So what's the one song that made you take notice of your fav. artist(s) and what song sealed the deal on your fandom?

I don't care if anybody make a joke about this but my first fandom was New kids on the block and the song was step by step

And Then I got into Janet , TLC , alot of the 90
's R&B stuff then mid 90's I got into the boybands. And then the 30th Anniversary special for MJ made me a stan lol. I can't really say which songs because I will be typing all day but New kids was my first.

Lady Gaga - the acoustic version of Poker Face

Mariah Carey - Honey

Christina Aguilera - Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti

Prince - Purple Rain, I think.

Dixie Chicks - Lullaby.

Teddy Thompson - In My Arms.

And when I listened to What's This!?! and Easier I lost my shit

this whole comp, back in 2001

Alej said:

The one she did on SNL?

"Bad"- MJ. I don't even like the song so much now (although I adore the extended version) and consider it to be one of his weakest, but after I heard the song and saw the video for the first time, Mike became my fave artist ever and made me a fan for life.

"Betcha By Golly Wow"-Prince. Not an obvious choice, but that's when I first became a Prince fan.

"How Deep Is Your Love"-The Bee Gee's

"Buffalo Solider"-Bob Marley

"Your Love Is King"-Sade

Michael Jackson - Beat It

Prince - 1999 (I was a fan from 1979, but that song just never kept me in my seat)

Madonna - Holiday (I heard it at a beauty college where I was getting my hair cut, and was totally distracted by listening to it)

Janet Jackson - Nasty (despite "What Have You Done..." being out first, "Nasty" just had me hooked).

Maxwell - Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)

Jill Scott - not sure there was one....it was a gradual thing.

Sade - Smooth Operator - how could you live through that year and NOT be hooked w/ that song.

Amy Grant - Wise Up

Mariah Carey - Make It Happen. It was my theme music for beauty college, and living on $275 a month (later $325).

Sting - it was probably the ....Nothing Like The Sun album. I couldn't stop listening to that album in the Navy. It has such a rich texture, and was Sting when he was still making really, really good tunes.

TLC - loved them early on, but I sat up straight when I heard "Waterfalls". I was like .....WTF?! AWESOME.

babybugz said:

Prince - the entire 1999 album. i thought i'd hate it but i couldn't quit listening to it

Lady Gaga - same performance as Alej. i listened to her first single and dismissed it as pretty much just boring, but i loved that video so decided to give the album a chance.

Queen - listened to them since i was a kid, but i really started realizing how truly amazing they were when i heard 'hot space' - can't remember which particular song

David Bowie - i've pretty much always liked bowie, but i guess 'lady grinning soul' is what made me love him. i just rediscovered this one yesterday, actually.

that's all the stuff i can think of right now
[Edited 12/22/09 19:28pm]

Protege said:

I guess 'Smile' by Michael Jackson as I became a fan because of the Martin Bashir documentary, and it was when he sung the acapella of Smile that really made me say WOW! This man is amazing, I now get why people faint at his feet.

And 'Dear Jessie' by Madonna. That was the song that made me go from casually listening/learning about her career to being a full fledged fan. It was just so different and the instrumentation was amazing to me. Odd songs for both artists, but they're both the kind of artists where you hear their more popular songs a million times so it took something different to get me hooked.

Alej said:

i'm still ota glad you sent me that video.

i know i have more favorite artists than this

i'ma think

Protege said:

And I'm glad VoicesCarrie posted it

midiscover said:

'I Wanna Be Your Lover" 7:00 a.m. Nov. 7, 1979. Took notice and sealed the deal in one fell swoop.

ernestsewell said:

Synchronicity made me a Sting fan. I knew who the Police were and enjoyed Zenyatta Mondatta, but the writing was stellar on Synchronicity.
When Sting went Solo I was there from the start and bought the album without hearing any of it just because it was Sting. Have his solo work except for collections.
An incredible album is called 'The Chicago Sessions.'




Complete Chicago Sessions
Medium: 1CD
Label: Kiss The Stone
Catalogue number: KTS 275
Source: FM
Date: 06-1993/ 03-1991
Location: "Timothy White Session", Chicago, IL, USA
Tracks: 06-1993, "Timothy White Session", Chicago, IL, USA
If I Ever Lose My Faith In You
Love Is Stronger Than Justice
Fields Of Gold
Englishman In New York
A Day In The Life
Fortress Around Your Heart
Nothing 'Bout Me/ Every Breath You Take

03-1991, "Timothy White Session", Chicago, IL, USA
Jeremiah Blues (Part 1)
Mad About You
The Wind Cries Mary
Message In A Bottle
The Soul Cages
Every Breath You Take
Be Bop A Lula
I Miss You Kate
All This Time
Details: Tracks 1-7 were recorded during Sting's second Timothy White Session in June 1993. This was a couple of months after the release of the album Ten Summoner's Tales (which was released in March 1993). Tracks 8-16 were recorded during Sting's first Timothy White Session in March 1991. Both sessions were recorded in Chicago and were broadcasted by several U.S. radio stations.
http://www.scarlet.nl/~gu...sions.html
[Edited 12/22/09 20:40pm]

Prince - Head
I already had the "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "Uptown" 45s but after hearing "Head" for the first time on our local "Soul Train" type dance show called "Black Gold" and hearing it all over the radio shortly after that, it made me run to the store and buy the "Dirty Mind" album.

