Songs that blew you away the first time you heard them

Supertramp

Baba O'Reilly - The Who

Simple Song - The Shins

How Soon Is Now? The Smiths

Kingdom of Rain - The The

Alone Again Or- The Damned

R1 = "School" blew me away when I first heard it.

Dark side of the moon

We Don't get Fooled Again. The Who.

This performance.

....

Heard one Sunday morning while driving down the tollway.

"Winter" by Tori Amos

"Start Me Up" -- Stones

....

Creep

This was the moment the 1980s virtually ended and became the 1990s. I just sat there and stared at the speakers in amazement at what was coming out. Nothing like this had been on the radio before that.

Nirvana: Smells like teen spirit.

Open Arms - Journey

....

Shakira - Ojos Así

Never rated her music until I heard her Dónde Están los Ladrones? album. The song Antologia on her Pies Descalzos is also one of my favorites.

....

The Star Spangled Banner.

Slow buildup.

I kind of hate to mention it because of recent developments, but it does apply to the question:

Picture it: Minnesota, 1985. I was 15, and my parents had gone out of town for the weekend. It was Friday night and I was watching MTV while making dinner. I song came on, and I was transfixed by the rhythm, the music, and the voice.

I spent there rest of the weekend watching MTV, hoping to see it again. I found out later that MTV refused to show the actual video, as the singer didn't lip-synch, and the "video" they showed was a clip from the Wogan Show in the UK.

And so I was introduced to Kate Bush

American Trilogy

....

Never cared about the Beatles until I heard Tomorrow Never Knows and A Day in the Life

"She Loves You" by the Beatles. The song is pretty awful but it was sensational back then. I was a kid but I remember well its impact.

"Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones. It was another harbinger of change and left every body a little confused back in 1965.

“Another Brick in the Wall” - Pink Floyd

“Love is a Stranger” - Eurythmics

“I Love the Nightlife” - Alicia Bridges

Sweet Jane, Velvet Underground with the intro. Raw Pop at it's finest.

The Host of Seraphim stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. I still get chills when I hear it. The plaintive tone of Lisa Gerrard's glossolalia as her voice lifts towards the heavens is almost overwhelming.

It's transcendent.

It has been overused, and never should have been allowed near the ugliness that was the end of The Mist, but it is a stunning work.

The Way We Were

I could list dozens of songs....but this was one of the earliest.

I heard this on a UK radio show my local station in the US would play. It was months before it was released in the US. I couldn't believe how different it sounded, at least to my ears.

Devastating

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony The Zombies - Time of the Season BOC - Don't Fear the Reaper

Play Dead by Björk

Breathe by the Hollies

Go Tell Aunt Rhody.

Knowing that the Character dies giving birth makes the song more potent.

Smooth, stylish and lush with that feeling of longing George was so good at creating.

Take Me To Church - Hozier

Simply Red -- "Holding Back the Years"

So much “atmosphere”

Eleanor Rigby

PSB -

I was a kid when this came out but it still gets me.

My fave of his

Ronstadt

Was a kid in Spain one summer when this song was big. It takes me right back there.

Calling All Angels by Train

I’ll get called Mary but this song absolutely floored me the first time I heard time

