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INFLUENCES
I'm enjoying spending a Sunday afternoon looking back and speculating about what got me here and where I found inspiration. I do not emulate these artists. And I bend over backwards not to plagarize them. No, these are just artists and songs I embraced and appreciated, sometimes because of where I was when they were popular. It also doesn't take into account that I listen, from time to time, to just about any kind of music there is -- from Classical and Reggae to Alternative and Jazz. Spice of life.
Although I really don't like the idea of categorizing by arbitrary time periods, for purposes of organization I'll lay out some of my favorite music by decade. By way of a loose bio, I include a little "where I was at" during each period. I'm sure I'm forgetting many, I don't have a list anywhere... well I didn't until now. Here's how I organized it:
Hits: Singles that grabbed me -- made me happy. I may or may not have cared for the artist otherwise. Bands: Bands I liked. It doesn't even mean I bought their stuff. Usually I did. Albums: "Landmark" releases that moved me and I listened to a lot.
When I was very young, what my parents enjoyed and what I heard on TV or my AM radio was all I knew of music. Fortunately for me, my parents were somewhat musically sophisticated and diverse in their tastes. And we always had a piano. I got equal helpings of Stan Kenton, Spike Jones and the City Slickers, Rachmaninoff and boogie-woogie. Even as a young child I knew there was something wrong with the Ray Conniff Singers (okay, Mom and Dad had some lapses), and thank God they were a little too young for Lawrence Welk. I sang in the choir at church, and in grade school I made it to the finals of a music listening competition, where we would identify classical music based on hearing exerpts.
The first child of an only son, my grandmother -- Sissy -- was quite taken by me, it would seem. She had been an enigma in her younger years, an expert tennis player, a concert violinist, and her and my grandpa even were in a band for awhile. Sissie loved me selflessly, and she managed to impart an appreciation for music that I know was the single most powerful force in my inevitable journey. She was the one who paid for the piano lessons and the violin lessons, and I remember she played a duet with my piano teacher while the piano teacher's son (former ATP CEO Mark Miles) and I danced and sang to "Hey Look Me Over" for the grade school talent program. Sissy and I enjoyed music together, and she taught me about harmonies by example.
Sixties
After my early infatuation with the Beatles waned slightly, I embraced much of the British Invasion, initially the Mersey Beat, Herman's Hermits, Donovan, and later The Animals, The Rolling Stones and Jeff Beck. The first piece of "music" I ever bought was "They're Coming to Take Me Away", followed closely by Left Banke's "Pretty Ballerina".
My next youngest brother, Brett, was a Downs Syndrome child. It was pretty severe, he was diagnosed untrainable, which ended up being the case (he's still alive and well in St. Petersburg, but still not verbal). Back when he was around ten, Brett would sit at the piano, which at this time was in the basement, and play. It was a repetitive pattern, usually a rhythmic two-note chord with each hand, then he would change the pattern slightly, and yet another variation. It was remarkable. We'd usually just let him go, it wasn't dissonent, it was music. Maybe not a song, per se, but it was pleasant, and he enjoyed himself. It made me think, subconsciencely I'm sure, that maybe the act of writing is not anyone's exclusive domain, and is perhaps as vital as the song itself.
Also around this time I paid attention to the lyrics -- the love-soaked ballads. I bought in to the hopeful simplicity. I thought many of the songs I heard were life lessons -- suggestions or warnings. I thought they were important.
Hits: "The Martian Hop", "Pipeline", "Love Me Do", "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night", "Good Vibrations", "Can't Help Myself", "Itchygoo Park", "Sun Arise", "Penny Lane", "Rain On the Roof", "Hey, Mr. Tamborine Man", "How Can I Be Sure?", "Needles and Pins". Bands: The Association, Chicago, The Mamas and the Pappas, The Four Seasons, The BeeGees, Marvin Gaye, Glen Campbell, The Supremes, Motown, The Everly Brothers, The Four Seasons. Albums: Rolling Stones - Through the Past Darkly, Paul Revere and the Raiders and The Fifth Dimension's Greatest Hits, Bill Cosby - "For Russell, My Brother...".
Late sixties, early seventies
Since this was my adolescent/coming of age period, it can't be delineated by a decade marker. It was a period of social evolution; after the "Summer of Love" and before the mid-seventies disillusion. Additionally, I was transplanted (from the mid-west to Florida) in 1968 and therefore my sphere of influence changed dramatically. It was an exciting time. I was impacted by beautiful music from articulate, passionate artists when musical, sexual and political boundaries were being crossed with impunity. Men were walking on the moon, for God's sake.
I'm proud to say that in 1969 I was compelled to buy a 45 of the first reggae tune to ever make it to American AM radio: Desmond Dekker and the Aces' "The Israelites".
In Florida at the time, it seemed we were months behind the rest of the country. I didn't hear about Woodstock until the movie came out! AM ruled, but FM and album-oriented rock offered stereo and fidelity. I was finishing up high school, I was no longer cutting my hair. I got a job, a motorcycle, girlfriends...
In 1970 when I heard "21st Century Schizoid Man" on KAAY radio in Little Rock (about 800 miles away) my head was ripped off. Also that year I "discovered" Led Zeppelin II (I missed the first album). This was something new. It spoke to me.
Hits: Steppenwolf - "Magic Carpet Ride", Spirit - "Mechanical World", Derek and the Dominoes - "Layla", "Tell Me Something Good", "Maggie Mae".
Bands: Influenced by mainstream: Pink Floyd, Dan Fogleburg, Jimi and Joni, CSN & sometimes Y, ELP, ELO
...Elton, Cat Stevens, the Doors, Steppenwolf, Carole King and Steve Miller (my first concert), and left-of-center: Spooky Tooth, Yusef Lateef, Zappa, Judee Sill, Mose Allison and Vangelis (Aphrodite's Child). Firesign Theatre.