Rick James - Come Into My Life
Same situation as Prince's "Head". I heard it on "Black Gold", then the radio, and absolutely loved it and had to have the album. "Black Gold" was a hell of a show and put "Soul Train" to shame with the song choices and the dancers.

EWF - The whole That's the Way of the World album
I was always drawn to It's all About Love and the
interlude that preceded it and concluded after.

BarKays - Let's Have Some Fun
I watched these guys perform live during the
Nightcruising tour and was hooked.

I already had the 45s "Body Fever" and "Hit and Run" but "Nightcruising" was the first Barkays album I ever bought. I bought it to get the long version of "Hit and Run". When I listened to it, like Prince and Rick James previously, I liked every single track on the "Nightcruising" album. When "Propositions" came out the next year, I liked every single track on it also. That's when they officially became my third favorite artist of all time and I started buying their albums as soon as they came out just like I did with Prince and Rick.

As for a live show though, I like their concerts more than both Prince's and Rick's. I saw them live for the first time shortly after I graduated high school in 1985 and that was the best concert I've ever been to. Talk about wild!

a-ha's "seemingly nonstop july" from East of the Sun West of the moon. The 1989-90 album was a total departure, no more keyboards, a-Ha grew their hair, grew beards, they were trying to get away from the "Duran Duran POP" poster boy image they had from 1984, and honestly this is where they seperated themselves for me from other bands like that and became the most important band of the last 25 years. That track ended the record, it was all acoustic, very sparse, talking in the background, almost insane talk going on of a father yelling at a son, amazing step.


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SUPRMAN said:

Wow! You remember the time and date!

midiscover said:

Yes I do.
A radio station would play 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' every morning at 7:00 a.m. The song they played at 7:00 am they would play for the whole month at the same time. Once I knew the song, when I heard it I would get up and get ready for school.
I was supposed to call a classmate (whom I had a crush on) and wake her up at 7:00 so she could ride with me to school. At 7:00 on the dot when I heard Prince I jumped up and ran to phone. I kept dialing and the line was busy. Meanwhile, I'm listening to Prince and realize this guy knows just what I'm going through. After school I bought the 45. Listen to the B side, bought the album. Bought 'For You.'
The next year came 'Dirty Mind,' and once again, this man knows what I'm going through. We were homies.

Of folks I can actually remember:


MJ - Probably Bad. I knew Thriller, but it was seeing the Bad video on Top Of The Pops that sealed it for life.

Prince - Partyman! I was too young for his stuff in the 80s, but everyone was obsessed with Batman in 1989 and that was my introduction to Prince.

Madonna - Like a Prayer. Never even heard of her before that. I even though she was the black woman in the video when I first saw the tail end of it. I think my mother disapproved and shielded me from a lot of things.

Kylie Minogue - I Should Be So Lucky/The Locomotion. Well, I was already obsessed with Kylie before she became a pop star so naturally it was her debut album.

Duran Duran - A View To A Kill

Janet Jackson - That's The Way Love Goes. Always just "Michael's little sister" to most people round here before that.

DONNA SUMMER - I cannot pinpoint one song that made me notice her. However, hearing her sing in falsetto on Love To Love You, Baby and then in full voice on other tracks I'm sure caught my interest. I was a young boy, so it probably wasn't until Bad Girls came out that I really fell for her. Sure ,there was Last Dance and the Thank God It's Friday movie and other songs before 1979's Bad Girls and they all made me fall even further into Summer fever. Her voice was (and still is) amazing. The way she could sound so different from one song to another got my full attention. Listen to Love To Love You, Baby and then When Love Cries and then jump to Hot Stuff, Dinner With Gershwin, Night Life, and The Wanderer and don't forget Sometimes Like Butterflies. Girl can sang and even make you think she's a different singer on occasions. If you don't own any Donna Summer songs at all, you are missing out. And if you don't have various tracks by her that display her vocal versatility outside of dance music, you are REALLY missing out.
[Edited 12/23/09 15:37pm]

Great topic!

