Earliest musical influences

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Village Idiot
My earliest memory of a song, was a 45 playing "Walk on By" -Leroy Van Dyke. It was my mother's and it was definitely what you call now "in heavy rotation".
From there it was either Hee-Haw, Lawrence Welk, then onto my own choices later.
My heaviest musical influence was soundtracks. Cartoons, movies, you name it. A lot of that comes through in my playing.

Your turn!
 
I might add to your post that the cartoons came also through in your Avatar... ;)

My Dad played a lot of organ, early memories. He tried to teach me keys and I didn't get on with the theory part, which I kinda regret, but it wasn't fun and didn't turn me on at the time.
Then my older brother was given an old beaten up classic guitar by a mate, he never took it up, I grabbed it.
Beatles then, a bit of Stones, Who. Folk, Dylan. What really took me was the "American Folk Blues Festival" touring Europe and I was blown away by the earthiness and authenticity that I felt in those shows.
 
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My parents were country music and big band fans, Johnny Cash, Floyd Cramer, He-Haw and also Lawrence Welk, as far back as I can remember my dad sang Johnny Cash tunes every morning while he shaved, then my older sister by 8 years got them into Chubby Checker and The Twist, then came the British invasion, Hermans Hermits, The Beatles and Rolling Stones
 
When I was a kid, my parents rented La Bamba. Instead of me falling asleep 10 mins in (as usual, I was like 3), I watched them whole movie. Later, at age 9, we were at Disney World. Epcot, at the Great Britain pavilion, waiting for fireworks. All of a sudden, a noise…”if there’s anything that you want…if there’s anything I can do…etc.” From that moment on, I was hooked.
 
My parents weren't really much of an influence on me, I remember Clapton, Amy Grant, The Eagles being played in the car as a kid though. The first soundtracks I were ever bought were things like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie soundtrack on cassette.

But my black sheep of the family uncle had a huge impact on me. Around 96, when I entered junior high, he started giving me mix CDs with bands like Einsturzende Neubauten, Laibach, Black Sabbath, etc. The other half would probably have been MTV/VH1 when they played music, turning me on to alternative rock, metal and hip-hop.
 
Early influences...

Stickdad is a guitar player. Huge Beatles fan, always had good music playing in his truck. Lindsay Buckingham, Steve Earle, Wilco, Neil Finn, Talking Heads, etc. he had a weakness for Dave Matthews back in the 90's and early aughts, but we won't hold that against him.

One day I mentioned something about liking the song "One Headlight" by the wallflowers when we were out and about. He ended up picking up the album for me a few days later.

A little while later....I used my allowance money to buy two albums: matchbox 20's yourself or someone like you, and Third Eye Blind's self titled...the latter still gets semi-regular play. That intro to Losing a Whole Year still slaps.

After that...we won't talk about my pop punk years. I had some regrettable tastes in high school.
 
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Ooh this is a fun one! My earliest musical memories were sitting with my dad and listening to his record collection. Bob Segar, Steve Miller Band, Boston, Chuck Berry, Led Zeppelin, the list goes on. Then in late December of 1989, while staying the night at my babysitter’s house, I watched this show called headbangers ball. Changed my life forever. I especially remember a music video titled One by this little band called Metallica. At 7 years old, that video freaked me the hell out… but was also the coolest thing I had ever heard.
 
blackhatboojum said:
Ooh this is a fun one! My earliest musical memories were sitting with my dad and listening to his record collection. Bob Segar, Steve Miller Band, Boston, Chuck Berry, Led Zeppelin, the list goes on. Then in late December of 1989, while staying the night at my babysitter’s house, I watched this show called headbangers ball. Changed my life forever. I especially remember a music video titled One by this little band called Metallica. At 7 years old, that video freaked me the hell out… but was also the coolest thing I had ever heard.
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That freak out moment for me was when visiting my cousin when I was 12-13 he was 3-4 years older and he put on a Steppenwolf album "The Pusher" blew my mind
 
Black Sabbath - Paranoid. As early as three years-old (1975) I would get my dad to put on the record constantly. When I was four, he bought me Kiss - Destroyer on vinyl for my birthday. Metalhead ever since. That being said, I also remember listening to tons of Kraftwerk, Paul Simon, ABBA, and CCR as a young child. So my musical tastes run the gamut from Mayhem (Norwegian Black Metal) to Katy Perry (Pop) to Lustmord (Dark Ambient) to Vivaldi (Baroque) and everything in-between. About the only genres I don't actively listen to are Country (heard more than enough of it from my grandparents growing up) and Jazz (starting to dive into it now though).
 
