For shaun

[vortex]

I reckon the best thing we can do for Shaun is get some cracking threads going for him to read when he checks in. ;D

How about The first song that turned you onto synths

For me , although no one could tell me what was making the noise, it was when I was a young kid ( I'm guessing I was 6-9) and I heard " Popcorn " on the radio, no idea who it was by. It was years before I can remember hearing my next synth based song probably a summer/moroder track. It seemed to take a lifetime for any regualr ouptut of synth tracks to come about.

[synthiaks]

it's all pretty hazy....but the first synth tune i heard i think was underpass by john foxx (which i remember stopping me in my tracks when it came on the radio......it sounded so different!)., but it could have been our friends electric as it must have been all over the radio by then .....i do remember the first record i actually bought was a parade of pops album that had heart of glass and our friends electric on it, i was so pleased! then i got it home and realised they were cover versions, even my infantile mind was shocked at the audacity of those bastards copying my fave tunes. first real single i purchased was complex....i didn't even know what it sounded like, i just asked for the new gary numan record. then i was hooked! ;D

[rpb1966]

Funny really I was only talking to Shaun about the dreaded cover version of `Electric` a few weeks ago when he played it down the phone, talk about awful, the words were wrong etc. Very amusing though.

But the first song I ever heard was Autobahn, back in the 70`s when I thought `what the heck is this!!!!!`

[dlm21uk]

For me it was Cars and Underpass, I also have a vague memory of being mesmorized by Autobahn but I would have only been about 5 at the time that came out!

I remember running around the junior school playground aged 9 singing "hear in my car". I bought my first album 2nd hand at age 10 with my pocket money ! It was The Pleasure Principle.

[Minimoog]

I think it might have been Oxygene Pt IV. The salesman in Debenhams department store in Middlesbrough used it to demonstrate a Hitachi music centre (remember those?) my dad was considering buying. I was standing there fascinated, all of 10 years old, thinking 'what on earth is that?'

Dad bought the music centre. And the album

[synthiaks]

JJM was a big hit with me too.....lush!

[spoonz]

Replicas was the real Synth revolution for me and i didn't even buy it my brother did. I nicked it and the rest is history.

I remember thinking thta synths sounded cool as a kid after seeing "Blinded by the light" on totp in the seventies.

Have you seen the new M & S advert with a "Glass of Champoagne" soundtrack. That brought back memories

Jarre and Kraftwerk were too clinical for me at the time

[synthiaks]

HOW COULD I FORGET THE HUMAN LEAGUE!!!!!!!!!!!! they had a massive influence on me when i first heard them (on a crappy getto-blaster at cub camp......the shame!) i'm talking reproduction/travelogue era.....and marianne is still one of fave songs of all time. but aside from sound of the crowd they went right downhill after the split imo.

[rpb1966]

spoonz said:

Replicas was the real Synth revolution for me and i didn't even buy it my brother did. I nicked it and the rest is history.

I remember thinking thta synths sounded cool as a kid after seeing "Blinded by the light" on totp in the seventies.

Have you seen the new M & S advert with a "Glass of Champoagne" soundtrack. That brought back memories

Jarre and Kraftwerk were too clinical for me at the time

Was n`t that Sailor who sung it?.

[Minimoog]

spoonz said:

Have you seen the new M & S advert with a "Glass of Champoagne" soundtrack. That brought back memories

'Glass of Champagne' is one of my Guilty Pleasures tracks alongside such gems as Clout's 'Substitute' and, er, I've said too much already... #yikes#

[spoonz]

Yeah Sailor it was

And what's sadder is i have it on Mp3 and it's kinda cool in an uncool kinda way. I think

[secretagent]

The first lp that struck me as having weird synth sounds was a collection of sci-fi film music.

It was very orchestral but there was definately some lovely synths scattered about.

Then it was "are friends electric?"

Although it wasn't until telekon,with all the synths listed in the insert,that i started to be interseted in the actual things that made the noise,as opposed to just being interested in the noise ;D

[lemonkid1]

Same answer as Jordan for me, it was JM Jarres Oxygene that first got me hooked to the sound of a synth, also a piece of music by Vangelis, dont know what its called but it was used in the opening credits of a bbc kids teatime show in the late seventies, (i know there was a showjumper horse routine in the opening credits), any clues? The rest is all down to "Are friends electric" say no more, a classic, and heaven to this 13 year old boys lugs at the time.

