Well, 4 cassettes changed my life. These tapes led me down the road i now walk.

Embarassing as they may be......

The Smiths - Louder than bombs
The Cure - Standing on a beach (with the b-sides on side b, duh.)
Echo and the Bunnymen - Porcupine
Pretty in pink - soundtrack (ok, maybe just this one.)

I lived in a little town, in ye olde dark ages of '87.
The only punk rock i heard was Suicidal Tendencies and JFA at that point.
I was not impressed.

The working in the record store changed all of this.

Bands that it is hard for me to admit that I ever liked, no matter how young or "naive" I was:

The Charlie Daniels Band
Kansas
Barry Manilow
Mercyful Fate
Rollins Band
SS Decontrol
Styx
Triumph
Twisted Sister
The Who

Rotten Tanx wrote:Every year I can look back at the previous year and think of myself as being naive about music back then.

Infact, not just music, everything in life. I hope I'm not alone in thinking this way.

Nope. Sweet Lord. I used to cringe at my past idiocy, but I've found myself more amused at and less embarrassed by my younger self as I age. By the time I'm 80, I may no longer violently convulse when thinking of my perm at 13. (Shut up.)

I grew up a total dork, practicing the violin all the time and listening to whatever my two older brothers were playing. Some of it was good (AC/DC) and some really, really bad (RATT, more RATT, Whitesnake - I'm sure you feel the mid-80s horror of it all). My mom played Patsy Cline and my dad played Buddy Holly.

I still love AC/DC, Patsy Cline and Buddy Holly.

REM changed it all for me sometime in middle school. From then, I sought out my own records more and was less passive with accepting whatever the radio was playing.

I find my taste gently developing and changing all the time. I really enjoy experiencing that dynamic sway of what I like.

Rotten Tanx wrote:But I still consider this an ongoing thing. Every year I can look back at the previous year and think of myself as being naive about music back then.

bumble wrote:I find my taste gently developing and changing all the time. [snip]

Listen, I'm no Buddhist, but I think that the notion that there are two states of consciousness about music, one "naive" and one "enlightened" is, and I'll put it politely, erm, misinformed. I'm not flaming bellulah or anyone who posted to this thread, I'm glad that Rotten and bumble said what they did, because I think they are tactfully questioning some assumptions behind the title of the thread "Remember being naive about music?"
Learning and "struggling out of darkness" (overused metaphor) is a continuum. There are distinct eureka experiences, but there is no endpoint -

I also doubt there are criteria that can be put forth to serve to mechanically tell us who is in either state. Oh no, am I a relativist?

Dude: Information Society. Information Society. Dude.

i found a Lounge Lizard covermount cassette in a charity shop and it had cop shoot cop, jesus lizard, helmet, g vs b...all sorts of good shit. that was life changing. before that it was all charles and eddie and belinda carlisle. poor cow.

horsewhip wrote:Dude: Information Society. Information Society. Dude.

I saw the singer from Information Society sing karoke to his OWN SONG at a halloween party at someone's house! This was five years ago. It was sad.

I was wearing a Ninja costume. I did crazy train and stood on my head.

Ben Adrian
Oakland, CA

benadrian wrote:

horsewhip wrote:Dude: Information Society. Information Society. Dude.

I saw the singer from Information Society sing karoke to his OWN SONG at a halloween party at someone's house! This was five years ago. It was sad.

I was wearing a Ninja costume. I did crazy train and stood on my head.

Ben Adrian
Oakland, CA

Which song? How was his hair?

horsewhip wrote:

benadrian wrote:

horsewhip wrote:Dude: Information Society. Information Society. Dude.

I saw the singer from Information Society sing karoke to his OWN SONG at a halloween party at someone's house! This was five years ago. It was sad.

I was wearing a Ninja costume. I did crazy train and stood on my head.

Ben Adrian
Oakland, CA

Which song? How was his hair?

The big hit... Tell me What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy).

He complained loudly that there was too much reverb on his voice and that they didn't use the right "Pure Energy" sample.

I was on a couch, in the rec-room looking basement with the karoke machine, sitting literally five feet from the guy. I tried not to look at him as I was so embarassed and uncomfortable.

His hair had colored extensions, maybe? Disco vaguely hippie goth.

Ben Adrian

When I was 10 my favorite band was Korn. I picked up Red Medicine because I thought the cover looked cool and that changed my life.