I grew up listening to Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday... My dad was a massive jazz fan. Of all of those it was Billie Holiday and the Gerschwin tunes which really stuck. Oh, and Django. We had Django and Stephan Grappelli playing a lot.

Then as I got older my brother would play Deep Purple and Wings records. Band on the Run really stood out to me. But it was hearing Dire Straits playing Sultans of Swing which made me take up guitar. I can barely stand to listen to Dire Straits these days but they are who got me to learn guitar.

As far as influences - well, everything is an influence. But the guys who taught me how to phrase and get sounds from the guitar - even though I sound nothing like them - would be Santana, Gilmour, Knopfler, JJ Cale, Billy Gibbons, and Brian Setzer. Players who I listen to today to steal - sorry, learn - from would be Paul McCartney, Nick Curran, Dan Auerbach, Scotty Moore, Rev Horton Heat... Paul McCartney has to be one of the most under-rated guitarists considering his stature as a musician. Some of his guitar playing is/was incredibly innovative and otherworldly. And he didn't have the roadmap that we have today.
 
bitzie said:
Black Sabbath - Paranoid. As early as three years-old (1975) I would get my dad to put on the record constantly. When I was four, he bought me Kiss - Destroyer on vinyl for my birthday. Metalhead ever since. That being said, I also remember listening to tons of Kraftwerk, Paul Simon, ABBA, and CCR as a young child. So my musical tastes run the gamut from Mayhem (Norwegian Black Metal) to Katy Perry (Pop) to Lustmord (Dark Ambient) to Vivaldi (Baroque) and everything in-between. About the only genres I don't actively listen to are Country (heard more than enough of it from my grandparents growing up) and Jazz (starting to dive into it now though).
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Jazz is somewhat of an interesting genre. There is some really great jazz and some really weird jazz. There is also many genres, like swing, bebop, dixieland, jazz blues, contemporary, bossa nova and gypsy jazz. One of my biggest influences is Django Reinhardt. He could play better with 2 fingers than people could play with 5. Jazz is certainly a kinda niche. I enjoy it though, and listen to it on a regular basis. I think it is always a gift to have the ability to appreciate and enjoy something that many people don't enjoy or appreciate. Sorry for the long write up!
 
My biggest influences are Django Reinhardt, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Chuck Berry, Charlie Christian, Tommy Emanuel, Chet Atkins, Duane Allman, Derek Trucks, Pat Matheny, The three kings(BB King, Freddie King, Albert King), and a lot more! I really like most types of music, and generally enjoy older music. Don't get me started on pop though... That is a rant you definitely don't want to sit through...
 
Username123 said:
Jazz is somewhat of an interesting genre. There is some really great jazz and some really weird jazz. There is also many genres, like swing, bebop, dixieland, jazz blues, contemporary, bossa nova and gypsy jazz. One of my biggest influences is Django Reinhardt. He could play better with 2 fingers than people could play with 5. Jazz is certainly a kinda niche. I enjoy it though, and listen to it on a regular basis. I think it is always a gift to have the ability to appreciate and enjoy something that many people don't enjoy or appreciate. Sorry for the long write up!
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Jazz at least some of it I enjoy listening to, but not something I've ever desired to play, except maybe some chord medley standards, I might like to try that some day
 
I was in a "Jazz band" JH / HS (as well as all the other band venues offered). We played a lot of the "progressive" stuff. The time changes, key changes, and rhythm changes were sometimes impossible. Now when we played the smooth jazz (heavily R&B flavored) you could really sway (says the band geek).
 
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