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Group or artist that had a profound impact on you
In the Orange Q and A Part 2, I really loved MLT’s story around “In It For Love” and how the Beatles profoundly affected them in a positive way and enabled them to not worry about fitting in or conforming to what people their age were expected to like music and fashion wise. The Beatles liberated them from feeling they had to conform to status quo, and gave them their own unique and special identity and made them who they are. We are all so grateful for that, as that gave us the MonaLisa Twins!
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43 Replies
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I can so relate to that feeling when I was a teenager. For me it was the Beach Boys who profoundly affected my outlook and gave me many adventures chasing them and going to their concerts. They gave me confidence in my own taste, and I didn’t worry about fitting in with what was hip or cool at high school in those days, I beat to the rhythm of my own drums, which was the Beach Boys, and the bigger than life joy and wonder for the future they made me feel. I think it also had something to do with my couple dozen road trips down to California in my 20s chasing that fun in the sun California dreaming spirit.
Was there a specific group or artist that profoundly affected you growing up? Share your experience, and maybe a song from that group.
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You can say that again Jung!
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For me that would be Weird Al Yankovic. I discovered him after he released his first album in 1983, about a year before I got into the Beatles. I was mired in a swamp of contemporary music that I couldn’t stand, and I viewed Al’s stuff (wrongly, perhaps) as making fun of modern artists and poking holes in their pretentiousness. Even now, almost every year I hear the original of an Al parody for the first time and I sing the “wrong” words along with it.
Here’s a notable track from his first album:
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Hi David. I remember when he first appeared on the music scene in the 80s, he was big for sure. I think one of his very first big hits was “Eat It”, and for me too, if Michael Jackson’s Beat It comes on, I am thinking “Eat It”. He’s spanned a huge career and is still going strong, in fact he is in the middle of a tour now, and looks like Vancouver is on the ticket for July 2nd. I think his success owes to his parodies and videos are in fact superb, like the Rocky Road one you posted. In some cases his parodies eclipse the original, like Eat It. Thanks.
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Hi Tom, thanks for posting that. The song is hauntingly beautiful, I like it. Looks like he was a very accomplished and prolific singer songwriter and he was known for his protest songs, and Bob Dylan considered him a rival.
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I have to confess, the Beach Boys influenced the way I dressed in the summer. I miss those retina searing colorful flowery Beach Boys inspired shirts I use to have.
Here is what I believe is a Beach Boys inspired Beatles song.
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Nice shirt, Jung!
Mike Love says the Beach Boys sound of that song was inspired by a conversation he had with Paul right after Paul played a work-in-progress version for him while both were hanging out with the Maharishi:
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I wore that silk shirt out until it started to unthread! LOL.
David, that is interesting insight on how Mike Love’s input got incorporated into a Beatles song. Thanks for posting the video.
Listening to this song today, the insanity and absurdity of what is happening in Ukraine really stand out.
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Hi Jung et al,
well, the Beatles have of course left a lasting impression on me. Even though I don’t really belong to their generation anymore (I’m much too young for that… 🙂 ). Listening to Beatles during my youth was not cool at all, but I loved the music. Two girls in my class listened to Elvis. So that was pretty uncool 🙂 Queen, Iron Maiden, AC/DC and ELO were hip at that time.
As I had already written elsewhere: the music of the 80s has strongly influenced my youth and left many beautiful memories. Memories of parties, of the first great (unrequited) love. Of the second great (unrequited) love, but at some point it worked out with Cupid. And of course the time of discos (I don’t know if you say clubs). In my hometown, a complete Circus tent was built at some point, but not for Circus performances, but as a huge discotheque. That was totally awesome. It went so well that we soon had two of them. At that time I was 19 or 20, had just started my studies and it was a perfect fit. Music from that time that influenced me a lot? Where should I start? U2, Depeche Mode, The Police, Simple Minds and, and, and (Glass Tiger Jacki, in case you should read this 🙂 )…. .
Independent music labels were pretty popular in my circle of friends at that time. It was a kind of counter-movement to popular music. It probably had a similar meaning for me at the time as Weird Al Yankovic had for David. It was „our“ music, which was rarely played on the radio and also did not play a big role in the charts. But at some point some of these bands also became popular, that’s how it is when you write good music.
I’ve already posted the following song on another topic, but the title just fits too well and pretty much captures my attitude towards life at the time:
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Juergen,
you deserve credit for defending the 80’s.
