I'm not talking music we like, in this thread. Not even just music we love. I'm talking music that blew us away the first time that we heard it. There's a lot of music I love, but there are a few recordings that completely floored me when I first heard them. I love to see that excitement in other people. Never mind whether it was opera, folk, rock and roll, jazz or even disco (although I'd have a lot of trouble, myself, with disco.)

Here's one from me to start it off.

Back in the early 50's when I was a teenager, pop music was Patti Page, Doris Day, Perry Como and the lot, I used to listen to WFOX out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I'd lie on my bed late at night with my Motorola using my arms as antennae as the reception would fade in and out. Without any advanced preparation, this song came out of the speakers and it created an appetite that I've never completely satisifed. It was by a group named The Crows. What kind of a name was that? A group named for a kind of bird? Next thing you know, they'll come up with groups named after Orioles and Cardinals and BlueJays. The song was Gee, recorded with just an electric guitar, piano and drums. It didn't sound like anything I ever heard before.
When I went down to the local music store, they had never heard of the song, and couldn't even find it to order it. No wonder. WFOX was a radio station that played "race" music. Early rhythm and blues.
I had a friend who was going to Marquette University in Milwaukee, so I went to visit him one weekend. The program of WFOX was sponsored by a record store, and that was my real reason for going. I ended up walking a couple of miles to get to the store. I had pictured it as a gigantic store, filled with exotic rhythm and blues records. It was about 8 feet wide. But, when I walked in, I said, full of confidence.. "Do you have Gee, by the Crows?" And the guy behing the counter turned around, reached behind him and pulled as copy off a stack of 45ps a shelf.

I still have that 45. It's gray from being played, and almost smooth, but when I hear that song, it still gets me.

I can give folk samples, and jazz and gospel... and rock and roll, too. Not just songs I liked.

Songs that totally blew me away the first time I heard them. Songs I would gladly travel to another city and walk several miles, just to get a copy.

Tell me one of yours.. and if you can take the time, tell me a little more than just the title of the song. I'd like you to recall the excitement you felt the first time you heard it.

Jerry