What was your formative era? [Archive]

PaulStewart

11-04-2012, 21:59

Late 60s for me, Quad, Thorens, Tanberg etc on my Dads system. Me upstairs with Garrard, Armstrong and the Gilbert Briggs loudspeaker books Ah! Whardale and Whitley Stentorian drivers in home brew enclosures..... Making my own valve amps. Pirate radio, saving up to buy new Vinyl and every week a gig at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm in London. These gigs were called Implosions. or Middle Earth and started at 3:30 and went on till around 12:00. Normally, you got 5 bands for 10/6. That's Ten Schillings and Sixpence in old money or 52.5p for a whole days entertainment. I saw the first ever Led Zep Gig, Taj Mahal, The Nice, Black Sabbath, Atomic Rooster Country Joe the list goes on and on...... How could you be alive then and not fall in love with music?

Beechwoods

11-04-2012, 22:08

Wow, The Roundhouse and Middle Earth 66-71 (not forgetting the likes of UFO as well), legendary years in UK music history.

Thing Fish

11-04-2012, 23:13

70s for me all the way. 80s chart music generally makes me puke...:spew:

Welder

11-04-2012, 23:19

Arthur Brown playing at Kingham Hall, Watford.
Putting AC/DC on at a small venue called Carey Place, also in Watford. I think we paid them forty quid. :)

The Grand Wazoo

11-04-2012, 23:31

Musically speaking for me, I suppose the early seventies was the time when I began to form an opinion and taste in music (not necessarily a good one though!). I was too young to be spending huge wads (in fact any quantity) of cash on records though.
My family left the UK & went to live in Central Africa for a few years - no TV - no radio - no record shops & only the records that we & our fellow expat neighbours had taken with us, This is probably rather significant because my exposure to music became regressive rather than progressive (in the true sense of the word) and it probably explains a lot about the age of much of the music I listen to now. Also, the expat community was not just from the UK, but from all over Europe & the US, so there were all sorts of things around that I maybe wouldn't have heard back in the UK.
Then we moved back to the UK (summer of '76) & everyone seemed to be listening to either the Bay City Rollers or the Sex Pistols - both of which came as a bit of a shock!

Stratmangler

11-04-2012, 23:43

1973 was monumental for me - Golden Earring charted with "Radar Love".
Focus did the same with "Sylvia".
Deep Purple released "Who Do We Think We Are".

All three records had a huge impact on me at 11 years of age.

Floyd released "Dark Side of the Moon".
Steely Dan released "Can't Buy A Thrill" in '72, and followed it up in '73 with "Countdown To Ecstasy".
Slade regularly assaulted the singles charts, as did Sweet.
Stevie Wonder hit what is probably his most productive and seminal period.
Frank Zappa released "Overnite Sensation".

Great music by great bands that I revisit regularly time and again.
It was a privilege to grow up in such musically interesting times - I doubt I'll ever see such a vibrant and vital musical time again.

PaulStewart

11-04-2012, 23:47

Wow, The Roundhouse and Middle Earth 66-71 (not forgetting the likes of UFO as well), legendary years in UK music history.

Thanks Nick, UFO I knew I could not remember one of the promoters, but you know what they say about the 60s "If you can remember it you weren't there":lol:

Stratmangler

11-04-2012, 23:54

Interesting that you recollect the Sex Pistols, Chris - you must have returned to UK late on in the year.
My family returned to the UK in the Summer of '76, and my recollection was more of The Climax Blues Band's "Couldn't Get It Right", and a mega heatwave.

The Pistols hit everyone's radar in the last quarter of that year, with a song no radio station would play.

