I am so glad I heard......

Is there a song that you heard by chance and then thought OMG I love this and then bought the album or started to follow a music genre because of it?

I am very much an Indie/Rock fan at heart and the one song that led me there was...Money for Nothing - Dire Straits. I heard it roughly back in 1986 when my dad bought Brothers in Arms. I can remember the sunburst cassette player he had and he believe it or not sung Brothers in Arms to me. It is one of his favourite albums ever and he still plays it when enjoying a whisky.

Dire Straits led me to The Smiths and then to The Jam and then The Police and Queens.

It is quite amazing how tastes in music start with one song and then expands in to so much more.

What was the one track that started it for you?

I was 12 years old, and it was rainy Friday evening - so it was one of the few evenings I was indoors rather than outside playing football. So I ended up watching Top of the Pops, probably hoping to catch some crap like Hanson - when the Manic Street Preachers were on, performing A Design For Life.

It instantly became my favourite song, and has been ever since. It led me to buy the Everything Must Go album, and then the rest of their albums as quick as I could save up for them - falling in love with each one (apart from The Holy Bible, which I didn't understand for years to come). I've since seen them live 7 or 8 times and can't get enough of them.

I wonder if things had been different though, if it wasn't raining that day?

I have to admit that I bought that Album after I heard Everything Must Go. I think their story is interesting. They were supposed to be a one album band. Generation Terrorists was to be their only album and then they were to die out in a blaze of glory. Bit of of strange direction that Columbia had for them. It kinda comes across like a political Sex Pistols notion that they were trying to be manipulated into.

Just imagine what had happened had Columbia not asked for a 2nd album....

Smooth by Santan led me to become a big time Matchbox20 fan.

Never heard of them before the Santana song.

What a shout.

I bought Yourself or Someone Like You after hearing Push before I left school.

Adam

The two that spring to mind are...

V Festival a few years ago and the wife and I trudge over to the second stage to watch Athlete who at the time were just becoming played on the radio, we knew about three of their songs so thought we'd take a listen.
The set starts up, seems a bit odd that the band consists of a bearded bloke warbling a lot and woman joining him on certains songs that I'd never heard but they all seemed rather good yet melancholic.
Turned out that Kelly Osbourne had cancelled a set so they had reshuffled the order and we saw Damien Rice before he had any hits, the wife and I then saw him again (on purpose this time) the following Valentines Day which was rather a cool gig.
The other one has less of a story so keep it brief, fell in love with the Pixies after the ending to Fight Club where the buildings are crashing down and 'Where is My Mind' begins to play.

I got into the Pixies after I had a compilation album in the early '90s with 'Velouria' on it. A fine band.

Electric Demon, did you ever get into The Holy Bible? For me it's the Manics' best album by a mile.

24 Carat Purple a compilation album by Deep Purple it contained a few of their classic tracks most of them live, Smoke on the Water and Child in Time both live tracks and at 7 and 12 minutes long respectively. After listening to three minute songs on ToTPs and on the radio were eye opening and after that I never looked back Sabbath, Priest, Maiden and Deep Purple when they reformed in 1984.
Cheers Sean.

I've only just noticed the typo in the title of this thread!

At Oxegen 3 years ago me and my mate went to see The Gaslight Anthem because we'd heard Springsteen might be out on stage with them. He never appeared but I've loved them ever since!

My brother-in-law's a fan of theirs. He has terrible taste in music.

Haha low onme! I try to convert as many people as possible to their fanbase!

I've heard some of their stuff, they make a decent racket in fairness.

Did I mention I'm very persuasive? Didn't even have tpo try and ya changed your tact haha. I like the lead singer's (Brian Fallon) solo stuff too. All acoustic.

One of my journeys of musical fandom started with a so-so sci-fi movie...The Core of all things.

I was really taken with the music that was used for the end credits. After watching I found it was Echelon by 30 Seconds to Mars. I looked them up on YouTube, watched a few videos and have become a huge fan since then. I've got their debut album and will likely buy more of their stuff.

Some random trawling on YouTube also led to me becoming a massive Shinedown fan, particularly the Sound of Madness and Second Chance videos. I was lucky enough to see them live at Download this year where they put on an amazing performance. I've got the Sound of Madness and Us and Them albums and having heard snippets of Amaryllis, that is also on my list of albums to buy.