A game changer for her career.

~~~ Cued to the best part/

Is it queued or cued?

Blown away! Especially when the video came out!

Great moment for pop music.

Hasn’t been duplicated since.

this

mighty fine wine

Orange Crush, R.E.M.

The helicopters creating the beat and the army call-and-response.

Stipe's lyrics — impeccable.

I Want You (She's So Heavy) The Beatles

Brian Jonestown Massacre - Anenome

Powerful, especially for its period in history.

Todd Rundgren.

Still in my top 5 of all time.

Miss Ross

❤️….

This one.

I don't know if they "blew me away" but I've fallen in love with a bunch of songs while listening to them the first time.

Pavement Cracks - Annie Lennox

Tonight, Tonight and 1979 - Smashing Pumpkins

Shadows of the Night - Pat Benator

The Best of Times - Styx

I know, MARY!

But it's so good, musically and lyrically.

Jesus and Mary Chain

I rememeber being very still when I heard this.

Rock and Roll Led Zeppelin and I'm still not sick of it.

I have two that are synonymous with sex. This is the first one.

This is the second one

Sunday Bloody Sunday, U2

I won't post a link but if you know, you know.

Roads by Portishead.

R50 I first heard that about 6 years ago at work. BBC 6 Music played it.

Had to hide the tears from coworkers.

Me and Bobby McGee- Janis Nothing Compares 2 U- Sinead (The video was just as good as song.) Lips Like Sugar- Echo Nessun Dorma- Luciano

Johnny Cash singing "Hurt." I heard it in my car and almost had to pull over.

West End Girls. It really was quite something to hear the first time.

Driving, propulsive, and just plain odd. First time I heard it I was on the freeway and found myself bopping along as I kept picking up speed.

The Saxophone in place of the human voice. 1950's space age meets the dinosaurs

Hot Stuff - Donna Summer

This version was the first I heard. And the best.

Don't Be Cruel. It was a long time ago but it will never be anything but excellent.

The first time I heard Betty Buckley sing Memory. It was on some TV show (was it the Tonys?). CATS hadn't opened yet and that was the first time I'd heard the song and her rendition of it. And then...ya know...but that first time!

Is your muffin buttered?

R85 I was going to post this. I saw this in a sex scene in some Matt Damon movie I wasn’t even watching and fell in love with it.

what a day, what a day

"I know that ain't my tablecloth!"

Voodoo Child (Slight Return), All Along the Watchtower, Purple Haze

R88 Would you like us to assign someone to bother your mother?

Several have come to mind and thank you R50, I completely forgot about 𝐇𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐲𝐤 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐢. I wonder if i still have that recording.

My first "blew my mind" is Captain Jack by Billy Joel... never heard anything like it and as a pop tune it's 7:00+ long! I believe I could hear it on the radio in the late 7os.

The Cars - Drive

The Mavericks - Dance the Night Away

Thanks for posting that R57! Brian Jonestown Massacre is amazing.

Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande.

I’m on record as not being a big fan, but the first time I heard it I was floored. I was at my desk at work and I literally said “okay bitch you did that”. I try not to queen out too much at work but this was an exception.

Ariana sounded like she had gotten some good dick and that’s how she pulled out that performance. Unfortunately I have yet to hear her do it since so maybe it was just a fluke.

And "Renegade" by Styx... the opening and then it kicks! I would listen to this in diners on Long Island late at night (coffee and a toasted bagel) on the small juke box that was available in each booth.

Not to hijack this thread, but the opening track from ABC's the Lexicon of Love is "Show Me". The first time I heard this I wanted to hear it over and over and over. thankfully LPs and CDs I have done just that. Wearing headphones? Amazing!

I remember the day I was listening to the radio and the announcer said "And here's a really unique take on an old classic - "Somewhere" from West Side Story. Let us know what you think of it."

Feed your head.

Thank you for this thread, OP. My playlist will be much improved for it.

I love the following songs for the meaning behind them:

“Possession” by Sarah Maclachlan : the lyrics she plucked from letters from her stalker. The live version on the album Mirrorball is amazing!

“One” by U2. I heard it was words of a son stricken with AIDS speaking to his father, trying to reconcile. The I also heard that U2 was on the brink of calling it quits, bickering, when Bono began singing the lyrics to this song.

“Pride in the name of love” by U2. As a biracial child living in the south, I was so moved that a group of Irishman sang this tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this song also is an elegy for a priest who was murdered and regarded a martyr for demonstrating peaceful resistance to extremists. I wish I can recall the Father’s name.

“Miss Sarajevo” by Luciano Pavarotti, Brian Eno, and Bono - a song about Bosnia embracing this facet of freedom, when one of their own was able to compete in the Miss World pageant. I cannot remember if she won, but I don’t thing that mattered.

“Bridge over Troubled Waters” by Simon and Garfunkel. This song’s beauty almost makes me forget what assholes these two guys are.

I second “ Air that I Breathe” by the Hollies, as well as “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.” My little sister is 49 and terribly I’ll with MS. I hear this song and think of her always.

“Jesus to a Child” by George Michael. His pain is palpable as he struggles to get the words out. It is a loving tribute to a love lost.

“IGY” by Donald Fagan. What blew me away was the coolness and smoothness of it. It is a relaxing tune with lyrics that are actually warning you of how fucked up our future may be. Great song.

R49 - I forgot how much I loved Sarah McLachlan’s music back then. I wish she’d do something new that’s commercially radio friendly.

The Cars, Let the Good Times Roll.

"Manon"... the first track of Ana Silvera's The Aviary... heard it and knew this was going to be a very special album.

Timi Yuro - I'm Hurt

I’m going to be made fun of - I am the only dumb ass 14 year old ( except for my 14 year old pal Beverly) who didn’t understand - realize- “get” that Luke raped Laura on General Hospital. We didn’t see the flames shooting out of Tony Geary either. We were diehard fans and really YOUNG - Luke’s intensity and yearning for her and telling her he ached for her was - well - rather THRILLING to an unkissed14 year old. The “Seduction/rape” episode aired on a Friday afternoon (1979?1980?) Luke made Laura dance with him late at night at the Campus Disco as Herb Alpert’s “RISE” throbbed in the background. It sounds hokey now but it BLEW MY MIND - the horns the part that goes “ha, ha, ha”- it was so grown up! I used to listen to the radio for months after waiting for “Rise!” ….. I’ll always remember right after the episode was over Bev and each raced to call each other and ask - “Um - wait - what just happened?”

[R93] On the chaise longue, on the chaise longue, on the chaise longue All day long, on the chaise longue On the chaise longue, on the chaise longue, on the chaise longue All day long, on the chaise longue On the chaise longue, on the chaise longue, on the chaise longue All day long, on the chaise longue On the chaise longue, on the chaise longue, on the chaise longue All day long, on the chaise longue

There's a Hole in the Bucket.

Listen to the words, not about the melody. Hang in to the end.

I had not ever seen anything quite like this when I happened to watch "The Midnight Special" back when I was a kid. It changed my concept of what music was and what music could be.

Its over used now but floored me when I first heard it in Requiem for a Dream

Earworm alert at R109…

So many that have already been posted, "Baba O'Riley," "Long Long Time," "Let the Good Times Roll." Others that blew me away were "Sara" by Fleetwood Mac, side two of Abbey Road, "Bette Davis Eyes."

But the all-time blowingest is the two-song tribute to the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson on Lindsey Buckingham's Go Insane album in 1985, "Bang the Drum" followed by "DW Suite." I'd loved the Beach Boys since I was 12, and Dennis was the cute one. He was also plagued with addictions and drowned while diving off a friend's boat in Marina Del Rey the last week of December, 1983. Lindsey loved him too.

