i just (year 2000?) napstered downtown by petula clark. this is literally my first favorite song that i can remember. i recall running to our yellow clock table radio every time it came on. i can see why i liked it, it has good bounce and movement. tight smooth lyrics. i may have been 1-3 years old.
my first access to popular music was my mother’s LPs (albums) and 45s (those spindles and all). she worked nights so me and my sister could play the jc penney console stereo stereo (low) a good part of the day. the music she purchased such as aretha franklin’s gospel stuff, flack, hathaway, al green, marvin gaye, jackson five, the parliaments, lettermen, 5th dimension etc was my first exposure to music that i could browse and select according to my preference.; psychedelic shack was one of my early early personal faves. i would dance to it all the time and my cub scout group even did a choreographed dance routine to it. in my mother’s 45 collection was the parliament’s “testify.” i remember and liked that song, but psychedelic shack was my fave.
my mother also took me and my sister (actually the whole town was there) to concerts. i saw james brown and smokey robinson live at a very early age. south high school, youngstown, oh. but ultimately, we all wanted to be michael jackson. i remember me and my sister singing jackson 5 where she would sing the “girl” part and i would do the “boy” parts. big surprise finally seeing michael on tv.
the ohio player’s “fire” was my first fave funk. i can’t remember how i came in contact with that song. could have been one of the bootleg 8-tracks my father bought from a guy he bowled with. the first music i ever bought was the commodores and slave bootleg 8-tracks for $3 each from georges party shop on hillman ave in youngstown, oh. this was during the summer of my first exposure to people from other streets and introduction to a whole world of popular music and the “system” of finding out about it and buying it. floaters, heatwave, emotions, earth wind & fire, etc.
and then i heard “Mothership Connection”
my discovery of parliament/funkadelic
best guess is this was summer of 1976
another cool event i remember in my life was when i was 13-14 years old (1975-76?) walking around and chillin for the first time solo in a major city, philadelphia. saw the movie alien and bought bootsy’s album “this boot is made for fonkin’.” (all by myself!!) high school, 1976 to 1980 i was knee deep into parliament funkadelic. 1981 a bunch of my college buddies (kendall crew) were from dc so i was introduced to trouble funk and go-go music. also introduced to mixing and rap. i got deep into the talking heads around 1984 due to the lack of funk music that was available. nwa, getto boys; the rap years. the geto boys “the assassin” was my first exposure to gangsta rap. it literally would give me chills to hear someone talk about killing another person so easily.
i first heard sarah mclachlan playing in a record store and i bought fumbling towards exctasy. this started a white girl music revolution that went on to alanis morrissette and others.
also note artists not on list: stevie wonder, marvin gaye, miles davis-no jazz, no r&b etc. i do not like or listen to r&b. i find most traditional black music dysfunctional. it focuses way too much on love, some to the point of stating that love of another human being is more important than life. also a lot of black music has a depressed movement and tone. i love the spirit, energy and movement of black gospel music regardless of the subject matter. in 2003, some of the modern black gospel music being made is the funkiest music out.
music i remember
lps & 45s
petula clark downtown (1964)
james brown popcorn (1969)
michael jackson i want you back i’ll be there
aretha franklin mary dont you weep
sly & the family stone hot fun in the summertime
black gold memphis soul stew
friends of distinction going in circles
steam na na hey hey (kiss him good-bye)
the lettermen going out of my head
temptations ball of confusion
psychadelic shack
parliaments i wanna testify
steve miller band gangster of love (1968)
8 track
ohio players fire (1975)
earth wind & fire thats the way of the world (1975)
average white band schoolboy crush (1975)
a love of your own (1976)
chaka kahn sweet thang (1975)
parliament mothership connection (1975)
emotions don’t ask my neighbor (1977)
commodores (1977)
con-funk-shun (1977)
slave slide (1977)
heatwave always and forever (1976)
floaters float on (1977)
side effect (1976)
cameo funk funk (1977)
cassettes
funkadelic one nation under a groove (not just)knee deep (studio) cosmic slop (live)
rick james stone city band
prince
parlet
brides of funkenstein
zapp more bounce to the ounce
michael jackson off the wall thriller
bootsy’s rubberband
george clinton atomic dog T.A.P.A.O.F.A.M.
sugar hill gang rappers delight
cabaret voltaire
talking heads speaking in tongues stop making sense
geto boys the assasin
nwa straight outta compton
de la soul my buddy
digital underground underwater rhimes humpty dance
w.c. and the maad circle ain’t a damn thang changed
george michael
sade
cds
madonna
sarah mclachlan fumbling towards ectasy
sweetback hope she’ll be happier
pink floyd darkside of the moon division bell
U2 joshua tree
alanis morrissette jagged little pill supposed former infatuation junkie
the sundays god made me
morcheeba who can you trust?
other mentionables:
creed
sheila chandra
hearts of space (internet radio)
dead can dance / lisa gerrard
macy gray
cree summer
six underground, sneaker pimps
weapon of choice (live performances)
the toledo show
jane monheit
classical music
the peak show
soulive (live performances)
trulio disgracias
sting
digital cable music: new age channel
wefunkonline.com, p-funk radio
91.5 fm los angeles classical music
soundscapes (time warner cable)
music is sound. you can’t have sound without motion. motion is energy
sound is a direct representative of:
mo·tion noun 14th century 1 a : an act, process, or instance of changing place : MOVEMENT 2 : an impulse or inclination of the mind or will 6 a : an act or instance of moving the body or its parts : GESTURE 7 : melodic change of pitch