Much longer ago, a friend at college gave me a tape onto which he'd copied Megadeth's Rust In Peace. The quality was pretty lousy - the intention being that if I liked it, I would buy the album from him. I did eventually buy the CD a few years later, from Tower Records in London. I've bought several more of their albums since. Another friend at uni made me a compilation tape with stuff by The Cure, The Mission, Metallica, Therapy? and other stuff, which got me into those bands.

Speaking of tapes, I went to a Teenage Fanclub gig in Bristol years ago (1997 in fact) and I got talking to a Japanese bloke. He told me about this Japanese band called Pizzicato Five. I gave him my address and he said he'd sent me a tape of them. A week or so later I got his tape and from that I bought four of their albums.

Eric Clapton, Tears in Heaven

Without it I wouldn't have listen to his Blues stuff and wouldn't have listened to innumerable guitar artists, or blues artists, and thus jazz or soul.

Never Tear Us Apart by INXS. Introduced me to the genius of Michael Hutchence and the brilliance of a fantastic band.

"Borrowing" my sister's copy of "Under A Blood Red Sky" album by U2 when I was about ten. Absolutely loved Bono's voice on that and then I started "borrowing" her other U2 albums.

Later on, listening to John Peel's legendary radio one programme in the early '90s got me into the Manic Street Preachers after he played "Motown Junk". I also discovered the fantastic "Teenage Kicks" by The Undertones through JP. That was his all time fave record and he used to play it on his show every christmas and birthday

More recently, a friend of mine posted a song on his Facebook page. I clicked on the link to listen to it, and it was "Spraypaint Back Alley" by Damien Dempsey. Got three of DD's albums downloaded on my phone now and I can't stop listening to him. I love his voice, his music, his lyricism, and I heartily recommend his album "Shots" to all and sundry. Got one of the lads in work into him as well.

crazygangwomble wrote:Never Tear Us Apart by INXS. Introduced me to the genius of Michael Hutchence and the brilliance of a fantastic band.

They had some cracking songs, INXS. An underrated band, no question.

For me, it would be 'Children of the revolution' by Marc Bolan's T-Rex. That will always hold a special place for me

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

crazygangwomble wrote:Never Tear Us Apart by INXS. Introduced me to the genius of Michael Hutchence and the brilliance of a fantastic band.

They had some cracking songs, INXS. An underrated band, no question.

I don't think they were underrated. They enjoyed huge success in the late 80s and early 90s, especially after "Kick" went global. It took them a while, but they got there in the end. That delay could've been more due to the fact they were from Australia and based there for a while until they cracked America. Anyway, I really like "Falling Down The Mountain (Kiss The Dirt)" from the "Listen Like Thieves" album. Still got my 7" vinyl copy of that.

Cari wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

crazygangwomble wrote:Never Tear Us Apart by INXS. Introduced me to the genius of Michael Hutchence and the brilliance of a fantastic band.

They had some cracking songs, INXS. An underrated band, no question.

I don't think they were underrated. They enjoyed huge success in the late 80s and early 90s, especially after "Kick" went global. It took them a while, but they got there in the end. That delay could've been more due to the fact they were from Australia and based there for a while until they cracked America. Anyway, I really like "Falling Down The Mountain (Kiss The Dirt)" from the "Listen Like Thieves" album. Still got my 7" vinyl copy of that.

They did indeed have some cracking songs Pedestrian, however I agree with Cari. I don't think were underrated. They were massive in the late 80's and early 90's and had lots of success.

Listen Like Thieves is a great album, even if the critics didn't like it. I just love the album X as well its superb. However Never Tear Us Apart is just a beautiful record.

Underrated was the wrong term to use, what I mean is that I don't think they were ever seen as particularly cool, in this country at least. They weren't one of those 'critically acclaimed' bands (whose records don't sell and who aren't actually that good).

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Underrated was the wrong term to use, what I mean is that I don't think they were ever seen as particularly cool, in this country at least. They weren't one of those 'critically acclaimed' bands (whose records don't sell and who aren't actually that good).

Yes, you're spot on there, they were never deemed to be 'acceptable'. Well not from where I grew up anyway. I did get a few people laugh at me for liking INXS when I was at school. I always wonder how successful they would of been in the past decade if Hutchence hadn't killed himself. I like to think they would of become even bigger. Same with Nirvana, I always wonder what might have been if he hadn't shot himself. Would we of still had Foo Fighters??

I heard that Nirvana were looking at a more folk-rock direction before Kurt Cobain shot himself - that could have been brilliant or terrible, we'll never know.

