Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Maggie chose the topic of “Discovering Your Musical Taste.”

Maggie wants us explore the music we were exposed to as a child and how we moved from those early experiences into developing a taste of our own.

1. What music were you exposed to in your family home – genre, artist, or style.

My parents weren’t that into music, except my mother loved Lawrence Welk, for some reason. But I had two older sisters who were into artists like Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Patti Page, Nat King Cole, and Frankie Laine. It was a period when popular music was transitioning from the Big Band sound to a more easy listening sound.

2. Did you enjoy that type of music or did you rebel against it?

I preferred Top 40 music to what my older sisters generally listened to.

3. How did you listen to music in your childhood home? Radio? Record player? Television?

Mostly via radio and record player.

4. Did you buy records, tapes, cassettes, 8-tracks or CDs?

When I was younger, all that was available were records and I bought mostly 45s. But as I grew, I used cassette tapes, some of which I bought, but most of which I made as “mix-tapes.” And, later, when they became available, CDs. I never bought 8-track tapes. Now all my music is downloaded MP3s.

5. What performers were you drawn to most as an adolescent?

Top 40 performers (e.g., Beach Boys, The Four Seasons, Roy Orbison, Dion & The Belmonts, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Del Shannon), and Motown (e.g., The Four Tops, The Temptations, The Supremes, The Ronettes).

6. Who did you go to see for your first concert? Who did you go with?

I think it was The Four Seasons, who performed at a local high school, and it was with friends.

7. What concert has been your favorite concert to date?

I’ve been to so, so many concerts, so it’s hard to narrow it down to one, but it may have been when my wife and I went to see Jackson Browne at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, an outdoor amphitheater in Columbia, Maryland. It was that concert where most of the tracks on his “Running on Empty” album were recorded live.

That said, I’ve seen The Eagles live four times and they were fantastic. And I’ve been to two Billy Joel concerts, and he is great live.

8. When do you listen to music? In the car? At work? While studying or doing projects?

I have Sirius XM in the car and also streaming on my TV as well as on my iPhone. And I can also listen to my iTunes using Apple Car Play in my car.

9. Did the music you listened to affect your attitudes, way of dress, or view of the world?

That’s hard to say. I think perhaps it was my world view that affected the music I listened to.

10. How has your choice of music changed over the years? What is your genre of choice at this phase of your life?

I started out listening to Top 40 music and to what used to be called “soul music.” Then it was rock and roll, heavy metal, psychedelic music, most of which is now deemed “classic rock.” In the 80s and early 90s I was into “new age” music, then briefly in the early 2000s, into pop, but now my genre of choice is classic rock. I’ve never been into country & western or rap.

Bonus Question: What band or group posters did you have hanging in your room? Extra extra bonus points if you can share a copy of it or a link to it.

I never had any rock band posters in any of my rooms, although in college I did have a poster of Farah Fawcett and a map of Middle Earth on my dorm room wall.

EXTRA EXTRA BONUS: Care to share a playlist from Spotify?

Sorry, I’m not on Spotify. But here are the last ten songs that I listened to on iTunes.