My earliest music memory doesn’t come in the form of the first album I bought with my pocket money or what was popular growing up in the school playground, thank god growing up with some of the music we had in the 90s, that, and most my friends at that time having a ‘interesting’ taste in music.
When I look back, my earliest memory is of playing on my PlayStation 1 in our living room while my parents did their chores on a Saturday morning. (Although my dad doesn’t let me forget about the time I fell asleep during a Yes concert).
The game was Pandemonium but if you asked my now what the music was like on that game, I’d tell you it was jam packed with tracks from the Lighthouse Family and Prefab Sprout, that was growing up living with Mum and Dad.
“Tony Woolway Rock & Roll Legend” my friends use to call him because I would always be talking about the music he has shared with me, gave me the perfect balance of Punk with bands like the Clash and sixties stuff like The Kinks, as well as something a bit smoother like Mum’s favourite Barbra Streisand.
Listening to these different types of artists gave me a good base to discover artists that I would later love in my teens like Green Day and later the amazing Lucy Rose.
With the BB jeans and DC trainers you would think all I listened to were bands like Blink 182 and Sum 41, which was still true, yet music for me at that point was more than what I was supposed to be listening to or what was popular. I would often put on headphones in the living room while my parents watched TV. I would make out I was listening to Red Hot Chilli Peppers but would also sneak one of their CDs on when something good was happening on Casualty. Simple Red’s Stars was always a favourite from an earlier age so that was always a go to for me, but it’s also the lack of music for me that I remember the most. I always thought at the time that wireless headphones were a thing of the future, and they really were with these making you play a game of standing statues to listen to a song with no interruptions Such was the awful reception.
I remember listening to the Gorillaz first album on my dad’s birthday and bugging him to buy it for me with his birthday money which he did after only the 43rd time of asking. See he can be a nice guy.
Getting my first portable CD Player meant I could take my music everywhere and anywhere as long as I wore the same coat with the big pockets to carry it. the memory that sticks out for me is not taking it with me on a nice summers bike ride or to the park to play music with my friends, it was the medicine to get me through my GCSEs or what poisoned my results.
I remember the times I had to go to bed earlier, as I had to be up early for school but secretly hiding my CD Player under my pillow in case my parents came to check if I was asleep. I spoke to my parents about this the other day and they had no idea that’s what I use to do. Can’t believe they didn’t spot it even after most CDs ended up case-less in my room.
Now, I spend most my time listening and discussing the latest Hip Hop on our podcast, Two Diff Boyz And Their Podcast (cheeky plug) and think how have I ended up here. I suppose Hip Hop for me is kind of like a modern-day Punk and I think it’s that similarity that picks my interest and the love of the bass guitar. I often share music with my dad that I think he will like usually off the back of something he has sent me from back in the day, the latest being Thundercat after borrowing his Stevie Wonder vinyl collection which he doesn’t know about yet!
By Jonathan Woolway