Albums: Beatles - White Album (yes, I played it backwards), Abbey Road and Let It Be, King Crimson - Court of the Crimson King, Moody Blues - Threshold of a Dream, A Question of Balance, Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Santana - Abraxas, David Crosby - If I Could Only Remember My Name, Jefferson Airplane/Starship - Blows Against the Empire, Caravan - In the Land of Pink and Grey, Iron Butterfly - In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida, The Who - Live at Leeds, Tommy and Who's Next?, Black Sabbath - Paranoid, Led Zeppelin - III & IV, Jeff Beck - Rough and Ready, David Bowie - Aladdin Sane.
Seventies
Although I started college majoring in psychology, that changed after the first year. I went on to earn an AA degree without really knowing what I planned to do with my life. I held odd jobs, mostly making enough to get by. I was observing. This was my "blank page" period. I was participating in the stuff of life that becomes songs.
"No one is interesting until they've suffered." - Shawn Colvin
I remember seeing Arlo Guthrie perform in an odd but excellent venue in Tampa. He told stories. Interesting, moving stories. Then he sang and it was just as moving. I'm in awe. On one hand I can play and write with that emotion and verve, but I don't think I could present it as smoothly under that kind of scrutiny, nor do I care to.
By this time I have hit my songwriting stride and we were performing! It didn't hurt to hear edgy artists like Talking Heads and Devo. Even though I enjoyed Steely Dan, The Eagles, The Allman Brothers, Jimmy Buffet and Heart, I was ready for a change. I only liked disco for the beat and the bass, and I dug new wave or a little punk, but I really warmed up to alternative. I liked Tom Waits, The Cars, Elvis Costello and The Clash, The Pretenders.
Hits: "Guitar Man", "Hello, It's Me" and "The Air That I Breathe", "I'm Not in Love", "Green Grass and High Tides", "Baker Street", "The Sultans of Swing".
Bands: In college (mid-seventies) Leo Kotke, Paco DeLucia, Louden Wainwright III and the Doobies. Leter it was Bob Marley, Fleetwood Mac, Pure Prarie League, The Police, Blondie, Orleans.
Albums: ELP - Tarkus, Brain Salad Surgery & Trilogy, Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks, Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon. I got a copy of The Who's "Quadraphrenia" the day it was released.
Eighties
I did not foresee being a musician as a career endeavor: The "big time" was so tentative, frustrating and imposing. So I relented to join the work ethic and we bought a home. Once Rich Rags disbanded Nancy and I (heretofore referred to as "we") didn't have a formal band for awhile, but I was still writing and dabbling on my four-track TASCAM. And listening. Then there was MTV! And I was loving the groundswell we were calling "Alternative".
Hits: The Smiths - "How Soon Is Now?", Roxy Music - "Avalon", Don Henley - "End of the Innocence", "That's Just the Way It Is". Among others I can't recall these stuck out as impressive: "I Know What Boys Want", Romeo Void's "Never Say Never", "Dancing With Myself", "Mexican Radio". Bands: Sting, Thomas Dolby, REM, U2, The Bangles, The Cure, INXS, Earl Klugh. Albums: Men at Work - Business as Usual, Toy Matinee - Toy Matinee, Jeff Beck - Guitar Workshop, Depeche Mode - Violator, Nirvana - Never Mind.
Nineties
I am laid off of my job of 9 1/2 years. I decide to take a sabbatical and a golden opportunity to be home with my infant children. The Inmates start playing out quite abit more as well. We score some major events and open for some big names. I attempt a home business as a Desktop Publisher/Graphic Designer. Why not music? I live in Clearwater, Florida.
Later I luck into a local software company that needs someone like me, and eventually I become a software developer and trainer, traveling across the U.S. and Canada instructing people to use software products. It's actually a rewarding endeavor, but...
Hits: Seal - "Crazy", Tool - "Sober", White Zombie - "More Human Than Human". Bands: Nancy Griffith, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, NIN, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Alice in Chains, Kevin Gilbert, Joe Satriani, some New Age, Peter Gabriel, Jewel, Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow, Sarah MacLaughlin and Sting. Albums: Collective Soul's first one, Shawn Colvin - A Few Small Repairs, K. D. Lang - Ingenue, Alanis - Jagged Little Pill. I'm not infatuated with much of anyone.
Zeroes
I'm in my fifties. Wow. But in many ways, musically, philosophically, I'm still 19, or 27, or 31, or any age. I archive most of my lifelong catalog in the form of the "Backtracks" volumes. I seem to have my radio tuned to smooth jazz (Chris Botti crushed at the Clearwater Jazz Holiday this year), alternative or Top 40 music stations lately. I can't listen to "classic" rock in large doses, although it's a pleasure to see quite a bit of crossover on some of the local radio stations. Lots of good talent out there. Nobody is blowing me away. I am obsessed with the late Kevin Gilbert. He was an integral part of Toy Matinee, and his later solo works are deceptively deep, wonderful and sometimes disturbing. His estate still has unreleased studio material they've pieced together from Kevin's personal collection. Bands: Coldplay, Green Day (whom I've liked for years), Cheryl and the Chili Peppers are still kickin' ass. Bela Fleck, Yaov. I like a lot of the alternative bands but I don't keep track of their names. For the past six or seven years I have been very proud to be a volunteer at Clearwater's "Jazz Holiday, held in October. Last year I was lucky enough to stumble into volunteering for the VIP section, so I split my time between the two (VIP section has better food!). You should check out my new site for the Clearwater Jazz Holiday. See? It's not always about me. ;"_
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Mark Scott, All Rights Reserved.