Music of my Youth

I bought my first Led Zeppelin album at Allen Drug. It was the second one I did first, and then I had to have the first one with the large zeppelin on the cover. The music drove my parents crazy, but I loved listening to it, and my parents both put up with it, as long as I didn't play it loud. I did that when I was home alone.

The Led Zeppelin III came out my senior year, and it was another favorite. They were the only ones I had until much later. In fact, my children bought me the complete works box set for Father's Day in the mid 90's. The interesting part about that gift was that Cles loved listening to it as much as I did. I eventually let him have that one, and I picked up another one just like it. At the time, Sam's Club offered them for sale under $60, which was half what most stores charged.

Led Zeppelin is a band I never listen to when traveling with my Annie. It drives her crazy.

I never appreciated The Grateful Dead until I was in my 30's. When I was younger, KRSP was what they called an "underground radio station." They didn't play any of the traditional Top 40 type music, and it was the only thing I could stand to listen to at the age of 18. There were also few commercials and news. It was all about the music.

Before going to college in the fall of '71, I remember KRSP playing The Grateful Dead a number of times, but I just didn't care for the sound. It's funny how music taste seems to change as you get older.

What I liked at the time was material like Crosby, Stills & Nash. Their harmonies were flawless, and as I grew older, I never tired of listening to them; however, I did start enjoy listening to things that didn't have those qualities. Today, I love listening to The Grateful Dead, and my Annie does too.

One of the first bands I listened to when I was 12 or 13 was the Byrds. It was my first chance to hear David Crosby as an artist, and my favorite songs by the band were those composed by him, although I also enjoyed Roger McGuinn.

The Byrds, however, fell out of favor. Like The Beach Boys, the band was one that most people didn't listen to after 1969 or so, at least in the area where I listened to music, but years later, their talent and genius seemed appreciated, and I still listen to them now, especially on road trips when I need something that keeps me awake without making me nervous in heavy traffic.

I began listening to Jefferson Airplane in 1967, and I enjoyed them right up until the disbanded in the early 70's. The voices and instrumental work was interesting, and I loved Grace Slick's vocals.

Even now I find myself listening to them. Crown of Creation is my favorite album, although Surrealistic Pillow is another favorite. The song "Comin' Back To Me" remains one of my favorite songs from the 60's.

When I was still in junior high, the British Invasion was just beginning. The Yardbirds was a band that I loved to hear, and I remember when they played in Salt Lake City. At that time I was too young to attend their concert, but I remember Eric Clapton talking about some of their music on the radio.

I loved their music. Ironically, they eventually morphed into Led Zeppelin, and they are another band I still enjoy.

Paul Butterfield and his group, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, was one I didn't care for until I was older. Their songs at Woodstock and on the subsequent soundtrack album were not enjoyable to me.

When I was older and began enjoying "Chicago Blues," I became a rabid fan, and I have all their material at this point.

I already mentioned how interesting it is how your taste in music changes. I liked the things that Van Morrison did, and oddly enough, I remember one radio personality in Salt Lake City saying that a cousin of Mick Jagger was in the group called Them. They did the song Gloria.

It wasn't true. The vocalist was Van Morrison. The band wasn't very bright. I have that first album; however, they forced Van Morrison out of their band, and Van went solo--the best thing that ever happened to 60's music, although I never appreciated it until I was in my 40's.

It is interesting to see how many times his songs are part of movie soundtracks, and that's where I became a fan. I noticed him finally while enjoying some of those films, and now, his music is another example of what Ann and I enjoy. It's relaxing, and the vocals, lyrics and instrumental work are incredible.

The British Invasion brought another favorite band of mine: The Who. I began listening to them very early. Their rock opera Tommy was one of my favorite albums, and in the fall of '71, Who's Next became another favorite.

They are without a doubt one of my favorites. I remember when Live At Leeds first came into record stores. My friend bought it, and he loaned it to me to make a recording on cassette. There was static on the LP, and it drove me crazy.

Someone told me later that they did that to make it like a part of an old "blues collection."

Some of the great 60's blues bands like Canned Heat had group members who were fanatical about collecting old records, and they did have static on them. When the album came out on CD, that was something that didn't appear. I still enjoy listening to Live At Leeds, but it's another example of something I listen to when my Annie isn't with me.

The new version also has an extended live version of Tommy.

Canned Heat was another sound I didn't care for when I was young, but when I was in my 40's I became a fan. It was impossible to find their music on CD in this country, but whenever I was in Europe, I picked up anything I could find, and I soon had their entire set of original studio recordings on CD.

I remember when Jimi Hendrix and The Experience came to Salt Lake City. Everyone was upset, because the band required $40,000 to perform. They put that on the radio, and it may even have brought about the cancelation of the show. I wish I had known then what I know now. They had performed in Salt Lake earlier, and I would have pushed to see some of those bands play in the small venues they did at the time.

One of the most conservative teachers I ever knew while teaching saw Jimi live in LA when he was my age. I only had the Greatest Hits album in high school, but like other music, I bought everything when I was older.

There was a girl in our neighborhood. She would show up at our door and spend hours after school talking. Ann taught her in church. Finally, I determined that Jimi's music was like garlic for vampires. As soon as I found that out, I put Electric Ladyland on the turntable as soon as I heard the girl ring the doorbell.

After being at school all day, I wanted time with my wife and kids. Having her at home for five or six hours after school was not in my plans, and after putting up with it four or five times, Jimi worked his magic for me.

My son will laugh out loud when he reads this. I hated listening to Bob Dylan until I was in my late 20's, and then I became a fan. Blonde on Blonde was the album that was very popular when I was 12 or 13. The radio played the song "I Want You" repeatedly, and I hated it.