This Prefab Sprout song. I can still picture myself hearing this for the first time in the backseat of a car my soophomkore year in college. I had a mad crush on Gino, the boy driving us to the local new wave night at a college town dance club and wishing I could displace his femme boyfriend who sat Ron the passenger seat. It spoke to my sense of longing but unrequited. young love. The intensity of it all.

So many blew me away when I first heard them:

Kozmic Blues, Janis Joplin

Not Dark Yet, Bob Dylan

Rhiannon, Fleetwood Mac

I Zimbra, Talking Heads

Ari’s Song, Nico

Tupelo, Nick Cave

…

First time I heard this song and everyone else watching that night heard this song.

It was truly electrifying watching this performance and blew everyone away as you can see at the end.

Heard this on a rainy night, in a new city, sitting in a car waiting for my new (and first male) lover to conduct an ATM transaction. It was on one of those end-of-the-dial, low-wattage radio stations, so it was all scratchy and static-y. Something about the lyrics and her vocal just hit me straight in the heart. Took me years to track down the artist and song.

I had no idea it was a cover of Joan Armatrading. I've since heard her original, and I still think this version blows it away.

Dianne Reeves - "Willow"

Still gives me chills.

Begin the Begin - REM. Changed my life.

George seemed like the ultimate in unapproachable cool with this song and video. The song was an instant hit for me.

Wave of Mutilation (UK surf version) by the Pixies...a gorgeous, haunting song.

1983 Major Tom

Really the whole album blew me away, but this drew me in first. Later, I had the good fortune to see the beautiful Jeff in concert once - a treasured memory.

R123 Buckley’s version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah stopped me in my tracks. I still remember sitting in my car at my destination but not getting out.

The Hut Sut Song by Horace Heidt.

MIss You Much - Janet Jackson. When I first heard it I was drving cross country, I played it about 20 times.

818M YouTube views can’t be wrong about this:

I can't exactly say that this is one for the ages, but I remember how gothic and different it sounded when I first heard it at a gay club.

I returned to that club two weeks later, and got goosebumps when it lit the dance floor on fire. Watching an entire room full of people raise their hands to the chorus....I will remember that when I am very old.

So many great choices in this thread (both as great songs and impactful in their first moments).

I'm going to echo Enjoy The Silence and Possession (even without knowing what those lyrics were from, that song was transcendent for 1993).

Possession spooked me out - fast or slow - once I knew the story.

But the rest of that album is perfection.

This one.

Unbelievably tragic.

“ Bridge over Troubled Waters” by Simon and Garfunkel. This song’s beauty almost makes me forget what assholes these two guys are.” [R102]

I thought Paul Simon was beloved.

This one.

Rhythm of the Night

Dragon Flies - Red House Painters

One of the most incredible pieces of music ever recorded. The soundtrack of my twenties is anything by Mark Kozelek.

Imogen Heap - Hide And Seek first heard it on an SNL short and looked it up immediately.

"Tougher than the Rest" - Bruce Springsteen

Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” has a air of mystery.

Mad World - The Darko version

Silver Springs - Fleetwood Mac

Love Hangover - Diana Ross

Is It A Crime - Sade

In 1982, I was an unsophisticated rube - had never been to NYC let alone to a Broadway show at that point - watching the Tony Awards when I heard this song for the first time. Blew this small-town boy's socks off.

There are too many songs, but to name a few...

The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel

Gloria - Patti Smith

Superstar - Carpenters

You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Dusty Springfield

California Dreaming covered by Lee Moses

Slow - Rumer

"Touch Me in the Morning" - Diana Ross

Live - Lightning Crashes

Precious Things- Tori Amos

Stand Back- Stevie Nicks (Just that great opening synth)

This one stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it, literally. I’ll never forget it. It was so different from everything else.

Tori Amos - Silent All These Years

GREAT song R36, but I don’t remember Elizabeth McG’s character dying in that movie.

Meat Loaf - Paradise By The Dashboard Light

Kate Bush - Breathing

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

ELO 'Can't get it out of my Head'

This one really got to me when it came out.

Weyes Blood — Movies

Riders on the Storm - The Doors

Can't You Hear Me Knocking - Rolling Stones

It's Too Late - Carole King

Dear God - XTC

A classic from the bronze age. THIS is the song that turns little boys gay.

Guilt - Marianne Faithfull

r107 I didn't know anything about any rape, but I remember begging my mom to skip school so I could watch the wedding episode in 82/83 and my mom forcing me to go school! I snuck out of my classroom early, at the end of the day, and ran home to catch the last 15 minutes of the wedding!.

Looking back? My god, I was such a certified, card carrying, pansy!

This.

And this.

This song junkie is fun. The chorus is so much fun. So is the video.

Ball and Chain - Janis

Moments of Pleasure, Kate Bush, Director’s Cut version

^as above

So Real, Jeff Buckley

Unfinished Sympathy, Massive Attack (with Shara Nelson)

SOON, My Bloody Valentine

I love Michael Nyman's entire soundtrack to THE PIANO, but LITTLE IMPULSE is my favourite track, perhaps made to sound particularly exquisite during the most difficult scene

Glory Box, Portishead

Most GM songs get me. There's a melancholy in his voice whether he's singing a ballad or faster song that's really in my wavelength and he was master at covering songs in a way that blew away the original. This is from his last album Symphonica - remake of Rufus Wainwright's Going To A Town written about Dubya Bush/9-11. With everything going on the song is unfortunately still relevant.

I know the Velvet Rope was critically acclaimed etc but this blew me away as it was such a good return to form in terms of happy up-tempo music and Janet looking happy (and hot) again. Had it on repeat for months in early 2001.

Sensation, Bryan Ferry

"Lick It Up", KISS

Always, by Bent

I saw this on Top of the Pops when I was nine, and it changed everything!

I was going to suggest this one too. ^^ Excellent synth pop.

I was always pretty meh about Queen and this song in particular never did anything for me. But this performance at Live Aid blew me away.

EPIC cover of original by The Who

The Winner Takes It All. I knew the song would define the 1980s.

Neil Peart - Momo's Dance Party (1997)

This solo project was first included at the end of the documentary video, A Work In Progress, in 1997. Neil later added sections of it to his live drum solos with Rush.

X - Los Angeles

Boyzone

Don't Fear

KESHA?! Sorry, I had to...

Midnight by Yaz

Aww, SHIT. Here we go. Y'all done started it.

Missed · PJ Harvey

Beyoncé - XO

ALTHOUGH, I admittedly don't care for Beyonce as an artist, she SURROUNDS herself with good songwriters etc. and she has quite a number of joints.

Prince -Adore

Sleater-Kinney - One More Hour

Tom Petty - Wildflowers

Miley Cyrus actually does a very good cover of this.

GEORGE FAITH -To Be a Lover (Have Some Mercy)

Produced by the great Lee 'Scratch' Perry

"Total Eclipse of the Heart"

"It's All Coming Back To Me Now"

"Killing Me Softly With His Song"

Old Dan Tucker

Nick Drake’s From the Morning. 30+ years after its release and his death.

Nothing stereotypical about these choices

I feel the same way about Pink Moon (the song,) R194. Actually, I think that Pink Moon is one of the few perfect albums. Every song is a classic.

Prince "When Doves Cry"

I heard the long version first and I can remember exactly where I was when I heard it.

R196, agree the album Pink Moon is amazing. Love it but not to be listened to when feeling suicidal.

More than most songs in my life, "I Want to Hold Your Hand." You had to be there to get how different it was, and how much better than anything we'd heard before. The impact isn't there any longer. Not for you. Not for me. But at the end of 1963, this song was the beginning of a whole new musical life.

This thread shows how old most people on this website are

[quote] I thought Paul Simon was beloved.

By an audience, perhaps, but not by anyone who knows him.

Paul Simon can lay pipe for a little person

R200 shows how perceptive of the obvious r200 is.

Turkish darkwave band She Past Away - "Kasvetli Kutlama"

Hearing "Love Child" in the parents' car for the 1st time. Ditto for "Stop in the Name of Love." Wildly exciting.

