Here is the soundtrack of my college years. Yeah, it was weird.
It made total sense at the time.
What music do you associate with college?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
26 Comments
Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
I was probably listening to a lot of stuff at the time that now would be called “minimal wave”. Cabaret Voltaire became a personal fave of mine right about the time I started my freshman year in college. “Kino” would have come out right about the time I finished my freshman year. Richard Kirk continued to do amazing stuff long after the Cabs called it quits. Loved a lot of goth stuff too.
If there is anything that even remotely resembles that that I listened to in college, it was Nine Inch Nails.
Nine Inch Nails was definitely influenced by the Cabs. Lovely stuff.
Ditto.
The Ramones were the band at the free Spring Fling concert one year. So awesome.
Nirvana, pearl jam, and REM were big at my Oregon school. But the only concert I saw during that time (college was rural, so few opportunities to go to big shows) was Tom Petty.
>>What music do you associate with college?
the Grateful Dead mostly. Springsteen, the Who, Frank Zappa, George Thorogood. But mostly the Dead (my first show 4/22/79 San Jose, freshman year).
Stones, Beatles, Jefferson Airplane (not Starship), Lovin’ Spoonful, the Byrds, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins.
God, I’m old.
It is something indescribable to note that in a week, one of the commencement speakers at my youngest daughter’s graduation from Lesley University will be…
David Crosby.
Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Doors, Stevie Winwood, B.B. King, Johnnie Cash, Jimi Hendrix, Paul Butterfield, Ravi Shankar, John Fahey.
Recall impromptu parties held by whoever managed to purchase the latest Dylan, Stones, etc. album so that we could all listen to it.
Don’t forget Quicksilver Messenger Service.
And I often hear Pink Floyd music played in elevators and as telephone call waiting music.
That’s almost as bad…
Late 70s/early 80s for me. Talking Heads (Fear of Music & Remain in Light especially), The Wall, Gang of Four, The Clash, Dead Kennedys, Wipers, Joy Division. Lots of obscure local punk/garage bands – I was part of a network of friends all over North America that traded tapes of local independent music. I had a lot to share – I lived in Vancouver BC at the time, which had quite the local scene, and bands like DOA, Subhumans, Skinny Puppy, and others that got some later prominence. What we did back before the InterTubez, grandkids…
Once I discovered Joy Division (after I discovered New Order, with Temptation, I couldn’t listen to the Talking Heads anymore (not to mention the Who), and I still have no inclination to, even though I agree with you about Remain in Light being their peak.
Gang of Four is one of the great political bands of all time. Another is the much lesser known Three Johns, whose Atom Drum Bop I’m especially fond of:
There simply isn’t any political music like this today. Another forgotten group of the time were the Au Pairs, the greatest feminist group, as far as I know, with their Obvious.
On a different note (and I admit I didn’t know about the Happy Mondays when I was in college):
Same here, except I was in school in the early 90s, so mix in some noisy guitars.
Hey, did you know that the singer of My Bloody Valentine was actually saying words? Who knew?!?
What music do I associate with college?
Oh…the usual.
Monk, Mingus, ‘Trane, Bird, Diz, Bill Evans, Gil Evans, Thad Jones, Miles, Elvin, Philly Joe, Jo Jones, Max, Bud, Pops, Duke, Basie, Brookmeyer, Mulligan, O’Farrill, Clark Terry, J.J., Teagarden, Puente, Palmieri, Machito, Cecilia Cruz, all of the great blues players and singers, Billie, Sinatra, Joe Williams, Sarah, Ella, Nina, Dinah, Bach, Mozart, Bartok, Stravinsky, Boulez, Casals, Heifetz, Sousa, Ives, Debussy, Ravel…
The usual.
Why do you ask?
AG
Bonnie Raitte: Streetlights
John Prine: Bruised Orange
Bob Seger: Live Bullet
Pat Methaney: As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls
Springsteen: Born to Run and Darkness and Greetings
Little Feat: Waiting for Columbus
Dead: Shakedown Street, Flood, American Beauty
Santana: Moonflower
Oh and Zappa: Joe’s Garage. Big time
And, Some Girls. Right?
All those albums are burned into my brain, thanks to you. No, thank you!!
“I got some Puerto Rican girls just daaaaaaaayin’ to meetchueoo!!!”
😀
“One more time”…and the Central Scrutinizer. Yeah.
Well, it was only one year.
For me, the Doors, the Kinks, Fleetwood Mac, Derek and the Dominos, Beatles White and Abbey Road.
An almost daily dose of The Who’s “Quadrophenia,” “Live at Leed’s,” and “Who’s Next”
And the rest of the British Invasion bands – but, especially, The Yardbirds, and early Bowie.
A lot of folk music, especially heavy on Dylan, from early on, until the mid-late 70’s, before he converted to Christianity, and turned out his worst album.
And a lot of Paul Simmon, too, with and without Garfunkle.
Oh, and psychedelic music – heavy on the Jimi, Airplane, and Cream.
Also too – Country Joe & The Fish!
I never got into The Grateful Dead, and I don’t know why, because I really love some of their songs.
The Band Music From Big Pink
Santana Abraxas
Led Zeppelin IV
I lived in a 9-story dorm as a freshman. In September, you could walk through the halls and find the song “Hotel California” playing somewhere 24 hours a day.
By April, it was “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
It made total sense at the time.
/
Roger that.
I know cheese and crackers…
Wait. What?
There was a country blues album by Stefan Grossman and Danny Kalb. “Devil ‘Round The Moon.” That was my first pass at college. When I got out of the army and returned to school, it was stuff like The Move.