Friday, June 26, 2009

Friday Five: Talkin' 'Bout...Pop Music

Mary Beth says:
Happy Friday to you all!
The sad news of Michael Jackson's untimely death has me thinking about music and its effects on us - individually, as cultures, as generations. Let's think about the soundtracks of our lives... 1) What sort of music did you listen to as a child - this would likely have been determined or influenced by your parents? Or perhaps your family wasn't musical...was the news the background? the radio? Singing around the piano?
I wouldn't say it was determined or influenced by my parents! By the time I was seven or eight years old, my little transistor radio was usually under my pillow at night. I adored the Beatles, of course...the Rolling Stones were a little scary...for some reason the Dave Clark Five were never really on my radar. A few years later, I used to stay up late listening to a disc jockey named Kris Stevens on WLS in Chicago (a clear channel station--it could be heard all over the midsection of the country, I suppose). By then I had moved on to Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, and the Doors--and, oh yeah, the Monkees...

2) Going ahead to teenage years, is there a song that says "high school" (or whatever it might've been called where you lived) to you? Hmmm..."Stairway to Heaven", maybe (reminds me of a boy I was absolutely crazy about in 1972)? "Maggie May"? I think more in terms of singers and bands I loved than of specific songs, though. It was the heyday of Elton John, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Dan Fogelberg...such memories. I also discovered Dylan's 1960's music for the first time, and that was a huge part of my high school soundtrack.

3) What is your favorite music for a lift on a down day? (hint: go to www.pandora.com and type in a performer/composer...see what you come up with!)
See #2! All of the above! We do love the music we grew up with.

4) Who is your favorite performer of all time?
Answering this question is simply not possible. Dylan? The Beatles? I love so many. As far as favorite live performers, I remember awesome shows by Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Joni Mitchell...In Memphis in 1974 I saw Lynyrd Skynyrd steal an arena show right out from under Eric Clapton's nose. A great concert.

5) What is your favorite style of music for worship?
Traditional choral music. I love to sing Mozart, Bach, Handel, Tallis, Byrd.

Bonus if you include a video of any of the above!
This is what Elton and his band looked and sounded like the first time I saw them in concert, about a year after this 1970 BBC performance of "Burn Down the Mission" (Tumbleweed Connection forever!!). My best friend Joy and I had rushed the front of the stage along with everyone else, and I got to shake hands with Dee Murray, the bass player!

8 comments:

Barbara B. said...

This is so cool! I remember listening to WLS on my transistor radio in bed at night too! I grew up in ND but the station came in clearly! I guess that's the beauty of the flat land. :)

Mary Beth said...

This rocks. AND I saw your comment somewhere else that you saw the Beatles in August 1966! Amazing!

Diane M. Roth said...

I liked what you said about listening to your transistor radio in bed. :)

Auntie Knickers said...

Wow, you've been to a lot of concerts! I mostly went to the folk ones -- a little quieter!

Lori said...

Elton John is one of the all time best showmen. I loved his concerts most of all.

Tony White said...

We might be of the same vintage as many of those musicians you mention were my favs as well.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, or was that Penny Lane!

Stratoz said...

JONI!

Anonymous said...

I can so see you dancing at those concerts!! You've still got that rock vibe!