According to my mother, and who would know better than her, my first ever favourite song was by Queen, 'Bicycle Race'. Things could be loads worse than that of course. The song was released in 1978 (I was 2 at the time) and my mother was a big fan of Queen, playing the album 'Jazz' a lot of times (also on that album, 'Fat bottomed girls' and 'Don't stop me now'). And according to my mother I always asked for the bicycle song and when she played it I was dancing in the living room, it were the bicycle bells in the song that appealed to me most probably. Even though both my parents have an embarrassing record collection (my dad loves German Schlagers, think Heino and Udo Jürgens, my mother also owns records by Barbara Streisand), I think my love for rock music comes from my mother. I can recall sitting in front of the record player with my mom and playing LPs, mostly Queen, but also Janis Joplin, Bee Gees, Michael Jackson (Off the wall and later Thriller), Kate Bush and Kiss. I remember taking her singles to my room and rocking out to one of the Kiss songs and wondering about the men in make up on the sleeve.
When I started to develop my own taste (at the age of 5 or 6) I got into reggae and ska, considering I was crazy about the song 'Pass the Dutchie' by the Musical Youth and my unconditional adoration for Doe Maar. My mother was very supportive of that, getting me the albums and most notable the '4us' album which a lot of kids back then were told by their parents to take the album back to the store because of the swearing on the album. My mother however told me I had to keep it because the swearing was educational, noting that the swearing was placed in relation to heroin and the song is the biggest and most in your face anti-drugs anthem this country has ever known.
But my love for music started with Queen. Like I said, could have been worse. Loads worse.
