What Song Do You Remember Exactly Where You Were The First Time You Heard It? (1 Viewer)

[chippitydoodah]

Van Halen's 'Why Can't This Be Love".
It was 1986 and I was working at Petland Discounts on Nassau Street in lower Manhattan. We listened to WPLJ in the store and this was the first national airing of Van Halen with Sammy Hagar as lead singer.

 

[TheJestyr]

I love this post…awesome question!!

There are so many songs I remember hearing for the first time. Some impactful to my life and others not. But one clearly stands out above the rest to me.

I’m going to cheat a bit because I’m not sure it was the first time I “heard” this song, but it was definitely the first time I really listened…

Green Day’s Basket Case. It was 1994, I was barely preteen and saw this dark haired, fidgety character putting on a guitar in a very colorful video and was absolutely captivated…and then the music starts and I cranked it up as loud as it could go. Absolutely changed my life. It was the first time I ever felt a band was my own. Not my siblings’, not my parents’, mine. It was the first song I learned on guitar, the first song I ever performed, and still my favorite song today.

 

[BPTDirector]

Brandy by Looking Glass - parking my 66 mustang coupe in the student lot at high school having a morning cigarette on my way to class. Nice warm spring morning , I can still smell the air whenever I hear that song.

 

[Coyote]

"Reality" as the soundtrack of the film La Boum (The Party) in 1982, in the cinema, at the age of 13.

 

[TheBigTater]

Playing pinball & hanging out at Shakeys Pizza Parlor 1972 probably on the King Kool machine and i found my 12 year old nirvana. Became my go to song for pinball sessions, i would load the jukebox.

 

[TheBigTater]

Second was

1980 riding in the back seat of a buddy's car with my now ex-wife but at the time brand new girlfriend heading to a music festival in Clinton AR.

Nevertheless we moved in the next week and got married 4 years later...... had our beautiful daughter 4 years later....and divorced 2 years after that.... Covered the 80's but will never forget that damn song.

 

[allforcharity]

"True" by Spandau Ballet. My family was over at a friend's house for NYE and we were watching music videos on a "best of" countdown show. When I heard that song, all I could think of was "I'm going to sing this song to the lady that will become my wife." At many years later, it came true!

(I was 13 when I first heard it.)

 

[chippitydoodah]

"Reality" as the soundtrack of the film La Boum (The Party) in 1982, in the cinema, at the age of 13.

When I listened to this I heard hints of Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)"

 

[chippitydoodah]

"True" by Spandau Ballet. My family was over at a friend's house for NYE and we were watching music videos on a "best of" countdown show. When I heard that song, all I could think of was "I'm going to sing this song to the lady that will become my wife." At many years later, it came true!

(I was 13 when I first heard it.)

Thanks! Now all that's in my head is "ah ha ha ahh ha ha"

 

[Billy Baroo]

I got two songs from the same band on the same night…

My very first concert was Motley Crue’s Shout At The Devil tour in Pittsburgh back in the summer of 84. I was 12 years old and a huge fan of theirs and Kiss. Saxon was supposed to open for them but they backed out last minute. The new opening act was unknown to me but would forever change the direction of my musical preferences.

This band was a relatively unknown at the time German metal band named Accept. I had no clue who they were but I really didn’t care…I was there to see the Crue! “Fast as a Shark” was their opening tune and it starts off with a scratchy 33rpm vinyl recording of some shitty polka music…WTF…but when that screeches to a halt and the lights lit up the arena, I was treated to the fastest and heaviest metal I ever heard up til then. I was blown away from the get go! If you know the song, I think you could envision that intro and then explosion of blistering fast guitar and pounding drums!

They played a small set that was closed out with “Balls To The Wall”…holy shit…this is awesome! Every time I hear either of these songs, I immediately crank up the volume and go back in time remembering how great of a time I had at that show!

And Motley Crue killed it as well!

 

[chippitydoodah]

I got two songs from the same band on the same night…

My very first concert was Motley Crue’s Shout At The Devil tour in Pittsburgh back in the summer of 84. I was 12 years old and a huge fan of theirs and Kiss. Saxon was supposed to open for them but they backed out last minute. The new opening act was unknown to me but would forever change the direction of my musical preferences.

This band was a relatively unknown at the time German metal band named Accept. I had no clue who they were but I really didn’t care…I was there to see the Crue! “Fast as a Shark” was their opening tune and it starts off with a scratchy 33rpm vinyl recording of some shitty polka music…WTF…but when that screeches to a halt and the lights lit up the arena, I was treated to the fastest and heaviest metal I ever heard up til then. I was blown away from the get go! If you know the song, I think you could envision that intro and then explosion of blistering fast guitar and pounding drums!

They played a small set that was closed out with “Balls To The Wall”…holy shit…this is awesome! Every time I hear either of these songs, I immediately crank up the volume and go back in time remembering how great of a time I had at that show!

And Motley Crue killed it as well!

 

[mattross1313]

Cool question.

Probably top of my memory list was first hearing Hey Ya by Outkast.
After leaving school, I travelled to Australia - my placement job went sideways so we ended up just backpacking on the quieter West Coast. Over Christmas we spent around 3 weeks camping in a very small town and hanging with other folks also travelling. Spent many evenings playing cards around a camp fire with music and beers. Hearing this song instantly takes me back there.

 

[Poker Zombie]

Stepping into the wayback machine...

It may not have been the first time I heard it, but it indelibly was the first time I heard it. I crawled out of the back seat and started up the car to remove the fog from the windows while my girlfriend got dressed. I was no longer a virgin and the song (which I still hate musically) was seared into my brain.

Definitely the first time I heard this next song, it was at a David Bowie (Tin Machine) concert. The opening act was a relatively unknown group, 4 non Blondes. Linda Perry's voice was so very polarizing - but for me it was intoxicating. I actually enjoyed them more than Bowie.

My older brother was dating girl from California. Her west coast taste in music was years ahead of what we got on the radio in Detroit. Most I did not care for, but there were two that stuck. They were long broken up before these got any airplay in the Motor City.