How did you discover your favorite Bands?

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nghst
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How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by nghst »

I'm sorry if something like this has already been posted.

Let's start with Spiritualized. My best recollection is that I looked under a category called space rock on Allmusic.com and there they were. I purchased LAGWAFIS January 3, 2006 from eBay.

The Doors: I watched the Oliver Stone movie about them January of 2005 and was hooked.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: I found them performing on the KEXP youtube channel and remember distinctly their live version of Doom City.

Aurora: I watched an episode of Records in My Life with her.

Blondie: I heard their song Rapture playing in the store I worked at. I discovered who it was and dug deeper into their catalogue.

Apoptygma Berzerk: As best I can remember they were a recommendation given to me on Amazon.com

Velvet Underground and Lou Reed: I was introduced to them on this very forum.

Bob Marley: My favorite basketball player was a fan of his. He even had him tattooed on his shoulder.

Goldfrapp: I saw her perform on Jay Leno circa spring of 2006.

Kurt Vile: I saw him discussed here, but it wasn't until he sang a duet with Hope Sandoval on her song Let Me Get There that I got into him.

Ten Fe: This forum.

It's funny that growing up I only discovered music by listening to the radio and now all these bands above were discovered by different means.
olan
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by olan »

Good topic for a thread. I can't remember if we've done something similar before.

So

The Clash PiL, Durutti Colum, Joy Division, Spacemen 3, The Fall, Mogwai, Julian Cope, The Orb, Cocteau Twins, The Cure, The House of Love etc etc etc: John Peel Radio Show on BBC Radio 1 (showing my age as JD, The Clash, Pil and The Fall date back to the late 1970s). I really miss Peel despite his being lost to us for over a decade now. I can't express what an effect the gift of an FM radio in 1977 had on my musical tastes. There was nothing to listen to in Ireland but you could get Janice Long and John Peel at night so that is what I listened to. When Dave Fanning started up on 2FM in Ireland I never really listened to him as the BBC shows were so superior.

Spiritualized: via an advert/article in the NME when they were touring 'Any Way That You Want Me'. I went to see them at the LSE and that was it.

I suspect that for lots of UK forumites of my age Peel and the NME/Sounds/New Musical Express are going to feature very regularly.

The Heads, Grateful Dead: This Forum a million years ago.

Cocteau Twins/Colourbox/Pixies/Dead Can Dance/Red House Painters/Throwing Muses/Dif Juz etc: There was a period in the 1980s when anything that came out on 4ad got purchased if I could afford it. It was all good. This was also true for Factory Records until about 1988 when baggy put me off.

Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Art Blakey, Bill Evans, Charlie Mingus etc etc: All via a curated monthly Jazz 33 LP series published by De Agostini that I used to buy at my local WH Smiths. This has really reshaped the way I listen to music. Five years ago I owned no jazz albums. Now I must have 4-500 jazz LPs and CDs.

Primal Scream, Ride, Slowdive, Chapterhouse, Lush: gigs at the University of Reading and in the area from 1989-1995
spzretent
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by spzretent »

Very interesting.

The same with Olan it was an FM radio that changed my life and opened all sorts of doors musically.

My Dad took me to his Veterinary hospital on a day we had a huge snowstorm and asked me to shovel the sidewalks. My pay? An FM radio from a shop across the street. And the memory. Which is all I have left of my parents. So this thread brings a smile to my face.

There were pretty progressive radio stations here in Detroit. WABX. WWWW or W4. I got turned onto all sorts of music though I veered towards more pop stuff. It was the early to mid 70's. Lots of Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, CSNY, Peter Frampton (whom I loved and still do).

I also had a tutor in the mid 70's who's office was right down the hall from Creem Magazine. I got all sorts of records and recommendations from them. I would run errands for them and was paid in Creem swag. They introduced me to The Pretty Things via the Silk Torpedo record. Also Lou Reed/Velvets/Iggy/Stooges/MC 5 etc. Unfortunately all I have left from those days are a few Boy Howdy(with R. Crumb artwork) frisbees which are really cool.

My music education took a giant leap forward by hiring two employees at my record shop. I just rode their wave of enthusiasm and knowledge and turned our customers on to some amazing records. I was lucky to have a shop during what many call is the "golden era" of music retail. Such great bands to turn people on to. Made some amazing friendships along the way that still continue.

Perhaps I read this wrong but that FM radio was like opening my mind musically.

Amazing how much music brings people together. You need look no further than this message board.
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runcible
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by runcible »

Nice thread...