One late Spring morning, 1982, my radio alarm woke me up with "True" by Spandau Ballet. It was so shockingly good I jumped out of bed and listened to it intently.

The Smiths: "How Soon is Now?" blaring out of windows everywhere in the Lower East Side in New York, March of 1985.

"The Wait" - Pretenders

"Los Angeles" - X

"Violet" - Hole

Groundbreaking.

In retrospect, I’m surprised it wasn’t censored.

Byron Ferrari and band.

R208 uh, it was?

Talking Heads - Life During Wartime

"Love Me Or Leave Me", by Nina Simone. The inclusion of the Baroque passages is wonderful. And her vocal is uniquely Nina.

"She Loves You," 1964. It was my generation's "That's All Right, Mama," but with a British, not a Memphis, accent.

[R208] It was in the UK

The entire Led Zeppelin1 album. One masterpiece after another.

Johnny Cash’s Hurt.

Others for me, r213:

"The Lonely Bull"---Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. I had always loved the trumpet, from 1955's "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" (Perez Prado) to Al Hirt, but the TJB just captivated me! I had the great fortune of being in the (Allentown [PA] Fair) crowd pictured on the back of their album "SRO"!

"The Cup of Life"---Ricky Martin. His Grammy performance started me on a 2-decade fandom that obsessed me! Still love him! Last saw him in 2015 in MSG.

"When You Walk in the Room"---The Searchers. The opening chords get me every time. I finally got to see the fabulous Mike Pender when he came to my city on a British Invasions Tour in 2014 with Billy J. Kramer, Denny Laine, and Chad (Jeremy was ill). One of the best days of my life!

"Stand By Me"---Ben E. King. Have to move to this beautiful song, and I did, in BB King's NYC when the club celebrated Ben E.'s 75th birthday! Darlene Love also sang!

"Sherry"---The Four Seasons. Made me a lifelong fan of them, of Frankie, and of the falsetto. My #1 All-Time Song, bar none!

"Lizzie Borden"---The Chad Mitchell Trio. I love Folk Music and watched "Hootenanny" religiously, with the great Peter, Paul, and Mary; Trini Lopez; Ian and Sylvia; the Limeliters; etc. But I fell in love with Chad Mitchell and his spectacular tenor harmonies and lead, and Katy, bar the door! Finally was able to see and meet him this century! Even sat next to him at dinner!

"I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)"---The Four Tops. Killed me dead, baby! Have been a major fan since forever, attending their concerts from Forest Hills Stadium in 1967 to Wind Creek Event Center last year! Motown rules!

This was the first Madonna song I ever heard.

And what of it, r200? We are lucky to have heard Rock and Roll from its inception, and I'm referring as Elvis did, to Fats Domino.

Agree r218

I have to say the first 1-75 posts are some of the worst songs in music history. There is no accounting for taste.

Blue Monday by New Order was a revelation.

The Trolley Song, I remember the first time I heard it.

The Story by Brandi Carlile.

"If," by Bread. First time I heard it a chord was struck deep down inside of me. Every word seemed to make sense, and so I filed it away for future reference. A few years later I met my partner, and eventual husband, and it was his favorite song. He felt about it similarly, that it meant there was someone out there for him, who turned out to be me.

"Been Around the World," by Lisa Stansfield. Enjoyed the song when I first heard it and liked it even more when I saw the video. I had always liked Tracey Ullman, and was glad she had a big hit. Was embarrassed when I discovered it wasn't her(would've bet money it was) Still one of my faves though.

"God Is Watching Us," by Bette Midler. Listening to it the first time I couldn't believe the Divine Miss M would sing something so treacly and maudlin. Had she lost a bet and had to sing this? I thought any moment she'd break tempo, lyrics the whole schmear and get down to the real song. Just shows you how wrong I can be.

"Linger In Blissful Repose," sung by Carole Fox-Prescott. This mournful tune, written by Stephen Foster, was put to good use in the film "Big Eden." Had never heard it before, and it made me cry.

"At Last," by Etta James. Do I really have to explain why this song blew me away? Her masterpiece, and every other version I've heard has been so much less than.

r124 Kate McKinnon, as Hillary Clinton, and playing the piano, did a great rendition of "Hallelujah" on SNL. I think I played it every day for a few months after my initial exposure to it. Talk about heartfelt.

the range, the precision

I was a kid when this came out, but even at such a young age, I knew that this was pure brilliance. Probably the greatest vocal performance ever recorded. I couldn't speak for an hour after the first time I heard the song.

No one can hold a note as long as Barbra.

"Sweet Euphoria" by the late Chris Cornell. More genuinely spiritual and religiously powerful than any song I have heard in any church, anywhere.

America - Simon & Garfunkel

Train in Vain - The Clash

Talk of the Town - The Pretenders

Dark End of the Street - Flying Burrito Brothers. Gram Parsons & Chris Hillman singing the shit out of this.

Everything Elliott Smith ever did blew me away. But especially "Tomorrow, Tomorrow," and "Everything Reminds Me of Her," and the acoustic version of "Son of Sam."

Wet Ass Pussy by Cardi B

Netherlands by Dan Fogelberg. I was in my teens, at a party in a cabin in the woods late one night, and quite high.

ultimate break up song

Songs that blew…

All above posts ☝️

Alone Again Or - Love

I had never heard anything like this before, and nearly blew out my eardrums listening on headphones in 1982:

John Lennon's song about his mother, "Julia." It's nominally a Beatles song, but all John. I heard it when I was a little kid and it was just a very transcendent experience.

The first time this song came through on my headphones, I did the opposite of stopping in my tracks: I began dancing then and there. Fortunately, I was on a little-traveled trail and there was no one to see me swaying and sashaying to the beat.

lonely sailors

White Lines

Love this band.

Look of Love

Planet Claire

Slave to the Rhythm

Doctor Love

West End Girls

Papa Was a Rolling Stone

Sexual Healing. I do not remember hearing it until the 90s. I did not know it was an oldie.

I thought of another one.

Through the Barricades - Spandau Ballet

Van Morrison - Veedon Fleece, discovered in college years after it's release, a perfect album, every song, and like nothing I had heard before.

I would discover his Astral Weeks later, out of sequence and out of the usual ranking order.

Lovely song I discovered on a beautiful summer walk

Born Again Human - B.B. King

You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette. A lot of folks were shocked by this song when it first came out but it was just so great. I remember listening to it over and over.

Trouble Me - by 10,000 Maniacs. At the time, I didn't know who the woman singing was, but I actually pulled over as I was driving to listen to it because something about her voice just pulled me in. I waited to hear on the radio who it was and then went and bought the cassette.

The Man that Got Away - Judy Garland. Was watching A Star Is Born and that song was just amazing. Pure passion from Judy.

A-Ha's "Take on Me."

Don't know if it counts as a song, but the selection from Cherubini's "Requiem" made a lasting impression played over the final image of "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me".

Another vote for Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" and for the video.

"Born Slippy" as used in "Trainspotting" moved me to tears and to this day I still don't know why.

As a kid in the 90s I only knew the Whitney Houston cover, but when I discovered this a little later 🤯 Funk off the charts. It started my great love for lady Chaka

Someone Else's Story

R254 The intro is ravishing and so is young Ewan.

Bittersweet Symphony by the Verve

Beautiful French cheese :)

R.E.M. The One I Love

Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order

This French song

Miss Kittin Frank Sinatra

R235, great choice! Nunsexmonkrock is a album unlike anything before or since. Listening to it on headphones (*perhaps* augmented with a bit of LSD) is one of my best music memories. I miss kooks like Nina Hagen. Most of today's weirdos seem forced or reductive.

Another--more cerebral--favorite from that period is "From the Air" by Laurie Anderson (Big Science album).

Garbage - "Stupid Girl"

These Days

"The Lucky One" was a great song when Alison Krauss did it with Union Station. It's incredible on the album with Robert Plant.

"Wet Ass Pussy" - the Gilbert Gottfried version.

Missing

Oh, dear! (to myself)

*an* album