The Grand Wazoo

12-04-2012, 00:08

Thanks Nick, UFO I knew I could not remember one of the promoters, but you know what they say about the 60s "If you can remember it you weren't there":lol:

No batteries in my camera & I someone's hidden the fully charged ones, so I can't take a photo of it, but the framed poster on the wall behind my head right now says the following:

Roundhouse
Chalk Farm Rd NW1

All Night Light Show
Continuum

This Saturday, April 8th - 10pm till dawn

The Flies - Earle Fuggle & the Electric Poets
The Block
& Special Guest Stars
The Pink Floyd
Sandy Narda & Dancers, Sam Gopal tabla, Films & Lights by Patrick Trevor

Late Licensed Bar Applied For
Barbecue food - Over 18's only

Advance tickets 5/- or pay at the door. Tickets available from Roundhouse, Collets, Better Books, Record Centre, Indica Books, Housemans, Lord Kitcheners (Portabello Road & Wardour Street) Postal applications to UMI 233 Camden Road. N7 (postal orders only)

PaulStewart

12-04-2012, 00:20

This Saturday, April 8th - 10pm till dawn

Was that the '67 gig? The benefit for Release? I think it must have been, my late brother took me, I was 12 at the time:) Happy, Happy days

nat8808

12-04-2012, 01:32

Today! (or yesterday if it has to be formative)

Music on tap of any genre of any era and new and obscure music readily available without really needing to be in the know, just need a computer and an internet connection. Music that is so rare you would never see it otherwise has been digitised by ethusiasts so that it's available to all.

Gigs? well.... it's hardly ever about the music really (pa's are never as good as your hifi, surround by people absorbing the sound etc, people singing and whooping and cheering in your ear), more about the atmosphere and getting all worked up! Could be the next gig I go to is the best ever for all I know.

Hi-fi wise, again today. Never has hifi old and new been so available and info on lots of stuff available. DIY is available to all via forums without having to seek out others or teach yourself from scratch. Only thing is that there is more money needed quite often..

So, I'd say today is the best time because everything has opened up to all.

trio leo

12-04-2012, 11:41

The 60s for me were a formative time in music,
I was vividly aware that I was in an ERA, Mods (me) and Rockers (greasers), Levi's, wranglers,Mini skirts, kinky boots and that was just the lads lol. Lambretta scooters (I had a TV175) Parka's, meeting friends I've still got 45 years later. Moon Landing.
Records were 6/-8d (6 shillings and 8 pence, about 35 p today) My first records were Honeybus, Can't let maggie go and Mony Mony the Shondelles, the pop revolution was in full swing, Beatles, Stones, Manfred Mann, Dave Clark 5, Beach Boys, etc. but my favourite was Tamla Motown music which I collected avidly to play on my dansette with my first love Carrie Hesketh.
It was an absolutely fabulous time to be a teenager, dancing into the 70s and Northern Soul music 'til 7am at the Twisted Wheel (no alcohol served ) finishing off the weekend dancing at the Poco A Poco night club in Stockport.( bloody 'ell I was fit then )
At 18 I bought my first STEREO, a Fidelity UA5 Music centre, t/table, cassette,radio amp in one unit, with a microphone and 2, TWO!! speakers, I thought it was Le Roux de Chien.

Danced on into the 80s with my 4" platform shoes, flared trousers and shoulder length hair (Big girls blouse)

As they say the rest is history, but I still love spinning the Vinyl and enjoying SOME of the music from the 70s, 80s, 90s, noughties for me weren't that good and I can thank MC Hammer for putting the C into rap, move on, it's 30 years old, boooorriiing.

regards Al

icehockeyboy

12-04-2012, 12:40

As far as hifi was concerned it was the early 70's.

A friend of my mums stored his set up at our house, it consistyed of a Thorends TD 150, dunno what cart, a Leak Stereo 30, and a pair of Lowther PM6's I think?

It sounded sublime to these SP 25'd ears!

The second phase came in the shape of a mate that imported American kit, and played me his Rabco parallel tracking TT, into a Crown pre, into a 700 watt rms Phase Linear power amp, into a pair of Bose 901's. It shook the house!

Macca

12-04-2012, 12:43

Putting AC/DC on at a small venue called Carey Place, also in Watford. I think we paid them forty quid. :)

'Getting lost, getting laid / Getting ripped off, underpaid' ;)

Werner Berghofer

12-04-2012, 12:59

The first vinyl single I purchased from my own pocket money was “Ob-la-di, ob-la-da” by the Beatles. This must have been somewhere around 1969, at the age of 13. Later I exchanged this record for the Marmalade’s version, because it sounded better to my ears. Next came “Ballad of John and Yoko”, which puzzled me a lot because it was very different from “Ob-la-di, ob-la-da”.

