I want to write a little blog about my music history. We'll start with the 80's.
Here are a few of the earliest songs I remember liking during my childhood. Some were current hits of the 1980's and others were a lot older.
We've gotta start with Michael Jackson's Beat It. This was probably my favorite song when I was little. My mom recorded the music video for me when I was 4 or 5 and I watched it every day! I loved it. I wanted to be the guy in the white dragon jacket. This, to me, is still one of the best music videos ever made. The guy in the white dragon outfit was the choreographer and Eddie Van Halen played the guitar.
My mom also recorded this music video for me. Watching it now I'm surprised I didn't turn out gay lol. Still, its a classic. Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. I can only watch about a minute of this video now.
I remember back to when I was a kid and I didn't have any type of music player of my own. This was the 80's of course so you either had a boombox or a walkman (Both only played tapes). The only thing my family owned was a tape and record player in the front room so I used to lay on the floor with the speakers on either side of my head, pushed up against my ears so I could just lay there and listen to music and not hear anything else. It was great. I remember my dad had a box of old records in the basement from his youth. The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and a lot of classical stuff. I enjoyed discovering all the "new" music. I got bored of the Beach Boys but there were a few songs by the Beatles I loved to listen to over and over. One song from his record collection that I remember listening to a lot was by Richard Harris (side note: Richard Harris was also an actor and many many years later played Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies). The song was called MacArthur Park.
Its perhaps a strange song for a 10-year-old to listen to and appreciate. I think my Dad helped influence my early taste in music and I credit him for giving me an appreciation for classical music too. He would show me songs he really liked by Bach or Ttchaikovsky. I remember him explaining how real canons were used in the finale of the 1812 overture and if it wasn't performed using real canons then it wasn't done the way Ttchaikovsky intended.
Perhaps my early exposure to classical music is why I've always enjoyed songs that feature a wide array of instruments, especially violins and pianos. I love almost any song featuring violins and pianos.
Finishing out the 80's. One last song I remember really liking was Enya's Orinoco Flow. The first time I ever heard it was driving to the hospital to see my Mom and my new baby sister Winter. Me, and my Dad and my sisters all loved it. The next day we drove down to the hospital again, and we heard the song again. Driving down a third time I remember telling my Dad to turn on the radio so we could hear that song again. He said, "there's no chance it will be on AGAIN." I was sure we would hear it again though, and we did :)
I never knew the name of the song however, or who sang it. It wasn't until 3 years later when Enya had another radio hit Caribbean Blue in 1991 that I learned who sang it.
I don't want to post a link to every single song I liked but here are just a couple more honorable metions:
I Just Called To Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder (I remember singing the chorus to this song all the time when I was 5)
Uptown Girl - Billy Joel This was definitely one of my favs for a while.
In my next blog I'll review my favorite songs during the 1990's (ages 10-19). We'll see how my taste changes or becomes even more eclectic.
