Statler Brothers on 8 track in dad's old car. Whatever musical guests were on the Muppet Show.

The Night Chicago Died (Paper Lace)... Casey Kasem's weekly top 40 countdown on A.M. radio.

Vince Blake said:

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My dad had a Best of Credence Clearwater Revival tape cassette. Think its the only album he ever owned. I loved Lookin' Out My Backdoor as a little kid and ask my dad to play it, rewind, play it again.

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Baby Beluga is excellent. For a stretch of about a month it was the only song that could get my son to fall asleep

Christmas carols would have to be the first songs I remember; We Three Kings, Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem, Silent Night.
My Mom was tone-deaf and music, to her, was just a lot of noise, so there wasn't much played at home or in the car. As to individual songs, I was probably about 4-5 years old, sharing a room with my brother that is 7 years older. He must have left the radio on one night when he fell asleep and I woke up to Frankie Lane singing Mule Train. It has stuck with me all these years later.

My earliest memory is listening to Elvis on a road trip from Houston to California (oof). I didn't know who Elvis was because I was about 5 years old. This was in 1989 or 1990. But we listened to Elvis a TON on that trip and I remember thinking, "This guy is a really good singer, he's going to be famous someday." My parents instilled a love of 50s, 60s, and 70s music in me that will never go away, and I maintain that Burning Love is one of the best songs to start a road trip with.

ScapeGOAT said:

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Baby Beluga is excellent. For a stretch of about a month it was the only song that could get my son to fall asleep

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Haha.... that's crazy. From 32 years ago to today.

twisted sister "we're not going to take it"

I was in junior high before I knew there was an alternative frequency called "FM" so all I knew was two kinds, Country and Western.

Wildfire by Michael Martin Murphy. My earliest memory of music being played on the radio.

For some odd reason I have a memory of riding in the car with my mom and that song was playing on the old, analog dial radio.

Probably the AM radio in my mom's '69 Dodge Dart...songs like "Sundown" by Gordon Lightfoot and "Loves Me Like A Rock" by Paul Simon stand out.

When I was about 8 or 9, my older sister wore out the Saturday Night Fever album, so I knew those songs whether I wanted to or not.

The Good Morning Vietnam soundtrack was being played in my dads truck for most of my elementary school days.

My first favorite song was Elvis Presley's "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck". My mom had a bunch of old 45s from when she was a teenager, and that was one of them. I used to blast that on the record player over and over again until Mom made me stop.

I remember my dad playing Cat Stevens on a reel to reel. Other than that my first memory of music was every year my parents would play Ray Conniff (Xmas album) every holiday and can remember it back to when I was 3 or 4.

This songs triggers my earliest memories

My dad had an old school cabinet hi-fi, and growing up he always had Elvis, the Beach Boys, or surf rock (Dick Dale, the Ventures, etc.). When mom got a turn, it was always Neil Diamond and Elton John.

LisaMarie said:

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My earliest memory is listening to Elvis on a road trip from Houston to California (oof). I didn't know who Elvis was because I was about 5 years old. This was in 1989 or 1990. But we listened to Elvis a TON on that trip and I remember thinking, "This guy is a really good singer, he's going to be famous someday." My parents instilled a love of 50s, 60s, and 70s music in me that will never go away, and I maintain that Burning Love is one of the best songs to start a road trip with.

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Username certainly checks out.

It was a small apartment across the street from the old campus golf course at UNT, right behind the old bowling alley. I can see the room and hear it in my mind like it happened yesterday, but it was probably late 1973…

"Hey, did you happen to see the most beautiful girl in world…"

Great thread! My earliest memory was when I was 3 or 4 years old and my parents having a party at the house.

For some reason the only song that sticks out is Genesis "That's All". My dad and his friends were mostly into southern rock, so it's amazing to me that genesis is what sticks out from that night. It must be the opening beat.

Many years later I found out that was my dad's last hooray before checking in to rehab. By my calculations he has been sober for 37-38 years!

Oh and when I hear that song today, it immediately takes me back to that night. Oh the joys of growing up in the 80s! Still love that song today.

Elvira

I remember a steady rotation of my Dad's vinyl records... Beach boys, Credence, Eagles, Lovin' Spoonful in particular.

But the earliest song that clearly sticks out is "Hold on to My Love" by Jimmy Ruffin. I find that interesting given that I don't think I've ever heard that song anywhere else apart from my Dad's hi-fi.

Funny I was recently kinda thinking about this.

"You are the Woman" (that I've always dreamed of). It was a crazy hot day, it was on the radio as we were pulling into a gas station in rural Iowa, I remember the old Pepsi sign outside too.

There had to have been songs before that, but that is the one I remember most vividly early in life. I actually went back to confirm when the song was a hit and it lined up perfectly with my memory - the song hit the charts spring of '76 and I remember that around July 4.

I have very few things I can remember prior to second grade but I when I hear We Can Work It Out by The Beatles, my mind checks back to the playground when I was in kindergarten as the day care program I was in always had that song playing on the speakers outside. First song I can remember.

4th grade, San Antonio..
It's Still Rock and Roll To Me.
Classmates sang it.

I remember somewhere in the late 80s walking thru the kindergarten and all of us little kids losing our minds and dancing and singing to "Walk the Dinosaur"

BOOM BOOM LAKALAKALAKA BOOM

I vaguely recall "We Built This City" and "Take My Breath Away" and then probably shortly thereafter, the soundtrack from "The Big Chill."

Thriller. We didn't have cable, and I didn't know what MTV was, but somehow we had a BetaMax tape with four or five Michael Jackson videos. I distinctly remember it had the full length Thriller video and Beat It. It also had two versions of Billie Jean. The original video and the live show where he broke out the moonwalk. I think it had some other live performances, too, but those are what I definitely remember. I have no idea how we got it, because there is no way my parents were cool enough to make a MJ video mix tape back in 1984. My guess is that my cousin recorded them for us. Watching that tape over and over again in the apartment living room is one of my earliest/greatest memories.

My parents had a lot of albums and 45s when I was growing up. I remember my mom playing Roy Orbison's "Running Scared" a lot. That would be my earliest memory.

My dad playing Van Halen's "1984" album.

CCR
CSN
Eagles - I used to hang my head out the window of my dad's Monte Carlo and scream to Take it Easy! At my wedding, during the reception, I had the song played and dedicated to ole dad!

First thing I remember I was lying in my bed I couldn't have been no more than one or two.

And I remember there was a radio coming from the room next door. And my mother laughed the way some ladies do.

Probably has to be Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack. My Aunt and Uncle were mega-fans and it was a staple movie in our household growing up especially around Easter.

All my siblings and I could belt out any of the songs growing up...



After that, it would have to be John Denver's greatest hits, because that's all my mom would listen to on our long road trips from Houston to <wherever we went that summer in the van and popup camper> (usually places like Durango / Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon to Sequoia to Utah and back, Civil War battlefields road trip from Houston through Mississippi up to Tennessee and ending at the re-enactment of Gettysburg (while they were filming the movie in the early 1990s, Pensacola Florida was another favorite)

"…and I looked out the window and dreamed I was a cowboy".