The sheer campiness that Tom Jones brilliantly brought to an already borderline camp song, the wonderfully wackadoodle Art of Noise arrangements… I thought this was totally genius the first time I heard it decades ago and still love it today. Supposedly, Prince was reported to have adored Tom’s job on this cover as well.

Was wandering down a hallway in my freshman dorm, heard this coming from someone’s room, and found it to be like a mesmerizing “new age” symphony. It really kind of takes you for a ride and has a big, dramatic, crescendo ending.

I popped my head in to ask what it was and the guy sitting there was a totally sexy, nerdy, hunk with no shirt wearing some little silky Adidas soccer shorts and sporting a perfect treasure trail down from his lightly hairy chest. He said it was his favorite music to relax to before cramming for aerospace engineering finals. He blew my away a little bit too.

Bronski Beat "Smalltown Boy"

The whole song just transports me back to the 80's even if I wasn't old enough to appreciate that at the time. Beautiful and haunting song.

West India Company’s “Ave Maria”. A new wave/world music dance song from circa 1985. Remeber thinking I had never heard anything like it before as I twirled around the dance floor of the new music night dance club. This was a side gig of the British group Blancnmange. I am an atheist and this song made me feel touched by some higher power.

If we can include soundtracks, Thomas Newman's for Less Than Zero, although this one track has haunted me since I heard it.

Pat on 12-7-87.

Sheryl Crow's live version of "Wildflower".

This version of Angel Baby =

Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen Let’s Go Crazy- Prince In the Air Tonight- Phil Collins Thriller- Michael Jackson I Will Always Love You- Whitney Jackson Total Eclipse of the Heart- Bonnie Tyler

RIP Tom Petty. I love so much of his music but this one has been especially dear to me since I first heard it.

This is from the "Made In Japan" band from '84 =

This song actually made me want to travel there when I first heard it recently...

Radiohead's OK Computer album. I picked it up at the mall shortly before I was supposed to be at work at a pizza shop I was working at. I started listening to it and immediately called my folks from a payphone and told them to call my workplace and tell them I was going to be late. I made up some bullshit excuse about one of our dogs getting loose and I was trying to catch her. All that fuss just so I could listen to the entire album, which completely blew me away.

As soon as I heard the amazing transition from the opening track, Airbag, into Paranoid Android I was instantly hooked.

I was blown away when I first heard this song in the mid 80s & thought for sure he had a #1 hit on his hands.

Nope not even a top 10 hit =

This thread was SO good and so informative, and then someone with the most basic bitch taste in history shat out a bunch of really horrid stuff.

I played this song so much in my youth as it represented how I felt about all of the older guys that I could never have =

[quote] Netherlands by Dan Fogelberg. I was in my teens, at a party in a cabin in the woods late one night, and quite high.

I still remember when I first heard Donna Summer's version a few years ago. I was so moved I wept. It sounded like she was singing like the rent was due last week.

Then I learned she was already ill when she recorded it.

I never cared for JG's voice except for the Oz tune but this one was a great find -

Jacques Brel. I've never seen anything like this on a stage, ever. And I'm sure no artist will ever be able to do that again.

The first time I saw this, I was completely stunned, speechless, vibrating and shaking. I know that Americans will not bother to stop and watch this performance. But I'm putting this down here. Sometimes old threads resurface years later, with more interesting and especially more curious people.

some enchanted evening jane olivor

I could usually dismiss any song that didn't have vocals but not this one -

“When Doves Cry” by Prince

I know her from the big "Boots Were..." tune but this was a great discovery from the past decade...

Nana's best =

R292 All French classical music of that time was sublime. Satie, Debussy, Ravel etc...

Ghost in you - Psychedelic furs

fats waller your feet's too big

Edith's best blew me away with the Autumn Leaves =

R287, the video is also amazing.

Evidently the rumor was that the answer to the song's question lay in the gender of the featured dancer but I have no idea if that's true.

I agree about the video R302 but I chose the remastered song

since the uploaded videos on YT might not have the best sound/visuals for the picky DL audience.

This song blew me away when I first heard it on their greatest hits cd back in the 80s -

I first heard this in the middle of the night, on my headphones, sick with pneumonia. It made me feel so giddy & gay!

I bought their greatest hits Cd solely for “Communication” & was blown away by this gem. Loving DOES make the cream taste nice, but I’m not sure I’d eat the meat on the floor….

R286 - OOH!!!!

Tell us all about your elevated taste, cunt!

RIGHT NOW!

Transcendental Waterfall - John Fahey

Marcie - Joni Mitchell

Jack Fig - Leo Kottke

Assembly Line - The Dixie Dregs

Disappointed - Public Image Ltd.

Agree with the poster about How Soon is Now.

All I had to hear was the 50 second instrumental intro of this song ....

The Cure - Just Like Heaven

^^^ Music prof, Rick Beato, explains the technicalities of why that song is great.

I agree with a lot of the ones in this thread. I have 2 to add

first one

and the second one.

One of his best vocals -

Another great Boy tune -

I usually have to hear a song a few times before I like them. Only once did I like a song the first time I heard it. That song was "Chicago" by Sufjan Stevens. I was captivated by the melody and the arrangement. I desperately tried to make out the lyrics and memorize them so that I could google them later.

I thought this singer would have a big career when this came out for a film soundtrack in 1990 but I think this is her biggest hit =

It's also the only song on the album that I really love...

Change of Heart - El Perro Del Mar

R200 ...and your post proves that your mother should've flushed. Now what?

Set Adrift On Memory Bliss - PM Dawn

New Order - Love Vigilantes

New Order - Age of Consent

Hobart Paving-Saint Etienne

[quote]"Wet Ass Pussy" - the Gilbert Gottfried version.

I always giggle to myself when I see stuff like this where the meaning can be so different than intended based on correct punctuation.

Is it an excessively moist pussy - "wet-ass pussy"

Or is it a moist hole on someone who views their ass as a pussy - "wet ass-pussy"

So many questions.

I Have Nothing…taken with the song as soon as I heard it on the radio. It made me go see the movie.

I'm surprised I'm only the second (as far as I can tell) to mention I Feel Love. The first time I heard it, it felt like the future had begun.

r292, I like Satie's Gnossienne no. 1. I first heard it in the movie Le feu follet.

r298, Abandoned Luncheonette is one of my favorite albums from 1976.

This is the Boy George / Culture Club tune that struck me. Remember like yesterday first time I heard this at Danceteria.

I just remember how different and strange this was when I first heard and saw it.

Kelly Clarkson's Sober. I cried the first time I heard it. Say what you want about her, she makes great fucking music.

sorry forgot a video - here she is singing live.

I thought this guy was just a 1 note dance act but he can put out a nice ballad -

This is from the Bananarama girl that got away...

SILVER FOR SAND

This song =

Hall & Oates - Getaway Car

Somebody posted Todrick Hall??!?!?!! Ha!

Kazinsky Night Fall

A song where i literally stopped in my tracks hearing it in a Volvo ad. Absolute crack for the brain and one of those "listen on repeat" kind of songs.

Cars- Gary Numan

Mad World- Tears for Fears

But Not Tonight- Depeche Mode

Close to Me - The Cure

Left To My Own Devices- Pet Shop Boys

Woman in Love. The song and arrangement more than Streisand.

Wouldn't It Be Nice . . .

I'm not even into grunge, but the first time I heard "Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains, it rather blew me away.

"Rock On" by David Essex

Dreams - Grace Slick

Another one from my summer in Spain as a kid. No vocals and a gentle start. The light in southern spain is different than anywhere else and I was struck by that as this song played for the first time for me.

Macarena- Los Del Rio

Batdance- Prince

Rock Me Amadeus- Falco

I’m Too Sexy- Right Said Fred