I had older brothers heavily into music and my earliest musical memories are of them playing me The Beatles in th early 70s, so that's probably how it started. Then a lot of school mates into stuff like Led Zeppelin - 1975 I guess - who I got into big time, plus an older cousin into a lot of 70s rock like Free, Deep Purple and more Led Zep. The absolute key moment was seeing the Sex Pistols on Top of the Pops - July 1977 - just after my 13th birthday. My tastes changed a lot after that and I played largely punk for years. The Damned were my first real obsession, again fuelled by my older cousin's passion. He remains an influence to this day. I had a series of muso friends who were gurus for key bands. The main one was a guy called Phil who I lost touch with decades ago. He got me into loads of psychedelic stuff but crucially he was the first person who played me Spacemen 3 - late 1987 - so that was obviously important. I'd also mention many folks here who've had an impact as this place is always good for new directions...

There are other important moments I can recall. Walking into spzretent's shop for the first time - 1996 - and Bardo Pond's new album Amanita was playing. I clicked instantly and became a huge Bardo fan. The Grateful Dead came about when I stayed with one of my brothers in 2009 and he played American Beauty and that started years of obsessive Dead listening which continues today. Ween happened because BzaInSpace went on about finding White Pepper in a forgotten pile of CDs about 7 years ago and he sent me it, resulting in another musical journey. Michael Head was another of spzretent's influences when he went on about the Strands album, must have been about 8 years ago, and I got completely overwhelmed with the music of Shack and everything related. I wonder what I'd be playing without those moments...

I've found a lot of stuff just through the web on my own as I'm sure many others have. YouTube is a bottomless pit of interesting stuff. But The Damned, Led Zeppelin and Spacemen 3, then later The Grateful Dead, Ween and Michael Head probably stand out as the music that runs through my veins most...
olan
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by olan »

spzretent wrote: Fri Feb 26, 2021 10:45 pm Very interesting.

The same with Olan it was an FM radio that changed my life and opened all sorts of doors musically.
:D Great story!!

Just to clarify Alan. There was no legal station braodcasting modern music on FM in Ireland in 1977, nearly everything was AM. The main station RTE Radio 1 played nothing you might describe as pop or rock. The only things you could pick up were shitty pirate radio playing Queen and the like. On FM you could get the BBC in the evenings if the atmospheric conditions were in your favour. What is now 2FM started later and played little I was interested in as they basically hired the DJs and producers from the shitty pirate radio stations. The Irish equivalent of Peel was a bloke called Dave Fanning who would play a more varied list than the daytime folks but was nowhere near as interesting as Peel or Janice Long at the time. I had never heard anything like the music that this little plastic transistor radio provided via a single mono earphone as nobody was playing it.
olan
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by olan »

runcible wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 12:23 pm Nice thread...

The absolute key moment was seeing the Sex Pistols on Top of the Pops - July 1977 - just after my 13th birthday. My tastes changed a lot after that and I played largely punk for years.
Yep. I remember that very clearly although I was a bit younger than you. I was only 9 when that happened. PiL on Top of the Pops doing Death Disco was the big one for me. I remember how Wobble's blacked out teeth really wound my Mum up (she was a dentist) which added to the fun.

spzretent
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by spzretent »

olan wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 12:39 pm
spzretent wrote: Fri Feb 26, 2021 10:45 pm Very interesting.

The same with Olan it was an FM radio that changed my life and opened all sorts of doors musically.
:D Great story!!

Just to clarify Alan. There was no legal station braodcasting modern music on FM in Ireland in 1977, nearly everything was AM. The main station RTE Radio 1 played nothing you might describe as pop or rock. The only things you could pick up were shitty pirate radio playing Queen and the like. On FM you could get the BBC in the evenings if the atmospheric conditions were in your favour. What is now 2FM started later and played little I was interested in as they basically hired the DJs and producers from the shitty pirate radio stations. The Irish equivalent of Peel was a bloke called Dave Fanning who would play a more varied list than the daytime folks but was nowhere near as interesting as Peel or Janice Long at the time. I had never heard anything like the music that this little plastic transistor radio provided via a single mono earphone as nobody was playing it.
Here we had one of the most powerful AM radio stations called CKLW which was better than your average AM station. They were across the river in Canada. They had a music director that took chances and helped make the careers of Alice Cooper, early Bob Seger (who's early record are fantastic), which if anyone has heard Back In '72 the song Rosalie is about her., Funkadelic, Bettye Lavette and even Kraftwerk. While that was good FM radio here shaped my musical taste. WABX had Dave Dixon, W4 had an early Howard Stern but my Favorite was Sky Daniels, WJLB had the Electrifying Mojo who broke Prince, CBC had Brent Bambry and Brave New Waves.