I used to discuss a lot about music with my twelve years older uncle. He liked Bill Haley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and a lot of other recording artists of the 1950’s, which I considered incredible boring and old fashioned. My favourite artists at this time were the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After, John Mayall, Free and Leonard Cohen. Very early I discovered Roxy Music; I liked their first two albums and later the solo records from Brian Eno a lot.

In summer 1975, at the age of 19, I accidentally experienced a performance of an avantgarde free jazz combo during an exhibition opening. They used instruments I simply couldn’t bear hearing until this day, like trumpets, saxophones and this ridiculously looking, monstrous double bass. But before my prejudices hit my mind, I was deeply touched and swept away by the music the “Reform Art Unit” was improvising, and all of a sudden a lot of pop and rock music sounded flat, unimaginative and boring to me.

1978 I got in touch again with two close childhood friends, which in the meantime had become well known and respected members of the young jazz scene in Vienna. They introduced me to their friends; I made a lot of rehearsal and live recordings from the music they played, visited a lot of gigs and listened to countless classic and contemporary jazz records. Because I have always been interested in writing and storytelling using ambient sounds, in the same year I became freelance editor for the Austrian radio where I wrote, recorded and assembled some reports and features, a few of them in binaural stereophony recorded with a Neumann dummy head condenser microphone and portable Uher and Nagra machines.

The most important elements of music for me are melody and lyrics (if present). I have never been a dancer; I prefer music which is able to evoke mental images, sceneries and short stories without words. The one thing I regret most is that I didn’t take piano lessons as my mother suggested. In a storeroom in the back of her favourite café there was an old, out of tune piano on which I liked to jangle for hours while she was chatting with her friends. Guess I was eight or ten years old at that time. The music teachers I knew had no idea of how to handle a musically interested, but lazy child which prefered to stare at the clouds in the sky or girls instead of trying to decipher note sheets.

Werner.

Wakefield Turntables

12-04-2012, 16:11

1986 - I discovered HEAVY METAL with a boot leg tape of Iron Maiden! Even now I seek out new releases on Vinyl, I'm now listening to The Electric Age by Overkill on 180g vinyl!! :hairmetal:

RichB

12-04-2012, 16:50

Around 92 -94, coming into my own... had a decent job for a young guy, bought first proper hifi... discovered loads of great new electronic music (Warp Records in particular), went to some amazing club nights, did a lot of 'experimenting'... carefree days.

Then last year, when i rediscovered my love of quality audio, bought a new system, revisted much of my old music collection to do flac rips right through to now when i'm ripping and archiving some of vinyl from the lost years (1994 -1997)...

John

12-04-2012, 17:15

synsei

12-04-2012, 17:33

Sitting listening in the '70's to Pink Floyd, Yes and Santana with my Dad on his system in the music room is what did it for me. The first single I bought out of my own money was Seasons In The Sun by Terry Jacks. The first album I bought was Journey To The Centre Of The Earth by Rick Wakeman. I owe my love of classical music to my grandparents on my mothers side.

Mothman

12-04-2012, 21:19

For me it has to be the period 74-79 as I discovered Queen, Zeppelin, Tangerine Dream, Todd Rundgren and of course Rory Gallagher all during this period. My musical taste has expanded over the years but those 5 artists have been the bedrock of my lifes soundtrack.

Effem

13-04-2012, 13:29

My pinnacle was back in the 80's when I worked part time in a hi-fi shop and what a joy to lug home all those goodies to play with at weekends :eyebrows:

As far as music is concerned, it wasn't so much the musical output of the artistes that sticks with me, more the amount of care that went into the recordings. I spun some Alison Moyet the other night and the quality, sheer vital dynamics and that lack of compression in what was laid down in the tracks still dazzles me. Direct cut albums were at their peak too IMHO.

As far as kit goes, the Japanese had just begun to add refinement and class into their casework designs, while the Yanks pretty much had the top end sewn up with muscle power and reliability.

Puffin

13-04-2012, 20:48

I was 11 years old and bought my first 2 45s from Readings Records, Clapham Junction. Sittin On the Dock of The Bay - Otis Redding and Soul Man - Sam & Dave on the original blue Stax label. From then on I never stopped buying records. A "deletions" shop opened two doors away from Readings and they had racks and racks and racks of 45s, including a lot of imports. I still kick myself that over a period of about a year they had virtually the whole catalogue of UK issue Motown 45s for 10p each (which was in fact cheap at that time) Doh.

