Interesting read the other day in The New York Times about how crucial the age of 14 is on our musical tastes.
Look at all the artists that turned 70 this year or next -- Bob Dylan, George Clinton, Paul Simon, Joan Baez, Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Lou Reed -- not to mention the people who would be 70 this year were it not for premature deaths: John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia.
The theory is that all of these people were 14 when rock and roll exploded in 1955 and '56. And that explosion influenced them so deeply, it set them on the course to being the musicians that they are.
I think when I was 14 I heard the Cure's "Let's Go to Bed" for the first time. I don't claim to be a musician but the song was influential to me in the sense that it was different than what most other kids my age were listening to -- dare I say alternative -- and my musical tastes do tend to run to the "other".
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This song was my introduction to the "alternative." Having some minor abilities in art, we would paint, draw, sculpt, etc. with music. This was the one song that sounded like nothing else I heard. Made me look into the Cure. Too bad I considered it their best song....
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