Full disclosure re: my hanging around the Creem offices while they tried to influence me with the Lou Reed/Velvets, Iggy/Stooges, MC5 I clearly was not ready in the mid 70's. I blew that music off for a good 15 years. I did buy Raw Power and Transformer back then but that was it. Only Transforner got regular plays.

We never had anything like John Peel. We had a customer who's friend in the UK used to tape shows and send C-90 tapes over here and they would lend them to us. I still have loads as they were eventually given to us. So we were aware.
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sunray
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by sunray »

I'll do my best not to turn this into a 'Soundtrack of Our Lives' thread-type post!

The Jesus & Mary Chain: 1986, heard Some Candy Talking on the radio. Loved the song, loved the band name (was unaware of their existence before that). Around the time April Skies was released the following year the guy i sat beside in school gave me Psychocandy on tape. Complete game-changer. From then on i was obsessed with anything that was mentioned in the same breath as the Mary Chain which leads to:

The NME/Melody Maker and a programme on BBC2 called SnubTV which all introduced me to so much from late 80s into 90s (too many to mention).

Spiritualized: Just a continuation of Spacemen 3 so bought the records as they came out.

The Velvet Underground/Stooges/MC5: All mentioned a lot in reference to JAMC/Spacemen 3 so sought them out. Met a fellow Reids/Kember/Pierce enthusiast who was 3 or 4 years older and he hooked me up with a lot of stuff and a whole lot more (Hawkwind/Ozric Tentacles/13th Floor Elevators etc.).

Julian Cope: Saw the Teardrop Explodes playing Reward (loved it) on TOTP and possibly some Saturday morning kids programme. The name stuck with me and the above friend got Peggy Suicide when it came out. Liked it but it was Jehovahkill that sealed the deal the following year.

The Heads: Mid 90s there was a mail order catalogue called the Freak Emporium and the description of their first two singles grabbed me. It read thus "Whoooah! No metal bollocks here. Pure acid-speed mayhem. Killer fuzz MC5/Stooges riffs". Alas i never bought the singles :oops: :evil: :cry: but when i saw the Undersided lp in a shop in 2002 i snapped it up.

Tripping my nut off to Primal Scream at Feile '92 got me into dance music :lol: A mate of mine who was a Deadhead, and Psych in general, went massively into Techno so helped me out on that score.

The Aliens: I downloaded Astronomy For Dogs off a blog. Saw them live very soon after discovering them which upped my appreciation even more.

Olan is right about the state of radio in Ireland. Unlike Olan i couldn't receive BBC, but a mate who lived a few miles further north could, so he would record stuff off Peel and share it. This was in the 90s. Found Mogwai, Low, Clinic, Add N To X amongst plenty of others that way.

In the noughties a lot of it was via the Mojo and Uncut magazines that my mate bought. I got online in 2007 and discovered stuff through this forum and blogs that you could download off.

In summation: mostly music weeklies/a couple of friends/and, latterly, internet.
Nineteen...Nineteen...Six Five
Greeny
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by Greeny »

sunray wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 9:45 pm

The NME/Melody Maker and a programme on BBC2 called SnubTV which all introduced me to so much from late 80s into 90s (too many to mention).
SnubTV was great! I still have a bunch of episodes on a VHS... must get them digitised at some point. There was also an Anglia TV show called Transmission which I used to get my parents to record because I was already in London by then. That was full of C86 era stuff like the House of Love and Wedding Present...
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by Ian »

Greeny wrote: Wed Mar 03, 2021 11:51 amThere was also an Anglia TV show called Transmission which I used to get my parents to record because I was already in London by then. That was full of C86 era stuff like the House of Love and Wedding Present...
They also showed this interview, of course.



Can anyone identify the beach that the presenter is standing on at the beginning? Would be nice to try and work out which gig they were playing on the day of the interview.
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by Greeny »

Ian wrote: Wed Mar 03, 2021 12:22 pm
Can anyone identify the beach that the presenter is standing on at the beginning? Would be nice to try and work out which gig they were playing on the day of the interview.
That's Brighton isn't it? Looks very much like Madeira Drive in the background to me. Shines, what do you reckon?
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by Greeny »

In fact I'd say I'm certain it is Brighton!

