What's the first pop song you remember? Not the first one you remember liking, just the first one you remember. Mine is Video Killed the Radio Star. Released in 1979: I was three. Even if I hadn't just looked that up, I know it must have been a long time ago because I remember being really worried about the radio star being killed, and also finding the video dead scary, even if it wasn't a MURDERER. I hadn't watched the video in years, so I dug it up on YouTube to see precisely how scary it is:
OH NO! WHAT IS THE SPARKLY LADY DOING IN THE PLASTIC TUBE? WHY CAN'T SHE GET OUT? WHY IS EVERYBODY DRESSED AS THE FUTURE? WHY DOES THE WASHING MACHINE KEEP EXPLODING? (Eagle eyes may have spotted that the washing machine is not, in fact, a washing machine but a large radio with a round speaker, which makes a little more sense.)
It isn't very scary.
Remind me one day to do a blog about music lyrics that I took literally when I was very small. (Why are the words of the prophets written on the subway wall? I don't know what prophets are but I'm going to assume they're some kind of graffiti artist.) Meanwhile, please put your own first musical memories in the comments. I am steeling myself to deal with some of you being VERY young and remembering things that I danced to at university.
For UK readers, first memories playlist can be listened to here.
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Gary Numan - Are Friends Electric? on Top of the Pops is the first one I genuinely remember seeing/hearing. After that, it's tricky. I'm sure I must have heard others, because most of the music I remember is from TV programmes so I'm not sure they count. The rubbish songs that the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop team did as Brown Sauce I definitely remember, as well as TISWAS's Bucket of Water song as well as some from The Goodies, all of which got into the charts.
But I suspect it was actually my cousin's copy of YMCA by the Village People that is the first pop song I remember. I'm surprised so many people were surprised when he came out...
Actually, now I look at these they're virtually all 1979 or later, too. Huh. Was there something particularly musical about 1979, or is that when electricity started working again in the 70s?
...or very old. It had to be Cliff Richard's "The Young Ones" or "Walkin' Back to Happiness" by Helen Shapiro. Can't separate them as they're both 1961
I'm getting some suggestions on Twitter too. Verily this is going to be there worst playlist EVER.
"the" not "there"
I can't remember a lot from my early years (like my first memories are from when I was four, going on five which I am told is very unusual)so I'm not sure - could be Misteltoe and Wine, could be Mysterious Girl - Peter Andre, could be Girls Just Want to Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper...I know the last one turned up at many a primary school disco so that probably beats PA out by a long way.
Oooh god - this is REALLY hard. Can't remember that far back (most of my memories pre aged 10 are very vague). Ehrm...possibly Procol Harum 'Whiter Shade of Pale' aged about 3 or 4 - my parents weren't/aren't huge music lovers but they did have that song on an old compilation lp and I remember loving but not understanding it(no change there...)
Oooh - or Brown Girl in the Ring. I seem to remember seeing that on TV when I was REALLY young.
I remember having no idea what 'looks like a sugar in a plum' meant. Is that an actual lyrics or just my remembered lyric? No idea...*goes off to google lyrics*
Not sure when I heard Brown Girl first, but my cousin did have Rivers of Babylon so that would be 78.
Now YOU'VE made me feel really old, Marie. Probably my first apart from the Beatles (the only pop music my mother would tolerate) was something like Lil Jimmy Osmond and Long Haired Lover From Liverpool c 1972 - I was 7 - , which was dire and we could all see it then. Oh possibly something by the New Seekers - I seem to remember being force fed I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing when I was 5. Then BECAUSE my parents hated pop music so we never had it in the house I was fed a steady diet of other people's tastes when I went round to their house, which included the Bay City Rollers, Mud & Sweet. It was so great being a child in the seventies(-:
OTOH my best friend's sister was much older and I remember her introducing me to Bohemian Rhapsody c1976, so that's actually a good one for your playlist...
Song that made me love music was Roxanne by the Police, but that's a different (and much better playlist).
Rob, I can remember YMCA very clearly and we all thought they were all gay. But a friend of mine a bit older then me, took it literally and had no idea it had any gay connotations. So there you go...
For the record Grease came out when I was 13 and I can still sing Summer Lovin' off by heart...
Sad confession: it's got to be Making your Mind Up by Bucks Fizz.
I was five.
I think it stuck it my mind because of the bit where they rip the girls' skirts off. That was really cutting edge! It's obviously had a deep impact on me; I've been ripping off my skirt ever since!
All Around My Hat by Steeleye Span. 1975. Gulp. This playlist just gets worse and worse...
Culture Club, Karma Chameleon. Why is the lady singing about colours on a boat? It was like a pop version of "I can sing a rainbow". I was five.
The Young One's version of 'A hole in my shoe'.
Nice one. I think it would have to be Love Is All by Deep Purple. The ABC (the Australian BBC) used to play it as a filler every day between Sesame Street and Playschool.
Correction - it was Roger Glover on his own rather than Deep Purple who did Love Is All. I've just watched it again, it's very very trippy.
I can think of a really funkadelic weird animated movie that still messes with people years after they've seen it: Fantastic Planet.
You ain't seen 'strange' until you've seen it.
1987 "Somewhere Out There" - Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVr2eOBmo_U
1987 "La Bamba" - Lou Diamond Phillips covering Ritchie Valens' song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK2HANwsUWg
I was 5, we didn't have a tv, and I remember standing in the mall being mesmerized by the tv in the Disney clothes section watching the music video for "Somewhere Out There". The other was on the radio all the time, and I loved the beat.
Oh dear - I feel very OLD! My family listened to very little pop music when I was a child, but did own the grand total of two 45s - Petula Clark singing 'Downtown' and 'Up, up and away' by the Fifth Dimension ('Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?' Yes, please).
I can also remember singing 'She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah' in my primary school playground, although I had no knowledge that the Beatles even existed - I was just joining in.
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