1st time I heard this song...I was like...

[par4ken]

As a once avide AM radio listener I could say that for most songs, I heard it first on the radio. Only with a small number do I remember more precise detail than that.

New records were referred to as "Hit Bound" before they charted. I remember Bread "Baby I'm a Want You" being played as "Hitbound" on CKRC. While I always liked the song I felt that it palled in comparison to thier many previous hits. It is the only song that I specifically remember in that fashion. Also on CKRC was The Guess Who "Heartbroken Bopper" played there for the first time as a " CKRC world exclusive".

I remember Crazy Elephant "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin" being played on our local radio station about 10 PM one night. It is hard to forget a group name like that!

My aunt put on the radio (circa 1965) one evening tuned to CKY and I remember hearing Nancy Sinatra "These Boots are Made for Walking" as well as the radio jingle "CKY in Winnipeg, Radio 58". I always loved the jingles as much as the music, that one stayed etched in my head all these years!

Everyone my age remembers The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan show. I remember not really liking "She Loves You". It was impossible to forget it with everyone in school singing it the next day!

A friend played "Already Gone" I had to ask him who it was; I was a bit surprised, I was no Eagles fan prior to that. He also played "Do You Want My Love" by Chilliwack. IMHO thier best work but mostly ignored by commercial radio.

Slightly off topic, entire albums. I first heard Patti Smith "Horses" in its entirety on "Rock Superior" CBQ Thunder Bay. I was blown away and went out and bought it shortly afterward. I heard many albums for the first time on CITI-FM, I won't bother to list them all now.

 

[par4ken]

Yes, yes. That was the first Led Zeppelin song I ever heard. It was a WTF is this moment. It is still a wild ride (lol) for me. I’ve always rated it higher than Stairway to Heaven… believe it or not.

I believe it! I feel the same way. Stairway to Heaven was a good song but originally not a huge hit, it did have staying power however. It became much overplayed and over used especially at weddings. As a hit Communication Breakdown predated Whole Lotta Love and I remember it very fondly as well!

 

[--Moe--]

Rush - 2112 (Overture - Grand Finale)

I was a DJ at a local Nightclub when this record was 1st released in 1976. Often, prior to opening the Club doors, we'd set up chairs in the middle of the dance floor and listen to various LP cuts on the Club's Sound System . One day MikeH brings in this new Rush album exclaiming "You gotta heard this!" So I cued up side one on one of the Turntables, set the sound system's volume fairly high, and WOW !!

 

[jamoke]

As a hit Communication Breakdown predated Whole Lotta Love and I remember it very fondly as well!

I do remember Communication Breakdown, but then I remember not knowing what to make of it or Led Zep I at the time. It was a relatively minor hit UNTIL Whole Lotta Love hit the airwaves. Led Zep I became a huge success AFTER Led Zepp II came out.

I worked at a record distributor at the time and was very in-tune with popular album sales.

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

I'll play. For me it was standing in a record store when I was in high school when I first heard Rory Gallagher doing "Messing With The Kid" live. I had never heard of him before. 30 seconds into the song, I walked up to the guy at the counter and said, "I don't know who that is, but I'll buy it right now."
I have a lot Rory's albums now.

 

[H.A.L.]

I remember buying my first King Crimson album simply because I like the cover (ItWoP) and not
having a clue what the band sounded like. You would do that back then, in fact, the covers were
pitched for that.

I was already into rock and the SF scene and such, but not quite prepared for "Pictures of a City"!
Puzzled at first, I can remember saying to myself, "Hey, I might could like this!" and really enjoying
the rest of the album (although the "Devil's Triangle" bit was a tough sell).

Only later did I realize that it was the jazz elements that made it different to me. Once I got a few
Sun Ra records, I could honestly say that a rock band got me into jazz!

 

[stereoptic]

FIrst time I felt that bass thump in the chest from a set of large speakers was in a record store (Discount Records) and Stevie Wonder's Boogie On Reggae Woman was spinning on the turntable.
Some songs that I heard for the first time while in the car, either driving or passenger, I can remember the location: People Are Strange (it's premier broadcast on a NY radio!), Free Bird, Hazy Lazy Days of Summer, Don't Fear the Reaper...

 

[dr. simple]

Has anyone mentioned "Frankenstein" yet?

 

[DrKlahn]

This is going to be an odd one, but Learning to Fly by Pink Floyd. Granted I'd heard some of the previous Floyd catalog sporadically, but the radio stations in the midwest in the mid 80's were pretty much bombarding the airwaves with hair metal. It was just so different and being a new (at the time) album it got some airplay. Made me actually start down the Pink Floyd rabbit hole, which in turn opened up that whole era of the late 60's-70's.

Maybe a bit less formulative, but I did a multichannel music day probably 8 years ago and invited some friends. A friend of a friend brought this band called Porcupine Tree and it took just a couple tracks (Even Less, Piano Lessons on Stupid Dream) and I had a new obsession. I've since tracked down all the old 5.1 copies on Discogs and of course Wilson's solo works.

 

[Mackspower]

'Runnin' with the Devil' - sonically first of all, just wow. Dark, sad and full of energy all the same time . . . what a sound.
And weirdly the lyrics helped keep me on track in an awkward phase of my life.

 

[mrcond]

My dad used to listen to an oldies station in the car. I remember being maybe 11 years old and “You Really Got Me” by the Kinks came on and that just stuck in my head, and still remember the moment vividly today. I also remember laughing when the DJ said “That was the Kinks” and I thought wow, what a funny name for a band.

 

[Quad Linda]

1967. I was in 8th grade. Heard a new release on WLS AM 89 in Chicago: Purple Haze. My life has never been the same. Since then, I bought every Hendrix record I could lay my hands on. Bought the 45 and US 2 ch LP, UK 2 LP (US version w/Axis), Australian complete albums box, US CD, US expanded CD, UK mono CD, 2 US CD expanded & 2ch/mono SACD.

 

[mandrix]

So many. So many. Every time I think of one, another pops up. By late '60's it was M Blues, Traffic, Zep. But so much more.

 

[DennisMabry]

I'll have to agree with all that said "Whole Lotta Love"! I don't remember a song before that, with so much bass!

I was at a local public pool hangin' with friends and the radio station on the PA played "Won't Get Fooled Again". I was stunned!

I think both songs had a profound affect on me...In a good way.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Stairway to Heaven was a good song but originally not a huge hit, it did have staying power however. It became much overplayed and over used especially at weddings.

Really? At weddings? Its about addiction. And that tempo change must have been something on the dance floor. Slow dance for 5 or 6 minutes.... then BOOM.

 

[stoopid]

Really? At weddings? Its about addiction...

You apparently never had really good honeymoon sex. It's the reason the divorce rate is so high.

 

[Doug G.]

There are actually many I could write about but I'll just pick three.

My dad was Greatest Generation and he had Glenn Miller and other forties 78s but he liked to listen to the top 40 station in town in the early sixties and I remember first hearing "Calendar Girl". A great pop tune.

I was at the local place where bands from the Cities always played when they came to town (The Tower) on the second floor above George's Pizza, on a Friday night in November or December of 1970. The band was on a break and there was a concession area where, during band breaks, they would play the local radio station over speakers. I wasn't in that area but was kind of out on the floor, hanging around.

The place was kind of noisy so it wasn't really clear but I heard a song I had never heard before coming from the concession area. The singer was wailing and I thought it was Jefferson Airplane with a new release and Grace was doing the wailing. It was "Immigrant Song" by Zep, of course.

"Trash" by the New York Dolls.

Oops, I MUST mention the entire Litter "Emerge" album, too. Incredible.

Doug