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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by Ian »

When I first saw it, I thought it was Brighton, but the wheel threw me. I don't remember there being one in 1989. Obviously didn't spend enough time at that end of the beach. (I've been living here since 1985, I really don't have any excuse for not spotting that.)

Thank you!
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by veiko »

During the Soviet Union times i saw "Ashes to ashes" video by David Bowie from Finnish tv and that must have retarded my taste in music forever.
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by Shinesalight »

Greeny wrote: Wed Mar 03, 2021 2:43 pm
Ian wrote: Wed Mar 03, 2021 12:22 pm
Can anyone identify the beach that the presenter is standing on at the beginning? Would be nice to try and work out which gig they were playing on the day of the interview.
That's Brighton isn't it? Looks very much like Madeira Drive in the background to me. Shines, what do you reckon?
Yeah, that's definitely Brighton. The big wheel was part of the old Peter Pan's fairground opposite Concorde 2.
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by nghst »

I just thought I'd add my favorite bands from the mid 90s to the mid 2000s. Most of these I haven't listened to lately, but all of these I bought multiple albums from and all of them I discovered on the radio except Led Zepplin.
Dave Matthews Band: T their first two albums,
Hootie and the Blowfish: their first two albums,
Collective Soul: their first 3 albums,
Live: Their first 6 albums, I have listened to some recently,
Bush: Their first two albums, these I have listened to recently,
Led Zepplin: I heard Black Dog at a college basketball game and then bought IV and Coda,
Offspring: two of their albums,
The Presidents of the United States of America: Their first two albums

In around 2005 I discovered indie music online and took less and less of my inspiration from the radio. Also I don't if this is bad taste on my part, but I don't think I've seen any of these bands on this forum. Maybe it shows my age and my midwestern American upbringing. Though a funny thing is when I first joined this forum in 2011 I thought I had nothing in common with my forumites with the exception of Spiritualized. However especially in the last few years I have discovered new bands through the forum and I have music elsewhere that is also appreciated here. Cheers to everyone!! :D
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by runcible »

nghst wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 6:59 pm Also I don't if this is bad taste on my part, but I don't think I've seen any of these bands on this forum.
I've mentioned Led Zeppelin many times here, including in this very thread. I've been a huge fan since the mid 70s and I was lucky enough to attend the reunion in 2007... Still pinch myself to think I got a ticket for that show!
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by olan »

runcible wrote: Wed Mar 10, 2021 5:47 pm
nghst wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 6:59 pm Also I don't if this is bad taste on my part, but I don't think I've seen any of these bands on this forum.
I've mentioned Led Zeppelin many times here, including in this very thread. I've been a huge fan since the mid 70s and I was lucky enough to attend the reunion in 2007... Still pinch myself to think I got a ticket for that show!
I had always despised Led Zeppelin having been somewhat brainwashed by punk and the NME in the from 1978 onwards. I simply would not listen to any prog, rock or metal at all. I've managed to get over myself about Led Zeppelin and a fair deal of the music I would have dismissed as bollocks in my teens. Still not one for metal at all though.
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by runcible »

I liked a bit of metal when I was younger and still enjoy a spot of Deep Purple occasionally. But most of that type of music I like - AC/DC, Sabbath - I wouldn't regard as metal really.

The genre I dismissed when younger was anything to do with country. I tried to get into the Grateful Dead but was very surprised - & indeed put off - at how much country influence there was in their music. Country Rock somehow hadn't hit the right spot with me yet I play as much of that as almost anything. So the Dead, Flying Burritos, New Riders of the Purple Sage etc. are all regularly heard in this house. I'm always looking for more of that stuff...
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Re: How did you discover your favorite Bands?

Post by stegraham »

I got into Led Zep through the Cult and their Love album. When it was released they name dropped Led Zep and other - what's nowadays called "classic rock" bands. I was only 14 at the time (1985), and didn't have much money so a friends dad taped me Led Zep 2, 3, 4 and also the first Montrose album on two C90s. He didn't label the tapes, so I thought the Montrose album was a Led Zep one, because that's what I had asked for. I loved the albums, and was soon listening to Hendrix, Free, Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Motorhead, ACDC etc. Never really got into the "metal" bands such as Iron Maiden, Dio, Kiss, Judas Priest, Saxon etc - just didn't really click with me! Always seemed to be a split between the denim/leather and the perms/spandex groups! :D

Don't listen to alot of this stuff now, I'll have a couple of weeks now and then where I play air guitar. However I will be buying this comp. Looks good:

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/riding-the- ... ssic-rock/

I am jealous though of getting to see that "recent" Led Zep gig! That must have been great!

Ste
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