[synthiaks]

lemonkid1 said:

.....also a piece of music by Vangelis, dont know what its called but it was used in the opening credits of a bbc kids teatime show in the late seventies, (i know there was a showjumper horse routine in the opening credits), any clues? The rest is all down to "Are friends electric" say no more, a classic, and heaven to this 13 year old boys lugs at the time.

i have no idea what show this is but did find a cool list of bbc radiophonic synth crap here...only one mention of vangelis though! ('i'll find my way home' was a seminal track from my infancy too.....so synthy! 'he is sailing' isn't too bad either......)

www.vinylvulture.co.uk/labels_of_love/bbc_1.php

'The reign of Peter Howell at the Radiophonic Workshop marks the end of the glory years for some. Synthesizers were no longer the preserve of the oddball music maker, but were plastered all over the charts in various forms, with new sound palettes and tools evolving from Japanese manufacturers on a weekly basis. Standing one step further into the weird was probably not an easy thing to do, and in retrospect this record sounds quite conventional and unspectacular for the most part. The edge is really taken off it as a collection by the fact that the whole of the first side belongs to the rather pompous title track, which is very conventional in its outlook and very dull indeed. Happily things take a turn for the better on the other side, with some quirky customers like 'Caches of Gold' and 'Magenta Court', before Howell beats Vangelis to the punch with 'Astronauts - a track that wouldn't be out of place on the Blade Runner soundtrack. Worth investigating, but with caution.'

[vortex]

The track was Pulstar by Vangelis and I seem to recall some one who was, or who looked like susan george presenting the show

[vortex]

Sailor may have been a cockney rebel rip off but who'd know after a ll this time.

Guilty pleasures what an excelent thread who wants to continue it somewhere else

[lemonkid1]

Cheers to you both Synthiaks and Vortex, I always loved that Vangelis track, now I finally know what it is I'm off to look for it on cd now ;D

[Dubsounds]

The first thing for me must have been Autobahn.

I remember going to this vintage car rally in Warwickshire when I was a kid and there was a group of original old-school stoners maaaaan stood beside the road near us. They had a cassette thingy going and aside from the dreadful shite like Jethro Tull and Steeleye Span, they played that track. I hadn't a clue what was making all the car horns but I distinctly remember hearing those huge bass filter sweeps and being electrified by them.

I heard it later at home on the radio and wrote down who it was. Next time my mum took me to Leamington, I bought the single from Woolies. It was my first single that I bought for myself. The first ones me mum bought for me were Lilly The Pink by Scaffold and Puff The Magic Dragon by (someone)

Next thing was my uncle Bertus (a very hip dutchman who is singularly responsible for turning me on to sound and equipment in general). Bertus lived with his wife Yvonne in Schreveningen. They had this mega 70's flat with pine floors and chrome furniture etc. His pride and joy was like this AMAZING hi-fi system with Linn turntable (the arm had all these lead counter-weights and looked like a laser gun). He had Quad electrostatic and Bose speakers, twin mono pre-amps... basically NASA tech at the time.

What I loved about my uncle was (because they didn't have kids) he treated me as an adult. Even at 13, he would let me use his Hi-Fi I mean Christ, he even had a stereo limiter before it went to his Revox B-77 for recording (yummmmmm) He used to let me put on his precious vinyl and make tapes to take home. I loved using his kit 'cos my tapes would always sound FANTASTIC when I got them home... far better than even pre-recorded!

Anyway, he just bought this scary looking album which was all black with an old vintage radio on the front (Radioactivity). The cover made me shudder because I used to have nightmares about old radio sets like that when I was a nipper. I must have seen something on TV... I vaguely recollect some really frightening kids drama about these prehistoric stones and a radio set that would crackle and whistle with static and then take over your mind... eeek #oh-shit#

Anyway, he throws me a tape and says "you'll want this". So I walks over to his system and gingerly placed the record on his deck. As soon as I lowered the arm I started to shit myself. Oh Christ! I've fucked his turntable. Bertus must have seen the horror on my face because he was curled up on the floor crying! Tears of laughter I hasten to add. The bastard had set me up!

As you all probably know, the intro is Geiger Counter which is all this static and crackling. Well apart from the fact that I was about to start crying myself because I'd broken his deck... at the same time, I was waiting for my mind to get taken over by the radio set and be turned into a zombie

Anyway, that album had a massive effect on me and got me into Kraftwerk big time. Even to this day, it still gives me the creeps a bit too which is awesome.


“Aus des Weltalls Ferne… Funken Radiosterne… sterne… sterne… sterne… sterne…”


Man that is still a crazy fucked up track

So there you have it... It's all down to some hippies and my Austin Powers uncle ;D

[TheProdigy]

Well for me, it started with Blondie's Heart of Glass (that twanging bass line) which was my first single I ever bought (my granddad bought me Star Party before that, a compilation album which incidentally has this track Automatic Lover by Dee D Jackson which was interesting).

I also remember hearing Are Friends Electric which had me hooked.

Then....in my school library one day, 4 of us had headphones on listening to the same tape machine which had some crummy story narration. This kid comes in and says listen to this, plops his tape in and “Meeeooooowwwww didlelidlelidlelide ting tong ting!” – Oh bliss and joy my brothers (sorry I read Clockwork Orange again recently), it was the Group known as Kraftwerk and I was listening to the gorgeous Robots.

Fact: Synth head ever since.