I am in the middle generation here, I suspect. I saw the Beatles on Sullivan when I was only seven, but even then I knew that they would change the world.
I'd taken organ lessons from the ages of about 11 to 14 but rediscovered rock in the early 1970s and got a thorough education in the best of 1960s music from my best friend's older brother, who was truly music-mad. I think I got into prog initially because the massive rigs that Wakeman and Emerson played reminded me of the Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organs I had admired.
What I remember most about my teenage/early 20s years in the 1970s was the incredible sense of freedom, especially in music. There was such a broad variety of music to be readily heard, even on FM radio in those days and how I miss that .
Early Elton John (!), Genesis, Tull, ELP, Deep Purple, Traffic,Zeppelin, Renaissance - those were my meat in those days but Yes, Floyd, Crimson ruled above all. My tastes quickly expanded into the experimental German and British stuff like Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Gong, Hatfield & the North/National Health and especially Can. I was also a fan of quite a lot of fusion, especially Stanley's solo stuff and the original Mahavishnu Orchestra (which was my first live concert - talk about setting the bar high!). I also remember being a huge Robin Trower freak.
Thanks to Zep inviting the late, great Sandy Denny to duet with Plant on The Battle of Evermore I discovered Fairport Convention and English folk rock. I think Fairport and Floyd commandeer the largest chunks of my record shelves (and yes, I _still_ listen to my 5000+ LPs).
I picked up my first bass guitar at 15 in July, 1972. It was a '71 Fender Precision, sunburst. I took to it like a duck to water and by 1/73 had talked my parents into buying me a Rickenbacker 4001. My bass playing was overwhelmingly influenced by Chris Squire - I played that Rick 4001 (a Fireglo 1972, with checkerboard binding and a toaster neck PU) pickstyle with RotoSounds and the brightest speakers I could find for years, whether it was appropriate or not. I had a VERY heavy Jack Bruce influence as well. The first song I ever learned on that P-Bass was Tales of Brave Ulysses from Best of Cream. I also remember being inordinately pleased with myself when I finally could play all of Close to the Edge note for note.
My biggest rig in those days - around '75-77 was the Rick, a Maestro Full Range Booster and a Morley Leslie Wah feeding a Hiwatt 100 and TWO Orange 6x12 cabinets! I could have gone into the demolition business.
The explosion of the punk/new wave stuff was exhilerating, and back in the day if you showed up at the hip club in Minneapolis just _being there_ proved you were cool. I (with hair well past my shoulders or ponytailed, probably wearing a Howard the Duck tee and bells) rubbed elbows with the pogoers and punkers there with no problems.
Got the chance to see Magazine (a GREAT band), the Stranglers, Blondie, The Only Ones, The Ramones, Nick Lowe, Ian Dury, The Great Patti Smith and countless more cool acts of the day in clubs and small theatres. I still listened to prog, too.
My real musical evolution didn't come until I was in law school, where I discovered Joni Mitchell (by way of Jaco), the Dead and the Airplane not to mention a ton of other music I had neglected. The Rick was now sitting in the corner and I switched to playing fingerstyle on a Vintage Series Jazz. But that's another story. When I bought my Alembic, MY universe changed as a player.
The sense of endless possibilities, musical and otherwise, is what I remember most vividly and it's what I miss the most from that era. Apart from the herbal entertainment, that is. Hmm, I gotta look into that again, cos hangovers last too long at my age... maybe dig out those old Fabulous Furry Freak Bros comix from my storage locker.......
My tastes have become far more small-c catholic over the years. Everything from Bach to J-Pop makes its way into my stereo these days. Much of the journey remains yet to be traveled.
And this was a killer thread idea!
Cheers to all my Alembic brothers and sisters.
Play on,
Paul
(Message edited by hifiguy on April 15, 2011)
