The soundtrack of your childhood

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I was in high school in the 70's, so anything from that era reminds me of my teen years; but what really reminds me of my childhood is....polka music.

On some of the local TV channels here, there are Polka shows on Sunday mornings.

I've taken to calling polka "the dance of death" because these programs aren't even showing polka performances from the recent past. They're going back 10,15,20 years or more with some of their footage, and almost all the dancers and performers are old to begin with.

[CorneliaMarieRocks]

anything 80's, in fact, some of my fondest memories are of my folks finding me sitting on the floor amid couch cushions watching MTV at 5 am

[MoonCat]

I was in high school in the 70's, so anything from that era reminds me of my teen years; but what really reminds me of my childhood is....polka music.

My dad used to listen to this on Sundays. And my grandfather had a little business providing music for church lawn fetes...he would record record albums onto reel-to-reel tapes, set up huge speakers around the church grounds, and control the music from a place inside the beer tent. We were the only kids allowed behind the bar in the beer tent because he was back there! A lot of the churches were Polish-American, so he always brought a lot of polkas along with other music. Hearing it always makes me feel like a kid again.

[DeltaSierra]

My Dad was mostly about country, with some classical thrown in, and the occasional 60's/70's group

- Kingston Trio
- The Mamas & The Papas
- John Denver
- Roger Whittaker
- Osborne Brothers
- Buffy St Marie
- Nana Mouskouri
- Beethloveen/Bach/Brahms/Ravel, et al.
- Simon & Garfunkel
- Glenn Miller
- CCR
- Johnny Cash

For the last 10 years his 2 favorite CD's are soundtracks - O Brother, Where Art Thou, and A River Runs Through It.

[Eireann]

The Clancy Brothers
The Kingston Trio
Gordon Lightfoot (YUCK!)
Elton John
The Beach Boys
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
Creedence Clearwater Revival

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Your average pop music station from the mid-80s to the mid-90s. Then I got taste.

[Racket_Man]

my parents were a little older when I was born. I grew up listening to
Glenn Miller
The Dorsey Bros
The Mills Bros
Benny Goodmann

Big Band music

[flybye023]

We mostly listened to classical music. Tchaikovsky, Bach, Beethoven, Dvorak.

Billy Joel
Pointer Sisters
Michael Jackson
Simon and Garfunkel
Ray Stevens
Mills Brothers
John Denver
Beach Boys

[PhiSigGirl1988]

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap-AC/DC (one of the first songs I memorized as a 3 year old...Dad was proud, Mom was horrified)
Let's Get Rocked-Def Leppard
Sweet Child o' Mine-Guns N' Roses
Various songs from the 50s and 60s
Various songs from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods

[firecat88]

The soundtrack of my childhood is a mixture of:

Simon & Garfunkel
The Mamas and Papas
Various doo-wop groups
Nutcracker
Juan Luis Guerra/440
Proyecto Uno
Gin Blossoms
The best garage bands Seattle had to offer

[Mytical]

I am a child of the late 70's through the 80's. While my parents would not listen to anything but country (Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Dolly, etc) they actually let us listen to whatever we wanted. From classical to heavy metal.

While I am not able to listen to a song and remember certain events, due to poor memory..the list of songs I listened to would be so long it is not funny. Because I did have a very varied taste. Problem is .. never quite sure when I listened to what..lol

Mozart
Chopan (spelling?)
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
Madonna
Eagles
Kenny Loggins (Danger zone)
Survivor (Eye of the Tiger)
Bad Company
Jefferson Starship
Cindy Louper (man my spelling stinks)
Poison
C&C Music Factory
Sir Mix a Lot
MC Hammer
Beethoven
Garth Brooks

The list is almost endless. If I listed a certain song, that is pretty much all I listened to by that artist..if I didn't then just about anything from the artist/band/etc.

However, what I can do is make the top 10 for when I was growing up. In no specific order.
Danger Zone
Eye of the Tiger
Johnny B. Good
Every Rose has its thorn
Welcome to the Jungle
Like A Prayer
Hotel California
Desperado
Girls just wanna have fun
Electric Avenue (We gonna rock down to .. electric avenue..then we'll take it higher...)

Songs that remind me of my parents? Simply because I heard the song umpteenbillion times?
Convoy
Coal Miners Daughter
Teddy Bear
Boot Scooting Boogy (later..my mom had this on a continual loop)
I walk the line (Because your mine..I walk the line)

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Those Were The Days -Mary Hopkins
Hey Jude -the Beatles
Georgy Girl -The Seekers
Rocky Mountain High -John Denver
Splish Splash -the Coasters
Someone Else's Boy -Connie Francis
All I Have To Do Is Dream -the Everly Brothers
The Far Side Of The Hill -The Limelighters

I should point out my parents had a pretty extensive record collection, full of popular music from the fifties. And they continued to collect music through my growing up. It would be very hard for me to pin down a real "soundtrack." But the above selections are a tiny cross section of things that stick out for me.

[Mishi]

- All of the songs by Rez Band
- Many U2 songs
- All of the Larry Norman songs
- 'Caught In The Act' album by Redgum
- 'Safety Dance' by Men Without Hats
- Any of the songs publicised by Hillsong in the 90's.
- 'Whip it' by Devo
- 'Legs', 'La Grange', 'Sharp Dressed Man' by ZZ Top
- All of the Newsboys and DC Talk songs.
- Popcorn

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Few things bring back memories for me as much as music does. Certain songs, as soon as I hear them I'm taken to a certain time and certain place, with the memories of it as vivid as ever.

Obviously as a child we are usually mainly at the whim of whatever our parents or relatives listen to.

My dad was born in the 50s and so was a huge fan of Rock and Roll. There are many songs that remind me of my father, but to name a few:

American Pie - Don Maclean
Sounds of Silence, Bridge over Troubled Water, The Boxer, Mrs. Robinson - Simon and Garfunkel
A bunch of songs by the Beatles
Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
Seals and Croft - Summer Breeze
A bunch of Beach Boys songs, notably Sloop John B
Chubby Checker - Let's Twist again
Otis Redding - Sitting on the dock of the bay
Only the Lonely, Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
Proud Mary - CCR
That'll be the day - Buddy Holly
Animals - House of the Rising Sun
Manfred Mann - Do wah diddy
Mason Williams - Classical Gas

There are many more, but these are the songs I remember my dad singing when he did chores around the house. They are the songs I remember coming from the radio in the garage on many Saturday mornings. They are songs I heard in the car on so many road trips.

What are your songs?