At one point I had about 2,000 45s and did discos on the party riverboats on the Thames 4 or 5 nights a week, leaving from Westminster Pier and travelling down to Richmond in one direction or towards Essex (past Docklands) in the other (what a shit view that was - good job it got progressively darker)

I discovered Radio London's Saturday Lunchtime show in the early 70s hosted by Robbie Vincent. One hour of the show was dedicated to Jazz-Funk and Fusion stuff. Mr V really knew his stuff and introduced me to artists that I had never heard of. I was hooked and followed Mr Vincent around the airwaves until he ended up at Jazz FM until the early 00s when Jazz FM went "wierd".

Jazz- Funk, Fusion, Smooth Jazz, Acid Jazz,Nu-Jazz....any jazz really is what turns me on. The fact that there are really no records shops any more is very sad. It was the thrill of the chase, wading through boxes and boxes of records with label names like RCA Victor, King, Stax, Kudu...err no spindle hole, no Sir......only a very large hole.

Late 70s, a good place to get a "fix" was Contempo Soul Source in Hanway Street, off London's Oxford Street. The place was run by the team that published Blues and Soul magazine. The "shop" (room for about 2 people) was up a rickety winding staircase in a back street victorian building. When you got there,there was always about 25 people jammed in like sardines, listening to the latest import tunes. If you were able to wrestle enough room to get your hand down your sta-prests, you came away with the hottest sounds to wow the next weeks party cruisers.

One Stop Records in Victoria Street was pretty good, but not as good as the branch in South Molton St (again off Oxford St) They had a soundproofed booth that had the most fantastic feel, so that you could try before you buy. Any one recall the small booths that most stores had for you to listen to stuff in.

Audio wise, I started with an Eagle amp, Garrard SP25MkII, and some speakers bought from and old school friend.They were spheres moulded in white plastic with a honeycomb affair for the sound to come out. Very large, very unstable, but sounded great.

I think thats enough for now.

Rob.

Beechwoods

13-04-2012, 20:56

Thanks Nick, UFO I knew I could not remember one of the promoters, but you know what they say about the 60s "If you can remember it you weren't there":lol:

I'll bet it was John 'Hoppy' Hopkins you were thinking of, a legend then, and still going strong now, thankfully. I'm very keen on the late sixties 'London underground' so if you have any memories, particularly of the Floyd from that time, I'd be keen to hear them!

RobbieGong

13-04-2012, 21:41

The 1970's for me without doubt - The Cream of Reggae and Soul, aguably the best period for those genres, Marley, Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Dennis Brown, Abyssinians, Culture, Gregory Isaacs, Freddie McGregor, Burning Spear, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, The Emotions, Bill Withers, Earth Wind and Fire, Barry White, the list is endless - Fondest memories of being a young boy growing up in Leeds in the early '70's and my four older cousins arriving from Jamaica. They were taken under my Dad's wing in so much as he 'showed them the ropes' taught them to drive, took them out to all the reggae clubs and the 'all night til morning' reggae blues raves parties. They looked the part, tall, flairs, nice girlfriends and nice cars. I'd have given a left gonad to have been old enough at the time to join them :lol: To cap it all was the music - They all had full systems made up of 70's seperates, Sony, Aiwa, Rotel, Wharfedale and Celestion speakers etc. They'd play all the best reggae of that period, Marley, Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Burning Spear, Big Youth, U Roy, Delroy Wilson, Gregory Isaacs, Culture, Dennis Brown, Prince Lincoln & The Royal Rasses - You name it, Great days which further fuelled my life long passion for music and 'quality' hifidelity. :)

icehockeyboy

13-04-2012, 21:52

Further to the makes that were in my formative years, some of the tracks that helped me along the way included = Spinning Wheel BST, Born to be wild Steppenwolf, DSOTM Pink Floyd obviously!, I ain't superstitious = Jeff Beck with Rod Stewart, Talking Book by Stevie Wonder, and Music in a dolls house= Family.