Justify My Love- Madonna

Halcyon on and on by Orbital. Just dreamy, beautiful trance

1967, "Woman, Woman" by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap

Gary Puckett had the best voice of a generation and probably the best voice in music since the 1960s.

The old standard

My choices are a bit different from most of them on this thread, but here goes:

When I was about 12 or so my parents bought that Columbia House collection of the greatest hits of the big bands, and the first time I heard Moonlight Serenade by the Glenn Miller orchestra I could not believe my ears, it just sounded so perfect, and even though it had been released about 30 years earlier. I was hooked.

When I first heard the Entertainer by Scott Joplin from The Sting soundtrack, I could believe that that was playing on the radio; I was in shock and in love at the same time.

The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B, performed by Bette Midler, was another revelation and solidified my love of 1940s music.

And two songs from the rock era, American Pie and Bohemian Rhapsody, both blew me away. Such interesting, complex songs that told a story in a new way.

Why by Annie Lennox

We are the people by Empire of the sun. Their song Walking on a Dream is also another good one.

I was just a young gayling when disco was "killed off" in 1980.

Many artists have tried to do a "I'm bringing back disco with this cut" but failed miserably.

I was pleasantly surprised when on a recent Blondie cd that they had done the genre proud =

When I listened to this tune awhile back I was hit by it's addictive power -

This R3hab remix is now the only way I can listen to this song.

It's a shame that WB didn't do their first JLA film with their original lineup paired up with this song. You can just see their original villain Starro the conqueror floating thru space & eventually hitting an Earth ocean at 0:29.

Lyrics such as warrior queen screams Wonder Woman, fishnet gloves screams Aquaman putting on his, marry the dark = Batman. make love to the stars = Martian Manhunter, soldier = Green Lantern Corps member Hal Jordan, etc. The background sound revving up could've meant the Batmobile or even Green Arrow's set of wheels the Arrowcar racing down the street.

You Can Have Him - Carmel

This group's early 70s work hit someone so hard that they looped this song for over 1 hour on YT.

I admire their song choice...

Scott McKenzie's San Francisco. THIS is the late '60s.

I didn't know she had any real talent until I heard this song...

It seemed like every song on Aqua's 1997 album was cute and/or sugary.

This song was so out of place that it hit me like a ton of bricks -

The Go-Go's lead singer Belinda Carlisle had a French album

over a decade ago where every song hit me like a freight train =

I love it when a song gets a new lease on life...

Even Elizabeth Taylor sang it better than Glenn. Or at least lip synched it to a better voice than Glenn's.

Perez Hilton used to feature new pop songs and this is one he introduced me to.....

GREAT comeback song by Blondie on an album that never got released in the US (i think)

The Supremes, Somewhere.

Where did harmony go?

Bettie Serveert - Geek

KINO - The Knife (album version)

The Clash - Straight to Hell

Bob Dylan - Knockin’ on heaven’s door

Heartbeat · Childish Gambino

Musical Youth - Pass The Dutchie

Marc Almond - Jacky

Shirley Bassey, Goldfinger.

Lennon's Imagine. Huge impact at the time. Today, not so much. Not sure why. Too melancholy?

‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ by Sylvester

R224, To me, Lisa Stansfield and that song ARE the 80s. Love it!

As for "At Last," well, that put me on an Etta jag, as in my wont with anything that grabs ahold of me. The song kills me, though, as being a widow, "my lonely days" aren't over.

R367, In 20 minutes I'll be on Ticketmaster buying a ticket to see MISS Diana Ross this September!

Okay, this sent me down a rabbit hole years ago. I listened to Etta for about a month straight. She's high as fuck here, but brilliant.

R378, Yes! That song, too!

I meant r380!

Charlotte’s “Skin” pretty much defined my club kid era and was a torch song throughout my youth- it still very much resonates with me because we’re given only one skin to live in- and so many people don’t take full advantage of it, are dissatisfied with their life- sadly or try to live in someone else’s skin.

It also reminds me of my friend Vanessa, who was not the prettiest drag queen, died penniless and in bad health, but was absolutely hilarious- lived her life to the absolute hilt and everyone knew her. Despite all her problems, was sparkling and always had a smile and was willing and up for anything.

By what measure?

The original '84 song to R364 for comparison purposes =

The 1 Sheena tune that bowled me over...

My number one Sheena tune:

Her voice is more powerful than most give her credit for =

I didn't care much for Jewel's voice but I found 1 song on her cd that was just heavenly -

Early 90s dance group Real McCoy hit me with their sole ballad that even had lesbian background vocals (a rarity at the time).

I was so addicted to this tune in the late 80s =

R.I.P.

Michael McDonald - I Gotta Try. When I first got this album, I played this song over and over. There's also a good version by Kenny Loggins, but I like this one even better.

This particular song, the particular arrangement, this particular composer, this particular singer

Song: "I've Got You Under My Skin"

Composer: Cole Porter

Arranger: Nelson Riddle

Singer: Frank Sinatra

The Smiths’ This Charming Man. The combo of jangly guitars, homoerotic lyrics, and British new wave cool was everything my 1980s high school and working class Michigan upbringing were not. I remember hearing it for the first time around 1983/84 on the one alternative radio station in the Detroit area.

I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin-To-Die Rag

I couldn't believe he was swearing in a song and at the audience. Later I tormented my Republican parents with it.

....

Roxy Music In Every Dream Home A Heartache

[quote] Somebody posted Todrick Hall??!?!?!!

I'm sure someone here has also posted Bitchlinda Carlisle.

I'm sure the muscular lad at the beginning got my attention, but I did love this, such a different sound for the times.

Nothing Compares 2 U & pretty much all of U2’s songs.

I was WAY into grunge, so we all know the drill there.

Almost anything from Pink Floyd, The Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, & Fleetwood Mac.

LOVED Tom Sawyer from Rush when I first heard it. I did the whole heavy metal thing so got way into Metallica and LOVED Van Halen.

Still love these bands and their music.

There’s much more, but so far, this thread is already covering many of them.

Memory by Betty Buckley

My grandma gave me a random 60s-70s folk CD and this tune was on it. Last year, around November we spun it and this was the choice song from that whole compilation. I love how it goes from English to French. The melody is really interesting too.

Tricky - Makes Me Wanna Die

Still Corners - The Trip

The big 80s comeback...

The greatest movie theme of all time =

An oldie but a goodie

What a great but weird little tune...

Pure enchantment for a kid -

R217 thanks you, r495!

R405, that is! Not a prognosticator here!

Deee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart

Such a fun song. Heard it and ran out to buy their CD "World Clique."

Good one R412.

That's one of those songs that, like Neneh Cherry's Buffalo Stance, was just so unique and such a strong flavor out of the box.

Neneh's had several amazing albums since and Deee-Lite had a few more after their debut (including the vastly underappreciated "Infinity Within") but neither ever made quite the splash they did with those first song(s).

1991, Tower Records on Mass Ave. in Boston.

I was looking through the CDs, and I happened to be standing next to the in store speaker. The opening lick of Smells Like Teen Spirit started. I thought "holy shit." I asked the clerk was it was, and bought Nirvana Nevermind.

R414 You may enjoy music prof Rick Beato's dissection of the song and why it's great.

The Pretenders - Kid

This song STILL blows me away

R416 I love that song, too.

And although I love Everything But the Girl with a long and abiding passion, I must admit, they did a truly terrible cover of that song. Just way too slow and maudlin.

"Los Angeles" by Sugarcult.

This night-landing video at LAX using the song has nearly 10X as many views as the band's video for it.

This gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it on the radio as a kid.

