

I crawled up on the dishwasher to call the radio station to request "Back in the USSR" at age three.

Next big thing was around age five or six. Our family was at another family's house, and the teenage girl threw on Band on the Run. A light went on about what an "album" was, and how pieces fit together.

My older brothers had their music, so I would hear some stuff through there, and K-tel albums like Believe in Music ("Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress," "Go All the Way,") and Heavy Metal ("Iron Man," "Ramblin' Man," "Bang a Gong").

I was with my older brother at a friend's house, and he was playing Damn the Torpedoes, which blew me away. My usual stuff was ELO, Alan Parsons, Bruce Springsteen, etc.

Between seventh and eighth grade, I started subscribing to Rolling Stone, and that's when the adventure began: I started buying albums on basis of reviews, which led me to Sandinista!, The Blue Mask, Speaking in Tongues, Stand in the Fire, Imperial Bedroom. And I started following up on the stuff I liked, reading more, branching out more, and things just went from there.

[yeahwho]

Miles Davis, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, RUN DMC, Issac Hayes and Motown. I listened to alot of music before discovering the above, but once I heard the sounds and structure of these cats there was no turning back.

[M.C. Guevera]

Probably started around the time I began listening to Public Enemy. Before then, I'd just listened to whatever was "cool" on the radio, without bothering to listen to anything else. Public Enemy was the first group I listened to that wasn't on the radio and wasn't "cool" with the kids (this was in 2002, btw).

After that, I began listening to Quarashi, and then I started actually buying albums instead of just sticking to the singles. And from there, I went to the Beastie Boys, then The Beatles, and now I'm listening to A Tribe Called Quest. And I'm still going! I'd loved to have a giant music collection one day.

[Bob]

i really didn't start listening to music until i was 13, i was slow to start paying attention. everyone who watched MTV pissed me off, so i assumed music sucked (not that MTV was about music anymore at that point). the one day, i was in london, actually, and i was bored, and i decided to turn to MTV just to see what the fuck the fuss was all about, and the video for intergalactic was on, and i was all "holy shit this is really fucking cool", and i've been interested ever since.

so that's why i like the beastie boys, i'll always owe them that.

[cosmo105]

probably around 10-12. i remember being really into the violent femmes and operation ivy because of my older brother - he had seen that i was listening to no doubt, tragic kingdom (standard issue for southern california pre-teen girls back then) and said, here, i think you'd like this - and gave me some Save Ferris. from there i got really into local music.

[beastiegirrl101]

the very first two CDs I bought were
Snoop's Doggystyle
Janet Jackson ...the one with If on it.

I dont listen to either of them now.

[Bob]

I got into the Beasties my freshmen year in high school. Before that it was just Weird Al. I was a late bloomer into music. After the Beasties, it was The Beatles and Revolution #9, John and Yoko's experimental albums got me to where I am now.

haha, that sounds like me. i was just into weird al before the beasties too.

[QueenAdrock]

Hmm...well, I first was 'introduced' to music with Sublime. Beastie Boys helped with the enlightenment - in particular, MTV's Beastieography. Never before had I seen a music documentary, and their story blew me away. I watched it another two times that night, and went out the next day and started collecting their CDs. From there, I started listening to more Grand Royal stuff, and was introduced to other bands of the same genre by association.

This also happened in 2001, when I was introduced to Pink Floyd. I mean, I knew of them before and I heard their mainstream stuff, but hearing majority of their non-radio stuff that I previously had been sheltered from helped open me up to an entirely new genre of music.

[Documad]

Honestly, it goes all the way back to me being a toddler. I wore out three LPs of the Sound of Music and four rocking horses before I was four. I used to beg to go down to the basement but I was scared to go alone so my bassett hound came with me. We have home movies of me rocking like a mad woman with her lying beside the horse.

[TurdBerglar]

i've always been into music. i fondly remember running around the house jamming to my mom's led zepp, queen, ccr albums as she was doing the house cleaning when i was real little. i remember starting to watch mtv all the time around 1990 and was into all the grunge and alt rock shit. but the song and album that really got me into music was bulls on parage and evil empire. it was my first musical purchase. at that time i had never heard hard rock like that i was blown away.

[Reginald]

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Emerson Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery

[Deep_Sea_Rain]

My "enlightenment" came late, around 13 or so, when my family finally had enough money to afford cable, and my young impressionable mind could be destroyed with MTV :o

These were some of the first albums I ever listened to, and owned...

Radiohead - OK Computer
Everclear - So Much For The Afterglow
OMC - How Bizarre
Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
The Might Mighty Bosstones - Lets Face It
Smash Mouth - Fush Yu Mang


Some I still listen to, others I don't, but all of them I remember fondly, shitty or not.

[icy manipulator]

when i got into a series of cd's called Global Underground, that's when i discovered what REAL music was. dont know if many ppl have heard of that series or not

[chrisd]

the jesus and mary chain cut at the end of LIT

[DroppinScience]

probably around 10-12. i remember being really into the violent femmes and operation ivy because of my older brother - he had seen that i was listening to no doubt, tragic kingdom (standard issue for southern california pre-teen girls back then) and said, here, i think you'd like this - and gave me some Save Ferris. from there i got really into local music.

So, support your local ska band, even if they might stink? ;)

[ggirlballa]

beastie boys are the first to enlighten me......i mostly grew up with the mainstream hip hop of the last 6 years so i consider myself to be saved by finding these guys

then i thru them i found run dmc tribe called quest public enemy ...etc and went WHOA!

[kleptomaniac]

beastie boys are the first to enlighten me......

same here (y)
shame on me for not discovering the bboys sooner (!)