At the beginning of my teens I was turned on by the emergence of the surf sound bands and the "Beach Boys" etc, those bands being tied in popularity contests on local radio stations with Elvis until they eventually overwhelmed the Elvis sound with their own developing sounds. Around that same time I got into the "Spencer Davis Group" including, of course the young Steve Winwood. I also was into bands like "Sam and Dave". These sounds had soul and a high level of musicality and distinctiveness.
Then I remember watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and of course thought they were real good; but so was the Spencer Davis Group, the Beach Boys, Sam and Dave and a lot of others. But the Beatles intensively evolved from, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to a lot of other highly enjoyable music. The "Stones" quickly followed with their own rock and roll and blues rock: "Satisfaction", "RubyTuesday", etc., really made an impression on me with their special sound. Of course Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and others were already rocking the airwaves with a modern type of music. This type of music was a far cry from the "Ray Charles" type music my parents were grooving on - or rather, listening to.
Of course one monumental turning point happened when Bob Dylan hit the big time. His music evolved seemingly symbiotically with the times and lent a type of intellectuality to rock and roll that gave it a way greater depth of meaning, especially in the lyrics and overall vibe. Dylan changed music, people, and the world.
A lot of other turning points occurred when I first heard the first album by "Elton John". That had a form of musicality that no other music of the time had and it blended in real well with the compounds of the day. Hendrix was rocking the house and we were dancing in night clubs to songs like "Purple Haze".
I got turned on to modern blues or blues rock, whatever you want to call it by, "The Life Adventures of Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield" and I have these CD's today and listen to those classic songs like, "Dear Mr. Fantasy", ". . . Feeling Groovy (59th Street Bridge Song)", "Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong", and "Together 'Til the End of Time", not to leave out the great improvization of, "The Weight". As far as I was concerned Blues couldn't get much better than that.
Then another turning point came with the cool new sounds of Southern Rock as delivered directly to NYC by the Allman Brothers with, "Live at the Fillmore East", a really cool old classic theater. Blues, rock, and jazz from a bunch of white hippies and at least one black dude from WAY Down South, integrated and rocking the house, at a time when predjudice was riding high Down South and blacks were still very segregated. You knew the Allman Brothers were a new phenomenon from the South that was probably a sign of the future - you know, forget all that predjudice BS and let's just change the world, no looking back. The rest of the Southern Rock bands followed in their wake. Many to great success, even to this day.
Of course Led Zepellin totally signified a turning point with their heavy metal sound and ripping drum lines.
Santana and Crosby, Stills, and Nash broke thru at Woodstock and music would never be the same.
These were some of the main turning points in my personal appreciation of music.
Today I am getting, somewhat retrospectively, into a lot of electric blues as purveyed by such souls as Albert Collins, Albert King, Buddy Guy, Edgar Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Van Morrison, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Tom Waits, and the various endeavors of Eric Clapton and his friends.
So in the seeming vacumn of emerging great musicality I have been getting into the music of the blues rock tradition, history, and present day incarnation.
All of these things turned me on to playing drums and guitar. It is with awe that I look back across time at these great musicians and think about the effects they have had on my musical development.
So my turning point in music was not a single point in space and time like dropping a*** and listening to the Grateful Dead or going to one of their concerts, but it was a combination of all those things and the things mentioned above. It is like looking back into the depths of a kalidascopic space/time vortex of sights and sounds that stretches all the way back from where I am to unrememberable and incomprehensible places and times. Sometimes when I sit down and play and just let myself go I wonder where some of these sounds come from: my heart, my soul? Certainly not of my own creation.