"Should I Laugh or Cry" also blew me away when I first heard it on the [italic]ABBA Gold[/italic] CD. Same for the Matt Pop remix.

"Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap is one of the most unusual songs I've ever heard and one of the most beautiful. I first heard it in a yoga class of all places, and I couldn't focus on any of the moves or poses because the song was so hypnotic.

Afterward, the person I did the class with brought up the song and said, "I hated that song!"

I don't talk to that person anymore.

Like a Prayer--Madonna. I had no idea it was Madonna, I was only 10 years old. Once I realized it was Madonna, I became a fan. Although that's a hard thing to admit these days.

Best thread in a while. I put on my headphones poured a third glass or wine, puffed a weed vape and have been enjoying so many of these. Made my day. Thank you OP.

Seven Nation Army - White Stripes

Siren - Tori Amos

London Calling - The Clash

It was like a freight train coming, and that howling.

"We Built This City." Seriously. Also, "Rock Lobster" by the B-52's, "Our Lips Are Sealed" by the Go-Go's, "Heart of Glass" by Blondie, and "Just What I Needed" by the Cars.

Alice in Chains, Down in a Hole

Roxanne

Badge

Refugee

When Will I Be Loved

Mai Yamane (singer) of Yoko Kanno (writer, arranger, producer) & The Seatbelts

(I definitely have a type... don't I?)

I LOVE ROCK AND ROLL by Joan Jett. and BEAT IT by Michael Jackson were like electricity the first time I heard them

In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins. That drum solo will never get old.

Gotye "Someone I Used to Know" - this sound reminds me of vintage Peter Gabriel and the first part of the song is about a guy who can't believe he's been ghosted and the second part is a woman telling him that he always treated her like shit so fuck you and get over it! So much of pop music just sounds the same and this song was both something from the past & something fresh (if that makes sense)

Love to Love You Baby by Donna Summer, rumors swept my high school that she was actually having sex while recording the song.

R437, the only other song that made me that unexpectedly uncomfortable is Hungry Like the Wolf. It was playing in the car when my dad was teaching me how to drive. My dad goes "Hmmm, I don't remember all this moaning and groaning in this song, ha ha ha." Very awkward.

"Ghosts" by Ladytron

Jon and Vangelis - The Friends of Mr. Cairo

Absolutely blew me away at the time.

‘Good Time Music’ is by far the Brady’s best.

....

....

Another one for me, very recent:

"Trouble," by Austin Butler (as Elvis). The second stanza is omitted here, alas, though it's in other YouTube videos that aren't only this one scene.

Buckethead, Machete

R390 Fascinated sounded great at Palladium. It needs a huge club and great lights. Mid eighties vibe for me. 1986.

Doobie Brothers ~ What A fool Believes (1979)

STILL blows me away. It's the perfect song. Catchy hook. Great lyrics. Great harmonies. I just don't want it to end.

Sweet Thing by Chaka Khan and Rufus

Rose Royce - I'm Going Down

I was born in the wrong decade

Deniece Williams - Silly

Gives me goosebumps

Thinking of you by Sister Sledge

I believe this is a Nile Rodgers production. Some songs automatically make me think of a color. Not sure why but I see purple when I ever I hear this song.

White Dwarf = A-ha

These 2 groups made this song so someone mashed them both up...

This song is a killer ballad but have you heard the remix of it?

Need A Little More - Bananarama

My favorite song of his -

Nasty by Sondra Prill

Eternal Flame by The Bangles.

I was 11.

"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Eurythmics.

"Let the Music Play" by Shannon.

"West End Girls" by Pet Shop Boys.

All three sounded like nothing else on the radio at their time, at least to my teenage ears.

This song is so unlike all of his radio hits so R.I.P. to him...

They're known for their big mid 70s hit but the group had an ABBA vibe on their other songs =

LB was basically a balladeer but her faster songs were great for their time =

Hard to believe this was on the same album as his big Never Ending Story theme -

one eyes one horned flyin purple people eater.....

I was taken back at how much George Michael changed

his sound to this group's sound for his solo career...

She should've been bigger than Beyonce =

Freight Train Warning !*!*!!!

Head by Prince

Sinéad O'Connor - Troy (Pinkpop Festival 1988)

after the crazy train jumped tracks but before it went off the rails. .

a raw performance that deserved a cigarette after.

Flume’s remix of Lourde’s Tennis Courts. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I think it’s brilliant. There’s nothing else like it and it’s layered and interesting and sexy. It’s much better than the original. When I first heard it I thought what IS this? With headphones it’s fantastic.

^^ obviously I mean Lorde.

I was never a big Nicks/Mac fan but this song did

make me like them more down the the road =

julie andrews, the sound of lesbianism.....

Richard Marx - Rhythm Of Life

For a 6 minute plus tune it really rocks out...

This song was so unlike anything he put out as a single =

The best cut on her debut album...

Dead or Alive - Brand New Lover.

This is a great mash-up, edit of live performances.

Sailing by Christopher Cross

"I'm Gonna Be Strong"---The Great, the Inimitable Gene Pitney! I would practice holding that last note, that cri de coeur! Major regret in never seeing him; arrived at a Connecticut casino the day after, and soon after he died.

This version is live, The Jimmy Dean Show, 1965.

R486 et al., again (SO many songs had huge effects on me!)

1959. I was in 4th or 5th grade.

This song was the first Pop hit I remember from the RADIO! I had children's 45s like the Mickey Mouse Club anthem, or "How Much is That Doggie in the Window?" But RADIO! How did THAT work?!

And this song! Nothing happy go lucky about IT! Began an entire genre! The original, the innovative, the shocking.....

"Running Bear and Little White Dove":

R471, nice choice. Now that's talent. She seems like a modern day Sade.

This should've been his 3rd single from his debut album -

I listened to the entire Shaft soundtrack yesterday and just received the 4k bluray. Yay!

This song from his 2nd album is better than any of the singles that he released from it -

This is the divine sequel to "Summer Madness"

which was posted above from Kool & The Gang.

This. Even now, it puts me into a sort of dream state

Let's try that again.

I was reminded on the "Hair" thread of how much I loved this song from the moment I first heard it. I went downtown to the record store that day, bought a copy, and played it incessantly for weeks. I had no idea about "Hair" at that time. I just thought it was the latest, greatest hippie anthem.

Sympathy for the Devil

Sinnerman

Baba O'Reilly

I Love Rock 'n' Roll

Hazy Shade of Winter

Smells Like Teen Spirit

San Francisco (Foxygen)

Winterreise / Gute Nacht (looking for recommendations if you have a favorite recording)

Judy singing The Man That Got Away. Hit me like a sledgehammer.

[quote]Winterreise / Gute Nacht (looking for recommendations if you have a favorite recording)

r496 Desert Island: 3-CD set by Andras Schiff and Peter Schreier with Winterreise, Die Schone Mullerin, and Schwanengesang. I see numerous used copies on amazon.com.

Another interesting version, by Nataša Mirković De Ro (soprano), with Matthias Loibner on hurdy-gurdy. It's probably my favorite, but I wouldn't recommend it as an imprint version.

R498 Thank you!

Double Anal In A Double Bed

Maynard Ferguson's "Mister Mellow"

This song was like crack to my mind when I first heard it =

You shook my tits and you rattled my cunt

This live version is better than the album cut or the music video versions -

Flying Solo - Naked Eyes

Ituana - It's My Life

Ituana - Learn To Fly

Okay, some people are really stretching in this thread.

I only heard this a few times as a kid and it haunted me. I didn’t know who sang it or the title but I remembered a few lines and the Beethoven melody…thank god the internet came along!

R486, Cyndi Lauper does a credible version of I’m Gonna Be Strong…

....

[quote]Okay, some people are really stretching in this thread.

There's a guy in many music threads who will come in and dump twenty videos in short order, usually songs most have not heard, or even heard of. He may be responsible for much of the stretching.

r513 Pardon me, I'll do 100s. Also, I only did four this time around but thank you for adding to my infamy.

"Second Hand Rose" by Barbra, when I was a mere gayling.

Cyd C. makes this video as addictive as the song -

After so many slow whiny songs released to the public

