What song converted you?

cherryghost

To the alternative scene. Everyone has a defining song in their life that made them stand up and listen to other alternative songs, breaking away from whether it be cheesy 80s/90s pop, love ballads, rave music....?

For me, Cornershops 'Brimful of Asha' and Blurs 'The Great Escape'

This thread is more about becoming interested in good music in general, not just indie/alternative, so moved - Dudess

Dudess

Hmmm... toss-up between The Cure's Just Like Heaven and Pixies' Debaser.

Broke me away from Bros, Kylie, Jason and Sonia.

yevveh

either Limp Bizkit's 'Significant Other' or the Offspring's 'Americana' album.. before that I was cheesy pop

Then while I was in either 1st or 2nd year my Religion teacher gave me the Pixies' 'Surfer Rosa', from the moment I heard Bone Machine that opened up a whole new world to me and got me into playing bass. Thanks Mr Gallagher

cherryghost

ahh we have some pixies fans here then?

the pixies were the first band outside of blur i listened to as an alternative genre, i think 'I bleed' was the first one I had listened to.

I should mention that the whole 'The Great Escape' album was primarily the reason for me to go hunt down alternative music. The album had so much variation in it that I needed more

Melion

I listened to Oasis religiously when i was younger. Then as i started hanging around with other people and starting drinking i got into my dance. Until one day i heard "I Wanna Be Adored" and it all changed.

PaulBrewer

Being of a certain vintage I remember looking at the tape wheels in my mate Alan's £28 Ferguson mono cassette machine spin around as he played me 'Going Underground' by The Jam. I can still see it in my head...

A switch was thrown in my soul that very moment and I knew I'd found my reason d'être and, so it has proven to be.

The ole Music Biz has taken me around the world, met a million fascinating people and paid me reasonably well.

All due to Alan taping Larry Gogan !


(Ok, so it's New Wave (and on a Major) but you know what I mean.)

PaulBrewer

cherryghost wrote: »

ahh we have some pixies fans here then?

the pixies were the first band outside of blur i listened to as an alternative genre, i think 'I bleed' was the first one I had listened to.

I should mention that the whole 'The Great Escape' album was primarily the reason for me to go hunt down alternative music. The album had so much variation in it that I needed more

I worked as Black Francis' guitar tech for one of the Feiles and nearly became a member of the Blur crew!

Xavi6

Twas Oasis for me. '......Morning Glory' was purchased on casette upon its release with 'Definitely Maybe' following very soon after on CD.

A lot of people slate Oasis but for a large portion of my generation (I'm 23) they (along with Blur) opened the door to a whole new world away from boy/girl bands and one off dance songs (which I'm still a little partial to!).

melekalikimaka

No doubt - spiderwebs got me into ska big time... All way back to first wave then onto alt once I broke away from pop

darkmaster2

Smashing Pumpkins - Today, back around `93.
It saved me from a lifetime of crap music.

CliffHuxtabel

Side one of Nevermind cassette...mid 90s

one of my older siblings left in the tape player, i pressed play out of curiosity and the rest is history

The Hustler

I was always a huge Oasis fan since the age of 11 but still listened to alot of sh*te, so the song that made me see the light was probably 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next' by the Manics

Aridstarling

I suppose it was Nirvana's greatest hits first, then I got into progressively heavier stuff that was actually far less "alternative" (killswitch engage were one of my favorite bands at the time), I didn't realize just how corporate the whole Kerrang/NME/Rocksound touted bands were. Then on one faithful night in the county of kerry I heard Idioteque by Radiohead, The Mercy Seat by Nick Cave and The Needle and the Damage Done by Neil Young, conversion complete. Thinking about it now, those three songs still have a large bearing upon the music I make...

LCDeelite

'Smells Like Teen Spirit'- Nirvana

'Black Hole Sun'- Soundgarden

'Sunshowers'- M.I.A.

'A Day In The Life'- The Beatles

'How Soon Is Now?'- The Smiths

'Out Of Space'- The Prodigy

'Aphrodisiac'- Bow Wow Wow (not that [EMAIL="ret@rded"]ret@rded[/EMAIL], little US rapper- **the '80s band briefly managed by that crafty rock 'n roll swindler, Malcolm McLaren**)

'The Wind Cries Mary'- Jimi Hendrix

More than one song, I know. Sorry.