Really? That's interesting. My guess is it would been pretty good but as you say, we will never know!

The one I always wonder about is Buddy Holly. He was so young when he died and the '60s had only just begun. There's no telling how he would have developed as an artist, influenced by and influencing all the other great artists of the era.

Absolutely, he was only really getting into his stride. I think he could of become as big as Elvis.

To be fair, we could debate about all the greats that die early and question whether they would of still stayed at the top of their game. Would The Beatles have reunited for concerts if Lennon hadn't been killed? What would of become of Bob Marley? Janis Joplin? Marvin Gaye? Jacko?

Apparently before Richey Edwards went missing he discussed the Manics after The Holy Bible with James Dean Bradfield. He (Edwards) wanted to go Nine Inch Nails meets Pantera. No offence to those two bands, but can you imagine the Manics without Everything Must Go?

crazygangwomble wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Underrated was the wrong term to use, what I mean is that I don't think they were ever seen as particularly cool, in this country at least. They weren't one of those 'critically acclaimed' bands (whose records don't sell and who aren't actually that good).

Yes, you're spot on there, they were never deemed to be 'acceptable'. Well not from where I grew up anyway. I did get a few people laugh at me for liking INXS when I was at school. I always wonder how successful they would of been in the past decade if Hutchence hadn't killed himself. I like to think they would of become even bigger. Same with Nirvana, I always wonder what might have been if he hadn't shot himself. Would we of still had Foo Fighters??

Quite a few of us liked INXS, around the 'Kick' era. 'By My Side' is my favourite song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YQeNIppTYw

Read it in a Gemmell book (the jerusalem man) though i'd listen and now am a big fan of her.

Iron Maiden - Live After Death. Set me off on the metal path. It's a lonely road with the occasional passer-by screaming abuse at you, but it's a path I tread nevertheless

The best thing about Maiden, are the album covers

The best thing about Maiden, are the album covers

As a fresh faced 16 yr old, I was dazzled and beguiled by them and they were quite influencial in my Art A level. However, there was enough about the music to pique my interest further. Mates gave me stuff by Motley Crue and Poison etc to listen to but I really couldn't get into it. However when I was handed Motorhead albums and then stuff by Metallica, Megadeth, Testament and the mighty SLAYER, I was hooked. Folk at school used to take the mick but when but when the option was listening to Stock Aitken and Waterman acts and House Music, there was no competition.

Been into metal ever since, and to paraphrase the late great Bill Hicks, never robbed anyone, never beat anyone, never hurt anyone, never lost a house, a car or a job, rocked my a$$ off and went about my day.

Always had to listen to the cretins talking about these idiots who gunned down ten kids at school after listening to Marylin Manson and how metal is a dangerous influence but as Lemmy Kilminster said, the newspapers don't like to print stories that say "Man listens to Heavy Metal and doesn't kill anyone!"

WE must be roughly the same age. My mates were into Maiden for a while, but me? More rock like Bon Jovi and Skid Row.

There album covers were fantastic though.

I'm 41 so hopefully I should grow out of it soon (so prays my wife on an hourly basis) however,....there are pretty fine metal artists out there and as a credible artform, it deserves some consideration. The early Derek Riggs stuff for Maiden is superb. There's also a guy called Dan Seagrave who did a few covers for 90's death metal acts. Morbid angel's "Altars of Madness" is a classic alongside Entombed's "Left hand Path" and Malevolent Creation's "The Ten Commandments"

Heavy Metal has not really been the same for me since Europe split up.

Rowley wrote:Heavy Metal has not really been the same for me since Europe split up.

Dave night be telling you to take a 'jump' Rowley

I would, if Europe had written it instead of Van Halen...however ROWLEY as far as warnings go, I'm starting the Final Countdown

PS Europe would generally be considered ROCK as opposed to METAL however, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. An school friend once told me he thought a particular Level 42 song sounded like thrash metal...I played him some SLAYER, he said "Oh, never mind"

Blimey, it was van halen

Stella wrote:Blimey, it was van halen

Tsk tsk...schoolboy error there. As punishment you must spend a Season in the Abyss (Dave should get that reference )


Getting back on topic, last year I watched a Pink Floyd documentary (think it might have been BBC4) charting their entire history from their first single with Syd Barrett, to their Live 8 reunion. Since then I've been listening to as much of their stuff as I can find.

Portishead did an awesome job of getting me into Trip, i was brought up listening to them and by far one of the greatest bands ever.