Shaped.

Ok, let’s be honest. Were you listening to Jimi Hendrix out of the womb? Did you start your musical appreciation with The Velvet Underground? Were your first words, “Turn that easy listening crap off. Mommy!”? Because for me, it’s No, no, and no. I didn’t start out this cool…cool being a relative term and all. I grew up listening to what my mom put on the stereo or what my best friend’s mom played on the kitchen radio.

Despite the face that almost everyone in my family (well…not my dad) is musical to some extent, we really didn’t obsess over music during my childhood. Granted, my oldest brother is enough older than I am for me not to really have been exposed to his music during my most formative periods but later he would introduce me to some good stuff. But the only thing I really remember him listening to when I was little was Olivia Newton John. Not that Grease stuff either, the Please Mr. Please stuff. And my mom was all about Jim Croce and Paul Simon.

I didn’t grow up on the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, although someone in my house had a copy of Let it Bleed because I remember being amazed by the cover…still am. I suspect my mother still wouldn’t be able to name all the members of either band. My dad listens to Wagnerian opera, John Philip Sousa, Beethoven and Japanese drummers. I did hear a lot of marching band music…a lot. But that was pretty much it. So when Facebook added this “Five Albums that shaped you” thing…well…you want to see what really shaped me? Because now I listen to music, all kinds of music but then…


Yeah, that’s right, you see what I am talking about…you recognize some of those, don’t you? And if you are that much cooler than me, well let me illuminate you as to what the hip kids of the early 70’s were listening to. From left to right you have: The Muppet Movie Soundtrack, The Monkees, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band MOVIE SOUNDTRACK (i.e. NOT THE BEATLES), Andy Gibb’s Shadow Dancing, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Theme and Variations, The Purple Puzzle Tree, Supertramp-Breakfast in America, McCartney II, K-Tel’s Songbird collection, Donny Osmond’s Singles and Shaun Cassidy.

You heard me. That’s what I listened to. And I am only slightly ashamed. Not really ashamed, just…well…honest. I was shaped by easy listening, kids Christian education albums, and bad movie soundtracks (The Muppet Movie was not bad, Sgt. Pepper was…not good…oh, and I forgot the soundtrack to the Raggedy Ann and Andy movie!) not the White Album. Don’t get me wrong, I love the White Album but I am guessing I never heard the whole thing until I was…in college maybe?

I remember listening to the radio. I remember Terry Gibbs, Eddie Rabbitt, and Crystal Gayle. I can probably sing you all the words of the “Piña Colada Song” or any number of Barry Manilow tunes. I listened to Super Chicken on the radio and I listened to the Kingston Trio at Christmas time. I LIKED ABBA IN AN UNIRONIC WAY. I STILL DO!

As a pre-teen and teenager, I was exposed to a lot more music. I played in the jazz band, the marching band and the concert band. I danced to disco, classical and showtunes. I watched the Muppet Show and learned about Alice Cooper (whom I later met). My friends and I bought Queen albums and I won an 8-track player in a contest and got Billy Joel, Fleetwood Mac and the REAL Sgt. Pepper for Christmas that year…on 8-track, yes.

I get the idea behind that little Facebook app and I tried to turn it into “5 albums that mean a lot to me” or “5 albums that I could listen to right now” but it didn’t feel right. It felt…dishonest. It felt like a betrayal of all that was good and pure and Osmond in the world.

And as for those albums in the picture, I own three of them on cd. But there are a few more I will get eventually…I’ll leave it to your imagination as to which ones.



For the record, the K-tel Songbird album playlist is as follows:
Every Woman in the World-Air Supply
How ‘Bout Us?-Champaign
Crazy Love-Poco
Games-Phoebe Snow
Together-(I think it’s by a band called Tierra but I can’t read the printing)
Biggest Part of Me-Ambrosia
Crying-Don McClain
SIDE 2 (THERE WERE TWO SIDES!)
More Than I Can Say-Leo Sayer (I still love this song)
Looking For Love-Johnny Lee
The Winner Takes it All-ABBA
Fool In Love with You-Jim Photoglo (Can that be right? Photoglo?)
Killing Time-Susan Anton and Fred Knoblock
Her Town Too-James Taylor and JD Souther
Somebody’s Knockin’-Terri Gibbs

Playlist.