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Actually Juergen,
it looks like Europe had it better in the 80’s than we did.
Very inspiring song
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For me growing up in the 60’s into the 70’s the influences were The Beatles, Carpenters, Frank Zappa, CCR, The Rascals, J. Geils band, original Alice Cooper band, early Kiss, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, The Good Rats, ELP just to name a few. I’m not a fan of 80’s and 90’s stuff, although there were a few decent songs here and there. Mona and Lisa’s work is really the only new stuff I can stomach. Most of the time I’m listening to the above mentioned groups and some others of those eras.
Tom
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Hi Tom,
Lots of great bands mentioned. I got into some KISS in the 80s after they stopped doing the face paint/makeup.
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I guess i’m outnumbered here. Maybe i slept through the 80’s.
If J. Buffett and the Grateful Dead hadn’t come around once a year i might have starved to death.
But Juergen came up with some very nice European stuff.
Cheers
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Tom, it seems music in general have bee in a dive since it’s peak in the 60s and 70s. For me there were a few 80s and 90s acts that kept me somewhat interested, but since 2000s to now, it’s been pretty desolate. Music from 250 years ago have been keeping me going until 2017 when I discovered MLT, a beautiful musical oasis in a desolate desert. MLT will create the new musical paradise for the future. The future is bright, the future is Orange.
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Yeah Tom, some European Stuff again.
Hierros del Silencio. A band from Spain that released a successful music album in the early 90s (let’s pass that as the 80s now). After that, they disappeared again at some point. At least in my perception.
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The Scorpions (just like “Fury” a band from Hannover).
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Influenced by the New Wave and Punk scene, a small musical revolution also began in Germany. In the 80s, a new music scene also developed here (“Neue Deutsche Welle”). The bands gave themselves crazy names, sang in German (until then completely unusual in the pop and rock scene). The songs were sometimes deliberately simple or naive, sometimes reminiscent of children’s songs and parodied pretty much everything that had been common in German music and culture. The lyrics were cheeky, provocative and are for me forever associated with my youth. A piece of life feeling. Even if this music disappeared again at some point, it was an important impulse and had a lasting influence on the music scene.
Rio Reiser, the following performer, was not a classic representative of this music movement, but reflects this attitude to life very well.
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Hi Jurgen, thanks for sharing your experiences and memories. That song certainly is full of passion and I can feel the reminiscing of memorable and fond times.
The 80s for me was also a period in my life that bring back a lot of strong emotions. I was in my late teens and early 20s, and it was certainly a time of self discovery and a period of trying to figure out who and what I was going to be. It was a period of great ups and downs for me, and by the end of that decade I felt a sense of “I survived”. The music I was into was just as diverse and tumultuous. I got into the early 80s music and music videos of the Police, Cars, Blondie, Bananarama, U2 as well as the heavy rock of Def Leppard, White Snake, AC/DC etc… The latter soothed the soul and maintained some sanity. A lot of music from that decade evoke a strong and passionate emotions for me.
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Too many to list for me Jung. So I will pick a few that are off the wall from all the rock, soul, and pop bands I like:
Andy Williams
Glen Campbell
Johnny Mathis
Nat King Cole
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Hi Tim
Some big legends in your list. I am most familiar with Glen Campbell. It’s sad what happened to him.
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Hello Jung,
I love Glen Campbell. Wichita Lineman is one of my favorites.
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You know Jung, et al
after i thought about it, it seems we all favor the decade when we were in our twentys and don’t favor the next decade much.
Cheers
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An interesting idea Tom. As for me, I would say the time between the age of 12 and 25 were particularly formative for me. Even though you don’t necessarily get more flexible with age, I have to say I listen to music today that I would have rejected as a twenty year old. And I am still looking for new music. My CD collection is constantly growing. Sometimes it’s music styles that were current a few years ago, sometimes it’s current bands. If you don’t necessarily follow the charts, there is so much to discover. That’s what I find exciting about the MLT – forum: I often find new ideas to listen to bands I didn’t know before. Fortunately, my musical development is not yet complete.
PS: What is “pop country”? I’ve never heard of it.
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Juergen, i couldn’t agree more about not following the charts. Take the road less travelled. “Pop country” is about the current genre of country music which got homogenized with mainstream pop and ended up on pop radio. Less traditional country instruments, more electric guitar.
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