this fast paced rocker was like a breath of fresh air =

One day I was at EJ Korvette's and there was a new Joni Mitchell album released that day--"Blue." I was a big fan, so I plopped down $1.71 and bought it.

Took it home and, boy, was I disappointed. There was just something "off." This wasn't the Joni we fans had grown to love. Then, near the end, there was this song, "A Case of You." It was perfect. I'd eventually grow to love the album as well as some of her subsequent work. But, to this day, the song brings a tear to my eye, because I think it's so beautiful and because it brings back so many fond memories.

Little Wing by Derek and the Dominoes. Though it's a Jimmy Hendrix song, I prefer the former.

The theme from Midnight Cowboy by Toots Thielemans - the first time I heard that mournful harmonica, it brought tears to my eyes.

For R521.

My Life Would Suck Without You- Kelly Clarkson

The Aquarium

The Singing Nun - Dominique

Appreciated, r511, but Gene's is imprinted on me like a duckling! Plus, I prefer the notion of a heartsick guy. 😇

FTR, I'm a major Cyndi Lauper fan, seeing her last in 2016 with Boy George.

The Last Emperor (Main Title Theme)

David Byrne

Here's to Life, Shirley Horn, arranged by Johnny Mandel

"Goodbye Earl" by the Dixie Chicks. No females in Country Music had been that bold w. their lyrics since Loretta Lynn. The video is much lighter than the lyrics, when I her 1st heard it on the radio.

The Jacksons - Can You Feel It

Depeche Mode - Halo

Carpenters - Rainy Days And Mondays

Aretha Franklin "Nessun Dorma" LIVE 1998

Romeo Void - Never Say Never

Iggy Pop w/ Kate Pierson - Candy

“Roxanne”, the combo of Sting’s high pitched voice, the melding of reggae and jazz, I just knew the song and band were definitely something different. I immediately knew these guys weren’t a punk band who couldn’t play their instruments.

Before I even knew what the band looked like, I heard “Roxanne” and some of their early UK singles. I then saw some promo photos, Sting was hot and the entire band had talent.

I then went backwards, discovering their demos, bootlegs and original mixes of their early songs, some were amazing, better than The Police recordings. There were also acoustic versions of some of their early songs, these songs weren't 100% polished but I could definitely hear that these songs had potential.

The Police did an album with members of the UK band Gong. Pre-fame, The Police also worked with German composer Eberhard Schoener. Not even sure the band had a name yet.

"Mommy What's A Funkadelic" Straight outta Detroit, holmes!

'I was cool - but I had no groove - but now? fly on baby...'

To my embarrassment, here are some more songs that blew me away the first time I heard them. They STILL give me goosebumps

Goo Goo Dolls-Name

and Switchfoot - Dare You To Move

Erykah Badu-Soldier

I didn't even know music could be like this. I felt weak in the knees and grew faint Never Oh catch me, mother, catch me.

This song blew everyone away...

Obsession

Before Coldplay there was...

Pre-Madonna =

Duran blew me away with this entire album -

Not one of the usuals from Pet Sounds:

R.I.P. our Queen =

Ordinary World by Duran Duran

I first heard it on a road trip with my mom and brother when I was 12. I thought it was amazing but it also made me a bit melancholy. Hearing it now reminds me of that trip and makes me feel nostalgic.

Smooth by Santana and Rob Thomas. It quickly became overplayed, but that first month or so after it was released I couldn’t get enough of it. The opening guitar was too great.

I guess it was a Twist Of Fate that she passed away

on the 42nd anniversary of her big film opening =

Vogue, Justify My Love, and Like A Virgin by Madonna

....

....

Late 60s music in general. Beatle's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Rubber Soul albums.....and Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys. I love their music, too. For me, the 60s had the best, most creative music. This is off the top of my head. I'm sure there are others that came later.

Songs: seldom. Singers, sometimes. My latest voice crush: Regula Mühlemann. What a gift to mankind.

I had a Latino phase about twenty years ago and of all the Spanish-language songs I listened to, "Que Locura Fue Enamorarme de Ti" with Eddie Santiago and Huey Dunbar was by far the best. I still listen to it quite often. Plus, Huey was really cute back then.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I sat in my car and listened to the whole thing first time i heard it back in high school. Made me a bit late for class.

Symphony No 9 by Beethoven

Ravel's "Bolero". It is hypnotic, it is mesmerizing, it is completely repetitive yet it is never boring. It is the only orchestral / symphonic song that has ever brought to me a mental image. That image is of horses running across an Arabia desert with sand being displaced by their hooves.

Olivia's passing reminded me of this. The REAL first time I was blown away by a song was "You're The One That I Want" from the Grease soundtrack. The first time I heard it on the radio I was mesmerized by it. I had to run out and buy the single (because the single came out about a month before the album). It was that important to me to listen to it any time I wanted to! Wow, to be 11 again and that enthusiastic about music!

Sorry, here is the link:

The Smiths - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want

Such a beautiful song and not even two minutes.

one eyed one horned flyin purple people eater.

I always thought the gals should've released

this as one of their debut album singles...

This song is still so unlike anything that they've ever done =

I still think this song is the best album cut

that they've ever done in their 40+ year career -

Night Drive's tune below should've had bigger success =

What a great cover of an old classic -

Not a song exactly, but when I first heard the title track to the limited series “Black Bird,” the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

Too Much Water...

My gateway to electronic music. I used to drive around at night blasting this. The full 5 movements helped me realize just how diverse and creative electronica could be.

Orbital - The Box

The Love Parade - The Dream Academy

Hampstead Girl - The Dream Academy

Take your pick...

Part 2...

Kashmir - Led Zeppelin

Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home A Heartache

Under Pressure

All 6 of these 1985 Euro songs hit me hard

when I first heard them several years ago =

R522 Thank you! What a beautiful mournful harmonica - Theme from Midnight Cowboy.

Blue Skies 1926 Irving Berlin

Uh Oh-The Nutty Squirrels

The Martian Hop-The Ran-Dells

The Americans-Sinclair Lewis

I’m sure the fact that I had gotten up the nerve to finally enter a gay bar (original Buddies in Boston) has a lot to do with it, but this was playing and the dance floor was filled with a sea of beautiful men. It’s held the same OMG-moment all these years later:

Seven Nation Army

Long, Long Time, by Linda Ronstadt. Someone played it at me as he was breaking up with me.

R585 I thought their "You Killed The Clown" was the framework for George Michael's '87 "Kissing A Fool".

From Roxette's songs catalog it's a tie between =

& Soul Deep =

This kid's vocals were just unreal at that age -

Lou's freight train song =

Bernadette - The Four Tops

Yoko Ono's freight train song came out in the early 70s =

Played it in my car just yesterday, r593! Gotta count those beats....1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...Bernadette!

R487 here, with two more songs with the word "run" in them, both fantastic, both long-lived, both insisting on being sung whenever heard. Pop at its finest.

First up: "Runaway," by the awesome and doomed Del Shannon.

And "Runaround Sue," by the brilliant and still kickin' Dion.

R596 AGAIN.

How could I omit the amazing, the stunning, the most emotive saxophone in all of Pop music?! When I first heard this song---and it was only about three years ago!---I couldn't believe I was hearing the instrumental rendition of Coleridge's "Kubla Khan":

"....as holy and enchanted/As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted/ By woman wailing for her demon lover!"

Gerry Rafferty and the thrilling "Baker Steet":

Roxy Music Pyjamarama

Let me try that again Roxy Music Pyjamarama

And before this thread is closed, homage must be paid to the catchiest song by THE most beautiful man IN THE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC (don't EVEN try to Elvis or GM this!), the song that made countless girls want to be in one of his ports of call....

Ricky Nelson, "Travelin' Man."