OK....I'll play.

I grew up in Kansas City...and radio was THE salvation for the neighborhood.
WHB (Home of the "*W*orld's *H*appiest *B*roadcasters) played the Top
40...and I was constantly listening/taking in whatever I could. I was 6 when
the Beatles hit the US in full force, and all of the older girls in the
neighborhood carried their 45's around and read their Teen (or was it
Tiger?) Beat magazines incessantly. I remember one girl who used to babysit
my brother and I who had stacks of 45's (spoiled only child syndrome) and
piece after piece of Beatles memorabilia. She loved the Beatles and hated
the Stones, and I remember seeing that she had Mick's picture taped on the
dartboard in the basement.

Fav songs...age 6-10

I Want To Hold Your Hand
No Reply
Misery
Day Tripper
Penny Lane (OK...insert ANY Beatles here)
Mony, Mony
California Dreamin'
I Saw Her Again
Kicks
Just Like Me
Pleasant Valley Sunday
She
Time of the Season
Tell Her No
House of the Rising Sun
Smile a Little Smile For Me (Rosemarie)
One
Easy To Be Hard
Crystal Blue Persuasion (those opening bongos and guitar still send a shiver
up my spine)
Crimson and Clover
and scads more I can't remember through the fog. So many great tunes...and
such variety. Radio *didn't* SUCK back then....

However, I do remember the day my brother/friends were in the garage
building a go-kart when "Whole Lotta Love" came blasting out of the radio.
When that raw Page guitar solo hit...we were all looking at each other in
total amazement. One of the older guys went home and brought back the first
Zep with "Communication Breakdown" on it and we played it about 10 times
that afternoon.

I also remember laying on my friends trampoline looking up at the sky while
on vacation in Denver/Golden CO on a warm summer evening in July '69....and
about the time the parents were commenting that Armstrong was walking on the
moon...Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" came over the radio. I had yet to
take any drugs at that point in my life...but that song combined with the
thought of people on the moon gave us all a rush that still gives me
goosebumps when I think about it. I also remember hearing "Space Oddity"
that night...my first exposure to Bowie.

From there...

Fresh Air-Quicksilver (another awesome guitar solo)
Baby Blue
No Matter What
Mercy, Mercy Me
What's Goin' On? (these two songs continue to give me goosebumps and make me
wonder how Marvin would feel today about this planet/war/etc. FWIW, they are
as relevant today for me as they were then.)
Imagine (ditto the above statement)

Then I started "smokin and trippin' is all that you'll do"...and damn...it's
all a fun blur from there!

Yup...great thread....and a *great* (musical) time period to grow up in...

Pat