ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

When You Were Young

Updated on June 25, 2015
Beatles Love Songs
Beatles Love Songs | Source

As a child, I remember vivid memories of belting out the words of whatever thrilling song was playing out of my dad's dirty cassette player in our rusty old truck on the way to whatever destination we were off to. I still do this today to my own music, loudly and at the expense of my friends ear drums.

Being a music fan is an existence that I owe very much to my father and my uncle, who are themselves, the biggest music fans that I know. I think most music fans can relate to having a certain person in their life show them a certain album, or band, or someone who gave them a cd, or maybe took you to a show that really got your passion for music started. Although what music you listened to when you were young, so much of that has an effect on what music you end up liking. Maybe your parents listened to country music and now you can't stand it, which pushed you towards rock or maybe you loved whatever music that filled your ears and heart when you were younger and stuck with it.

An old photo of my dad busy with his music.
An old photo of my dad busy with his music. | Source

The Beatles were a big one for me personally. My uncle has the biggest collection of Beatles memorabilia that you will ever see in one living room, especially in Wyoming. For years I sat around these photos and records of The Beatles and eventually learned all the words to the songs that I heard most. Rolling Stones records were being played almost as much, although as a kid, I didn't much connect with them but being put in the face of Rock n' Roll at a young age shaped my music taste substantially. We listened to Jimi Hendrix and The Kinks and my sister and I would jump up and down in the back seat and beg my dad to put in the Aerosmith tape. Whatever it was, it was electrifying and was one of the only things that excited me when I was young.

As I got a little older, I started discovering my own music, as most everyone does. Of course there were some small influences like watching Grosse Point Blank and hearing The Clash, The Jam and Violent Femmes. There was a cousins wedding that I attended and the reception was in a dark and dingy room lit up with rotating vibrant lights. Definitely not the setting for me, and I sat in my lone seat, eating whatever I could get my hands on. Although, I was listening to the music, as always. This is a moment that I always recall in my head, because without it, I think that I would be lacking in a certain niche area in my musical preference. This was the night that I first remember hearing The B-52's. Of course, it was Love Shack. I made them play the song three more times, no one really cared because all the adults were more than a few beers in and all the kids wanted to do was dance. At this point, we were to the age of very mediocre MP3's and I listened to that song on a device that was as big as my thumb for days and weeks on end after the wedding, religiously. Hearing Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson's heavenly harmonies against the punk but pop vocals of Fred Schneider was like a musical awakening. Now that I'm a bit older I have even more substantial appreciation for this band. After hearing Wild Planet and hearing something so different for the first time, that may have been what got me interested in a certain otherness in music. I'm afraid I wouldn't care for many bands today if I wouldn't have became so enamored with The B-52's that night.

Me looking very enthused at a local concert. (does not speak to my love of music)
Me looking very enthused at a local concert. (does not speak to my love of music) | Source

I'm happy to that I really have music as a means to connect with people. There is nothing like meeting another music fan. Today I still have that same encouraging uncle who gave me most of the first records that I ever owned, including my first Talking Heads record. He also took me to see Joan Jett after I graduated high school and even now most of what we discuss is concerts we've been too. There is nothing like attending a concert and meeting a mutual fan and having an instant connection with them. If there's anything I love about being a music fan, it's the numerous ways that you can be introduced to music and the way you can be close to someone because of it.

Today, there is hardly a moment that I don't have something playing. I've started my own record collection and been able to have access to the wonder of my fathers as well. My other new favorite ways of descovering music is Spotify and of course, All Songs Considered on NPR.

Who was someone who first got you interested in music? What was an experience you had that opened you up to music? Answer in the comments!

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)