stupinder

13-04-2012, 22:03

Hard to say for me.
Up to the age of 12 i suppose music came in the form of juke box music and the odd band in the back room of my folks pub. I still have fond memories of "What are you Doing Sunday" by Dawn on the Bell Label (I think).
The 2 tone and the mod thing -lasting memory is going to see The Beat at Wakefield Theatre when i was about 13 and dancing like a mental.
Around the same time it was Blondie and The Jam and then the whole New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
Then it was Hawkwind, more Hawkwind and yet more Hawkwind. I was a bit obsessed to the point i'd turn folks music off if they weren't playing Hawkwind. Lots of other stuff at this time too courtesy of my uncle who had some quite obscure electronica and the whole festival thing kicked off for me as well as all the peace punk stuff. Thinking about it this period was probably the time that shaped my current taste most...
However house and techno happened along and that took me in a whole different direction.
In between all this came dub reggae somewhere, happy hardcore and bouncey techno...don't ask.
I suppose what i'm saying is there wasn't really a time that i see as being my formative years music-wise as loved it all from the age of around 12, but (apart from the Hawkwind obsessive time) dipped into loads of different genres when they've happened along in a magpie type fashion.
I suppose the whole music thing is a bit of a journey and you're forever discovering new (and old) stuff that takes you off down interesting side- roads.
Even now i'm mentally reading back what i've written and know that i've missed loads out.

That all makes no sense at all i know, but being a teetotaler I can't even blame the booze...

synsei

13-04-2012, 23:15

Audio wise, I started with an Eagle amp, Garrard SP25MkII, and some speakers bought from and old school friend.They were spheres moulded in white plastic with a honeycomb affair for the sound to come out. Very large, very unstable, but sounded great.

I acquired a similar pair of speakers during the 70's, I think they were made by Philips. They came with a pair of circular, moulded plastic stands which the speakers kind of sat in, that looked for all the world like oversize napkin rings with a ring of rubber on the flared bottom edge to stop them moving about due to vibration. Mine were about ten inches in diameter and had a black, perforated metal grill over the full range 6" drive unit. The speaker cable was good and thick and entered the rear of the sphere via a sealed, moulded metal gromet thingy held in by three screws. Mine were also white and sounded amazing until my sister threw one down the stairs in a rage one evening. :rolleyes:

goraman

14-04-2012, 04:59

It's hard for me to pin down an exact era.
When I was very little 1970 about 4 years old I carried a little purple Radio Shack transistor radio every where I went,my Dad complained I was keeping EverReady 9v battery sales at an all time high.
By 6 or 7 I had my mothers 1947 Admiral 5 tube table radio in my room till I was at least 12 or 13 my parents had an 1958 RCA stereo EL84 tube console I listened to all the time till at least 8 or 9 when they divorced, I lived with my Dad till I was 13 and left my Moms old Admiral behind then used a GE super radio in my room all night and my Step father had a Kenwood TK88 receiver and KLH speakers 2 pairs modle 5 and 6 from 1968 and a BIC Belt drive turntable and a pair of Superex ST pro B headphones I was in heaven and listened till midnight on headphones on school nights and weekends and summer till morning. Mostly to KZAP 98.5 A famous R&R station till I got a Fisher Studio Standard system in 1982 there top of the line crap. My Dad asked me if I wanted the RCA and I took it to my Moms and it sounded better than the Fisher so I listened to it till I moved out and was pretty much a 2 axial ed nomad for years and used a boom box till I got an apartment in 91 then went to the Fisher till I replaced it with a Harmon Kardon by 94 then a upgrade Pioneer spec 1 and Spec 2 when I bought my condo, then I ot the Manley Labs Stingray I still have. Music has change but for me it has always been in my life, but the best years where those years in the mid 70's to mid 80's I once rocked in a over stuffed rocking chair with the superex on for nearly a whole weekend and often slept with them on in the old rocker as we lived very rural.
KZAP played what ever they wanted and there jocks where legendary and had no limits they kept the FCC off there backs by popularity,in other words they had so meany fans no one messed with them. I'm 46 now and have heard nothing like the old KZAP.
So my golden years where 1974-1986 when the stereo was my life,not to mention listening to Wolfman Jack on the AM1070 out of L.A. late at night.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KZAP_(defunct)

goraman

14-04-2012, 05:19

For me being part of the NWOBHM I was discovering so many bands and going to lots of concerts Iron Maiden at the Bandwagon for 50p Diamond Head at the Woolwich Odeon the night after the Woolwich riots

Iron Maiden,I was never a big fan but My favorite high school teachers son managed the band and if you did well on a test we got Eddy t shirts and guitar picks used in concert with the logo on them,drum stix,albums ect...