Artist/year I discovered them/comment

Prince-Let's Go Crazy (1984)-You couldn't escape Purple Rain.
It was everywhere

MJ-Billie Jean (1983)-The video with the lit up side walks caught my eye plus I liked his jacket

Jimi Hendrix (1992)-Purple Haze. No explanation needed

David Bowie (1995)-Fashion. The video/song combo was interesting

Tupac (1991) Souljah's Story. A kid in my neighborhood introduced me to Pac. Although not an avid listener, I took notice

Madonna(1984)-Holiday. In Miami, this was a staple on radio stations

Rage Against the Machine (2003)-Calm like a Bomb. The intro/guitar work was killer

Janet Jackson (1987)-Pleasure Principle. Still my favorite song/video of hers

Bob Marley (3 Little Birds)-(1988). My mom would play this on mornings and tell us about Bob Marley, who she knew as a youth growing up in Jamaica. Plus it always puts me in a good mood.

Queen (1999)-My brother (who is orger Actionthisday) would play "Bohemian rhapsody" like crazy. I dismissed them as campy, but grew to really dig their sound.

The Beatles (2005)-I am the Walrus. For the longest, I thought these guys were overrated, but when I boughtthe Magical Mystery tour (with the ridiculous cover) I became hooked.

George Harrison (2005)-Beware of Darkness. Saw Eric Claption perform this during the tribute concert and loved the message. Resonates with me on a deeper level and is my all time favorite song.

There are others, but thats it for now

Prince - The "Cream" video got me interested, but I was only a casual fan until I heard "Fury" on SNL, and that sent me into fam-land.

Michael Jackson - In the early 90s, a local radio station played "Off The Wall" a lot, and that's my earliest memory of liking an MJ song. It wasn't until I bought the Invincible album out of sheer curiosity and heard the song "Break Of Dawn" that I became a hardcore fan. Seriously.

James Brown - "Living In America" is one of my earliest memories of liking any song. "It's A Man's World" sealed the deal when I first heard it years later.

The Police - "Wrapped Around Your Finger" got me interested when I heard it on a blog a couple years ago. "The Bed's Too Big Without You" sealed the deal. The only Police song that I remember hearing up until that point was "Every Breath You Take", which I never liked at all. I didn't care for Sting's solo work, either, so I never thought to check out the Police albums until then. They just weren't on my radar.

George Michael - I was 6 years old when the "Faith" video came out, and I decided right then that I was going to marry him. I've been a hardcore fan ever since.

Maxwell - "Ascension". He had me at the first note I heard him sing.

Rick James - "Superfreak" got me interested in the early 90s. The whole Bustin' Out Of L Seven album sealed the deal several years ago.

Teena Marie - "Out On A Limb" got me interested about 10 years ago, and "Behind The Groove" sealed the deal.

Marvin Gaye - I always liked "What's Going On", but "I Want You" became one of my favorite songs of all time. The intro just kills me.

Isaac Hayes - I always liked "Joy", but when I heard "Aruba" a couple years ago, it sealed the deal. It's probably an odd choice, but it's my favorite instrumental.

Willie Hutch - He wrote my favorite Jackson 5 song, "Can't Get Ready For Losing You", and when I heard his version, I had to have all his music.

Sade - "No Ordinary Love" video

Janet Jackson - "If" video


I only came to like many of my favorite artists in the last decade, because when I was a teenager, I was mainly exposed only to the junk on MTV and the radio. The internet helped expand my taste in music in more recent years.

Alej said:

Chaka Khan & Prince - the whole Come 2 My House album; the start of my obsession with both of their music.


Stevie Wonder - Superwoman(Where were you when I needed you).

Billie Holiday - Romance In The Dark

Lauryn Hill - When her version of 'Can't Take My eyes off you' rolled in during the ending credits of "Conspiracy Theory"(by my fave movie star @ the time, Ms.Julia Roberts).

Phyllis Hyman - The minute I heard the 1st notes from "You Know how to love me".

Loose Ends "Emergency (Dial 999)"

I knew this band were British but on hearing this song it sounded so different from what all the other Brit soul bands were doing at the time, they also had a style that set them apart so being in my early teens you had to gravitate to what was cool & at the time Loose Ends were the epitomy of cool.

The Jones Girls "This Feelings Killing Me"

I was about 12 & would go visit my cousin who would constantly play this song, so you keep hearing a song you eventually like it . . . then I saw the album cover & I was hooked.

Phyllis Hyman "Dont Tell Me, Tell Her"

I was familiar with this song from the group Odyssey but some years later I was listening to the radio & I heard this version. That voice will have you from the get go, It was around 1985 and any penny I had went to the record store, needless to say I tried to get my hands on anything that had Phyllis' name to it.

Rufus & Chaka Khan "Masterjam" the album cover

this was another album cover that I was always drawn to when visiting my Dad at the weekends. Something about Chaka just always made me feel happy, then I played "do you love what you feel" & all I wanted to do was dance.
[Edited 12/23/09 8:24am]

These are the 5 reasons I wated 2 play music....









Jesse Johnson

[Edited 12/23/09 9:38am]
[Edited 12/23/09 9:40am]

BAD (video) Michael Jackon...and this was in 2000 so I was way late lol
Darling Nikki - Prince
LoveGame - Lady Gaga
Sade - Is It A Crime
[Edited 12/23/09 10:09am]