JaneyMc

I think it was when someone put a copy of Nimrod in my hands. Love that CD, it changed everything

The Stone Roses classic "Made of Stone"

dinneenp

I got a free tape with some magazine and it had Tame on it. First listen it sounded like noise, then after another listen or two sounded amazing, hadn't heard anything like it before.

old gregg

I was a Rolling Stones fan for 20+ years, travelled all over the place to see them loads of times, had the autographed albums and stuff ....

and then Radiohead released Creep

Bubs101

Xavi6 wrote: »

Twas Oasis for me. '......Morning Glory' was purchased on casette upon its release with 'Definitely Maybe' following very soon after on CD.

A lot of people slate Oasis but for a large portion of my generation (I'm 23) they (along with Blur) opened the door to a whole new world away from boy/girl bands and one off dance songs (which I'm still a little partial to!).

+1. Heard don't look back in anger and I was hooked on the guitar for life

PaulBrewer

Bubs101 wrote: »

+1. Heard don't look back in anger and I was hooked on the guitar for life

It's interesting Oasis should get a mention because in my opinion they are very rudimentary musically/lyrically but their very big strength is, after all, their showmanship/coolness which is equally important for success.

Was that an element in the initial attraction I wonder?

Ant

When I was a young teenager in the eighties, I was happy enough to listen along to whatever music they happened to play on the radio. It wasn't until a friend introduced me to Iron Maiden (first album I got was "Somewhere in Time"), Metallica, Megadeth, etc. that I was inspired to start buying records and consciously listen to music.

Later after learning to play guitar, I started to appreciate other guitar-based music and my musical horizons just expanded from there to eventually incorporate most music genres (to some degree).

Time Magazine

It's amazing how many people here were converted by Pixies.

I was born in 1987. My eldest brother is 15 years older than me and so when I was 3 I was listening to REM and continued to listen to that sort of music for over ten years.

I remember though the first time I heard Maybe Memories by The Used though. I was about 15 and on the bus home having just bought the CD. That scream after about 13 seconds had me hooked and completely shifted my taste in music.

SligoBrewer

Take Me Out, Franz Ferdinand.

Just loved it.

mehfesto2

Personally I got into Travis and Placebo, but I reckon it was my mates listening to Green Day's Dookie, The Offspring and Hendrix that saved me from being a moany backstard.

pendude

a glorious summer day it was, and i was listening to the radio and The Subways popped up!
[The Subways - Rock & Roll Queen]
in a moment i was waw`n away with my air guitar! ;D oh you love to do that aswell ^^,!
still looooooove it!

Xavi6

PaulBrewer wrote: »

It's interesting Oasis should get a mention because in my opinion they are very rudimentary musically/lyrically but their very big strength is, after all, their showmanship/coolness which is equally important for success.

Was that an element in the initial attraction I wonder?

Most defintely.

An 11 year doesn't really give a flying fuck about how good a guitar player the guy is or how crap their lyrics might be. Oasis marketed themselves in a brilliant way, hence them still having so many fans to this day.

Plus they are Man. City fan like me!

JerryHandbag

Listening to the following bands in the following order around 1995-97 made me learn to play the guitar and opened up a whole new can of musical worms...
Oasis
Nirvana
The Beatles
David Bowie
Radiohead

And my 'guilty pleasure' was and still is E.L.O.!!!!
All listened to on copied cassette tapes of course :cool:

If I had to pick one song it would be I Am The Walrus by The Beatles (much better than Oasis' cover version!!)

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Personally I always had kind of "alternative" music taste compared to most of my friends, but I do remember that "Sawdust and Diamonds" by Joanna Newsom and "Peacebone" by Animal Collective were pretty influential in me starting to deliberately stay awake listening to Donal Dineen I never would have had mainstream taste, but those two tracks made me take way more notice of music and start actively seeking out stuff I liked rather than just accepting what came along

drunkmonkey

i've never been right since:o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eti21PVHXrg

Bubs101

PaulBrewer wrote: »

It's interesting Oasis should get a mention because in my opinion they are very rudimentary musically/lyrically but their very big strength is, after all, their showmanship/coolness which is equally important for success.

A here. At their peak Noel could write the catchiest good songs around and they have two albums that are legitemite classics, one without a bad song

Time Magazine

Bubs101 wrote: »

A here. At their peak Noel could write the catchiest good songs around and they have two albums that are legitemite classics, one without a bad song

"Good, catchy songs" are typically rudimentary musically.

Paranoid Android isn't catchy.