Because I don’t have kids of my own, it’s important that I indoctrinate a love of the good things in my nieces and nephews. My two oldest are steps and they were too old to really change by the time I got there. In fact, last time I saw them they were making fun of me for having a Spider-Man antenna topper and a Hellboy dashboard saint on my car. Apparently, that’s not cool. But, despite my lack of input, those two are pretty cool on their own and read a lot of the same comics and listen to the same music as I do, so we can count them as successes, even if I had nothing to do with it.

The others…well, I still have some work to do there. My 16 year old niece is doing ok on her own. She’s a bit of a punk/goth/slacker and I am all right with that. She likes horror movies and Harry Potter and…Led Zeppelin…ok, that needs some work but you know, she’s 16 (sorry Janet, I just don’t love the Zep). She’s also from my husband’s side of the family so that explains a lot of deficiencies.

Now, a while back when the (now) 16 year old nephew was starting to read a lot for pleasure, I tried to pick out the books I had loved at his age. I gave him The Phantom Tollbooth, Trumpet of the Swan, stuff that I really liked at 9 or so. And he got it. I don’t know if he liked all the books, but he got the concept and I think he appreciated it. A few years later, we were talking about music and he was just starting to find his personal musical…feet. So I decided I would make him a cd of song that I liked and THOUGHT he would enjoy. Now, look, I do want to say that I very desperately want to be the “cool auntie”. I want him, and all the kids to say, “Oh wow, you like the Sex Pistols? That’s awesome!” but I don’t want to be the auntie that tries to hard to look cool and just looks foolish. I don’t want to be auntie mutton trying to dress as auntie lamb, as it were. So, right, I made him a cd, I tried to mix it up a bit, older newer, rock-ish, emo-ish, punk-ish. And he was…well…unimpressed. I don’t think he HATED it and hated me, I just didn’t hit the right buttons on that one. Here’s the playlist:

Crooked Teeth --Death Cab For Cutie
Hands Open--Snow Patrol
All Sparks--Editors
Gone Daddy Gone --Gnarls Barkley
Dance Like A Monkey--New York Dolls
Baby Goes to 11—Superdrag
Girlfriend--Matthew Sweet
World Shut Your Mouth--Julian Cope & The Teardrop Explodes
Spirit In The Sky--Norman Greenbaum
Mass Romantic--The New Pornographers
La Mer--Django Reinhardt
Slow Train--Lemon Jelly
Way To Blue--Nick Drake
Ballet Lane—Underworld
The Rainbow--Apples In Stereo
Eaten By The Monster Of Love—Sparks
Like Wow Wipeout--Hoodoo Gurus
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding—
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
That Old Pair Of Jeans --Fatboy Slim
I Am Not Your Gameboy—Freezepop

You see where I was going though, right? Happy, appropriate, fun stuff that he may not hear otherwise.

So, this Christmas, the ten-year-old got an mp3 player. I gave him an iTunes gift card and made him a mix cd, again, trying to stay happy, fun and appropriate. I have yet to hear what he thinks but I know his dad liked a lot of it.

"Itchy And Scratchy" Main Title Theme--The Simpsons
Shining Star--Earth Wind & Fire
Land Of 1000 Dances--Wilson Pickett
Mr. Big Stuff --Jean Knight
Iko Iko --Cyndi Lauper
Mr. Blue Sky--Electric Light Orchestra
Here Comes My Baby--Cat Stevens
Beyond The Sea--Robbie
Big Yellow Taxi--Joni Mitchell
God Only Knows--Petra Haden
Minor Swing--Django Reinhardt
Stand--R.E.M.
All Star--Smash Mouth
And We Danced—Hooters
Antmusic--Adam & The Ants
I Wanna Rock--Twisted Sister
Go--Apples In Stereo
Rock Me Amadeus--Falco
Like Wow Wipeout--Hoodoo Gurus
Rock Lobster--The B-52's
It’s Tricky--Run DMC
One Step Beyond—Madness
The Simpsons Main Title Theme

Yeah, there’s a little cross-over there. But you gotta try to get your favorites in, right?

So, let me ask you, what were your favorites at 10 and 14? Would you have liked getting a cd mix (or cassette mix…or gramophone mix) from your auntie? What would she have put on it? I’m thinking mine would have had some Barry Manilow and Anne Murray, but I could be wrong.