In my late 20's, I discovered his early material, and then I loved everything he did.

My favorite band, which I have mentioned in several blogs, was Buffalo Springfield. They had an incredible sound, something completely different. The first time I heard them was when I was in seventh grade.

There was a "battle of the bands" on network TV. The group representing the East Coast came out first--The Four Seasons. The performance was great, but being from where we lived, I looked forward to hearing The Beach Boys next. I had heard them play at Lagoon two or three times with Paul Revere & The Raiders, and I waited for the announcer to say their name.

Buffalo Springfield came out, the band dressed in fringe coats, mocassins and animal skins. They played "For What It's Worth," and I became an instant fan.

The individual members were strong personalities, which explained why the band didn't last long. I remember as a sophomore, recuperating from knee surgery. Our house had an intercom system, and my mother played the radio into the room where I was. The station played a cut from their last studio album and announced their breakup. I was devastated.

But then I realized that Crosby, Stills & Nash and later Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were a new version of that sound. Graham Nash played previously with the Hollies, and David Crosby was my favorite member of The Byrds.

CSN and CSNY are bands that Ann and I have seen in concert at least five or six times, and we hope to hear them again.

Another "splinter group" from Buffalo Springfield was Poco, which featured Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Ann and I still listen to them on road trips too.

I remember when they first performed in Salt Lake City under a similar but different name: Pogo. The name didn't work, because that was also an identification for a cartoon that appeared in newspapers at the time. Like I said, I wish I had realized how fun it would have been to hear some of these bands. Poco played at a ballroom in Salt Lake City when they first formed.

It seemed impossible to get older releases when I was young, unless you belonged to a record club, and then there were problems. Heat warped an LP, and if your equipment was sensitive at all, the record would skip, and besides, it wasn't often that there was time to shop for something when you were out of town. Other than that, I always gave my mother a list of things I wanted. I remember getting Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends for Christmas. Their Sounds of Silence was a gift at Easter.

Creedence Clearwater Revival was a San Francisco based band everyone loved. I can't believe that I didn't go to one of their concerts in Salt Lake City, but I always thought they would stay together forever, but they didn't. Green River and Bayou Country were both Christmas gifts.

I didn't get Suzie Q, their debut release, until years later when it was easier to find records at some of the stores near my hometown. Atomic Records was a just such a place in Logan, Utah, but like many other small stores, larger chains bought them out and made them sign agreements not to reopen anywhere close.

A good deal of records were things I also found in my hometown. Ann's dad had an incredible collection in his store.

I bought my first Association album there, and two others I didn't get quick enough--a self-titled one that appeared in the late 60's or 1970, that had an album cover with the moon with Stonehenge, and Insight Out--another incredible LP that came out in '67.

Album art was fantastic in those years, although you wouldn't notice it from the first Association albums.

One thing for certain in my small town, if you didn't get something you found quickly enough, it didn't happen, because someone else picked it up, and there were not multiple copies of things at that time in any store in Malad.

I remember buying my first Moody Blues album On The Threshold Of A Dream in Allen Drug. They did album art.

This was something I bought after Led Zeppelin II, which terrified my parents. The Moody Blues was dubbed a Classical Rock Music band in a time before the term Progressive Rock emerged.

I loved their music, but I also remember my parents disliking one of their earlier ones that I also loved and bought on cassette. In Search of The Lost Chord was one I bought after I heard a couple of things on KRSP, the radio station I mentioned. I didn't buy it until 1971. The album came out in '68.

Thankfully, I bought it on cassette, because the cover art would have scared my parents to death, given the time when I listened to it and bought it.

Question of Balance is something I will always associate with my first year of college. It was a cassette that my parents bought me just as I went to college, and I remember listening to it often on those trips to Provo in my Ford Ranchero.

During the summer they released another incredible album, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor. Not only do I also remember playing it whenever I drove from my hometown to Provo, but there were at least four or five songs on the jukebox at Heaps in Provo. Heaps was this incredible pizza place on the southern end of campus.

Another couple of groups I began listening to during my youth came immediately after my knee surgery in the fall of '68. Steppenwolf and Cream were two bands I loved at that time. My mother bought me Disreali Gears and Steppenwolf's The Second during that time to cheer me up when I was in a lot of pain at home, just before I returned to school.

It was a difficult time. There were two or three days I spent at home after being released from the hospital, and my surgery was a complicated one.

Weeks later, I developed blood clots in my left leg, and I had to return to the hospital. I missed 22 days of school that year as a result of that injury.

After all these years, I still listen to these things and many others I didn't mention, although Ann and I prefer some of the "mellower" bands of the time like The Band, The Grateful Dead, CSN, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds and others that have a similar sound.

The Moody Blues, another band we enjoy, has been fun to see live three times. It makes you feel old when you take your son with you to see some of these play. Cles went with us to see them the last time during his senior year of high school, almost 15 years ago.

A blog like this makes me feel old.

I was a fan of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles too, and Abbey Road by the Fab Four was an incredible LP, even if it was also billed as their last studio album. I always had a strange sense of humor, and when I saw an LP by Booker T. & The MG's in Allen Drug with a cover similar to Abbey Road, it made me laugh, and I wanted to buy it.

I didn't, however, have a lot of money to waste on something to satisfy my sense of humor. It had to be something I liked, so I didn't buy it, and I always regretted that. McLemore Avenue's album art was fun, and the music is incredible too: an instrumental version of many songs from Abbey Road.

I bought it on CD, but I couldn't get the album art until the advent of Internet.

This last picture is the one that made me laugh hysterically. The music was serious, but the art was like a satirical version of the Beatle's LP.

I'm glad I grew up when I did, although it was a difficult time too. Charles Dickens had a classic opening line to ATale Of Two Cities about that very situation.