I had forgotten all about Iron Maiden till I read your post.
If your wondering I gave my stuff to the big hair rockers that liked them, I was into punk and would have loved to have a Sex Pistols guitar pick but sadly there long gone and poor old John Lydon has gone blind as a bat. My favorite self deprecating genius, I'm told he lives in L.A. and he is on my top 3 I'd love to have a drink with in no particular order John Lydon,Mick Jaggar and Tom Waits. I did get to have a beer and talk with Juliette Lewis though. http://www.myspace.com/juliettelewis/photos better known for her Hollywood acting but also a hard core punker. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=juliette+lewis&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1440&bih=837&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=aBCJT_2QKIrjiAL654W3Cw
sucks getting old.

Pete The Cat

14-04-2012, 06:54

I began by listening to what was then the Top 20 countdown (presented by Tom Brown) and hoping that The Sweet wouldn't keep stalling at number 2. As I remember the shipping forecast followed the programme.

When it came to serious record buying another vote for the late 70s. Tail end of the old guard, post punk, new wave, NWOBHM, Peel and Vance. I just can't accept that today's scene comes close to it.

Pete

Puffin

14-04-2012, 06:58

I acquired a similar pair of speakers during the 70's, I think they were made by Philips. They came with a pair of circular, moulded plastic stands which the speakers kind of sat in, that looked for all the world like oversize napkin rings with a ring of rubber on the flared bottom edge to stop them moving about due to vibration. Mine were about ten inches in diameter and had a black, perforated metal grill over the full range 6" drive unit. The speaker cable was good and thick and entered the rear of the sphere via a sealed, moulded metal gromet thingy held in by three screws. Mine were also white and sounded amazing until my sister threw one down the stairs in a rage one evening. :rolleyes:

There were two sizes of these. The only size I ever saw, apart from mine were the 10" ones you had. Mine were much larger and were hard to pick up and carry, A because of the overall diameter and B because of the weight and slipperyness. Mine had he napkin ring base as well. I never had any paperwork for them, but was told that they were a US make by a company called Sykes & Hirsch (not neccessarily spelt like that!). I saw the 10" version in a shop in the Kings Road in the 70s teamed with B&O stuff. You must have had a heart attack seeing one heading down the stairs:eek:

synsei

14-04-2012, 08:04

There were two sizes of these. The only size I ever saw, apart from mine were the 10" ones you had. Mine were much larger and were hard to pick up and carry, A because of the overall diameter and B because of the weight and slipperyness. Mine had he napkin ring base as well. I never had any paperwork for them, but was told that they were a US make by a company called Sykes & Hirsch (not neccessarily spelt like that!). I saw the 10" version in a shop in the Kings Road in the 70s teamed with B&O stuff. You must have had a heart attack seeing one heading down the stairs:eek:

I had it all going on, however my first priority was to duck otherwise it would have been a perfect headshot. The cry of anguish came once I had turned back and saw the speaker in bits at the bottom of the stairs, I was not a happy bunny. For some reason my Mum made me go out for a bike ride there and then, I can't think why... :lol:

icehockeyboy

16-04-2012, 12:28

I discovered Radio London's Saturday Lunchtime show in the early 70s hosted by Robbie Vincent. One hour of the show was dedicated to Jazz-Funk and Fusion stuff. Mr V really knew his stuff and introduced me to artists that I had never heard of. I was hooked and followed Mr Vincent around the airwaves until he ended up at Jazz FM until the early 00s when Jazz FM went "wierd".

Rob.

I know what you mean about it going "weird"!

Robbie still hosts a Sunday morning show on Jazz, 10 till 1.00, and it ain't half bad.....in fact it 's full of "Essential Rythyms "!