Gramsci wrote: Mon Apr 21, 2025 8:02 am Anyone got a Dave Mathews Band story? I’d like to hear that one!

They played one of our local alterative radio fest things in the 90s. I being a jerk in my late teens, took a sign that was basically poster board, folded it into a big paper airplane and threw it at the stage. Hit Dave right in the strumming hand. He was not happy.

Stuff that I remember falling for hard in grade/high school:

In rough order:
Beach Boys
Culture Club
The Cure
U2 (boy did I think these guys were cool rebels)
Nine Inch Nails
Pixies
Public Enemy
(discussed to death on the old forum): Soundgarden (and Pearl Jam).

There's probably a thread from each of those to the vastness of music I listen to now. The Beach Boys, the Cure and Public Enemy I still hold dear, the rest, eh. Never had a true line to punk or AOR when I was a kid, but made up for it eventually. I do remember seeing a Superchunk video on 120 minutes in high school, might have been the first thing I heard that could reasonably be considered punk.

I'm thankful my family had a record player and a tape recorder when I was little - I used to record music through the speakers of the stereo so I could listen to it on one of those tabletop cassette players in my room.

Tree wrote: Mon Apr 21, 2025 7:58 am One for me was Elastica. I was 18 and liked that first album when it came out. An older friend told me if I like that I should listen to Wire. He had the first three albums and that sent me off and obviously led me to more 77-82-era post-punk, which is heavily where I live today.

Likewise I had never heard of Wire but wore out the grooves on that Elastica record. If nothing else, Elastica made that connection worthwhile haha.

I liked Elastica when that came out, as well. Also, I was into Failure before I discovered real space rock like Hawkwind and Loop.

Krev wrote: Mon Apr 21, 2025 11:43 am I liked Elastica when that came out, as well. Also, I was into Failure before I discovered real space rock like Hawkwind and Loop.

I was turned on to Failure about 5 years ago and really got into it. Def a band I would have loved when they were current.

Branford Marsalis.

Had Tony Williams on on one of his 80s records (Renaissance). Trio Jeepy had Ornette's "Peace" on it, first time I heard that, and a "freer" piece (for him) called "Random Abstract (Tain's Rampage)". Also just the calibre of Jeff "Tain" Watts playing, and featuring older artists like Milt Hinton. It generated a lot of interest to check other things out, and definitely made me realise I was more drawn to the "out" side of things.

Nirvana for me, absolutely. I was 9 when Nevermind came out, heard it a bunch on the radio in late '91/early '92, bought the "Teen Spirit" cassingle as K-Mart, and then finally got Nevermind sometime in late-Jan/early-Feb. Hell, a friend even then gave me Bleach for my birthday in April '92! I watched MTV all the time by that point, so all the grunge stuff was mixed in there, along with GN'R and Metallica, etc.

One of the biggest gateways I had was the owner of a record store in my hometown who was super kind and patient with a dorky kid. I remember sometime in the fall of '93 asking if they had any Rollins Band tapes and instead he sold me a used tape of Black Flag's First Four Years. When I bought a used tape of Goo he eventually sold me hard to find SST tapes of Evol and Sister. One time I walked in and he was playing something that sounded like Sonic Youth and everything else I was into and it turned out to be the Velvets.

But yeah, the line from Nirvana->SY->Velvets/Stooges/etc is a pretty clear pathway, but also meant I didn't really listen to much classic rock (Zeppelin, Sabbath, ZZ Top, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy) until well into my 20s and frankly from reading the opinions on those bands from some of the folks here. I also completely missed hair metal, thank gawd.

cakes wrote: Mon Apr 21, 2025 11:51 am

Krev wrote: Mon Apr 21, 2025 11:43 am I liked Elastica when that came out, as well. Also, I was into Failure before I discovered real space rock like Hawkwind and Loop.

I was turned on to Failure about 5 years ago and really got into it. Def a band I would have loved when they were current.

Me too. Specifically Fantastic Planet. That’s a genuinely great record.

jimmy spako wrote: Mon Apr 21, 2025 12:01 pm Branford Marsalis.

Had Tony Williams on on one of his 80s records (Renaissance). Trio Jeepy had Ornette's "Peace" on it, first time I heard that, and a "freer" piece (for him) called "Random Abstract (Tain's Rampage)". Also just the calibre of Jeff "Tain" Watts playing, and featuring older artists like Milt Hinton. It generated a lot of interest to check other things out, and definitely made me realise I was more drawn to the "out" side of things.

As far as that stuff goes: I played guitar in high school jazz band for the lazy reason that it was an easy A. We mostly played some pretty dorky stuff, though we did play 'Salt Peanuts' which had impressive sax parts of course. I eventually became friends with those sax players (even though they were cocky), who talked up Giant Steps and Eric Dolphy to me. I relayed that to a guy outside of school who played in a friend's hardcore band but could tell he was cooler than the rest of them. He told me about Sun Ra and let me borrow a copy of Ornette's Science Fiction. It was an important lesson to young me that there was adventurous music outside of punk, or rock in general.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Swans had a hand in turning me onto loud, drone-y music. The Great Annihilator was the first Swans I listened to and I was really impressed and wanted more (this was pre-The Seer, post-My Father Will...).

But I honestly can't think of many singular bands who have led me on to other bands. Usually it was MTV, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, other blogs, festival lineups, etc that have steered my musical tastes through the years.